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[Mech#4]

Starfox is actually one of the best aged games ever if you consider emulation. Some versions of zsnes will run it without the slowdown, which makes it amazing.

Starfox would have aged well - if Starfox 64 wasn't so much better in every way that the original looks like shit. Super Mario Kart has the same problem.

To my mind, games that have aged badly are more due to mechanics then graphics. Though, graphics certainly enter into the equation.

Take, for example, Might and Magic III. The graphics are pretty good for 1991 and they're bright and clear. The biggest hurdle is the menu systems of using keyboard shortcuts to attack, shoot, cast spells and the like. Using the inventory is thus: Press F1-6 for party member, press number key for item or use direction keys to scroll up/down, then press E to Equip, R to Remove, D to Discard or F1-6 to give to another party member. Items are ordered by acquired order.

The game does support mouse but it's faster to navigate using only the keyboard.


Aside: I'm pretty you can move and shoot in GoldenEye 64. Aiming and moving perhaps not but you can move the camera and aim then move with the aim still facing that direction. Certainly it was awkward, I remember mostly using proximity mines.

[WealthyRadish]

Proximity mines were fun, though I remember liking the ones you had to detonate manually (it was a bit like that game Screencheat). Also, License to Kill with speed cheats and either slappers only or throwing knives was one of the most enjoyably stupid experiences ever committed to game.

[Akura]

I remember playing the Bunker map with remote mines. That corner to the left of the big screen in the control room(leading to the rest of the base) would become so saturated with them from both me and my opponent that neither of us could attack the other.

Then there was that house-rule about not shooting the respawned player until they pick up a gun. And the abuse of that rule.

[Frumple]

... I could probably agree that the original mortal kombat is one of the worst aged games that were actually well known*, really. Its controls and graphics and whatnot were mostly pretty terrible even at the time of the creation -- about its only real claim to fame was the fatalities. And I guess some of the character design.

But in general it was just kinda' bad, and only well received because there wasn't much good around (especially on its system) and it was edgier than most other games on the market.

Can't really comment much on most of the other ones. Only early metroid I've played was Super, which has aged just fine. Tomb Raider and RE were too shit for me to get in to even when they came out, both largely due to absolutely horrid controls. Starfox is still surprisingly playable, though the bits of Starfox 2 that made it out are noticeably better constructed, mechanics wise. The rest I either don't remember well enough to comment on (Golden Eye), or never played (the rest).

Would say that list is bupkis, though. If all they can come up with is ten names that most people will actually recognize, they're not even remotely trying to find games that did not age with grace.

*This is a major caveat, though. There's a lot of less well known games out there that have aged like complete crap, any dozen of them blowing that list out of the water.

[Neonivek]

Its controls and graphics and whatnot were mostly pretty terrible even at the time of the creation -- about its only real claim to fame was the fatalities. And I guess some of the character design

So then it hasn't aged at all.

Which is kind of what I noticed about Mortal Kombat is it really hasn't aged mostly because while it isn't really all that good looking and the gameplay is overly simplistic... It was exactly this at launch.

[Rolan7]

That's part of their trap, what do they mean by "aged poorly"?  How can they rank the relative poorness of the aging?
One could make assumptions about what they mean, but that's one way they get ya arguing.

[Frumple]

So then it hasn't aged at all.

Which is kind of what I noticed about Mortal Kombat is it really hasn't aged mostly because while it isn't really all that good looking and the gameplay is overly simplistic... It was exactly this at launch.

It was exactly that at launch, but it was still comparatively good (or at least middling) because most everything else was also basically shite, at the time. It's aged in the sense that it has become increasingly bad relative to other games as time has passed, which is about half of what the whole aging game thing means. It was a lot harder to tell MK was fairly terrible when it was first released, heh.

[Neonivek]

That's part of their trap, what do they mean by "aged poorly"?  How can they rank the relative poorness of the aging?
One could make assumptions about what they mean, but that's one way they get ya arguing.

Nope they are fairly clear. It is based on how much it has depreciated as a game since launch due to its age.

So games that were terrible barely playable garbage really haven't aged because they are still terrible barely playable garbage.

It was exactly that at launch, but it was still comparatively good (or at least middling) because most everything else was also basically shite, at the time. It's aged in the sense that it has become increasingly bad relative to other games as time has passed, which is about half of what the whole aging game thing means. It was a lot harder to tell MK was fairly terrible when it was first released, heh.

Oddly enough in many ways it is even better now then it was at launch because it has a sort of beauty in how simple it is. You might say everything was bad "at the time" but I should state that this was the period with Street Fighter 2 and the TMNT Fighting game.

[itisnotlogical]

Goldeneye aged poorly because Perfect Dark outstrips it in every single way.

Perfect Dark had voice acting, better music, better graphics, bigger levels and deeper gameplay, on top of all the things that made Goldeneye good. The only thing that really aged poorly about PD is the controls, which aren't even that bad if you've used an N64 controller for any amount of time.

My only real complaint about Metroid is the music. The Famicom Disk System music sounds alright, but the NES versions are absolute crap in comparison.

[Bouchart]

I don't see how you could have a list of badly aged games and not include System Shock 1.  That would go right to the top of my list.  The controls are clunky as hell.

[TempAcc]

Perfect Dark was pretty good overall, it just came out on a dying console that wasn't able to handle it as well as it should. The controls only kinda sucked because, IMHO, the N64's controller was kinda clunky, specially in regards to button placement and bulk. Honestly though, I've never liked playing FPS games using controllers, so there may be some personal bias in that.

The games that I've played and have aged "most poorly" are the ultima games. Controls are rather strange and unintuitive if you aren't familiar with the game, and the game's graphics involved a bit of pixel hunting.

[itisnotlogical]

Honestly though, I've never liked playing FPS games using controllers, so there may be some personal bias in that.

Well, yeah. I once found a mouse injector plugin for N64 emulators. Playing Perfect Dark like that, with the framerate uncapped, was a dream. Too bad I can't seem to find it anymore; the package I downloaded came with the emulator pre-configured and a nice list of directions for how to make it all work.

[Neonivek]

The games that I've played and have aged "most poorly" are the ultima games. Controls are rather strange and unintuitive if you aren't familiar with the game, and the game's graphics involved a bit of pixel hunting.

Trust me when I say that it is by far not the worst, not by a longshot.

As someone who plays a lot of classic games I have found that there is a lot you need to forgive when it comes to really old PC games.

Heck just one look at the Xcom UI is enough scare you.

[itisnotlogical]

"Hey Jim, what do you think I should go for with the UI"
"Just put a bunch of buttons on the bottom of the screen"
"Should I label the bars at the bottom? The colors aren't really indicative"
"Naaaaaah"

[Bohandas]

Starfox is actually one of the best aged games ever if you consider emulation. Some versions of zsnes will run it without the slowdown, which makes it amazing.

Starfox would have aged well - if Starfox 64 wasn't so much better in every way that the original looks like shit. Super Mario Kart has the same problem.

To my mind, games that have aged badly are more due to mechanics then graphics. Though, graphics certainly enter into the equation.

Often a game will age badly because its graphics are good. A game will have cutting edge graphics as it's major selling point and then once those graphics become obsolete it has nothing left because that was all the developers focused on.