Games that aged well

[Watcher]

What retro games do you feel have aged particularly well? I'm talking retro games that you could pick up today and feel like you were playing them the day of release. Games you can enjoy without a hint of nostalgia.
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Just now I was playing this rhythm game called Vib Ribbon, which was released on the PS1 in 1999. It released on PSN two days ago and I was looking into getting it for a while. It was never released commercially in North America and only released in Japan and Europe.

It's a very interesting game where the graphics are all drawn in vector lines. It has a very cutesy aesthetic reminiscent of doodle notebook drawings. The file was only 26 megabytes off the PSN store.

It's a game where you dodge obstacles generated by a musical track. The game only has 6 tracks on it's disk but essentially treats them like an elaborate tutorial, and encourages you to use your own music. Since it's a PS1 game, you can swap out the disk for an audio CD and play any of your own music. The game generates a new level based on that audio track meaning the game never ends.

It's also a rather challenging game and requires a great deal of practice to master a particular song. It's a very rewarding title and I'm very glad I managed to get it. Especially now it's available worldwide.

Note Vib Ribbon takes advantage of a disk swapping function, which will not work on the PSP/Vita. So if you intend to get this game, you'll want a PS3.

 

[CatParty]

 

[LordDarkrai]

I played this last year and it plays really well. While the camera wasn't the best, everything else is pretty solid. It's my favorite out of the three Spyro games.

 

[Cotton Pudding]

 

[OtterParty]

 

[Johnny Bravo]

I haven't played it myself, but Out of This World looks and plays like an indie game made in the 2000s. It's kind of amazing.

 

[Roger Rabbit]

 

[ordinarycough]

I was re-playing Half Life earlier this year. Still a great game.

 

[Johnny Bravo]

I played this last year and it plays really well. While the camera wasn't the best, everything else is pretty solid. It's my favorite out of the three Spyro games.

It's hard for me to rank the first three games. I think the second one improved a lot on the first, with more side quests and mini-games. The third is probably the weakest of the original trilogy, with a huge mess of playable characters, but it was still a pretty solid game.

I was re-playing Half Life earlier this year. Still a great game.

I played HL1 for the first time in like... 2012, I think. The game play holds up astonishingly well. I can't even describe it, there's just something so satisfying about this game.

 

[Overcast]

I like to think ICO has aged incredibly well.

http://sneed.pro-gmedia.com/videogamer/media/images/ps2/ico/screens/ico_14.jpg

Granted, my first experience with the game was through the HD collection, but by the looks of the screenshots from the original version, I've gotta say, this game looked really good for an early ps2 game. Especially considering some of the stuff that came out around the same time.

Spoiler

 

[ASoulMan]

I like to think ICO has aged incredibly well.

http://sneed.pro-gmedia.com/videogamer/media/images/ps2/ico/screens/ico_14.jpg

Granted, my first experience with the game was through the HD collection, but by the looks of the screenshots from the original version, I've gotta say, this game looked really good for an early ps2 game. Especially considering some of the stuff that came out around the same time.

Spoiler

Oh god those cutscenes lol

 

[Some JERK]

Spoiler

You can still fire up this game with a friend and get into a tense, trash-talking "best out of 10" competition where by the 8th round or so, you're both so on edge that you just feint, posture and re-position for a long time leading up to the eventual bloody clash (which to me feels exactly how I always imagined most sword duels must've gone down when both parties were skilled enough.)

 

[Dio Brando]

 

[Watcher]

 

[exball]

Not really that old, but damn has it aged well.

 

[Cotton Pudding]

View attachment 7275

Jeez, no love of Oot around these parts. Is it too late to change my post to Goldeneye instead? Sank plenty of hours into multiplayer with that game. Actually taled about firing it up again someday soon with a group of friends.

 

[exball]

Jeez, no love of Oot around these parts. Is it too late to change my post to Goldeneye instead? Sank plenty of hours into multiplayer with that game. Actually taled about firing it up again someday soon with a group of friends.

Nightfire was better.

 

[Carlos Thin]

Most games can really stand up to the test of time if the gameplay runs smooth, and there isn't too much problems with hardware. For Instance, those FMV adventure games are virtually unplayable these days because they came with 8 or so discs -- also the hammy acting and slow gameplay couldn't help them.

RPG's are also a tentative business because of the sheer amount of hours you clock in. I grew up with FF 7,8,9 and while I love them each to death I don't see myself playing them anytime soon. I don't want to sit around and watch dialogue, nor do I want to have to level up/draw magic/craft weapons.

Also on another note, I find that I can't really warm up to the N64 anymore because of that dang, dirty controller

 

[Flowers For Sonichu]

 

[Coster]