The Retro Gaming Thread

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'll be honest, while I owned a PS1 long before I got an N64 and there were a ton of great games for it, very few of them appealed to me, personally. I didn't like JRPGs, so all of those are pretty much out, and aside from the Crash Bandicoot games there weren't too many other platformers on the PS1 that caught my interest. I did love games like Soul Reaver and other gems on the console, but for the most part a lot of the games in its library, while great, weren't really my thing. The N64 was certainly a step down from the SNES in terms of the quality of its library, but honestly while everyone likes to rail on it for having a lot of games that haven't aged well, I personally disagree completely. I still love and play a lot of classic N64 games, and it still had more titles that suited my tastes at the time than the PS1 did, though its worth noting that I still liked both consoles. To be honest, I never ended up owning a Sega Saturn and I only ever tried it once or twice since none of my friend's had it and only a couple of my relatives did who I only visited maybe once or twice a year.

As for the Dreamcast, whether its part of the same generation as the PS1 or the PS2, its certainly better than any other consoles from either generation, IMO. Its such an underrated system, and its a shame that it was Sega's last console, because IMO they were really at a high point in terms of creative quality with a library full of great games with that console, IMO. I think the reason that it didn't sell well was because it was either too late or too early to the game. I say that because I'm not sure which it is. They released it while the PS1 and N64 were nearing the end of their life-spans and the PS2 was on its way and not too far off in the future. I'm guessing that since Sega released their console at such an awkward point in time, people just weren't ready to buy it, since most of them were content with their PS1 and/or N64 or because they were saving up for the PS2 instead. Whatever the reason, Sega's demise from consoles certainly wasn't due to a lack of good games, I can say that much for sure.

[Commode]

And you know, while everyone already talks about how bad the graphics of the PS1 and the N64 have aged, I'm honestly shocked at how bad the PS2 graphics have aged.  I've been playing quite a bit of PS2 games lately, and I don't remember the games looking that bad.  Some games don't look like too much of an improvement over the PS1.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I don't know how he tried to argue that the SNES was out first, he just wouldn't listen to reason. Too bad there are more fanboys like that around now.

And you know, while everyone already talks about how bad the graphics of the PS1 and the N64 have aged, I'm honestly shocked at how bad the PS2 graphics have aged.  I've been playing quite a bit of PS2 games lately, and I don't remember the games looking that bad.  Some games don't look like too much of an improvement over the PS1.

Yeah, graphics on the PS2 are surprisingly fuzzy and squarish compared to the Xbox and Gamecube. It really is a shame so many games only had PS2 versions as it was the weakest system by far of that gen, it couldn't handle a lot of bigger scale games without performance problems, most PS2 versions of multiplatform games were the worst versions of the game for it.

I said even at the time when they came out, that as far as "pretty" graphics go, the Gamecube and the Xbox was it for me. After that point 3D graphics aren't going to be a big deal to me anymore. But PS1-era to PS2 games are a bit hard to look at at times unless the graphics are stylized like Sly Cooper, Goemon, Crash Bandicoot, or Smash Bros 64. Luckily almost every Dreamcast game had stylized 3D so they all still look pretty great now.

[talonmalon333]

PlayStation is one of those things that fits into my rant from a few weeks ago, that I sometimes don't like things as much as I think I do. It has it's games that I like. But truthfully, I only have four reasons to continue owning my PS1. Resident Evil: Director's Cut, Twisted Metal 2, Dragon Seeds, and King's Field... actually, you know what, scratch out those last three cause I can live without those. The console only has 1 game that I need. But I guess that's one more than PS2 and PS3. I understand the PS2 is a quality system, but it doesn't have a lot that appeals to me, and what does appeal to me on it, is available on other consoles. PS3? Decent system on it's own, but a Blu-Ray player to me.

The N64 was certainly a step down from the SNES in terms of the quality of its library, but honestly while everyone likes to rail on it for having a lot of games that haven't aged well, I personally disagree completely. I still love and play a lot of classic N64 games, and it still had more titles that suited my tastes at the time than the PS1 did, though its worth noting that I still liked both consoles.

I would actually disagree with this sentiment. The SNES is better, but I wouldn't even call the N64 a step down, more that it's a tiny bit worse. I just have more good games for the SNES. But truthfully, there are more N64 games that interest me, that I don't own now.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I would actually disagree with this sentiment. The SNES is better, but I wouldn't even call the N64 a step down, more that it's a tiny bit worse. I just have more good games for the SNES. But truthfully, there are more N64 games that interest me, that I don't own now.

See, I just can't agree with that. I've never really been a big "graphics" guy, so I didn't really enjoy that gen very much. Because of the big focus on 3D, so many franchises got the boot as no one was willing to even look into 2.5D at the time (look at how Klonoa and Goemon's Great Adventure bombed despite being heads and shoulders above most 3D platformers at the time), 2D gaming was almost throw out even by Nintendo. Mega Man, Street Fighter, Contra, Castlevania, and many other types of classic games were simply thrown aside and unless you bought a PS1 you couldn't play them. Quality of said games aside, this was a huge problem for me at the time. I didn't want to run around the same level 35 times doing slightly different things repeatedly, I wanted to have bigger scale games that built on what I already knew. Unfortunately, until the GBA and then the Wii. after the PS1 classic gaming was tossed aside for no real reason.

Where was Donkey Kong Country Returns during the N64? No, we got Donkey Kong 64. Where was Mega Man 9? Bionic Commando ReArmed? Contra 4? Castlevania ReBirth? Wario Land Shake It? New Super Mario Bros Wii? Or even newer series like Raskulls, Mutant Mudds, A Boy & His Blob, Shadow Complex, or Outland? Why did we have to wait two generations to see these games? Instead of those games we typically got 3D games that were no where near as good or well received, why were these games hated so much at the time? Clearly people wanted them, but they never got them.

It was why the Wii was such a breath of fresh air to me like I stated before. It felt like the system I actually wanted from Nintendo instead of the N64. Even XBLA and PSN offer more to me than said previous consoles did, purely for not shafting entire genres for no reason.

Not to say I hate the N64, but other than party gaming with my friends, it was not a console I used nearly as much as my NES, Genesis, or SNES. To me, it was n't really a step forward, but more of a two steps forward, two steps back kind of thing.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

The problem is, Desensitized, the PS1 didn't have those game either, so its kind of a moot point to just hold it against the N64. As for the 3D platformer craze causing the 2D platformers to get shafted that gen, I can't deny that, but the difference between you and me in that regard is that I still liked quite a bit of the 3D games from that gen, so for me there were still enough good games to make the N64 a console worth playing, personally.

Its really all a matter of preference though, in that regard. While the N64's library was definitely much weaker than previous Nintendo consoles (as well as later Nintendo portable systems and the Wii), I still found much more appeal in it than the PS1. I owned a PS1 for most of that generation and couldn't find too many games that caught my interest, not to deny that it had those great games, but like I said a lot of them weren't my cup of tea at all.

[Spark Of Spirit]

The problem is, Desensitized, the PS1 didn't have those game either, so its kind of a moot point to just hold it against the N64. As for the 3D platformer craze causing the 2D platformers to get shafted that gen, I can't deny that, but the difference between you and me in that regard is that I still liked quite a bit of the 3D games from that gen, so for me there were still enough good games to make the N64 a console worth playing, personally.

Its really all a matter of preference though, in that regard. While the N64's library was definitely much weaker than previous Nintendo consoles (as well as later Nintendo portable systems and the Wii), I still found much more appeal in it than the PS1. I owned a PS1 for most of that generation and couldn't find too many games that caught my interest, not to deny that it had those great games, but like I said a lot of them weren't my cup of tea at all.

But the PS1 did have some of them. Mega Man, Street Fighter, Strider, Rival Schools, Tomba, R-Type, Klonoa, Einhander, Castlevania... It had at least these as opposed to none. The N64 had like 3 2D games in total one of which was freaking Yoshi Story. Not only did the PS1 have 2D games, but also had the new style 3D games like Twisted Metal, Mega Man Legends 1 and 2, Crash Bandicoot, Jet Moto, or Soul Reaver giving it a balance. That's enough for it to give it the edge over the N64 for me. Even if I did like both systems, the PS1 simply offered more for me and it was the last one until the Wii to even feature these genres.

As I've said I don't mind 3D platformers or shooters, it was just that at the time it was the main focus on the system at the expense of certain genres, so 2D gaming was almost completely fazed out. Now at least there's some sort of a balance again.

But anyway, this isn't the anti-3D thread, so I'm not going to harp on it.

[talonmalon333]

I do think the N64 has more than it's given credit for. Super Mario 64 which dwarfs every 3D platformer before it, two awesome Zeldas, F-Zero at it's best, Star Fox at it's best, Kirby 64 (proof that the system didn't forget 2D platforming), the first Smash Bros. which is still fun, the Turok series, Paper Mario, the NBA Jam '99 (my favorite sport game), the two best Mario Party games, the best Mario Tennis, Mario Kart 64, Diddy Kong Racing, Star Wars... Then there's Rare with it's best showing ever with games like GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark, and Conker. Banjo and Donkey Kong 64 weren't too bad either. There's also plenty of games that, while I haven't played, show great promise like Ogre Battle 64. The list just goes on.

N64 was a fantastic system for local multiplayer, which is nearly dead now. And it had stellar single player games as well. Don't mind if you aren't a big fan of it. I just think it's a great system that isn't given a whole lot of credit. I definitely think it's better than the NES and N64, even if it's not as good as the SNES, and certainly not the Wii.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Yeah, the N64 was a good system. I like it, but I really don't think it offered even close to the same amount of stuff as the SNES. Still, I did enjoy it more than the Gamecube when Nintendo tried to be like everyone else.

Anyway, check this video out. Someone translated the Alex Kidd portion of Segaga which focuses on the system wars back in the day, it's quite a sad story, but it makes me want more Alex Kidd games. Mario and Nintendo are censored, for obvious reasons.

I think it's a perfect video for this thread.

[Rynnec]

Well, 3D gaming was all the rage back then (and still is now, arguably), so it wasn't suprising that a lot of developers jumped on the bandwagon, and seeing 2D gaming as "obsolete". I'm glad that that way of thinking is over with, as more developers realize that 2D and 3D gaming can coexist without invalidating each other.

I do think the N64 has more than it's given credit for. Super Mario 64 which dwarfs every 3D platformer before it, two awesome Zeldas, F-Zero at it's best, Star Fox at it's best, Kirby 64 (proof that the system didn't forget 2D platforming), the first Smash Bros. which is still fun, the Turok series, Paper Mario, the NBA Jam '99 (my favorite sport game), the two best Mario Party games, the best Mario Tennis, Mario Kart 64, Diddy Kong Racing, Star Wars... Then there's Rare with it's best showing ever with games like GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark, and Conker. Banjo and Donkey Kong 64 weren't too bad either. There's also plenty of games that, while I haven't played, show great promise like Ogre Battle 64. The list just goes on.

N64 was a fantastic system for local multiplayer, which is nearly dead now. And it had stellar single player games as well. Don't mind if you aren't a big fan of it. I just think it's a great system that isn't given a whole lot of credit. I definitely think it's better than the NES and N64, even if it's not as good as the SNES, and certainly not the Wii.

Indeed. Some of the N64's exclusives are some of the best games I've ever played, and really hit the ball out of the park in terms of quality. It also had the advantage of having four controller ports. Why Sony still stuck with a two port system for the PS2 baffles me.


Anywhoo, the idea of getting a Dreamcast has been floating in my head for a while now (They're only $40 where I'm at), but I've been hesitant about spending my money on anything. The fact that a few of the games I want for it cost a lot isn't helping matters any.

[Commode]

Anywhoo, the idea of getting a Dreamcast has been floating in my head for a while now (They're only $40 where I'm at), but I've been hesitant about spending my money on anything. The fact that a few of the games I want for it cost a lot isn't helping matters any.

Really?  The two stores that stock them around here have them for $18 and $20 respectively, when they have them in stock.  Key word, when.

[Rynnec]

Yep, they always seem to have them in stock in my local gamestore. And last time I checked, the actual games could go from over $50, to under $15, depending on how common the game is.

[Foggle]

Commodore 64
CD-i
Atari Jaguar
Xbox
Zeebo

Haters gonna' hate.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

To be fair I wouldn't pit the XBOX with any of those consoles. Its not really a very good console, but I did get to play good games on it, so its certainly not a really bad console either. Besides, the fact that it had Ninja Gaiden Black on it automatically saves it from being shit, since that is in fact the best game ever made, even though nobody but me is smart enough to realize that.

[Foggle]

The Commodore 64 is actually pretty good, too. I just put what I considered to be the worst of each console generation on there.