Amazing games that aged horribly?

Started by cdtm3 pages
Originally posted by NemeBro
Super Mario 64 and Morrowind off the top of my head.

Agreed, perfect examples of terrible games that aged terribly.

Okay. I'll say it.

Metroid. The original one. On NES.

Ironically, it's almost a victim of its own success. The Metroid games helped create the sub-genre, but also helped evolve the genre so much that the original game feels really bad to play now.

It's available with my Switch Online membership, and I'm playing it more for historical curiosity than actual fun. I stick with it because the emulator Nintendo uses lets you rewind frames and save your game state so you don't have to re-do stuff. It's actually quite excruciating otherwise tbh.

If you want to play an older Metroid and have actual fun, go play Fusion or something.

Originally posted by StyleTime
Okay. I'll say it.

Metroid. The original one. On NES.

Ironically, it's almost a victim of its own success. The Metroid games helped create the sub-genre, but also helped evolve the genre so much that the original game feels really bad to play now.

It's available with my Switch Online membership, and I'm playing it more for historical curiosity than actual fun. I stick with it because the emulator Nintendo uses lets you rewind frames and save your game state so you don't have to re-do stuff. It's actually quite excruciating otherwise tbh.

If you want to play an older Metroid and have actual fun, go play Fusion or something.

I'll be honest, I NEVER found Metroid 1 good.

Why would I want to get lost on scavenger hunts when I could be playing Super Mario Bros, Master Blaster, or Megaman?

I think Hollow Knight is good in spite of being a Metroidvania, not because of it. It avoids all the pitfalls by making areas less labyrinthine, has plenty of interesting and diverse bosses to focus on, and for the most part avoids ohscure hiding places (Until they gave us Godmaster, how the heck did they ever expect anyone to assume a ceiling is breakable when that has never ever been a thing?)

Ok, enoughs enough. Many of these games were never great even in their day, imo. (Morrowwind, blech)

I'm going to suggest some genuine classics that ages horribly.

Wing Commander Privateer. Wing Commander mixed with Elite, what's not to love?

Ironically, Elite aged a lot better, I can play that today and it feels less dated.

System Shock 1. Ground breaking for its day, and was still very fun in 2001. But its unquestionably aged horribly in all ways, from combat mechanics to interface to the visuals and environmental design..

Marathon. Sorry fans, you can tout its better physics engine, weapon selection, AI or whatever, it is nearly impossible to enjoy these days compared to Doom. It's not even close.

Don't feel like making a thread for this but if you want an old game that's aged very gracefully, track down the freely available Terrafire, and set up Dosbox, and get a gamepad.

It's essentially a souped up Thrust game where you fly a little ship through these environments looking for a bomb to drag into space. And it is AWESOME. Beautifully pixel sprite animations, beautiful environments, plays like a dream.

Really a one of a kind game, no one makes Thrust games anymore.

Originally posted by NemeBro
Super Mario 64 and Morrowind off the top of my head.
IDK about that

I played morrowind for the first time about a year ago. It's now my favorite ES. I know that sounds hipster/ES retard elitist as hell, but the world design and the using directions to find your way around was fantastic. The writing was great. So were the magic builds and stats (though this was kind of broken).

Skyrim was magical my first time since that's where I started, but the world design and story/writing was boring as hell.

EDIT: Also I played with graphics mods which could be cheating.

Originally posted by cdtm
I'll be honest, I NEVER found Metroid 1 good.

Why would I want to get lost on scavenger hunts when I could be playing Super Mario Bros, Master Blaster, or Megaman?

I think Hollow Knight is good in spite of being a Metroidvania, not because of it. It avoids all the pitfalls by making areas less labyrinthine, has plenty of interesting and diverse bosses to focus on, and for the most part avoids ohscure hiding places (Until they gave us Godmaster, how the heck did they ever expect anyone to assume a ceiling is breakable when that has never ever been a thing?)


Well, I disagree on that. Hollow Knight's level design is the standard level of labyrinthine for the genre, and plenty of games have interesting bosses. It's not quite Axiom Verge levels of simping for Samus, but Hollow Knight definitely followed the Metroidvania formula. That was part of the appeal though. It's not Dead Cells or Shantae: 1/2 Genie Hero, where they kinda straddle genre lines.

Granted, I think Axiom Verge is a bit overrated too. Good game, but some folks go bonkers over it. And the main character still looks like a douche. 👆

Originally posted by cdtm
Ok, enoughs enough. Many of these games were never great even in their day, imo. (Morrowwind, blech

Nah, Metroid 1 was considered spectacular in its day, and still holds onto its classic status for the most part. I totally understand how it was great in 1986. It entered uncharted territory and I respect it for that, but I just think it aged terribly. We don't even need super modern references to make it seem dated. Metroid: Fusion, Prime, and Zero Mission are all ~ 20 years old and are better experiences.

To be fair though, they sort of admitted this with Zero Mission, since it's a remake of the first game. If you want to experience the story of Metroid 1 without wanting to blow your brains out, just play Zero Mission tbh.

Originally posted by cdtm
Don't feel like making a thread for this but if you want an old game that's aged very gracefully, track down the freely available Terrafire, and set up Dosbox, and get a gamepad.

It's essentially a souped up Thrust game where you fly a little ship through these environments looking for a bomb to drag into space. And it is AWESOME. Beautifully pixel sprite animations, beautiful environments, plays like a dream.

Really a one of a kind game, no one makes Thrust games anymore.


That might actually be an interesting thread. There are some games that did age well. I can already think of a few off the top of my head.

GoldenEye is probably the quintessential example.

I busted out my 360 a couple years ago and played Gears of War 1 with a younger cousin and I was amazed at how clunky the controls felt (and also how ugly it was). This is a game that was renowned at release for revolutionizing the TPS genre and setting a new standard for graphical fidelity.

Early 360 and PS3 games are like that.

I remember feeling the same way about Killzone 2 and early Resistance games. I'm not sure what it is but its all brown and fuzzy....

After replaying the first FEAR game...and some of the earlier FPS, you notice the lack of objects in the game. For instance, office buildings are filled with cubes but they have like 1 PC, monitor and a phone...while newer games would have like pencils, pens, and 100's of other objects.

And then you notice the textures are very basic and repeatable...

Yeah, Gears 2 and 3 are a major upgrade.

I still think Halo 3 looks good, and that was early 360.

I always felt Halo world and atmosphere incredibly fake. I always felt the games were just a series of areas designed to maximum gameplay.

While Gears always felt it was about world building and ensuring the areas you fight in are "realistic".

Both approaches are OK and not a criticism but when I played Halo on the PC when it came out...it was after play Doom 3 and Half Life 2 and the difference between how those games created atmosphere and immersion is a stark contrast to Halo.

Well personally I enjoyed the Gears and Halos more then I am Borderlands right now.

Or even Destiny 2.

The trouble with looter shooters is your loot expires way too fast, and the grind feels like artificial difficulty after awhile.

Bully Remastered for the Xbox, it's a good game I genuinely enjoyed it, but now those 'alt' kids are making edits of Gary (because he has, according to them, a 'god complex), and just saying they relate to him and that they'd do what he did; Or just trying to make themselves look edgy and cool. It's just weird, and corny.

I don't know I just feel like it should've been loved for the game itself, and maybe even Jimmy, Jimmy gets no attention and he was the main character lmao.

Yes, I get to a point where a loot shooter gets to the "artificial grind".

But I do enjoy them and I like going through loot shooters campaigns when they are done well. There is dopamine hit when you get good loot.

I'm playing Outriders right now with friends and I literally got 3 awesome items and yeah, that's why you play it.

The Pre Sequel has a terrible sell system which doesn't help.

It wholesale sells everything, unless you favorite it. And its really easy to accidentally unfavorite, say, an awesome rocket launcher, as I did.

Originally posted by Smasandian
Yes, I get to a point where a loot shooter gets to the "artificial grind".

But I do enjoy them and I like going through loot shooters campaigns when they are done well. There is dopamine hit when you get good loot.

I'm playing Outriders right now with friends and I literally got 3 awesome items and yeah, that's why you play it.

Oh wow, Outriders looks awesome. Way better then BL3.

Surprised it has such middling reviews. And from the guys who made Bulletstorm too, no wonder its so good.

Its not that good......

Its fun but its pretty damn janky. I wouldn't buy it but Im playing it by using Game Pass.

I generally don't go back and play old games so can't really think of any.

One I can think of though is Golden Eye. The controls aren't really good anymore and the story isn't really that gripping.

I dare say people only really play it anymore for the nostalgia of it.

Originally posted by Newjak
I generally don't go back and play old games so can't really think of any.

One I can think of though is Golden Eye. The controls aren't really good anymore and the story isn't really that gripping.

I dare say people only really play it anymore for the nostalgia of it.

Can't really blame the controls on Goldeneye. The N64 was a nightmare when it came to controller ergonomics and button layouts.

Three prongs. D-Pad and L Trigger on the left prong. Joystick and start button in front of the main prong and the Z button on the back. Face buttons(A+B) and C buttons on the right prong with the right trigger on that side.

I cant name how many different positions I had to put my hands in because of different gameplay controls and mechanics on that system.