N64/PS2 Era Consoles Better Than Newer Generations?

musicpenguy said:

I wanted to throw this question out there. Am I the only one that prefers consoles like the N64/PS2/GameCube etc?

I love that with older consoles you simply pop a game in and play. If you had friends come over you could enjoy some great multiplayer. The titles on older consoles I feel also were better than what is out there now.

I've played around with the newer consoles and it seems to me that having to deal with software, Wi-Fi and other things these console makers are trying to do removes a lot of what made a gaming console great.

Is there anyone else out there that still prefers these consoles from the late 90s over what is out there now?

Would love a discussion on how wrong I am or how right I am? I'm not a huge gamer, but still enjoy these older titles and systems.

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I think what you are experiencing is nostalgia. I get extremely nostalgic to the point of sadness when I think about being 13 again playing PS2 with friends all weekend.
Would I go back to consoles without online features, no, because they add so much to the experience.
The game industry is so transient and exciting at the same time, I often find myself pining for the fun I had on old consoles, whilst being incredibly excited about the future too.

At the moment, we should all be excited, E3 is going to knock our socks off regardless of your preferred console.

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Just some of the things I am excited about;
PS4!!!
GTA5
New Mario
New Zelda
Zelda Windwaker
The Last of Us
Beyond 2 Souls

I'm starting to feel that I prefer the instant-ness of that era. In general everything was quicker, we're living in the age of console interfaces, of signing in, downloadable patches and updates. It does annoy me sometimes. That's one of the reasons I find myself playing handheld games with their sleep modes.

Just the other day I hooked up my Gamecube for Smash Bros Melee, F-Zero GX (and Brawl with the GC controller) and I loved the controls, the speed and the simplicity of it.

It could be a nostalgia thing. I never owned a PS2, and I'm not feeling the magic vibe from those games on my PS3. But I also don't get it over the original Xbox which I did own.


I think it's just Smash Bros I'm into

I feel nostalgic about my Super Nintendo, all the hours wasted on A Link to the Past, Chrono Trigger, Harvest Moon and Final Fantasy games... No load time and simple gameplay... Ah good times...

For me, it's not so much that older consoles were better, it's just the games were more interesting. The developers had to work with less and therefore put more emphasis on gameplay.

Nowadays many games cost the price of a movie to produce so they play it safe.

I'm actually finding ios games more interesting and it does remind me of the early consoles days. I can't remember the last time I used my ps3 as a game machine and not just a blu ray player.

dazed said:

I'm actually finding ios games more interesting and it does remind me of the early consoles days. I can't remember the last time I used my ps3 as a game machine and not just a blu ray player.

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I find it the other way around, games are getting bizarre and interesting (on the PS3 at least) with games like Tokyo Jungle, Journey, Heavy Rain/Beyond. The early games this gen were playing it safe, and the big multi platform games still do - but new, first-party games are quite interesting.
Whereas I'm finding iOS games to just be microtransaction money traps, selling back chunks of a finished game or breaking gameplay with paid items.

I still miss my Dreamcast and remember it fondly - it has some great games, and I was sad Sega then stopped making hardware.

Indie gaming is keeping originality alive in a world of reboots, sequels and franchises.

aerok said:

I feel nostalgic about my Super Nintendo, all the hours wasted on A Link to the Past, Chrono Trigger, Harvest Moon and Final Fantasy games... No load time and simple gameplay... Ah good times...

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I remember Nintendo taking heat for using a cartridge in the N64 (when everybody else was using CD's) and they responded by saying the load times ruined the gaming experience. That was what I found to be true with the PS at the time...

I think the games in some ways were more challenging in the old days (??). You used to die with regularity and frequency, and on some levels you had to sweat blood to make it through, and when you did...you really felt like you had accomplished something.

Nowadays, games seem easier in some respects, and shorter. On a positive note, they do seem to be integrating cinema-esque aspects into gameplay, but that is the issue I think: they are turning games into a movie-like experience. The old days, back with cartridges, there was nothing superfluous, just you, the controller, and that #%@% boss you had to face at the end of the level.

Just my $.02...

I still use my N64 for playing GoldenEye 007 now and then.

We play Namco Museum 50th Anniversary on our 32" HDTV all the time, haha. Most of our eyes in this house can't deal with the 3D, so it's pretty much mostly retro gaming here whenever we do play.

We still have a Sega Genesis, and for whatever reason we've somehow ended up with another - the original model - since someone threw it out and offered it to us. Used to spend all day after school playing on that thing.

But yeah, internet has pretty much taken over. I have a 3DS, and I like the fact that you can have your games in digital format, and I take advantage of it with a 32GB card, but everything else is just bloat. So I buy my game, then turn off the wi-fi until I want to get something else. I'm still slowly going through New Super Mario Bros. 2 and Code Princess, but I'm mostly enjoying the freebies I got with my Club Nintendo coins - TwinBee and Tetris.

I just think the Virtual Console on the Wii is just as good, and I have bought a few Master System/Genesis/NES titles with no issue. The original hardware is getting too old to really enjoy anymore. I mean, I used to have a hard time with the Genesis to begin with since all my games were free rentals that would go home with 100 different people.

There are some games out right now that are too frustrating to play. Nothing like the days of the Game Boy with the plus arrows and A/B buttons.

I still have 2 N64 consoles. I still add games for them to my collection whenever my wife is in a good mood and indulges my hobbies
I fell for this console the first time i heard about it. I waited quite a few years to get my hands on one here in Romania. But when i bought the thing... I was in heaven. We still play mario kart in 4 players mode from time to time and the darn thing still keeps us in front of it for hours.
I have quite a few other consoles, but in my opinion, they just don't have that something... They have cooler graphics and what not, but they just bore me. I'm still looking for a game for ios that doesn't throw facebook in my face or whatever other crappy thing once every few minutes, and which can keep me playing for more than a few minutes.

Current games have just too much stuff, example crysis (bad game) you had some many "options" and inventory but heck i completed the whole game using a generic smg and a sniper rifle and dont get me started about the so called story....

N64 game catalogue is legit ! Home of the best shooter imo Perfect Dark.

musicpenguy said:

Perfect Dark is one of my favorites - I was very excited a few years ago when I thought PD2 was coming out - it seems that the franchise died with just a single amazing title.

(Evidently XBox 360 got a prequel title - would love more games to be created in this franchise)

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Funny how we keep talking about the N64 (I know, it's in the thread title...but so is the PS2). I was a committed Sega fan boy "back in the day..." My foundations had been rocked in 1995 by the release of the RPG's I wanted on the PlayStation, but, by god, I was never going to fall to the dark side of Nintendo.

To convince myself the new Nintendo console was going to suck, I played with a display model about 3 months pre-release. Well, after 5 minutes of Super Mario 64, I had given up my fanboy ways, and became a firm believer in the N64 and reserved a console. That was the future...wandering around in lush, 3D environments...

Perfect Dark was awesome! Unfortunately, it was the intellectual property of Rare, and when they signed with Microsoft to develop for the XBox, it went with them. It doesn't appear that Rare has been that successful on the XBox, but I haven't been keeping track.

As far as capability, no, they are not.

As far as games, no they are not.

As far as anything, no, they are not.

chrf097 said:

As far as capability, no, they are not.

As far as games, no they are not.

As far as anything, no, they are not.

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I feel that the story played a much greater part of games a few years ago compared to todays games.

I also feel that most of the old franchises have became worse and worse over the years. However there are very many games produced every year now, and there are a lot of new original IPs that are very good. Also I do believe that some of the recent reboots of old games have been pretty good. (like XCOM)

I pretty much only play story driven games or turn based ones, which I do believe have not been getting better over the years, but I can see that sports, racing and shooter games have benefitted more for better tech, and also suffer less from having a weaker story (mainly because the story aspect isn't that important).

I dunno, I prefer this generation, as much of an old school JRPG fan as I am. With stuff like Bioshock, Alan Wake, Arkham Asylum/City, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Journey, it just feels so much more immersive. With that said, I still play my Dreamcast and PS2, mostly for the old Capcom fighters and JRPGs.

I wish we could get a new Rival Schools game. Plus, the rumors of the new Persona makes me happy.

cluthz said:

I feel that the story played a much greater part of games a few years ago compared to todays games.

I also feel that most of the old franchises have became worse and worse over the years. However there are very many games produced every year now, and there are a lot of new original IPs that are very good. Also I do believe that some of the recent reboots of old games have been pretty good. (like XCOM)

I pretty much only play story driven games or turn based ones, which I do believe have not been getting better over the years, but I can see that sports, racing and shooter games have benefitted more for better tech, and also suffer less from having a weaker story (mainly because the story aspect isn't that important).

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I feel the same way, a good example (not old enough but...) is Fable 1 and how the new games turned out

N64 banjo & kazzoie were fantastic games, cant say the same about the latest one

Cant comment about the new zelda games, the last one i playes was the windwaker on gamecube and wouldnt surprise the new ones are not good.

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skottichan said:

I dunno, I prefer this generation, as much of an old school JRPG fan as I am. With stuff like Bioshock, Alan Wake, Arkham Asylum/City, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Journey, it just feels so much more immersive. With that said, I still play my Dreamcast and PS2, mostly for the old Capcom fighters and JRPGs.

I wish we could get a new Rival Schools game. Plus, the rumors of the new Persona makes me happy.

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Well from this generation i have enjoyed bioshock 1&2 (yet to play infinite), alan wake was pretty good but for some reason i didnt finish it, dead space 1&2 i really recommend street fighter and marvel vs capcom still going strong in the house

I remember my old consoles fondly, and liked their simplicity. That being said I don't really feel like unpacking my Dreamcast to play something. It's mostly nostalgia.

I've always thought that the reason why old games are "better" is because of how easy they are/were to pick up and play. You've got that now with mobile games, but the problem with those is how disposable, short-lived and cheap they are.

After I finished Bioshock Infinite I went straight into Anodyne and Evoland on Steam, both retro styled games that really go back to the roots. In Bioshock it took an hour before any story really hit, in Anodyne I was already deep in the story and ploughing through.

What I think the problem is, is that there is too much fluff. Final Fantasy 7, you get into the first battle instantly... FF13 comes after 20 minutes of cutscenes.

I don't even find a lot of these new games as immersive because of it. The characters take so long to do actions - it's nothing how I'd handle them in real life and they're forcing me to do actions as they would. Old games do too, but there was a point somewhere after HL2 where everything became restricted in the big titles.

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chrf097 said:

As far as capability, no, they are not.

As far as games, no they are not.

As far as anything, no, they are not.

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Incorrect.

Dagless said:

I'm starting to feel that I prefer the instant-ness of that era. In general everything was quicker, we're living in the age of console interfaces, of signing in, downloadable patches and updates. It does annoy me sometimes. That's one of the reasons I find myself playing handheld games with their sleep modes.

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I totally agree. The instantness of it was a great part of the experience that I miss. Game consoles were just game consoles back then. You popped your game in. You powered on. Your game loaded up...and the fun begins. Now, you have to deal with a home screen, logins, firmware updates, patches, navigating through the UI to get to your game, more loading. I miss the days when games consoles were just games consoles....none of that extra bs.

aerok said:

I feel nostalgic about my Super Nintendo, all the hours wasted on A Link to the Past, Chrono Trigger, Harvest Moon and Final Fantasy games... No load time and simple gameplay... Ah good times...

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Hey! I would not call the hours that you spent on those games as, "wasted." The fun and experience of those games was definitely worth the time that you spent with them.

Antares said:

I totally agree. The instantness of it was a great part of the experience that I miss. Game consoles were just game consoles back then. You popped your game in. You powered on. Your game loaded up...and the fun begins. Now, you have to deal with a home screen, logins, firmware updates, patches, navigating through the UI to get to your game, more loading. I miss the days when games consoles were just games consoles....none of that extra bs.

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That's one of the reasons I've been way more into handheld games since the DS came out. Before that handhelds didn't have a sleep feature (unless built into the game itself), and after the DS all handhelds had sleep features and console interfaces took off.
Plus with the lower specs designers really focused on great gameplay just like old consoles.

I don't know. I get just as nostalgic about my NES as anybody else here but when I play a game like Skyrim, it's hard for me to think that the older games were better (even if you took away the fancy graphics/sound). Some new games have gotten much worse though. I can't play the PS2+ era Final Fantasy games.

What I do sort of miss is just the whole era. Consoles only played videos games. Games start instantly. There was no "gamefaqs.com" or google. Going to a video game store was much more exciting because we couldn't just hop on the internet and see exactly what was coming out when and what the store had. Portable gaming involved using a device that had a real D-pad and buttons. That sort of thing. Talking with your friends at school about how to beat a certain boss because you couldn't just google the answer in 2 seconds.

There are lot of things I certainly don't miss: blowing in the cartridges to get them to work, dead cartridge battery, copying down mile long save codes because the game didn't support saving a game, etc.

Tsuchiya said:

I remember my old consoles fondly, and liked their simplicity. That being said I don't really feel like unpacking my Dreamcast to play something. It's mostly nostalgia.

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It's always worth unpacking a Dreamcast, if only to relive Shenmue and Shemue II and feel that, one day, there may actually be a Shenmue III.

The rise in mobile gaming has lead to gamers having shorter attention spans due to less time to play games properly or the device being used having more than one main function resulting in easier games that led to IAP for those who do not wish to put effort in to the game and would rather pay to win instead.