Come talk about the Jaguar, 3DO and Gex in the [Retro Games] Thread
Lindsay Lohan
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Old Games. Some age like wine, some like milk. Let's talk about all things retro.
First, the consoles. While there are some generation numbers people go by, here are my categories.
Old as Dirt.
These are the ones that you had to hook up with weird adaptors to your old 12" TV with those prongs and two screws in the back of the TV. This generation's leaders would be Odyssey, Atari 2600, Colecovision, and Intellivision. Simple games that mostly were high score chasing and hit or miss arcade ports. For every Yars Revenge that still is fun to play, there are a bunch of Star Raiders that make no sense today. Personal fun fact: I enjoy playing ET and don't think it's even in the top 20 of worst games ever made.
8 Bit Era
Honestly, this is where games start aging well. Games start to have stories, look like their arcade originals, and controller buttons became more plentiful. The leaders were NES and Sega Master System (and maybe the Atari 7800 is part of this group). Highlights might be the start of Mario, Zelda, Megaman, Castlevania, Contra, and whatever your weirdos with Master Systems played...Alf maybe? Personal fun fact: I was once convinced to get Hydlide instead of Zelda because they looked sort of similar on the box and Hyldlide was $10 cheaper.
16 Bit Era
This was the big console wars era. Nintendo and Sega just consistently crapped on each other and gamers picked sides and a game named Ballz got made. The three leaders would be SNES, Genesis, and TurboGrafx 16 (and any odd add-ons they stacked underneath them). Highlights were sequels to NES games, Sonic, SNES RPGs, sports games really starting to get closer to the actual sports, and the massive rise of fighting games. Personal fun fact: Might and Magic on the Genesis remains my favorite RPG.
32 Bit Era
The first true 3D consoles. The leaders were the Nintendo 64, Playstation 1 and Sega Saturn (with Atari sputtering its last breath with the Jaguar). This was really a transitional period, with games hitting 3D for the first time with Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time, new characters like Crash and Rayman emerging, and analog sticks appearing on controllers for the first time since the Atari 5200. Personal fun fact: My then-girlfriend (now wife) got fired from a temp job because we skipped work to rent an N64 and Mario on launch weekend.
Beyond: The PS2, Gamecube, Dreamcast and XBox are clearly now retro. I didn't grab pictures of them, but they are starting to be very collectible (check the prices on Cube games for proof of that).
Handhelds
There are also a ton of handhelds, that I won't bother splitting up into years. Let's just say Nintendo has ruled pretty much forever with their various handhelds with every other company except maybe Microsoft trying to best them and then giving up. Sony arguably did the best with the PSP and Vita but even they decided to eventually bow out of the market. Personal fun fact: We used to play link cable Tetris on the ferry boat to math team competitions in high school. That is the nerdiest sentence I'll write today.
Aside from these, there are weird systems like Vectrex and those folks that collect Retro PC stuff like Commodore 64, Apple IIe or big boxed PC games.
What fills your bookshelves of old crap?
First, the consoles. While there are some generation numbers people go by, here are my categories.
Old as Dirt.
These are the ones that you had to hook up with weird adaptors to your old 12" TV with those prongs and two screws in the back of the TV. This generation's leaders would be Odyssey, Atari 2600, Colecovision, and Intellivision. Simple games that mostly were high score chasing and hit or miss arcade ports. For every Yars Revenge that still is fun to play, there are a bunch of Star Raiders that make no sense today. Personal fun fact: I enjoy playing ET and don't think it's even in the top 20 of worst games ever made.
8 Bit Era
Honestly, this is where games start aging well. Games start to have stories, look like their arcade originals, and controller buttons became more plentiful. The leaders were NES and Sega Master System (and maybe the Atari 7800 is part of this group). Highlights might be the start of Mario, Zelda, Megaman, Castlevania, Contra, and whatever your weirdos with Master Systems played...Alf maybe? Personal fun fact: I was once convinced to get Hydlide instead of Zelda because they looked sort of similar on the box and Hyldlide was $10 cheaper.
16 Bit Era
This was the big console wars era. Nintendo and Sega just consistently crapped on each other and gamers picked sides and a game named Ballz got made. The three leaders would be SNES, Genesis, and TurboGrafx 16 (and any odd add-ons they stacked underneath them). Highlights were sequels to NES games, Sonic, SNES RPGs, sports games really starting to get closer to the actual sports, and the massive rise of fighting games. Personal fun fact: Might and Magic on the Genesis remains my favorite RPG.
32 Bit Era
The first true 3D consoles. The leaders were the Nintendo 64, Playstation 1 and Sega Saturn (with Atari sputtering its last breath with the Jaguar). This was really a transitional period, with games hitting 3D for the first time with Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time, new characters like Crash and Rayman emerging, and analog sticks appearing on controllers for the first time since the Atari 5200. Personal fun fact: My then-girlfriend (now wife) got fired from a temp job because we skipped work to rent an N64 and Mario on launch weekend.
Beyond: The PS2, Gamecube, Dreamcast and XBox are clearly now retro. I didn't grab pictures of them, but they are starting to be very collectible (check the prices on Cube games for proof of that).
Handhelds
There are also a ton of handhelds, that I won't bother splitting up into years. Let's just say Nintendo has ruled pretty much forever with their various handhelds with every other company except maybe Microsoft trying to best them and then giving up. Sony arguably did the best with the PSP and Vita but even they decided to eventually bow out of the market. Personal fun fact: We used to play link cable Tetris on the ferry boat to math team competitions in high school. That is the nerdiest sentence I'll write today.
Aside from these, there are weird systems like Vectrex and those folks that collect Retro PC stuff like Commodore 64, Apple IIe or big boxed PC games.
What fills your bookshelves of old crap?
Lindsay Lohan on
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This thread doesn't feel the same, it's lost something. Kids today just won't understand. I'm currently in a bidding war on eBay with a bunch of people for refurbished old versions of the thread.
(It's a good thread, this is jokes)
Also someone will finally use the lines from Back to the Future II.
Steam: betsuni7
The only thread on PA where that new thread smell actually has a musty scent and that's ok.
Good job on the new thread @Lindsay Lohan! Looking forward to talking retro games with you all for another 9 years.
I think I'm done for now, but any other possible suggestions are welcome. I like platformers, RPGS, and unique weird stuff.
I don't like shooters or anything horror related. :P
Edit: Just to add to this, I also got in Mercury Meltdown Revolution for the Wii. If you have never heard of it, it is a fantastically fun puzzle game where you play a ball of mercury. Great stuff!
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
Add me!
Off hand, don't forget the two God of War games that came to the PSP and the Patapon games.
I don't know if you are into racing games, but the PSP has a surprising amount of awesome arcade racers.
The problem is the old thread was analog and the new one is digital. There's something that gets lost in the move to digital, a kind of warmth that isn't the same.
Sorry, I also collect vinyl...
Something is only retro once there's a replacement. So let me be the first to say, what's with these OLED Switches with decent battery life? Back in my day, we brought bad screen Switches up to rooftop parties and then caught Covid while explaining that we did in fact pay full retail price for 1-2 Switch, why are you laughing?
Hope you mean AGS-101, because I've inherited a pair of 001s (frontlit) that look absolute crap.
Level 1-4 can fuck right off.
Resident 8bitdo expert.
Resident hybrid/flap cover expert.
Anywho, a while back I picked up a fancy painted Dreamcast from some custom shop and have since been on a bit of a DC kick.
First up got Jet Set Radio to match the Beat designed DC. That was a pretty fun little replay.
After that I decided I needed something a bit longer.
Skies of Arcadia is pretty expensive, y'all.
I've been enjoying the hell out of it, though. Really taking my time and using the first person view button I totally avoided when I was younger. There is some cool views! Cool designs too. Also just a wholesome as fuck game that is.
Trying to stick to just one game at a time so I don't end up bogged down, but still having to keep an eye out and snag something when I can. I think I want that Lodoss War game next. It was a janky arpg but it was pretty fun to get all overpowered.
Bruh, you can't just tease us like that.
That's fair. I'm at work and on a phone so I didn't think about it.
http://imgur.com/a/DfeS7VE
I dunno what that'll do but that's the best I got going for me right now.
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
Add me!
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
Add me!
I put this Pi Zero W kit together a while ago:
Is Skyrim a retro game now? My four year old nephew would probably think of it as a retro game.
Came out during the 360 days, so I'm inclined to actually say yes?
Except for the fact that they re-release it for every new system, so because of that maybe not so much.
So what you are saying is that you built a 2021 GameGear?
That thing is awesome looking and I always wanted to make one. I have never gone to look how to build one.
Edit: Really bad grammar.
Steam: betsuni7
Yeah, it feels sort of on the cusp despite being a decade old in less than three months.
Or, if you will, as old as Jetpac and Manic Miner were when the original Doom came out.
And I've just realised that Mass Effect 3 - yes, 3, not 1 or 2 - will be a decade old only four months after that and fuck I'm old.
Steam | XBL
Steam: betsuni7
To me, Doom is retro because it released in 1993, but also because it was a product of its time. It's designed around a series of limitations in hardware and software that no longer exist. The difference in videogames released in 1990 and 2000 is absolutely insane, the difference between games released in 2010 and 2020 is non-existent. For the most part we're still getting the exact same games as we did ten years ago, they just look prettier now.
I see the "retro era" as an era in videogaming where the industry was just starting to figure itself out, an era where we saw the creation of brand new games in what would become baseline genres. Retro gaming to me is creation and experimentation, whereas modern gaming is mostly iteration. However, I am more than willing to admit that if you ask ten different people to define "retro" with regards to videogames you will likely get eleven different answers.
I don't agree with this interpretation, there were 6 Mega Man games on the NES. Iteration started from day one. Ms. Pac-Man was a slightly improved sequel to Pac-Man!
Of course Capcom was cranking out cookie cutter sequels, that was their jam (just look at the 83 different versions of Street Fighter 2 they released). But still, in 1987 to 1997 you saw the transition between Megaman and Megaman X4. Even back then, when they were iterating, they were still seeing major changes. You went from a slow game played via a series of single screen encounters to a fast paced smooth scrolling game with voiced dialogue, cutscenes, and multiple playable characters. The technology was changing so quickly that you were able to see big fundamental changes in gameplay between subsequent games in the same franchise. Compare the technical difference between Megaman and Megaman X4 to the difference between Megaman X4 and Megaman X8 (which is basically shinier graphics and some rail sections added).
Even Ms. Pac Man had some big technical changes, like the addition of multiple mazes (instead of the single maze that the original had), more complex AI, primitive cutscenes, and more animation.
The lack of change between X4 and X8 isn't because of the era, it's because Capcom burgled all the senior staff for games like Resident Evil, which were massive innovative, industry shaking games in themselves. This idea that old games were innovative and newer games aren't is not even rose colored glasses, it's just false.
Back in the day shit just didn't exist. So you threw out whatever idea struck your fancy.
These days most things have existed, so it's more about making them engaging.
Basically someone had to make a kendama once upon a time, but I think given enough boredom I could do that. Ask me to make a kendama fun for a modern audience? I couldn't do that, but I'd find it absolutely interesting and innovative if someone could.
No, I said the retro era was innovative, and it was, because we saw an absolute explosion of technology and genres. Just because Capcom put out a new Megaman game every year for six years doesn't mean that other developers weren't innovating.
How many new genres have been created in the last decade that didn't exist in the retro era? Looter shooter, battle royale, and walking simulator?