Retro games discussion.

[MacLovin]

Just thought we ought to have a topic devoted to "retro games" in general.

Anyways, it seems that many of those old games have deceptive difficulty levels at times.

[Looking at you NES Ninja Gaiden.] Not to mention many of them are loved and hold special places in our gaming memories. Jumpstart, Cluefinders, Math Blaster, and Reader Rabbit.

Are Chrono Trigger or Ocarina of Time considered works of art yet?

To be honest, I'm stuck in a place where the general opinion is that old games are lame and CoD/Halo are the shit because of the cool graphics and for being hardcore.

I kinda remember stuff from when I was 3-5 years old and enjoying an n64 game involving a squirrel and throwing toilet paper into a giant brown thing. Any idea on what game that was?

Edited June 21, 2013 by Aquaman

[Chiki]

Not according to Roger Ebert.

[shroudening]

reader rabbit was the shit

I play more old games than I do new. In fact, there are many games that I just completely missed that I have decided to go back to. For one thing, I've never played a final fantasy game before, so I decided to get the original NES game. I had no idea how to equip weapons and somehow managed to defeat the first boss with my bare fists.

Generally speaking, I find older games to be more of a challenge, and thus a lot more fun to play.

[ShinKuma]

Retro games you say? Well how about Marble Madness, Contra, Vectorman, Bubsy, or hell even Quest 64 I feel those hold a spot to me for being games not fully hard but fun nonetheless.

Edited June 22, 2013 by Blazing_Soul

[MacLovin]

Retro games you say? Well how about Marble Madness, Contra, Vectorman, Bugsby, or hell even Quest 64 I feel those hold a spot to me for being games not fully hard but fun nonetheless.

Bubsy?

Wonder why the DKC games got pulled off of the Virtual Console though.

[Siruppercut]

Just thought we ought to have a topic devoted to "retro games" in general.

Anyways, it seems that many of those old games have deceptive difficulty levels at times.

[Looking at you NES Ninja Gaiden.] Not to mention many of them are loved and hold special places in our gaming memories. Jumpstart, Cluefinders, Math Blaster, and Reader Rabbit.

Are Chrono Trigger or Ocarina of Time considered works of art yet?

To be honest, I'm stuck in a place where the general opinion is that old games are lame and CoD/Halo are the shit because of the cool graphics and for being hardcore.

I kinda remember stuff from when I was 3-5 years old and enjoying an n64 game involving a squirrel and throwing toilet paper into a giant brown thing. Any idea on what game that was?

I enjoy playing older games over the newer games. I haven't bought a new game console since the PS2. Finding a unique looking game on a new generation console is nearly impossible now days. More like 2D games are non existant. Every gaming company is so much into making the games look visually appealing and in 3D full of cutscenes. I loved the artwork of Dragon Quest VIII using cel-shadings but seeing another RPG like that on a PS3 or PS4 isn't likely.

I grew up in the 8 bit era. None of my friends enjoy CoD, Halo, or GoW. Maybe it's just the generation you grew up in.

I don't find most older games to be harder in difficulty then the newer games. Newer games giving you infinite continues or having save areas way too frequent just dumb down the games difficulty.

Forgot to mention there is a remake of Ninja Gaiden on the PC Engine. I like the remake much better. It's not just a graphic improvement but the bosses were much more challenging on the PC Engine.

Edited June 21, 2013 by Siruppercut

[cyron]

I like older games, a bit because I'm a collector and i want to have the whole series, and play them all, but i also find them, more enjoyable a lot of the time, i dont know why

[Knight]

CoD/Halo are the shit because of the cool graphics and for being hardcore.

Ironic thing is, Halo 1 had terrible graphics and it's the best one.

There are many good games in the past, but there are a lot of crap games too. Those great ones we remember from the good old days were only about 5-10%, and the rest were crap. A lot like today, we only get a 5-10% of good games, and the rest, bleh.

BTW, the game you're talking about is Conker's Bad Fur Day, if you were wondering.

Edited June 21, 2013 by Knight

[ShinKuma]

Bubsy?

Wonder why the DKC games got pulled off of the Virtual Console though.

Thanks for the fix I just had a lot of fun with older games I think back on a hard game I played and Sector Z comes to my mind. I think I never beat that game and I started coming in loops on it. Oh and bubble bobble was one of my all time favorites to play.

[Constable Reggie]

Not according to Roger Ebert.

Well, he's dead. Coincidence?

Think about that for a minute.

Out of the two most significant games of my childhood with an nes, SMB3 holds a special place in my heart for being awesome when I was a kid. Conversely, Metal Gear was awful and should have never existed.

[ShinKuma]

Was Metal Gear really that bad to play?

[Constable Reggie]

Yes. It's only exacerbated when you're a 7-8 year old kid.

[MacLovin]

To be fair, I wonder what playing on a turbografx-16 was like.

And if the Bonk games were any good.

[Steampunk]

To be fair, Roger Ebert brings up one good point: why do gamers care if people consider video games an art form? Why not just enjoy them?

Anyway, I think my all-time favorite retro game (and honestly, still my favorite game even considering modern titles) is Super Metroid. It's been a little defanged now with the internet having maps and video demos of different tricks...but playing this game as a kid on the SNES with no Metroid Wiki or Gamefaqs, you felt lost and alone in a strange world with nothing but your arm cannon and a lot of unfriendly critters to keep you company. What amazes me is how much sequence breaking you can do in this game without actually glitching or hacking. It's almost like the developers knew people wouldn't know where the hell to go, so they made it so you could get places you weren't "supposed" to be as if challenge gamers to experiment with playing out of sequence. It's like they were saying "Yeah, that ledge is too high up for you to reach by just jumping...but what if you tried that wall jump or shinespark trick we showed you earlier?" or "You really should have the grapple beam to get over there; but then again, you also have the ice beam and there are some flying enemies you could use as platforms..." I loved that, even though there was a correct route, the game gave you the skills and opportunity to find your own through. A lot of people debate whether the SM devs intended for sequence breaking. I honestly don't see how anyone can say they didn't.

Anyway, enough of my nostalgic ramblings...

Edited June 22, 2013 by Sheik

[Siruppercut]

Thanks for the fix I just had a lot of fun with older games I think back on a hard game I played and Sector Z comes to my mind. I think I never beat that game and I started coming in loops on it. Oh and bubble bobble was one of my all time favorites to play.

I remember playing Section Z as a kid. That game was rediculously hard. I should pick up all the games I was never able to finish when I was a kid and try to complete them all. I have a top loader NES. Just need to find the games at a resonable price.

To be fair, I wonder what playing on a turbografx-16 was like.

And if the Bonk games were any good.

I didn't like the Bonk series except Air Zonk which is a SHMUP game. Should check out Ootake which is my favorite PC Engine Emulator. Not sure what types of game you enjoy. TG-16 lacks RPG or SRPG games but has a lot of good SHMUP games.

[ShinKuma]

Turbograpghix 16 was very interesting to play my cousin had one and boy was that an interesting series to play. Sadly I don't remember squat about the games now. Excitebike was so fun back in the day, so was Spy Hunter and man I hated playing Knight Rider on the NES it was fun but something didn't sit with me on that game. I'm sure that their was a game called Snake Rattle n Roll for the NES or something like that. I remember good times on that game as well. Salamander AKA Life Force was a good one to play also. Did someone say Battletoads Double Dragon because I think that was pretty good as well.

[Siruppercut]

Turbograpghix 16 was very interesting to play my cousin had one and boy was that an interesting series to play. Sadly I don't remember squat about the games now. Excitebike was so fun back in the day, so was Spy Hunter and man I hated playing Knight Rider on the NES it was fun but something didn't sit with me on that game. I'm sure that their was a game called Snake Rattle n Roll for the NES or something like that. I remember good times on that game as well. Salamander AKA Life Force was a good one to play also. Did someone say Battletoads Double Dragon because I think that was pretty good as well.

I didn't like Life Force on the NES but I enjoyed playing Life Force at the Arcades or Salamander on the PC Engine. The PC Engine aka TG-16 port of the game has a awesome soundtrack.

Some of the TG-16 games I enjoyed as a kid Keith Courage, Blazing Lazers aka Gunhead, Dragons Curse aka Wonder Boy III Dragons Trap, Dragon Spirit, Ninja Spirit, The Legendary Axe, Dungeon Explorer, Double Dungeons, Neutopia, Military Madness aka Nectaris, Bloody Wolf, Fantasy Zone, and R-Type. I knew 2 other friends who owned a TG-16 and we would all buy different games and borrow the games from each other. Also my friend owned a turbo tap and we played Dungeon Explorer 4 player mode which was so much fun but made the game harder sharing lives.

I managed to find Batman NES at a garage sale. One of the games I never beat as a kid. Going to attempt to go through the game.

I just steam rolled through Batman. Took me under 30 minutes to beat. I don't know how I wasn't able to beat this game as a kid but can beat harder games like Ghost 'n Goblins and Blaster Master. Loved the stage 1 music.

Edited June 22, 2013 by Siruppercut

[Zera]

I have found that buying older games used online is often 50-70% cheaper than buying new games of the same quality.

Currently I'm playing F-Zero GX for Gamecube which I just got, and it's pretty insane.

Edited June 23, 2013 by Zera

[Big Daddv]

I kinda remember stuff from when I was 3-5 years old and enjoying an n64 game involving a squirrel and throwing toilet paper into a giant brown thing. Any idea on what game that was?

I think that might be Conker's Bad Fur Day. If it is, that "giant brown thing" is a big ol' pile of singing shit.

I have found that buying older games used online is often 50-70% cheaper than buying new games of the same quality.

Currently I'm playing F-Zero GX for Gamecube which I just got, and it's pretty insane.

Yeah, I loved that game. It gets pretty hard on the higher difficulties. I was pretty devastated when my little sister deleted everything on one of my memory cards. On purpuse. Like a bitch.

[Rapier]

Just thought we ought to have a topic devoted to "retro games" in general.

Anyways, it seems that many of those old games have deceptive difficulty levels at times.

If you mean they are easier in your opinion, then you probably haven't played the NES/SNES Castlevanias, or Megaman, or Return of the Shinobi. Well, Megaman was tricky and frustrating sometimes but not so hard, but the other two were pretty hardcore.

[Siruppercut]

If you mean they are easier in your opinion, then you probably haven't played the NES/SNES Castlevanias, or Megaman, or Return of the Shinobi. Well, Megaman was tricky and frustrating sometimes but not so hard, but the other two were pretty hardcore.

Megaman X series was more challenging at least for me. Most of the Castlevania games were easy. As a kid Castlevania and Castlevania 3 was challenging but I just played them recently and breezed through both games. I remember the first time I fought the Grim Reaper on Castlevania and the game froze. Love the music for the Grim Reaper stage. I beat Shinobi on the Sega Master System but never beat the Arcade version, the Revenge of Shinobi on the Genesis, and Shinobi III Return of the Ninja Master PS2.

I finished Rush 'n Attack and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles today. 2 more games that I was never able to beat as a kid. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles took me almost all day having to restart the game when running out of continues.

[ShinKuma]

Limited tries makes games interesting. Trying ghouls n goblins was quite a work on that note.

[Rapier]

Megaman X series was more challenging at least for me. Most of the Castlevania games were easy. As a kid Castlevania and Castlevania 3 was challenging but I just played them recently and breezed through both games. I remember the first time I fought the Grim Reaper on Castlevania and the game froze. Love the music for the Grim Reaper stage. I beat Shinobi on the Sega Master System but never beat the Arcade version, the Revenge of Shinobi on the Genesis, and Shinobi III Return of the Ninja Master PS2.

I found the X series to be much, much easier than the Megaman series. The bosses follow a pattern more than they did back then, in my opinion. They were more dynamic. The Zero ones are hard, but you can learn how to defeat them easily. The ZX ones are fun and it's a challenging game overall (for me). I suck terribly at Castlevania though, I only beat Rondo of Blood with Maria after Death's second stage (Stage 7 I think, the one after Shaft). I got close to beating Revenge of Shinobi when I was a kid, but I never got past the labyrinth stage.

[Siruppercut]

Limited tries makes games interesting. Trying ghouls n goblins was quite a work on that note.

Ghouls 'n Ghosts is a hard game. I beat the game on the Sega Genesis but never beat the Arcade version. I never saw anyone complete the game at the Arcades and there was a few people that was better than me. I wouldn't be surprised if the difficulty was set to max because I didn't have much trouble going through the console version.

Got Battletoads, Solomon's Key, and Section Z from Amazon. I beat Section Z easily and I remember this game was so hard compared to other shoot 'em up games on the NES. Playing all those bullet hell Touhou games paid off. Battletoads is still incredibly difficult. I'm much better now compared to when I played this game as a kid but still not skilled enough to beat the game atm. I haven't played Solomon's Key yet but I remember this was the only other game I played that rivals Battletoads in difficulty.

Also I forgot all about The Legend of Valkyrie. One of my favorite Action game. This game plays like The Legend of Zelda. Don't know why Namco never released the game on the NES in the US or EU. There is a English version of the game on the PS1 Namco Museum 5.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zPpLPUYqt8