Old games that hold up today

[Smooth Operator]

Most things sprite based and more recent 3D games.
That initial jump into 3D was one horrid period, some do make up for it in gameplay but it's still one sharp edged meal to swallow.

 

[NickySquicky]

Either of the Knights of the Old Republic games, though a big reason for me is the storyline. It's one of my favorite campaigns with characters I adore, especially Kreia in The Sith Lords. The combat isn't hugely innovative, but considering BioWare put out Dragon Age: Origins just a few years ago with a similar turn-based combat and the fact it's still a prominent combat style in certain genres, it's not anything with which people would be unfamiliar. Then I just plainly enjoy BioWare's role-playing elements, with a morality system stemming from choices that affect quests, party members and abilities to an extent, and enough customization to where I feel like each character I roll is significantly different, so long as I'm so inclined as to make it satisfyingly different from prior characters.

 

[Plague]

The original Crash Bandicoot series. Well, to be fair, I only ever played the first one (about 50 billion times) and just recently got 2 and 3 off the PSN. Dear god is 2 kicking my ass right now.

 

[Zantos]

Psychonauts has already been said, but yeah...

Fable: TLC holds up really well, I love it sooooo much

Unreal Tournament and Serious Sam are still awesome games. The graphics may not have aged well, but I can't hear complaints like that over the sound of the fun I'm having.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Any NES (or older) title that you can buy on an app-store like Tetris and, Dr. Mario. People still eat those games up, even if they don't buy one of the shiny newer ones. As for console games, Punisher is still really fun. I also recently started playing Illusion of Gaia and went back to Super Mario World. Speaking of Nintendo, Link to the Past among others. I dunno, I'm too generous when it comes to threads like these.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I guess Chrono Trigger count. My bro bought me the DS version for Christmas (I asked him to get me that) and since this is the first time playing it, it's good so far. Sure the graphic is oldschool but it's a refreshing change (I don't want shiny and realistic graphics all the time) and I pretty sure it lived up to its hype seeing how they releae it mostly intact for the DS.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

Adventures of Alundra! And as its a Cell Shaded Manga style game, the graphics hold up quite well too!

 

[DEAD34345]

... all of them? Well, maybe not any games that focused purely on graphics, but other than that they're all just as good now as they were when they came out. Games don't degrade over time.

If you really need specific examples I'd say Deus Ex, all of the earlier Bioware games, and all of the earlier Elder Scrolls games. I played each of those for the first time recently (no more than a year or so ago), and they were all great.

 

[Bucky01]

Psyconauts
Kingdom hearts 1 and 2
oddworld games mostly odysee and exodus
battlefield 2142
Halo CE
TF2
Pokemon (from the old brick to the GBA versions)
and despite possible protests. Final Fantasy X

 

[sgtslacker]

The Original Deus Ex, to this day it is one of my favorite games of all time.

 

[cyber95]

Wind Waker will look fantastic forever. I still find it gorgeous.

 

[Disturbed-Hell]

Unreal Tournament 2004. Provided, of course that you have the ballistic weapons mod installed coz the default weapons feel like arse. It may not be much graphically, but the number of maps available to play with straight off the bat is impressive and downloading the community bonus packs doubbles that.

Basically what I am trying to say is: "Who doesn't like being able to quad-jump around as a robot carrying a man-held artillery piece bombing the shit out of anything and everything that moves?"

 

[VoidWanderer]

Anything by Sid Meier?

I loved 'Sid Meier's Pirates' when I was a younger, I have found memories of playing it on the Amiga. I bought the 'New and Improved' version and it was still incredibly fun to play, and I was actually able to complete the damn storyline lol.

 

[Shinclone]

Fallout 2
Baldurs Gate 2 (sort of, the first dungeon is horrible, but it was horrible the second time you played through it back then too.)
XCom:Enemy Unknown.
Shadowrun(SNES-version)

This. Although I would throw in the Megadrive (Genesis for our friends across the pond) version of Shadowrun too. I never understood why the two were so different. Same company made them yet they were totally different games.

 

[thespyisdead]

funny that no one has named Flatout

great graphics, that still look as stunning as the day that it came out. and don't forget the awesome music!!!

 

[Diddy_Mao]

Megaman 2:

This is still the gold standard by which I judge any 2D platforming action game.
Everything about that game is awesome, great bosses, great music and amazingly well designed levels.

Super Metroid and Catlevania: Symphony of the Night:

These are to side view exploration/action games what Megaman 2 is to side scrolling platformers. Both games are overflowing with atmosphere, they routinely reward exploration in a way that doesn't feel forced and both present you with a surprisingly large game world that keeps things fresh with new worlds, monsters and events that are all entertaining to play through (There's no part of either game that makes me roll my eyes and moan "Ugh...I hate this part.").

Silent Hill 2:

Not a perfect survival horror game by any standard but the story it tells is as close to as perfect a ghost story as anyone could hope for. Really the only problem I have with this title is that it did such a good job of creating Silent Hill as a character in and of itself that every subsequent title has felt somewhat bland by comparison.

Final Fantasy VI and Xenogears:

These are both nearly perfect JRPG's with characters and worlds that draw you in and keep you invested in the outcome of the story in very different ways.

Final Fantasy VI does an amazing job of presenting you with a story that, surprisingly enough doesn't seem to have a central character. Virtually every character in the game has a role to play as their personal story lines weave in and out of the metaplot. And unlike most games with a large cast of playable characters virtually every one of them is useful and fun to play (except Gao...the useless tit.)

Xenosaga on the other hand is all about the exploration of the world itself. The characters are all relatively blank slate archetypical characters but the world in which they inhabit is probably one of the most interesting and well crafted Sci-Fi/Fantasy stories I've ever played through.
While I admit it does tend to a lot of Navel Gazing and there's more than one section where the plot starts to drag, the overall presentation is so unique that these occasional dips in quality are easily overlooked.



I'm getting a little verbose here so I'll eschew the small essay for the rest of the list and just say that the rest of these games may not the the high point of their specific genre but they're still a damn lot of fun to play.

Devil May Cry
Dark Cloud 2
Burnout 3: Takedown
Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
GUN
Hulk: Ultimate Destruction
La Pucelle Tactics
Mark of Kri
Rogue Galaxy
Red Dead Revolver
Okami
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Legend of Zelda: Windwaker
Diablo II
Warcraft III

 

[Sarah Kerrigan]

Parasite Eve 1 & 2 for me. Great RPGs with some disturbing elements you don't usually see in Square games.

Love it.

 

[Akirai]

Minesweeper
--
Arcanum (graphics iffy)
Caesar III
XIII
Thief (only know III, graphics iffy)
Final Fantasy VI (not VII, graphics would be iffy; topline 2D > bottomline 3D)
Chrono Trigger
Pokemon
Tactics Ogre (only know Knight Of Lodis)
Golden Sun
Super Monkey Ball (especially II)
Zelda: Wind Waker and that-last-one-on-the-snes-I-can't-remember-the-name-of