Games you wish you'd left in the past...

[Goemon]

I love retro...
Or at least I thought I loved retro...
I have so many fond memories of games I played and loved. I retain a lot of these games for nostaliga and do return to some every now and again.

I played Secret of Mana when it was originally released on the SNES all those years ago. I have so many fond memories of the game; I adored it, in fact I would probably have put it in my top ten games of all time; until a month ago...

I started playing it again recently and I am more than slightly distressed at much I am NOT enjoying the game.

I've just got to the forest of seasons and I've been dumped with no option to rest and restore my party; I have to either keep them alive or bring them to life with a cup of wishes.

I have no magic for the characters so I have to spend 2000GP!! on a fairy walnut if I want to use any magic.

I wandered the seasons getting the sh!t kicked out of me by normal enemies, even tho I have the best armour I can buy only to stumble on a boss fight with both my team dead and me at half health; death comes in 2 hits - all the way back to my last save point.

I do it again, gear myself for the boss and resave before hand. I walk in on the boss, he casts balloon (can't remember the name), I can't move, he jumps all over me - dead

I do it again, my AI teammates get themselves killed and he hits me with level 4 lightning bolt, which takes off more than my maximum health - dead

This kind of thing has happened to me at least 2 more times so far and I'm only 6 hours into the game. The AI is completely useless and gets itself killed, even when I tell them to stay away from things.

This experience has completely marred any nostaliga I had for the game, I have no desire to want to play the game or care if I ever play it again.

Now this isn't a trolling thread, or a ranting thread, TBH it's more a 'completely f**king gutted' thread. I'm now thinking I'm scared to play other retro games because I fear it will shatter illusions I have about games I've loved.

Has anyone else had this with games they held in such high regard only to have their dreams dashed?

One thing that remains constant is that I still adore the music.

[Flabio]

It happens. Some games just don't hold up. It's worse if you've continued to follow gaming, as the contrast between playing a modern game then playing something retro can make the retro title seem a lot worse than it was.

I think I've had this worst with the N64. Games I remember as being outstanding have dated really badly. The framerate in Body Harvest makes it seem barely playable in the era of Just Cause 2, and the controls in Jet Force Gemini seem ridiculously fiddly after a bit of Uncharted.

I have a personal theory that games from the early polygon era have dated far more severely than the sprite based stuff from the generation prior to it.

[Colin]

I've never fallen out of love with my favourite retro games, as I've never had a big enough gap between playing them to stop enjoying them. But I think we've all gone back to some titles and found them not to be as we remembered, it's nothing unusual.

[BigDeadFreak]

I have a personal theory that games from the early polygon era have dated far more severely than the sprite based stuff from the generation prior to it.

Couldn't agree more. Playing Golden Eye is particularly depressing, it must be running at 5 frames per minute at times

[DeathAdder]

Super Hang On for me - purchased it on Wii VC recently, and it's rubbish. I love the version on the GBA Sega compilation, however.

[abigsmurf]

Metroid on the NES

It may have been innovative but it's got some really really horrible design (the pits in particular).

Also, platformers with no air control and/or pixel perfect jumps.

[Grapple Convoy]

I have to agree with the original poster, that Secret of Mana plays like a dog these days. I'm beginning to think that I only liked it back in '94 because the graphics and music were so good, and because of the novelty of having a JRPG released in the west.

[nakamura]

I don't think Mana plays like a dog at all. You just need to spend a little more time in areas and planning what you are doing. You cant just run through as you would be underpowered and will die. The AI is useless mind, it was designed for MP really.

I have played many a 16 bit title lately and not had a single problem with pacing or difficulty. Games are almost structured now so you have to do nothing apart from play each area once and just go right through. Not a bad thing, just a different experience.

[MikeRox]

With the early polygonal games, I class em as the equivalent of the Atari 2600 games for sprite stuff.

Stuff will now age alot more slowly. IMO but yeah some older games I loved and now wonder why. Others like Wave Race 64 are still IMO to be surpassed lol.

[Neon Ignition]

The 32 bit era stuff has struggled a lot with time though I'm finding 128 bit era stuff is aging quite well.

I'd list the walk a long beat em up genre in its entirety for this. Blasphemous to some, these days I find them pretty much void of gameplay going back

[Street Turk]

Any particular fighters spring to mind?

[tokyochojin]

Toshinden.

[smouty]

Truly great games stand up well even today. Link to the past is not a million miles away from Secret of Mana but I can still play through this once a year and Mario 64 even though from the early 3D era is still great.
Most realistic 3d stuff doesn't stand up well and the worst for me was Deus Ex which I wanted to play again but was just so bad looking.
I think titles with a distinct graphical stylisation will fair better in the long term.

[Wools]

It happens. Some games just don't hold up. It's worse if you've continued to follow gaming, as the contrast between playing a modern game then playing something retro can make the retro title seem a lot worse than it was.

I have a personal theory that games from the early polygon era have dated far more severely than the sprite based stuff from the generation prior to it.

I completely agree, it's really when a new generational leap occurs, that you get this occurring.

My first console was the Master System and find that any console or PC released before that point to be pretty difficult to go back to. The Mega Drive & SNES 2D era games are still beautiful to this day but as the 32 bit generation hits, that's where it's somewhat difficult to go back. Some PlayStation games such as Tekken 3, Tomb Raider 2 and especially Resident Evil 2 & Resident Evil 3 look fantastic, with only graphical and controller aging to be seen. With the Dreamcast era, games started to become more solid and they are not only easy to go back too, but sometimes have some touches that still impress upon witnessing them.

Nowadays, there is still some room for improvement, but the vast majority are running Widescreen, HD, with consistent frame rates and beautifully capable engines. Compare the experience of playing Modern Warfare 2 to something like PS1 Medal of Honor to see not only how far we've come, but how stable and playable the game will be for future generations. Not only graphically, but these systems have good controllers, modern conventions such as checkpoints and markers that aid progress, along with many other mod cons that can show up older games with bad movement or signposting.

Oddly, despite same games being difficult to go back to, I can't think of a single favorite game of mine where it's been unplayable. Even Die Hard Trilogy, with its horrible graphic issues and design problems, is brilliant to play with some fantastic over the top effects. I'm sure there's bad games that are really horrible to play, but if I enjoyed it back in the day, the chances are that that I'll enjoy it now.

[nakamura]

My first console was the Master System and find that any console or PC released before that point to be pretty difficult to go back to. The Mega Drive & SNES 2D era games are still beautiful to this day but as the 32 bit generation hits, that's where it's somewhat difficult to go back. Some PlayStation games such as Tekken 3, Tomb Raider 2 and especially Resident Evil 2 & Resident Evil 3 look fantastic, with only graphical and controller aging to be seen. With the Dreamcast era, games started to become more solid and they are not only easy to go back too, but sometimes have some touches that still impress upon witnessing them.

.

This is so true.
Most of my gaming revolves around the 16 and 128 bit eras. The 2D of the SNES and MD is still something to marvel today. Wonderfully clean visuals with some timeless gameplay. The DC and on era is wonderful for more sophisticated 3D and sheer gaming variety.
The 32bit era can still be very nice, perfectly playable too. I find most PS1 games look great on a PSP screen. Overall with the 32bit era as noted the main issue is controls. Tomb Raider is a game that needed analogue. FPS games on console were not always great to control either.