Previous/Post Generation Gaming: Impossible to Enjoy?

[Gruce]

edit; title should be Previous/Pre Generation gaming...

My first console was a Megadrive, and I recently picked up the Megadrive Ultimate collection, and still find games like Sonic very enjoyable and nostaligic. I owned a Playstation, but not a PS2, anyway.

Since I never owned a PS2 I was thinking of picking up some games for the system (I own one now with a few games) but have been told that by modern day standards the games look/play so badly that it isn't even worth it.

What's your experience or views on the Playstation, N64, Dreamcast & PS2 generation, if you never played them first time round do the games still have enough going for them to make them enjoyable to play today?

[speedlolita]

Whoever told you they look and play badly is wrong.

PlayStation, N64 and Saturn was one gen, PS2, DC, GC and Xbox was another.

I think as long as you're open minded you'll enjoy a game you haven't played before as much now as you would have way back when.

If you haven't played the first Metal Gear Solid for example - I'd strongly recommend it.

[JazzFunk]

I think *some* 3D PS1/Saturn games can look a little shocking these days (mainly framerate issues) but quality titles mainly stand the test of time. Don't get me wrong, Resi 1 is looking a little doddery, but take time to adjust and it's still the great, scary experience it always was.

As for PS2, no way does it make a difference. I've been playing Time Crisis 2 this eve, and it's an incredible looking/playing game, and stuff like the God Of War games betters a lot of next gen stuff in terms of gameplay and graphical artistry/imagination. It takes a lot of effort to make a great looking, great playing game on any system, and the titles that manage that usually stand the test of time.

But, yes, there's always gonna be runts like Godai: Elemental Force, but there're reasons they're only 80p in CEX...

[CMcK]

I find that jerky 3d games on the PlayStation and Saturn can be improved by using the motion smoothing modes some TV's have. I know that some people are sensitive to the lag this can introduce but I can't say I notice and find it to be worth it.
2d games look fine even now. It's weird as you would think they would date more readily but I personally don't think so. Probably down to the art style and some 3d titles being low polygon and low resolution textures.
Playing titles of that vintage on a HD Ready / Full HD LCD TV via scart doesn't look too hot though. Best to use a CRT TV for older systems if you can.
PS2 games look fine compared to the present generation of consoles. Plenty of good looking stuff there and the option to use component output helps as well.

[Flabio]

Top end PS2 stuff still doesn't look all that much worse than a lot of current gen games.

[smouty]

Top end PS2 stuff still doesn't look all that much worse than a lot of current gen games.

No but a lot below that is pretty rough unless you are a fan of various shades of brown
As said though any games with a unique art style such as Ico (terribly low res NTSC), REZ, Gitaroo Man or Katamari Damacy along with the various GH and Singstar titles have aged quite well.
Burnout 3 is still awesome on PS2 or Xbox1

So I will vote no. Older games are not impossible to enjoy.

[chocklo]

Some dreamcast games are still comparable with current gen iterations. Take virtua tennis for example. There really wasnt much improvement in terms of graphics and smoothness in vt3 and vt2009. 2d fighters and 2d shmups are arguably better on the dc.

Horses for courses I guess. The dc wont be able to match current gen for some of the 3d shooters/ driving games. But, games like msr and mdk2? (some may disagree on the latter - but i loved it!!) are still way off being considered unplayable.

[Phar]

As for PS2, no way does it make a difference. I've been playing Time Crisis 2 this eve, and it's an incredible looking/playing game, and stuff like the God Of War games betters a lot of next gen stuff in terms of gameplay and graphical artistry/imagination. It takes a lot of effort to make a great looking, great playing game on any system, and the titles that manage that usually stand the test of time.

Agreed, I came to the PS2 fairly late as I was still heavily into Dreamcast collecting at the time, played on friends systems but didn't own one until San Andreas came out, didn't play too much after that other than Ryu Ga Gotoku 1&2 and Initial D so I've missed out on a lot.

Over the last year or so I've been picking up a few dirt cheap titles and it's overwhelming the amount of great stuff on that system that still hold up well even today.

Recently been playing Rygar which looks incredible for a 2002 title and amazingly playable even now, it's as entertaining as anything I've played this gen.

[J0e Musashi]

The PS2 has the best line-up of games evar IMO.

[Kron]

Shame about the crappy hardware

I think people would really have to find videogames disposable to not enjoy what came out 10+ years ago, I still enjoy whats on the NES to be honest.

[Wools]

I'm quite happy with the era I was born into, as from a Videogame perspective, I grew up with 2D only games, witnessed the birth of 3D and Online, looked to the Arcade as a barometer of what's to come in the home and above all, just had bloody good fun through all the periods and transitions the industry has gone through.

I feel that that has made me more tolerant to experiencing change yet I'm very nostalgic to my past.

Almost all the 2D stuff, post Master System, will barely age and only the connection to a modern Monitor or HDTV will hamper it. However early 3D is more troublesome with some brilliant games such as Sega Rally, Perfect Dark and others now showing their age and more prone to disappointment when I used to load them back up to play. Besides early examples, Metal Gear Solid, Mario 64, and Zelda are not only all perfectly playable but due to strong art design or technical power, they're still great to look at and play.

That 16bit to 64bit era is the most shaky to go back and play now but anything after the Dreamcast is pretty much as good as today. The only points you'll have to watch out for are games with frame rate problems, widescreen support and of course the reason this website was set up to fight against, sub standard PAL 50hz ports to Europe and beyond.

For the PS2 there are numerous games that are worth a gander. My picks would be Metal Gear Solid 3, Silent Hill 2, Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, Ico, Okami, SSX 3, Tomb Raider Anniversary and Burnout 2.

There's no question the games have aged and been superseded by the current generation, but in a lot of cases, the games still look and sound beautiful and have not been beaten by anything the modern consoles can output.

[speedlolita]

The PS2 has the best line-up of games evar IMO.

Agreed.

[Legendary Wolf]

To answer your question, certainly not. A good game is a good game, regardless of when it was released. It may not be as groundbreaking or look as smart as when it was first came out but you can still get a lot of enjoyment out of them. If a game was very playable then it will stand the test of time, I still like to play Street Fighter 2, 2D Sonic games, Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat and I dig out the Spectrum from time to time.

Younger gamers who have only been playing this gen or last gen probably won't appreciate older games as much as those that experienced them at the time.

Early 3D games from the Jaguar/Saturn/PS1/N64 generation do suffer a little compared to current systems as the tech was in it's infancy. 2D games hold up better as the explosion of 3D gaming led to less 2D titles being produced and as a result the format hasn't really evolved much since the 32-bit era.

I have been pleasantly surprised at how well the Dreamcast has held up in the 10 years since its release. 3D games had been around for a while and the tech was powerful enough to give much better quality games. With 480p VGA output on the DC it does a very good job at looking pseudo HD and really extends the longevity of the console.

The Saturn has excellent image quality over RGB, and appears sharper than the DC through RGB. This is great for 2D sprite based games as they look incredibly clear but 3D games appear rougher around the edges. Luckily I sit about 11 feet from my screen so it's not as noticeable. Anything that uses composite or plugs directly into the ariel socket will look very poor now unless its connected to a CRT.

To Chocklo, I actually prefer MSR on the Dreamcast to PGR1 on the xbox. Despite the better graphics* and sound I didn't like the way it handled and only PGR 4 has surpassed it for me in the series.

* I say better graphics, they were certainly clearer and ran at a much higher framerate with great reflections but I preferred the DC night time effects. It looked more detailed and realistic and had great lighting effects. PGR looked flat and almost cartoony by comparison and there were way too many black areas where you couldn't see much of the road and ended up hitting the barriers.