Which Games Haven't Aged Well in Your Eyes?

[Spirit]

You know how it is, back in the day you play a game and really enjoy it at the time, then years later you drag it out or buy it again and play it and wonder what you saw in it.

So simple question; which games have you revisited after a hiatus only to find them ugly, unplayable, unresponsive, noisy messes that in retrospect you really liked?

For me its almost anything i played on the N64 with Jet Force Gemini being up there with Buck bumble (hilariously random game by the way) and a few others like Extreme G.

 

[ThePurpleKnight]

Any Naruto game that is part of the clash of the ninja series, you know the 2D-3D ones? I love Naruto but those games really suck, you play through the game, unlock the characters and after that it's only ever touched again when friends come over, even then it's multiplayer is not that great. The only way to escape being attacked is to use your substitution which takes almost all your chakra thus making you unable to use your jutsus, lame.

 

[misskitten]

Well I was disappointed when I bought the old Donkey Kong SNES games through the VC. The games themselves were still enjoyable to play, but the graphics looked absolutely terrible. I realize the classic game graphics are not all that, but compared to the Mario games where both NES and SNES title graphics looked decent enough, the DK games just look awful. I remember those games looking really nice back when I played them at a friend's house, and my current TV isn't even that big (32").

 

[1upmuffin]

Well I was disappointed when I bought the old Donkey Kong SNES games through the VC. The games themselves were still enjoyable to play, but the graphics looked absolutely terrible. I realize the classic game graphics are not all that, but compared to the Mario games where both NES and SNES title graphics looked decent enough, the DK games just look awful. I remember those games looking really nice back when I played them at a friend's house, and my current TV isn't even that big (32").

I really like the Donkey Kong Country graphics, they have a weird clay type look. I get why some people wouldn't like them though.

Some of the games I think aged the worst are RARE platformers for N64, especially DK64 and Conkers Bad Fur Day. The big levels of DK64 are neat but the collecting is terrible. Also, Conkers Bad Fur Day's graphics still look good but the gameplay is dreadful.

Also, I used to really like Star Wars Battlefront but now I think those games are pretty dull.

 

[Hanyou]

My argument is and always has been that games don't age, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc...... and this is a pet peeve of mine, because no one would say that Perelandra aged poorly or some crappy romance novel aged well. It's either always good or always bad.

With that disclaimer out of the way, I will say that when I was much younger, I think a lot of people were suckered in by Shadows of the Empire.

[video=youtube;J9mWYoAz2to]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9mWYoAz2to[/video]

I mean, that's the Battle of Hoth! In 3D! It was like you were playing the best Star Wars movie. The game was cinematic, the music rousing, the levels and level design breathtaking. I had been a Star Wars fan for about four years when the game came out, and it was the first time I actually felt like I was able to explore the universe. The game felt huge, and it was on my list of favorites.

Ultimately, though, I'd argue that it wasn't very good, mostly due to play control and schizophrenic gameplay. Oddly enough, this lends it a lot of the charm--and is one of the major reasons it STILL feels like one of the best "Star Wars experiences" you can have this side of Battlefront. Yes, you really do get to shoot your way through the Asteroid Field. Yes, that really is a swoop bike chase in the real streets of Mos Eisley. You damn well better believe we get a space battle to rival the trench run at the end of the game, and awesome adventures in imperial ships, spaceports, junkyards, sewers, and palaces.

Shadows of the Empire is memorable for its atmosphere and its promise about what Star Wars games could be. It is a pre-prequel relic, which makes it valuable in a landscape now littered with Binxes and angsty Anakins. I'll always like the game, but I will never see it as an exceptional one again. That was reserved for my 10-year-old self, awed by the graphics and the prospect of visiting real Star Wars locations--something that has, after all these years, finally been done right in several other games. Shadows of the Empire was never great, but it will always be a must-play for any Star Wars fan.

 

[Reaca]

The NES Fire Emblem games and the original Final Fantasy I and II on NES.

 

[misskitten]

I really like the Donkey Kong Country graphics, they have a weird clay type look. I get why some people wouldn't like them though.

At least on my TV they look incredibly grainy as DLC titles on my wii, which I didn't expect since my TV isn't that big (just 32") and they were SNES titles, however the Mario NES titles I expected to be grainy, but they actually looked very decent compared to the DC SNES titles.

 

[The Wanderer]

I don't think I've ever played a game that I've lost so much interest in that I began to dislike them, but I can probably think of two or three examples of games that don't quite seem to hold up as well in retrospect. I do agree with Hanyou that a game is basically either good or bad now and forevermore rather than something that "ages" into mediocrity. With that in mind, I think I can point out a few examples of games that were awesome at the time because they were fairly unprecedented, but still weren't terribly remarkable as games as a whole. Also bear in mind that I still like these games. I'm just saying maybe they weren't the ascendent legends they're frequently made out to be.

I would say the first is Super Mario 64. Still a solid game, but looking back, the gameplay was a bit too simple, almost like Nintendo was kind of afraid to do something wrong with the N64 hardware. Some missions do get a bit tricky, but it's still not very imaginative. Run around, try not to fall off a cliff, grab the star. Doesn't mean it couldn't get difficult, but it was rarely original, know what I mean?

The second one is Star Fox 64. Again, I still like it, but even the arguably superior version on the 3DS didn't wow me as much as when I was younger, which is a good sign of something not aging well. With little story, limited multiplayer modes that everybody seems to laud for some reason, and stages that are only significantly challenging in the very last levels, it feels uneven and a little repetitive. I can only play fifteen stages for so long before it gets kind of tedious. The bonus content - battling on foot in multiplayer, Expert mode - also takes a bit too long to unlock, as I have never done either.

The third which I'm not fully certain of yet is Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team. I suppose the Blue version could count as well, but I only have the one. My Explorers of Darkness cartridge appears to be mysteriously defunct, so I went to the next best thing at the time. I'm only at Mt. Steel, but I'm already beginning to question what use continuing to play really is. It's a "pretty good" game, but also highly flawed, so I don't really have any sterling experiences to look forward to.

But otherwise, most games I've played have been either good or bad for me as I've played them; rarely does a game "age" for me and just become less interesting in retrospect.