Reliving your gaming past

[MrNatural]

Was a little bored yesterday, so for some reason, i thought I'd look through my collection of PC games.
In my younger days i was mainly a PC gamer, and thankfully i have kept all these old games.
The nostalgia that i felt was enormous.
Most of the games in my collection are from the 90s and early 00s.
Some of my favourites included:

AFL 98 - Don't even remember this one

AFL 99 - Thought i only had 99 and not 98, but turns out i had both. I think it was AFL 99 that you could actually fight other players.

NBA Live 97 - Has Mitch Richmond on the front cover. Great memories

European Air War - Wasn't a mainstream game (if my memory serves me), but god damn that was a good game. Especially if you're a WW2 buff like me

Call of Duty + United offensive - Soon as i found this game, i immediately installed it, and the greatness of the game just came rushing back to me. The memories of playing online stick with me. Playing this game online when dial up was the main connection method, was frustrating but hilarious at the same time.
I'd love to know if there's still any online servers around to play this game, because ill jump on board for sure!!

Age of Empires 1,2 &3 - No need for an explanation, great game.

Cricket 97 Ashes tour - the graphics were terrible for late 90s standards, but was a fun game. Would sit back and smash triple centuries with Mark Taylor, edge cut shots for 6, good times.

Anyone else had a look through there game collections and felt the nostalgia that i felt?

These days it seems that games don't have as much soul as they once did, or is it just because im getting older and have less time to enjoy them... who knows

 

[ajdude]

not a REALLY old game but I installed San Andreas yesterday, hearing Radio X again was just amazing haha

also super mario bros 3 always does something for me, I'm not entirely sure why but it just does, great game!

 

[pantskyle]

I love when the gaming companies bring our the collections.

Wish there were more.

 

[Scotland]

I played Mario 64 at Game Masters in Fed Square last week. Struggled to drag myself away from it...

Many, many hours were spent between Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye 007 and Top Gear Rally.

Never played many PC games past Lemmings as games evolved quickly and system requirements followed and I always seemed to be a step behind what I needed. Now as an adult with as fast a computer as I want to buy I have no interest whatsoever in PC games.

 

[Benno_900]

My first ever game was Super Mario Kart on Super Nintendo.

not a REALLY old game but I installed San Andreas yesterday, hearing Radio X again was just amazing haha

That must be my favorite game ever - except that stupid toy plane mission which almost made me break the disc!

 

[SuperCats9]

I was a late 90's, early 00's gamer. Started as a PC gamer, and games like Warcraft 1&2 bring back some great memories.

When i was 6 i got a PlayStation for x-mas, first game on that was Small Soldiers, i loved the movie and so i loved the game and still to this day remains as one of my all times favourites.

Of course all the Age Of Empires are on my list, fantastic games, and so were Halo 1&2, great times playing those.

I tend to agree that these days, not many games seem to 'grab', like you said, i think it's because of age.

 

[NitroFan]

That must be my favorite game ever - except that stupid toy plane mission which almost made me break the disc!

this. a lot of this. i think ive said this before but i spent more time just cruising around listening to the old school hip hop station than ive spent playing just about any other game....but that damn toy plane

playing counter strike the last few days brings back some memories. in high school my mates and i would break in to classrooms to play it on the computers inside.

 

[lewigie]

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Age of Empires, San Andreas.. Craving to play them at the moment.

 

[HBK619]

I often wish I didn't trade in all my old consoles.

I still have a PS2 but it's the only old console I have, bar handhelds (of which I have a really old school Gameboy and a Gameboy pocket still in immaculate condition). Just for the nostalgic kick every now and then I'd love to plug in the N64, SNES, NES, Sega, whatever and play those games I did as a kid that made my childhood.

Although I still think the gloss is taken off some games massively when looked back on, especially after a lot of the elements of those older games have really been refined and polished so well in modern games. It can be very hard to go back and adapt sometimes. Some definitely do have that timelessness to them, but some are best left to nostalgia.

Probably the best example of the one best left to nostalgia is the recently released Simpsons Arcade game. I remember loving it when playing it in Timezone as a kid, but playing the HD update of it on PSN was one of the most deplorable games in so many ways. Repetitive, boring, grinding and just not fun. Yet I had a ridiculous amount of fun with it in the arcades.

Eventually I will go back and buy all the systems and all the games I once loved. The first stop will be an N64 whenever I get the chance to nab a good deal over Ebay or whatever. Eventually...

 

[pantskyle]

HBK do you think it's easier to go back and play games like Mario 3 then say Mario 64.

Side scrolling games really dont lose the charm as say a open world 64 bit game.

 

[HBK619]

HBK do you think it's easier to go back and play games like Mario 3 then say Mario 64.

Side scrolling games really dont lose the charm as say a open world 64 bit game.

Definitely, simply because the mechanics of side scrolling games, for the most part, don't get old.

When you have open world games or really anything that requires any kind of complicated movements and then you put them up against newer games that have just built and polished and refined all of that stuff down to perfection it can be very hard to regress back to those older titles.

As I mentioned in the Max Payne 3 thread, I gave Max Payne 1 a go last month after I figured I'd relive the greatness that was and it really was a clunky and awkward experience. Even though at the time I remember it being smooth and amazing, now it feels extremely off and everything was awkward. I was bumping into walls, missing everyone I was shooting at (thankfully the auto-aim can be turned onto maximum - still had trouble...) and the bullet time/shootdodge really wasn't that impressive. On a gameplay front Max Payne 3 absolutely destroys Max Payne 1, if you want to compare them now (as unfairly as it may be). And after having played such a polished game on the gameplay front, it is extremely hard not only to go back and pick up a game like MP1, but it's really hard to keep playing it. And Max Payne 1 was only a PS2 era game.

It's actually funny that people still complain and are annoyed with auto-aim on consoles nowadays, when you look at what it once was with shooters, there really has been a significant amount of precision added to shooters nowadays that you wouldn't have even thought of back on say the PS1 or N64.

But back to what you were saying, side scrollers really are timeless games. Mechanically there hasn't been a whole lot of changes made to the side scroller, apart from LBP introducing the multiple planes (I don't know if/how many games did this before LBP came along). Where as the open world genre has progressed so incredibly far now since then that it can be very hard to come back.

Definitely subjective as to whether you'll have more fun with one over the other. But in terms of at least picking up and playing straight away, it's obvious what the answer is.

I do often hold back my want of playing those older games with the thought that those amazing memories could or would be crushed by how shitty those games would play nowadays. Especially since the one's that were my favourites have either had sequels or successors in the genre that have pushed them so far ahead.

 

[SuperCats9]

It's funny how you remember old games as having 'great graphics, polished, smooth' etc, but when you go back and play them, you think 'wtf'? How did i even think this looked good in the first place? lol

I agree with HBK that some games are best left alone, because it is hard to go back.

 

[Hatchy1992]

Great thread. Was mainly into Playstation and PC.

FIFA 98, AFL 99, San Andreas, Rise of Nations Age of Empires were just some of my favourites.

Still play San Andreas today, going around slaughtering Balla just for the fun of it brings back fond memories. Story lines were great and really grabbed your attention.

 

[Dazb86]

crash bandicoot 1-2-3, all the GTA's except 4, Shane Warne cricket, FFX, Pokemon red, Sonic and knuckles, street fighter 2.

They were probably the favourites.

 

[wce_dyl]

I still live in my gaming past, I've played more ps1 games on my ps3 then ps3 games.

Favorite is games like Resident Evil 1-3, Alone in the Dark and Silent Hill. Scare the absolute crap out of me, especially Alone in the Dark I walk at like ten metres a minute on that game.

 

[illnino]

PC - Descent, Wolfenstein, Doom, Get the Girl, World Class Leaderboard (Golf), Prince of Persia, Jungle Jill, Roger Wilco's Space Quest, Police Quest, Indiana Jones and the Lost City of Atlantis, Commander Keen, Sim City, Hugo's House of Horrors, Stunts, Jurassic Park, The Rocketeer, WinFish

Sega Master System/Mega Drive - Alex Kidd, My Hero, Shinobi, Secret Commando, California Games, RC Grand Prix, Sonic, Golden Axe, Lion King, Bubsy, Fifa Soccer 95, NBA Live 95, Micro Machines, Desert Strike, Madden NFL 92

Nintendo/Super Nintendo - Battle Toads, Double Dragon, Ufouria, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Aussie Rules Footy, Super International Cricket, Donkey Kong Country, Jurassic Park, The Simpsons: Bart vs World/Space Mutants, Skate or Die, Snake Rattle 'n Roll, Ninja Turtles, Track and Field, Biker Mice from Mars, Bubsy, Cool Spot, The Flintstones, The Lawnmower Man, Power Rangers, NBA Jam, Primal Rage

Then there was the PS1 and N64 but I reckon most of those games will be covered by others.