Can retro games hold up WITHOUT the nostalga?

[ToastiestZombie]

Yes, any fan of video games can still appreciate Pac-Man, Pong or Angry Birds and still have a lot of fun, I mean how many of you can actually nostalgia over Galaga or Space Invaders?

Ummm, angry birds is a relatively new game. Edit your post to remove confusion.

Anyway, I think most of the really good games can. Today I got the 10 nes games for the 3ds, and i must say I like them very much, even though ive only played zelda 1 and mario before. Ive also got done with links awakening, and I found it as fun as the more recent zelda games such as twilight princess, even though I neve played it before this year.

 

[slavec]

Oh and Warhammer: Dark Omen is still a amazing RTS.

I completely agree. Shame I can't get my copy of Dark Omen to run on.. well, anything.

The appeal of a lot of the nostalgic games for me is that they use simpler mechanics really, really well. I can still play Tyrian and Raptor for hours on end. Deus Ex is still my favorite game of all time, though I have to patch it with HD graphic patches because I do think it looks really bad now. The nostalgic games that I like the most are the ones that are less complex, but more fun.

 

[Weslebear]

The OP essentially answered your own question but yes, only in certain cases.

Some games are so unique that nothing has emulated them since they are still worth the time, as well as games with stylised visuals that barely age.

Game-play wise a lot of the fondness for the retro games is just nostalgia, but there is the occasional gem that does what it does so well that it's worthy even today. VERY rare though.

I think most retro games that are worthy of today's standards are just because of unique traits not found elsewhere, almost all gameplay styles have been massively improved and the rest are nothing more than Let's Play video fodder IMO.

 

[xPixelatedx]

Considering Nostalgia is a coined phrase used by modern day gaming children to comprehend why their older bothers and parents like games that didn't use polygons; yes. I am still playing SNES/NES/PS1 games for the first time, and the good ones I haven't played before are much better then most current gen games I play (most, not all). So much for the Nostalgia myth.

 

[Marik Bentusi]

Would be foolish to say it's impossible. For example, I played Deus Ex just prior to Human Revolution in order to get a full picture and catch all the references. The story, while consistent, was incredibly cheesy, save for the philosophical depth towards the end. The gameplay and multipathing was really solid. The graphics (and partly the aesthetics) were hideous, but its ugliness fit the tone of the setting well.

There are many, many instances where games can at least partly score points. Many stories for example were really good despite the limited mechanics. Today we have more possibilities, but only rarely make full use of them in my opinion.

I once saw a thread (not on this site) where a guy was looking for people for his game project (which looked good by the way). He explicitly said he didn't want "idea guys", which is a fine and fair thing. But his project, as nice as everything looked, was just about fighting nazis in WW2.
That sums up a lot of what's wrong with the industry (today?) and why I keep coming back to older titles - but to be fair, in retrospect we only remember the gems, and "the past" will always have a larger gamepool than "the present". If you understand what I mean.

 

[The Bandit]

I bought Galaxy and Mario 64 at the same time over the summer. I had played 64 when I was a kid, but it was my first time playing Galaxy. I was amazed at how superior 64 was in almost every way. Galaxy's controls are terrible. The mini games were unfun. Even the camera is worse, which is definitely saying something. The only thing Galaxy had going for it was variety, but I prefer the "go do whatever the hell you want" method 64 used.

 

[Rainforce]

Very difficult question, because games just don't age well, mostly.
First of all is the problem that older games don't appeal to the graphic fanatics, because they lack bloom shaders and bumpmapping.
*gets lost in ridicule*
*ahem*
Second problem is that the context they appear in, as well as jokes, styles, etc. are not modern anymore and are already considered overused and too unfunny/uninteresting/not-so-badass.

so considering this, games like tetris will always work, but RPGs and shooters and whatnot don't have that good of a chance.

 

[super_mumbles]

Absolutely, I only started playing the original Deus Ex for the first time about a year ago and while it was hard to get into at first, I grew to like it, despite the...aged...graphics.

I think in terms of graphics the sprite based games of the early 90s seem to have aged better than the early 3D games of the late 90s.

There are exceptions to the rule however.

 

[Nouw]

I didn't play Doom or Doom II when it was released,unlike most gamers, and I still love the game. So yeah, retro games can hold up quite easily.

 

[Denizen]

I introduced my friends to the original half-life (1998 - incredible year for games) and now they consider it the best single player FPS they have ever played. Great games can stand the test of time.

 

[AlternatePFG]

Absolutely. I hate it when people get dismissed for liking older games, saying that they're simply being nostalgic. Well, I played Fallout 1 + 2 after playing 3, and I thought they were much better RPGs. Fallout 3 may be more fun, but I don't think that makes it a better game. Same goes for Dragon Age. I played Dragon Age before the Baldur's Gate games, and I think Baldur's Gate is much, much better.

Not only for RPG's too. Duke Nukem 3D (well, if you mod in mouse support) and Half Life 1 hold up really, really well.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Yeah, sometimes.

Although not nearly as much as retro proponents like to think.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to crack my knuckles, grit my teeth and try to resume my first-ever game of Planescape: Torment. Argh.

hehe, real men play Kirbys adventure (NES) grr XD sorry had to

but really depends on the game, the above mentioned NES title still makes me smile, not hard by any stretch, but fun

which should be the real question here, "are the older games still fun to play for you", shouldn't matter how well they 'hold up' as long as, even 15-20-25 years later, you can still pick it up and have the same fun you did when it was new

 

[Valdus]

Some can. I played the older sonic games the other day and loved them as much as I did when they were first released. However some other games I played as a child didn't seem to be as enjoyable. So...it really depends on the game.

 

[funguy2121]

Id say it depends on the game......

what I mean is if you got somone to play without having played it previously...would it hold up? we all know that games a very suseptible to "not ageing very well" symdrome

I got the Idea after playing "Golden Axe" a sega side scrolling beat'em up which I had never played before but got on PSN just for the hell of it

and I gotta say I found it rather endearing, I like the cool "conan" like world and its fun, plus has somthing resembling a story

I also loved super metroid

though it does make me wonder about anything on the N64.....

Do people still play basketball?

I believe this answers the question. Quality is not something that wanes.

 

[AlternatePFG]

Yeah, sometimes.

Although not nearly as much as retro proponents like to think.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to crack my knuckles, grit my teeth and try to resume my first-ever game of Planescape: Torment. Argh.

Did you ever think maybe those kinds games just don't appeal to you? I mean, you've brought this up in multiple topics before, maybe those kinds of old CRPG's just aren't your thing?

 

[Codeman90]

I picked up Chrono Trigger from a friend about two or three years ago, and it quickly became one of my favorite games of all time. I usually hate JRPGs, but I heard a lot of people say how good this game was, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

I've never heard a video game soundtrack fit a game THAT well. Chrono Trigger's soundtrack and storytelling are AMAZING. Never played anything like it.

 

[thirion1850]

I recently tried the very first Zelda. No, I don't think most of them can. But there are exceptions, Counter Strike 1.6 for instance will almost always be the best.