What's the oldest game you can still enjoy today?

[LookingGlass]

It's easier than ever to find the games you had (or missed out on) 10, 15, or more years ago and give them a(nother) try. Often it's great, but I find there's a limit to the level of horribly low-res graphics and unevolved gameplay mechanics I can tolerate. For example, I'm sure Ultima 4 (1985) was a great game at the time... but there's no way I can stand to play a game that looks like that today.

So what's the oldest game you can still enjoy these days? Up until recently I would have said Warcraft 2 (1995), but I recently bought the original Syndicate (1993) and I'm really enjoying it (I'd never played it before). It's not pretty, but it's a lot of fun:

Spoiler: screenshot

It's also given me hope that I'll be able to enjoy X-Com too, once I get to that on my long list of unplayed games.

The Lost Vikings (1992) is still pretty good, but I think that was mostly fueled by nostalgia. I'll have to try playing the Commander Keen games again too... the fourth one (1991) was so very, very good.

 

[Jazoni89]

Adventure (1979) on the Atari 2600 came out a full ten years before I was even born, but I feel it's still very playable today, despite the very primitive graphics, and the fact the dragons look like demented flamingo's.

Spoiler

It's actually the first game ever made to feature a Zelda like structure, and was possibly the main inspiration for the later Zelda series.

 

[Scow2]

Dungeons And Dragon's 2e... that's from the 80's!

... or are you talking about video games? I don't know. I have a lot of them. They're from the early '90s.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Hell even Pong is still enjoyable.

But in terms of games I might conceivably actually play, probably M.U.L.E.

Timeless classic is classic.

 

[ChupathingyX]

Every game I own on PlayStation 1 which is mostly made up of Crash and Spyro games.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Well, I've recently been playing a couple of text adventures, so I'd say pretty far back.

 

[Esotera]

Shining Force is the oldest one I've played recently (1991). I wouldn't have any problem playing older games if they're good, I just tend to play newer ones as they're generally less hassle to get running.

 

[Tallim]

Hell even Pong is still enjoyable.

But in terms of games I might conceivably actually play, probably M.U.L.E.

Timeless classic is classic.

Yeah M.U.L.E. is awesome. I play it online now via Planetmule and it is indeed a timeless classic.

I also play Forbidden Forest regularly. It's quite stupid how good I am at it now but then I've been playing it for 25 (ish) years and there isn't much to it (technically)

Also Paradroid (although via a retro remake) as that game is just sublimely brilliant.

 

[Dryk]

I have no idea how far back my limit is, I haven't really found it yet. That said I could never get into Doom with pure keyboard controls, I needed a version that supported mouse control for turning.

Don't play Atari games much, but I probably wouldn't be able to deal with all of them.

 

[Sack of Cheese]

Tetris of course!

 

[krazykidd]

Anything on the NES . Honestly , i don't mind any of those games . I have recently replayed , Dragon Warrior , zelda 2 , Catlevania, Crystalist this year, and still enjoyed them .

 

[Launcelot111]

Combat for the Atari is a lot of fun. You have planes or tanks and you just drive around and shoot the other guy the most in two minutes or something. My old roommmate had one of those Atari things from Radio Shack or something that you just plug into the TV, and we played Combat tons. They have exciting modes where bullets bounce or you command formations of planes, and the programming is rough enough to have a couple fun little exploits. Adventure, Yar's Revenge, and Haunted House were also pretty awesome

 

[Iwata]

I recently replayed all of Wolfentein 3D on my PS3, so I'm good.

 

[jehk]

Super Metroid or Final Fantasy 3 from the SNES. Typically I play those games once a year.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Pong. I love me some pong honestly. I think you meant home-console games in more of a traditional vain. For that I'll just put a blanket statement of Nintendo Entertainment System Games. I guess that would include the Sega Master System but I haven't planed a single game on that system. That's not to say I don't like the Atari games I've played but I only know of a handful of those and would play them like the Sword Quest games.

I don't think my response should really count though as I prefer older games to begin with. Recent example: Dragon Warrior is to me what Mass Effect 3 was to everyone else in the world. I loved the game up until the ending.

 

[Derek_the_Dodo]

Seems like nobody here is a fan of chess. I topped you all.

Smart assery aside probably tetris

 

[malestrithe]

ET for the 2600.

No it is not the worst game ever. No, it is not what caused the video game crash of 84. It is just a mediocre game that was given a bad rep.

 

[Llil]

Probably King's Quest. I played it for the first time just a couple of years ago, and while it isn't nearly as good as some of the later ones (3 and 6 especially), I still like it.

Also, Tetris came out the same year as King's Quest, and everyone likes Tetris.

Games like Space War and Pong are alright too, but a little too basic (understandably).

Seems like nobody here is a fan of chess. I topped you all.

I like Go. HA! Beat you with at least 1500 years!

EDIT: I meant 500 years. But still, HA!

 

[Abedeus]

Sam and Max Hit the Road.

Larry series.

Fallout, Diablo, Diablo 2...