The Good Old Days

[D.C.]

Just came across this article on digg.com

SNES-As good as it's going to get

Clearly most people on this forum still enjoy playing these 'oldskool' games.
But how many find the same fufillment from playing the nextgen games?
Most new games I play these days, I loose interest after a couple of days.
The best time I had playing games was back at the beginning of the 90' when I discovered the NES and played games all day with my friends. It was also great finding people with other games and exchanging cartridges, thus making new friends.

So, what's your opinion on this?

(Although this article is in favor of the SNES as the best console ever, it is not the intention of this topic to provoke flames about this, so please no flaming each other)

 

[Vimacs]

i would choose a snes over any "next gen" console.
well, maybe apart from rev if it holds what it promises.

 

[RiX0R]

I feel the same way, but I wonder whether it's because games today suck, or just because I was a more impressionable youth back then :unsure:.

 

[D.C.]

Imperssionability does play a role indeed. For example, when I loaded "Star Fox" on SNES emu a while back, I was disappointed by the "bad" graphics it had, because in my head I remembered it looking way better. . But despite this, the great gameplay of these games make me coming back for more.

 

[grahf]

My SNES stays hooked up 90% of the time, which is more than any of my current gen systems. I would say that i have the strongest memories of NES games, but still prefer SNES. Its just a great system. Kind of like a classic car that never goes out of style, despite not being latest tech.

 

[Ravnos]

Sometimes I feel the same way, but I attribute this more to nostalgia than the quality of the games. There were a lot of really shitty games for the SNES and Genesis and a lot of people forget that. Most of my all-time favourite games came out on current or last-gen systems, so I don't think that the SNES is as good as we're going to get. To continue grahf's car analogy, the SNES is like a 1967 Corvette with a 427, and the newer consoles are a brand new Z06. The new Vette makes more power, gets better gas mileage, handles better, has a smoother ride, is more comfortable, etc. It basically does everything better than the classic, but a lot of people would still pick the '67 because it's got a certain style and it represents for them a certain time that they would like to return to.

 

[diablo2]

You have to remember tons of SNES games sucked. But it had great ones also. This is true for every console. The only thing that I didn't like about the ps2 xbox gamecube generation was the lack of good platformers. In my mind, that good games from this generation though are equally as fun and engaging as those from SNES.

 

[daclassicgamingmaster]

I currently have 7 consoles hooked up to a 24 inch flat screen and the snes is one of them. I think it's one of my top 2 fav consoles (1st the snes and then the ps2 cuz I like many of it's games). I've spent more hours with that console on than I have hair in my head. And im not bald :rolleyes:

 

[Fishbong]

Just came across this article on digg.com

SNES-As good as it's going to get

Clearly most people on this forum still enjoy playing these 'oldskool' games.
But how many find the same fufillment from playing the nextgen games?
Most new games I play these days, I loose interest after a couple of days.
The best time I had playing games was back at the beginning of the 90' when I discovered the NES and played games all day with my friends. It was also great finding people with other games and exchanging cartridges, thus making new friends.

So, what's your opinion on this?

(Although this article is in favor of the SNES as the best console ever, it is not the intention of this topic to provoke flames about this, so please no flaming each other)

​

That´s a sign that you´ve grown up.
You play the classics out of nostalgia, but can´t get into the new ones.
Face it, your interests and hobbies change once you get older.

 

[darkman]

I think there were some really great games on the SNES that just hasn't been beat or topped yet. I still go back and play Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, Donkey Kong Country, Axley, Super R-type, Space Mega Force, and Super Metroid. Even in this current generation of games, I have yet to find any as satisfying as some of these old games.

edit: And I just can't forget or stop going back and playing Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, and well I'm playing Final Fantasy 2 right now. For me it is in the certain quality that the games have. There is nothing nostalgic about it for me, nor was I young and impressionable back then. (I was married and had a toddler. Still married. Toddler has grown up.) I do like cartooning and art. Maybe it is the hand drawn graphics that are a pull for me. No, I think there is a quality there that needs to be studied by the present game designers. I think this is part of the present day interest in retro gaming.

 

[nickspoon]

The upshot of all this is that one day, I'll look back at the PS2 and think how much the graphics sucked... yet still play it due to nostalgia and the fact I can't get enough of We Love Katamari.

 

[diablo2]

whats this in our right hand?
oh look its a katamari!

 

[Ravnos]

Ok, I finally got around to actually reading this article and it's total garbage. It reads like a 14-year-old's English essay and does little to back itself up besides post the author's opinion. There are a lot of valid complaints about modern gaming, but a) for the most part they've always been true and B) even when this guy is right he does nothing to really support his arguments. This is nothing but masturbatory nostalgia.

 

[grahf]

I think there were some really great games on the SNES that just hasn't been beat or topped yet. I still go back and play Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, Donkey Kong Country, Axley, Super R-type, Space Mega Force, and Super Metroid. Even in this current generation of games, I have yet to find any as satisfying as some of these old games.

edit: And I just can't forget or stop going back and playing Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, and well I'm playing Final Fantasy 2 right now. For me it is in the certain quality that the games have. There is nothing nostalgic about it for me, nor was I young and impressionable back then. (I was married and had a toddler. Still married. Toddler has grown up.) I do like cartooning and art. Maybe it is the hand drawn graphics that are a pull for me. No, I think there is a quality there that needs to be studied by the present game designers. I think this is part of the present day interest in retro gaming.

​

That sums it up very well for me. There is a little nostalgia involved for me, but its mostly as you say it.

 

[diablo2]

masturbatory nostalgia

​

:blink:

 

[Goity]

It reads like a 14-year-old's English essay

​

HUH!


And everyone knows that the PSx is like, well good and proper and da best.

 

[shinneri]

I didn't read the article, but I think it has 100% to do with the person and his or her prefences. For me, the "good old days" were my Dreamcast. I've been a gamer since the Atari 2600, MS-DOS, and NES, but I've never felt so attached to a console (before or after) as I did the Dreamcast.

There's plenty of shovelware in every generation of gaming, and there are plenty of greats in each, too.

 

[Mosch]

I haven't read the article, but I have to admit that currently my SNES is still my favourite console. There are so many memories connected to it it's almost sickening. Also, when it came out, it was somethign shiny and new. Look at this, you plug it into the TV, and when you press buttons, something happens on it! It was a pretty new thing that everyone could have this at home and play a game on his tv whenever he liked. Many consoles predate the SNES, I know, but this was the one that started it for me.
It had the tingle of something new, and now when I play with it I feel the same.
The current generation consoles are meh. What's so special about it, digital eyelash rendering and anti-aliased buttcracks? It's still the same basic principle - it is a normal thing now, nothing special anymore. They are basically still "my SNES" with better graphics.
Now the DS on the other hand... this little thing opened up touch screen gaming to the public. Look here, I can actually drag this little rifleman from here to here and he goes therew! It's something special again and I have to admit it's the first console in a long time that makes me feel like a little boy again. It's once again something new.

Ahem. Well, bottom point is, nowadays video games are such a normal thing that there is no "thrill of the new" anymore. Better graphics do not change anything - sure, games are still fun, but they do not have this.... flair anymore.

 

[Radio]

When I got one of those old Pong tv consoles I thought it was brilliant, I couldn't imagine the things games had instore for the future.

When I first got my monochrome Game Boy and played Tetris 'till my eyes went red and I went to bed with images of different shaped blocks burnt on my brain I thought it can't get any better than this.

Then along came the SNES and I played Super Mario World, Yoshis Island, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and more for days on end and I thought it can't get any better than this.

Then the Color Game Boy came along and I played Pokemon for hours upon hours and discovered the world of Zelda and Final Fantasy and I thought it can't get any better than this.

One Xmas my partner and I brought home a shiny new N64 and Super Mario 64 and played and played until we had collected all 120 stars. We battled each other on Mario Kart 64 and Golden Eye and played the best of what Rare had to offer and thought it can't get any better than this.

I bought my first PC and spent many nights keeping those damn Sims alive and keeping their jobs, discovering the BBS and spending almost as much time on the forums as I did on the game and thought it can't get any better than this.

Then I bought a PSOne and played DDR 'till my legs could take no more. Raced on Gran Turismo 2 and got to grips with Final Fantasy VII and thought it can't get any better than this.

Now I'm spoilt for choice with pc/gp32 emulation for the great games of the past and the choice of buying new consoles today.
Mario Kart on the DS, Sims 2 on the pc and I'm looking forward to Zelda on the Gamecube at the end of the year. I'm also enjoying the Dreamcast back catalogue and I'm seeking out the best games for the console.

I remember the SNES/GB era fondly because it came at a time when I was growing up and had plenty of free time in which to play the great games of the time but surely with all of this choice we have today it can't get any better than this?

 

[rokdcasbah]

I haven't read the article, but I have to admit that currently my SNES is still my favourite console. There are so many memories connected to it it's almost sickening. Also, when it came out, it was somethign shiny and new. Look at this, you plug it into the TV, and when you press buttons, something happens on it! It was a pretty new thing that everyone could have this at home and play a game on his tv whenever he liked. Many consoles predate the SNES, I know, but this was the one that started it for me.
It had the tingle of something new, and now when I play with it I feel the same.
The current generation consoles are meh. What's so special about it, digital eyelash rendering and anti-aliased buttcracks? It's still the same basic principle - it is a normal thing now, nothing special anymore. They are basically still "my SNES" with better graphics.
Now the DS on the other hand... this little thing opened up touch screen gaming to the public. Look here, I can actually drag this little rifleman from here to here and he goes therew! It's something special again and I have to admit it's the first console in a long time that makes me feel like a little boy again. It's once again something new.

Ahem. Well, bottom point is, nowadays video games are such a normal thing that there is no "thrill of the new" anymore. Better graphics do not change anything - sure, games are still fun, but they do not have this.... flair anymore.

​

yeah there is something to be said for the basic thrill of connecting some sort of real world movement with a coordinated movement on the screen. i got "that feeling" again playing warioware twisted...like i was constantly amazed just at the fact that the screen was responding to my movements. then i thought, "this is no different than hitting buttons, other than the fact that i've grown accustomed to hitting buttons". gives me a little hope for the nintendo revolution.