Retro Gaming, Do you still play older games?

[MottZilla]

I have consoles going back to NES all the way forward to the Xbox 360. Even with games like Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Fallout 3, Gears of War, etc. I still find myself playing older game systems. Often I will think of some NES game or find out about a NES game I have never played and I'll power up the old gray toaster and play. I'm not sure exactly all the reasons for it but older games for me tend to have greater replay value to me than many newer games and also seem to be easier to get into and better to just play for a quick gaming session.

So do you still have an old console you play on like the NES, SNES, Genesis, Gameboy/Gameboy Color, Game Gear, Turbo Grafx 16, or even the N64, PS1, or Sega Saturn? If you do, what games do you find yourself playing on them? If you don't, why not? I know some people that always sold off their previous console and games when they got a new one. Do you still play older games but only via emulation (including the Virtual Console on Wii)?

I have had my NES and SNES hooked up for quite some time. The Sega Saturn also accompanies them. Not too long ago the PSOne and Sega Genesis joined the group. I'd say atleast recently I've mainly played the NES thanks to the NES PowerPAK cartridge which enables you to play almost any game you could want. Even Famicom Disk System games which include many games that never made it here or are significantly different than the version that got released here. Then ofcourse there are the games that were never released in the US. That's a real treat in Retro Gaming, when Japanese exclusive games are translated and finally you can play them.

I've found most older systems still playable and enjoyable today with the only one not very enjoyable being the Nintendo 64. Mainly due to the shoddy analog sticks, I just couldn't play my N64 today. Not unless someone sold a replacement analog stick that was more like the GameCube or PS2 analog sticks. It's a real shame too because I enjoyed games like Super Mario 64, Battletanx, Star Fox, Goldeneye, etc. But the analog stick... it's just horrible. I think everyone atleast had that one controller that's analog stick got so flimsy and you couldn't play games that required any precise movement.

[rock_nog]

I play old-school games all the time - probably far more, actually, than I play modern games. Mainly it's NES and N64 - though yeah, I have to admit, the analog stick was terrible, and so I have some virtual console N64 games so I can use the Gamecube controller. Though when it comes to say, Goldeneye, you really don't have a choice, unless you use an emulator, and while I've tried that, I've never found a configuration on a standard PC gamepad that I really liked.

As far as why, I agree, old-school games just have much more in the way of replayability and whatnot. Besides, you don't just start a modern game, it's a whole affair. You have to sit through tutorials, cut scenes, endless dialog, etc. I just want to load up a game, press start, and start killing stuff. To be honest, that's exactly why I haven't really been a fan of story becoming a more significant portion of games - I miss the days when the story was a short blurb in an instruction manual. Sure, I'm not denying games can make incredibly effective use of story, but still - when I think of excellent use of story development in games, I think about games like HL2, where the story was a fluid part of the game that didn't interrupt the flow.

[Pineconn lolz]

I play my sega genesis the most of all my antiquated pieces, still works fine after almost 15 years. Can't say the same about my Xbox 360......

[Aliem]

I still play DOS games... Just finished The Elder Scrolls: Arena a couple weeks ago, and Daggerfall a few days ago. I play a lot of NES, SNES, and Genesis games via emulation. I play retro games more often than I play newer games, actually.

[Anthus]

I play my N64 often enough. Actually, I started the play Majora's Mask, but my analog stick was so loose it was impossible to do the Octorock shooting mini game. Since I could not get all the heart pieces, I just waited for it to come out on VC. I play Rayman 2, and Sin and Punishment on Project 64 when the urge comes. Same with Mario 64. Mainly because joystick precision is more of a requirement with these platformers, and rail shooters. I find myself playing NES and SNES games almost exclusively on an emulator. I have both systems, but it is too much of a hassle to hook them up, and half the time, it doesn't even keep your save games since the lithium batteries begin to die after 20 years. The last time I actually played my SNES was probably when I played through some games on Mario all-Stars. In terms of emulators, I probably play NES, and GBA (not that old, but whatever) games the most. It is just easier. Plus, in NES games, it is nice to use save staes sometimes for games that don't let you save, or that use mundane password systems.

As for new games becoming more cinematic, and less playable, yeah, that is why I have kinda stayed away from a lot of newer games. I like a good story, but designers need to learn how to make it optional, and have a way for the game to be fully played without the story.

[Darth Marsden]

I've found most older systems still playable and enjoyable today with the only one not very enjoyable being the Nintendo 64. Mainly due to the shoddy analog sticks, I just couldn't play my N64 today. Not unless someone sold a replacement analog stick that was more like the GameCube or PS2 analog sticks. It's a real shame too because I enjoyed games like Super Mario 64, Battletanx, Star Fox, Goldeneye, etc. But the analog stick... it's just horrible. I think everyone atleast had that one controller that's analog stick got so flimsy and you couldn't play games that required any precise movement.Play N64 games on your PC using an emulator and a PS2 controller. That's what I did, and it works great. Graphics are much sharper too, which is always a plus.

I play old games, but they're not quite as old as I think you mean. I haven't played many lately (stupid PC dying and needing replacing), but I have gotten a DS and have been playing through a bunch of those games, like Chrono Trigger and Diddy Kong Racing. I've also been going through Illusion of Gaia and a bunch of Sonic hacks on my DS thanks to a couple of emulators, though it's not as perfect as I'd like. Still fun though.

Older games have much more charm and overall likeability about them then modern titles seem to. It's all flashy graphics and multiplayer these days, and I don't give a flying toss about either of those. I want a good, solid game that I can play for hours, not something that'll be over in a weekend.

[ShadowTiger]

I've been on an absolutely massive Doom kick lately. Doom, and all the other games that use its engine. Not really sure why. I just love the engine, particularly if you can jump and crouch. So many awesome WADs out there.

[Starkist]

I just got a big HDTV and I have it all set up now. I have my NES (a Christmas gift in 1989), an SNES, N64, Xbox, Wii, and a computer all hooked up. If a game was good fifteen years ago, why not still play it today? :)

[MottZilla]

I just got a big HDTV and I have it all set up now. I have my NES (a Christmas gift in 1989), an SNES, N64, Xbox, Wii, and a computer all hooked up. If a game was good fifteen years ago, why not still play it today? :)

It also makes it much more clear which games were really good and which weren't as there isn't all the glow of new shiney technology. All they have now is their true merits.

Darth, I have played N64 games on Peoject64 with a PS2 controller. It works fine for some games but other games would benefit from a N64 controller with a good analog stick for sure. Even still I'd rather emulate and play with a PS2 controller than play the real thing which is quite the opposite of my usual preference with older games. I always swear by playing the original hardware, but I just can't say that for N64.

It's nice to see I'm not the only one that appreciates the classics still. Ofcourse one reason I think we can all appreciate about retro gaming is it's generally cheaper than buying new releases all the time. And it's hard to beat cheaper and better games.

[Nicholas Steel]

I played my SNES the most, haven't in a while though since neither of our LCD displays like the way it ouputs video resulting in massive display lag. The Snes only displays video on all the odd (or even, I forget which) scanlines with the even scanlines displaying black. Essentially simulating a progressive scan display with a interlaced display mode which eliminates the twitter artifact you may have noticed some times on other consoles at the time.

[Brasel]

I have an NES and an SNES. I play the NES every once in awhile, but my SNES doesn't work very well anymore, which is a shame because I still have my decent sized library of games I'd like to play. I've been wanting to play Super Metriod on it for months, but I can't because every time I get about ten minutes into the game, my SNES resets itself.

[MottZilla]

I played my SNES the most, haven't in a while though since neither of our LCD displays like the way it ouputs video resulting in massive display lag. The Snes only displays video on all the odd (or even, I forget which) scanlines with the even scanlines displaying black. Essentially simulating a progressive scan display with a interlaced display mode which eliminates the twitter artifact you may have noticed some times on other consoles at the time.

You're way off there. The SNES never outputs "black lines". SDTV's run at 60 fields per second, a field in NTSC being 240 lines, together two fields make a 480 line interlaced picture. On SNES and NES and other low resolution systems rather than interlacing to boost screen resolution, well it just doesn't. A new frame is drawn each field. This is very different than standard definition film/dvd/tv uses which HDTVs are designed to support. HDTVs and their digital nature are generally shitty for retro consoles.

Anthony, to get your SNES back in working order where it doesn't reset probably is as easy as cleaning your cartridges and possibly the connector in the system. When your system is older and dirter games will freeze/crash with the slightest bump of the system moving the cartridge. On a good clean system, you can rattle it around as much as you want with no impact on the game. Cleaning the games is easier than cleaner the system. Take apart the game and use a white soft eraser to sort of brush clean the cartridge's copper contacts on both sides. With compressed air or a lint free type cloth wipe off the erase bits so the board is clean. Then you could use a Q-tip and some rubbing alcohol to clean the contacts but if you do be sure to dry off the contacts and anywhere else the liquid went with a paper towel. This should definitely help with stability and working everytime you plug in the game. The only other than to do is to clean the system itself which pretty much requires the official cleaning kit that is hard to find these days.

[Nicholas Steel]

You're way off there. The SNES never outputs "black lines". SDTV's run at 60 fields per second, a field in NTSC being 240 lines, together two fields make a 480 line interlaced picture. On SNES and NES and other low resolution systems rather than interlacing to boost screen resolution, well it just doesn't. A new frame is drawn each field. This is very different than standard definition film/dvd/tv uses which HDTVs are designed to support. HDTVs and their digital nature are generally shitty for retro consoles.
I said the SNES outputs on the odd scan lines and that black is displayed on the even ones (aka: it only renders on the odd fields), I never said the SNES outputs black for the even scan lines, just that the even scan lines display black (colour bleeding usually made it hard to tell on CRT displays though).

I'm thinking of sticking a wedge in the cartridge of my games or extending the plate it inserts into the cartridges so that when the power switch locks them in it actually grips the cartridge tightly preventing it from rattling around. Or maybe just add a wedge to each of my few cartridges or on the outside of the connector in the SNES to better provide grip.

edit: I fail at describing what I mean >.> needless to say it's a fairly simple thing I would like to do that will definably increase the resistance when slotting a game into the machine making the fit much more snug and secure.

[MottZilla]

I said the SNES outputs on the odd scan lines and that black is displayed on the even ones (aka: it only renders on the odd fields), I never said the SNES outputs black for the even scan lines, just that the even scan lines display black (colour bleeding usually made it hard to tell on CRT displays though).
.

Again you are wrong. The SNES outputs an entirely new frame on even scanlines and odd scanlines. If it did not, the system would only run at 30fps. But this is not true, it runs at 60 frames per second as only 1 field is used for the resolution it uses. The SNES doesn't ever output just black for either odd or even scanlines. HDTVs don't like this as they expect both fields to be making up one 480 line frame as they do on Television, VCR Tapes, and DVDs. Low resolution computer graphics that do a whole new frame each field were not in mind when they developed HDTVs or even digital TVs.

[Yapollo]

Though my older systems are essientially broken, I use virtual console to find the games I still enjoy. Though most are from the NES and N64.

[Nicholas Steel]

Yeah Virtual Console is the way to go >.>

The emulation runs the games at a officially supported resolution so my display doesn't lag :P

[MottZilla]

Virtual Console is great for those that don't have any alternative. However I don't think it's that big of a deal to have a SDTV around and the original console. Though over time it might get a bit harder.

I just recently picked up a reprogrammable Gameboy cartridge and have been playing tons of old games on it. I never really played alot of Gameboy and Gameboy Color games back when it was current. I played Zelda 4, Pokemon Blue, Metroid II, Super Mario Land, Tetris, Dr Mario, Alleyway, and maybe a few others. Later after GB was extinct I picked up Ninja Gaiden Shadow and Contra Operation C. But there's a ton of great GB and GBC games I never played that now I'll have the chance to play.

[Rammstein]

I have just finished Zelda 2 for the nes, I forgot how awsome this game is. I am currently playing daggerfall, wich is also extremly awsome.

But I do agree that old games has a much higher replay value than newer games. New games seems to focus too much on multiplayer aspect, wich I do not like. And graphics, rather thAn content.