Old games that hold up today

Moonlight Butterfly

Be the Leaf
Mar 16, 2011
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Zelda A Link to the Past like others have said cartoony visuals tend to make something age a hell of a lot better.

I agree with psychonauts and the baldurs/icewind games aswell.
 

zomnomnom

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Sep 29, 2011
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Seiken Densetsu 3, Baldur's Gate 2, and maybe Super Bomberman 5.

Actually, scratch Bomberman. I'm probably the only person who can play that for hours on end and not get bored...
 

josemlopes

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Jun 9, 2008
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Every game with solid gameplay and cartoonish visuals will age incredebly well.

Psychonauts
TimeSplitters (the gameplay of the third one is as solid as it can get)
Unreal Tournament 2004
Halo CE


For games that tried to be more realistic they could still age well if the visuals were solid and simple (not a lot of mess on the screen that would result on a cluster fuck of messy textures that we are not used to now).
Max Payne 2 like someone else already said aged also very well.
The Hitman games (with the exception of the first one) are still VERY playable.
Freedom Fighters
Black
 

Gorilla Gunk

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May 21, 2011
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The Resident Evil remake.

The character models are a dated but the rest of the game still looks great and is still one of the scariest games ever made in my opinion.
 

Leemaster777

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Feb 25, 2010
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LittleJoeRambler said:
StarCraft and Brood War. I've been replaying both of these games recently, and I have to admit there's just something about them that feels... better than StarCraft II. I can't put my finger on it, but I know part of it is the music. The pace feels less break-neck too, although I tend to enjoy faster-paced stuff more. Maybe it's the greater sense of accomplishment from pulling off a victory, because it takes so much more effort to get the most out of all of your units, and it's less about "build giant force and a-move, rinse and repeat until enemy stops moving."
Agreed, Starcraft has aged better than most any other game I can think of. Great story, great gameplay, and the 2-D visuals have aged quite gracefully. And an absolutely MASSIVE online community, with plenty of user-created maps doesn't hurt, either.

And I'm just going to say it now, Brood War is probably the best Expansion pack I've ever played, bar none.
 

Dfskelleton

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Apr 6, 2010
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Doom and Doom II will be fun for hundreds of years. It goes in the same bin as Pac Man and the original Mario and Zelda games, because it's just a hands down classic for reasons that are clear to anyone who plays it.
The original MGS will also always be great. The story and voice acting are fantastic, and while the graphics are dated, the visual style still holds up to create an atmosphere that has yet to be recreated.
Oh, and two more fairly unheard of classics that both hold special places in my heart; Blood and Beneath a Steel Sky. Blood does a remarkable thing in which we are led to love a protagonist who is literally only slightly less evil than the villain. Not only that, but it has the most amusing (and sadistic) line-up of weapons which the aformentioned protagonist uses with glee on his thousands of victims (I refuse to call them enemies anymore), accompanied by a haunting art style and a disturbing soundtrack.
Beneath a Steel Sky is just good. I can't even put into words why it's good, it just is. I simply cannot think of words that can describe what makes it so good. Oh, and as of recently, it's freeware.
 

BLAHwhatever

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Aug 30, 2011
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Is Mount and Blade old enough to post yet?
Well, anyways. Dungeon Keeper 1 + 2 are the 2 jewels i dig up regularly. I really dont mind the graphics. They just dont matter. Just awesome.
 

Lunar Templar

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Sep 20, 2009
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viking97 said:
the older is the more points you get. have at you!
it hath been brought sir!

Mega Man 2 / Mega Man 3

the 2 best games of the classic franchise, Mega Man 2 refined the formula, and 3 expanded upon what 2 did and pretty much set the standard for the rest of the series

Super Metriod / Symphony of the Night

the gold standards of 2d side scrolling exploration, both these games are well crafted, with dozens of different creatures, memorable bosses and events and VAST worlds to explore (or castles in Castlevania's case) and almost always exploration was rewarded. if press to choose which is better, I'd pick Super Metriod, the pacing of major power ups/gear is better balanced so the game stays reasonably challenging, unlike SotN which has numerous game breaking combos/tricks

Mega Man X

go here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FpigqfcvlM
watch that. its a blue print for how a REAL squeals should be done.

SNES era RPGs (Chrono Trigger, FFVI, Breath of Fire ect)

a case of substance over style (like they had a choice back then XD) pick up pretty much any SNES RPG and you find interesting story's, fun characters, vast explorable worlds with plenty to do along with the story, FFVI is famous for being non linear after the halfway point as an example.

Legend of Zelda : Link to the Past

or :D the game Nintendo has been remaking for YEARS now (get 3 mcguffins, get sword, *event here* get 6-8 more mcguffins, one last dungeon, ganon) but taken on its own its still a solid game, that took LoZ 1s basic set up and honed it to a mirror shine, all while adding tons of new things along the way.

Batman (NES)
best. fucking. movie game. EVER! and its older then most of you reading this. loosely based on the 1989 Batman movie by Tim Berton, it has great music and tight controls, levels where diverse and bosses where, interesting (cause there's no movie boxes in the movie and no one with a jet pack that shoots fire balls) it was pretty tough.

Enihander

Square's side scrolling shooter from the PS1 days. never heard of it? well, here's me pulling you from under your rock. it strays from the basic shooter model by making all the weapons stealable, meaning you had to shoot down or disable (btw, you can cripple some enemy ships as well as destroy them) enemy as steal their weapons, and getting more ammo works along the same principal. the larger enemy up to bosses are 'destructable' meaning as the battle wears on, they show it. you blow off armor, limbs, extra bits, anything part that blinks when hit can be destroyed, which was for me a mind blow and added to the enjoyment. also, had a newgame + sorta feature in that ever weapon captured you could start a fresh game with, along with hidden weapons and unlockable fighters gave this game LOTS of replayability

UN Squadron

another shooter :D this time back to the SNES, this is the 2d shooter, first of all, its non linear, that's right, a 2d shooter where you can PICK what level you wanna go to. that's not all, you have 8-10 (the actual number escapes me atm) diffrent jets to choose from, each for different things, like the A-10 is for anti-ground while the F-14 is mostly air to air, and jet types dictated what weapons you could load on it (the F-14 can't load Napalm and the A-10 is running mostly bomb type weapons) and what extra ability's you have depends on the pilot you picked at the start, like, how quickly you recover from the 'damaged' state, oh, that's the OTHER cool thing about this game, a fucking LIFE BAR. you can still die before its all the way depleted (the damaged state) but there's where the pilots come in, ones for weapons, ones for damage recovery the other is a mix of the 2, giving the player a wealth of options in how they wanna play the game.

and...

that's all I'm gonna post on this :p I'll be here a week other wise
 

Finbark

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Jul 24, 2008
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Shadow of the Colossus by far. Not only is it insanely fun to play, but it gives you a burst of adrenaline just watching someone play it. I'm sure it's been mentioned, but I can't be assed to read more than a few response. Another game that I didn't expect to hold up is Hitman 2. The open endedness is comparable to modern stealth games.
 
Jan 29, 2009
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Basically every SNES game, except for the ones that use that weird "Mode 7" graphics tech, such as Super Mario Kart. Those look like you're driving around on a piece of paper.

Also: Mechwarrior 2, but that's also nostalgia speaking.
 

Elvis Starburst

Unprofessional Rant Artist
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Aug 9, 2011
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I'd say Jet Force Gemini :3 Awesome levels, great weapon library, absolutely wonderful soundtrack, very much one of my fav games of all time~

Edit: I also give Metroid Prime some points :3
 

Smeggs

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Oct 21, 2008
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Kingdom Hearts.

Combat still works totally fine, since most Hack n' Slashers are still basically button-mashing events anwyay. Story is still cool. Graphics not bad. Still all around a fun time.
 

Arnoxthe1

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Dec 25, 2010
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I consider anything before Unreal to be an "old" game. So using my terms, I would have to say Blood.

Using you guys' terms though. Unreal Tournament definitely.
 

lordmardok

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Mar 25, 2010
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Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, intricate story, machiavellian plotting, INCREDIBLY DETAILED CHARACTERS. Yes there were so few character models that if you stuffed each of the different ones into an elevator there would be enough room leftover for the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and there were only like two sets of movements per gender, one for feral crazies and the other for sultry hotties, which is creepy when you're playing a heavy-set black man who sways his hips like a tavern wench.

But this is all you need to know, there is a hot vampire girl in a school girl outfit, and her sister dresses like a librarian/dominatrix. And they are *SPOILER ALERT* the same fucking person.

SUCK THAT MODERN RPG'S!
 

LittleBlondeGoth

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Mar 24, 2011
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Casey Bowen said:
X-com: UFO Defense.

Still to this day one of the best games I have ever played. Why that experience has never been successfully replicated for me is a huge letdown. None of the sequels (not even TFTD). None of the spiritual successors. Certainly not the new one in production.

I still get readdicted to this game every time I pull it out and boot it up. The strategy of building a team, the tactical combat, the struggle to balance your budget while expanding your presence. Which research path to take and when.

X-Com. Hands down.
I'll second that. I spent many an evening in my University student house closeted away with my Amiga and Enemy Unknown. It's still one of the best games I've played. You never knew what was coming at you next, since everything was random. The excitement of discovewring new tech or a new alien. Trying to keep all the countries happy and funding you. And the terror sites... Was there anything worse than finding a terror site full of Chryssalids?

Other than this, I'd also cite:
Final Fantasies VI and VII (I know, I know).
Secret Of Mana.
Speedball II (just because sports games aren't played this way any more, doesn't stop SBII being brilliant.
And a lot of the old platformers, like Rainbow Islands or Zool.

It's not all about graphics for me. Sure, I love a shiny game as much as the next person, but the old stuff still has the power to challenge and engage. So break out your old joysticks. Reckon you're an awesome gamer? Beat Zool with three lives. :)
 

stebsy

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Jul 24, 2011
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Thief 2, for some reason the graphics just havnt aged badly to me as some games from the Xbox generation have.

Also the gameplay is amazing even by todays standards.
 

lRookiel

Lord of Infinite Grins
Jun 30, 2011
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Baldurs gate collection. Possibly because the series was voted greatest game of all time by the industry devs.