NES games have aged terribly.

[llsaidknockyouout]

95% of the titles on the system were shovelware. But even amongst the classics, I did not find most of them fulfilling.

NES games generally lacked...
* Content
* Stories/characters
* Color/atmosphere
* Saving
* Deep gameplay
* Uniqueness

Also NES games used punishing difficulty and rote trial error gameplay to draw people in whereas later eras of gaming used deep mechanics or sense of adventure. All of these reasons are why I still play SNES titles but have largely avoided my NES backlogue.

I think its something you have to grow up with to appreciate.

 

[Fat Hippo]

I must admit I rarely have a desire to go back and play NES games, aside from maybe a few classics like Super Mario Brothers. But then, I have even less desire to go back and play PC games from the same era. These might have had something closer to "deep gameplay" but their interfaces and presentation tended to be absolutely atrocious.

So if we're talking video games from the 80's, I think NES games might even have aged the best, since they are still somewhat playable in terms of their controls, and are generally simple enough that you don't need to read a thick manual beforehand, which can't be said for a lot of very old PC games. But I do agree that SNES games made many improvements in almost all areas.

 

[Saelune]

There will always be gaps like that. The SNES/Genesis era had much more lasting power than the NES did, but the PS2 era had better staying power than PS1/N64 did. Now put this into regards to VR. I'm sure VR gaming will stay a thing, but it will get better over time. We are in the Atari age at best. Most VR games that come out will be a novelty forgotten outside of history compared to whatever VR stuff comes out in a more developed time when VR is understood. I'm excited to see what the comparable eras of VR gaming will be.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

NES games can be too screechy, too murky and ridiculously difficult. The SNES does pretty much what the NES Nintendon't.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Well yeah. Duh. Most NES games could fit on a small USB stick. There wasn't alot to them because the technology and experience wasn't there.

Kinda' like the first book ever printed isn't as good as Dante's Inferno, or the first movie isn't as good as Starship Troopers(man, I have had this movie on the mind lately...).

Is it really fair? No, not really. But are they any good even in fairness? No, not really.

NES games can be too screechy, too murky and ridiculously difficult. The SNES does pretty much what the NES Nintendon't.

Part of the difficulty was the conversion from Arcade to home console. Each death was meant to be a quarter in a machine, or maybe like 10 lives per quarter. Something like that. Difficulty was monetized.

 

[DefunctTheory]

It should be unsurprising that NES titles, which were so simplistic you could probably run them on punch cards, are antiquated beyond belief.

The NES is old, practically recreated the gaming market which meant there was a huge rush to fill the market, and people were still trying to figure out what did and didn't work. So... yah. Of course 99% of the stuff on it aged terribly.

But the stuff that didn't age poorly is magnificent.

 

[Fox12]

Games were garbage until the SNES came around, gifting us with deep worlds, colorful sprites, tight gameplay, and great music. There was barely anything good about the NES.

 

[Ogoid]

Admittedly it may have something to do with my having grown up on them, but to this day I can still fire up most NES classics - SMB, Ninja Gaiden, Castlevania, what have you - and have an absolute blast.

On the other hand, I haven't felt even remotely tempted to plug my Xbox 360 back on for years now.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

A lot of NES games were garbage, but at least they're mostly playable garbage. It's the N64 that I can't go back to. The early 3D just looks gross now, and the framerates are often abysmal to the point of causing me nausea. Its controller kinda bites, too. I say this as someone who frequently cites Perfect Dark as one of my all-time favorite games.

...or the first movie isn't as good as Starship Troopers(man, I have had this movie on the mind lately...).

Shame about the sequels, though. At least they're campy... I guess. I'm not sure I like the idea of the Sky Marshal being a pop singer, but I can't deny that the song's catchy.

 

[llsaidknockyouout]

There will always be gaps like that.

I don't necessarily agree.

I think the SNES in numerous ways has aged better than the N64. Refined 2D gameplay has aged better than rough 3D gameplay. Color-laden 16-bit graphics have aged better than many of the blocky-blurry N64 textures.

And even games today. Not to say that SNES games are inherently better than modern games, but there's so many instances where I say "A Link to the Past was only 2MB, yet we have 100-man studios spending $50 million dollars making games that aren't even a quarter as intelligent and fun.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Duh?

The NES was where gaming really actually kicked off. Of course NES games will be rough around the edges.

I'm much more a fan of the SNES era, where things REALLY started to click. Platformers got tighter, the music got better, and the stories were generally told with more care.

...Hell, even all these years later, Crono Trigger is still damn near perfect.

 

[Saelune]

There will always be gaps like that.

I don't necessarily agree.

I think the SNES in numerous ways has aged better than the N64. Refined 2D gameplay has aged better than rough 3D gameplay. Color-laden 16-bit graphics have aged better than many of the blocky-blurry N64 textures.

And even games today. Not to say that SNES games are inherently better than modern games, but there's so many instances where I say "A Link to the Past was only 2MB, yet we have 100-man studios spending $50 million dollars making games that aren't even a quarter as intelligent and fun.

There are tons of crappy SNES games. There will always be far more bad games than good ones. I'm comparing the best of SNES to the best of N64, etc.

 

[llsaidknockyouout]

If we took the top 15 games from N64 versus the top 15 games from SNES, I don't think the N64's lineup would be that much better.

 

[llsaidknockyouout]

Platformers in the 80's are basically what shooters are right now.

In 2D space, platformers are the easiest game to make that millions of people find fun to play. In 3D, platformers have become trickier to make but war games have been easier than ever to make.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

SNIP

I'm not ashamed to admit It's a Good Day to Die is on my running playlist. It's SOO catchy and just makes your balls feel big.

But yeah, the 2 sequels were utter shit, but Marauder was the superior of them.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

I have to agree. They're not really things I can get behind. I did try really hard to enjoy some of the classics, and while the Mario games are always gonna be alright in my book, it's hard to find many others I can say "Yeah, this is good" about. It comes with the time of in-experienced developers and the like, I know that. Doesn't make the games age any better with that in mind (Metroid just pisses me off sometimes, despite almost beating it)

 

[Shoggoth2588]

There is a lot to be enjoyed with some NES games but I'm the kind of person who really likes "so bad it's good" types of games. That being said though, I couldn't beat Legend of Zelda or Metroid without a guide and I didn't even enjoy those games until I played them on the 3DS wherein I could exploit save-scumming. There are a couple of games on the NES that hold up today but that console is no SNES.

 

[Rabish Bini]

I could kinda see where you're coming from.

But then I think of Mike Tyson's Punch Out!! and how well it's held up and suddenly I disagree entirely.

 

[Nazulu]

Yeah, it was a completely different era of gaming. The medium was very young, many developers just stuck to safe trends (like they do now), so there was a lot to expand upon still (like there still is), and that's not even considering the lack of space on the cartridges. And yet, some of those NES games are very playable even now. To me anyway.

I don't believe you have to be around playing games in the early 90s to appreciate what came out of it. You don't even have to appreciate it. But no matter how you look at it, these classic games inspired a lot of later games. Some of those becoming great, like Super Metroid, which still puts most games to shame.

 

[JaKandDaxter]

Yea I'm not a fan of the NES either. I did own one at some point, but idk what happened to it. And I don't remember playing it. I really started getting into gaming with the SNES, Genesis, and the N64 is where I really started to take off.

But back to the NES. I saw enough from older gamers on another forum to know its not for me. Trial and error gameplay can get played out fairly easily. Especially if that's practically all a console has to offer. I understand at the time it help Nintendo stand out. But I don't think I'll play a lot of NES games on an emulator, for more than a few minutes.