Great Game. But is Nostalgia Required?

The more I think about it, there are way too many games that probably won't be appreciated by those who didn't play them when they first came out or shortly after. Either the outdated graphics will turn them off or the gameplay will seem foreign to them. How many people play early '80's games but didn't grow up with them? It's not that the games are bad, it's that people don't appreciate them for what they were and what they still are.

Here are some examples that stick out in my mind.

Metroid - In an age of frequent saving and map use, I think many people will be turned off at how cruel the game is. They won't realize how breakthrough the design was.

Legend of Zelda - Will some kid whose first Zelda experience is Ocarina want to play this after he sees the graphics? Will he understand that upon its release, this was such a new and fresh experience?

Phantasy Star - Everything about this game was revolutionary in 1988. Yet, I think a lot of people checking it for the first time won't see that and will be disappointed. The battle system will seem overly simplistic and they won't think that this was the most graphically advanced console game of its time with its 3d dungeons.

I think all of these games and many others are classics. But are nostalgia and knowledge of how good they were required to enjoy them today?

Discussez-vous.

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But is nostalgia and knowledge of how good they were required to enjoy them today?

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no, not really, but it's true that many of today's gamers are jaded by better graphics and more advanced gameplay systems..

but some games are just timeless..

*goes back in time to play shadowrun (snes)

Hmmmm.. I really can't help you much here, because I did grow up with all that stuff so I can't compleatly separate myself from the nostalgia. However, I do enjoy 8 and 16 bit games that I've never played before, so the actual game itself doesn't hold any nostalgia for me. But the look and sound of 8 and 16 bit games in general still might be nostalgic....

Heck, they're still great games.

The same applies to me Chibi. There are lots of great games I'm discovering that I never played back in the day. But I still have nostalgia for the system or era, so I can't completely separate myself.

I think you have a point there. I run into the same problem with myself sometimes.

For instance, I played FF2US for the first time, and beat it, in the year 2000. That's a bit after I played games like FF3US, CT, the Lunars, Grandia, etc. and really, from a gameplay point of view, it kinda just sucked, and from a story point of view, I didn't think it was anything different than I had seen before. Obviously I was playing it 8 years after it came out, so maybe it hadn't been done before then. But I still personally don't like the game.

Even for games I thought are some of my favorites of all time like original Final Fantasy or Breath of Fire... would I enjoy them if I played them now? I have a feeling I wouldn't... at least not like I did before. There are definitely some games that stand the test of time. I'm still waiting for games to surpass the fun level of Megaman 2, Bionic Commando and MT's Punch-Out. But on the other hand, there are definitely others which have been redone, and redone well to the point where the older ones have become obsolete.

Not sure what to make of it really. I guess like everything, depends on the game, depends on the player.

Some games are definitely more timeless than others.

Anyone with a reasonably open mind should be able to appreciate the greats from the 16-bit era, but I'm not sure people who come into the gaming scene today can really appreciate old 8-bit titles like Miner 2049er, Mountain King, Star Raiders, or others that are more obscure. Even many classic NES titles lack a certain appeal to newer gamers. Could you really convince someone today that Clash at Demonhead and Monster Party are games worth playing? I'm not so sure.

The Phantasy Star games are also good examples, just because they play so differently from the Final Fantasy model that so many people are used to. I can't imagine too many modern RPG fans are capable of making it through the Biosystems Lab in PSII without bursting into tears.

One's perspective is a major influence.

Trying to explain the innovation of Phantasy Star or Metroid would be like trying to explain the influence of Elvis or The Beatles to someone born during the 80s.

I think it's harder for someone to go back and learn to appreciate originality when so much has changed in the meantime, especially if one's first exposure to a given genre was more recent.

Some will learn to appreciate innovation. Some will prefer what's more familiar (i.e. more recent).

I never played River City Ransom until I saw it mentioned here so often, and I ran it through an emulator and it's great. I also never played Mr.Do! when it came out, and I really got into that game over the last year thanks to MAME. But yes, it could be nostalgia for that era.

I first played Ys 1 and 2 after owning a Saturn so the whole "it's on CD thing" never came to play, instead I still found it a great game despite being technically dated.

Frankly I wonder how people will stand the early days of Sega Saturn and Playstation, 95% of those games fare far worse than NES and SMS games if you ask me. *-neo

NeoZeed, you make an excellent point. I have been saying as much for years now. I do think that a lot of older games are held in high regard by many people today in large part because of the nostalgia factor.

I am especially able to notice this with NES games. I am one of the few people who never had (or wanted) an NES back in the day (I played them plenty of times, as all of my friends had one)... When I go back and try some old NES games, even some of them most well regarded and classic games, I am often times left with the feeling that they are very mediocre... or at least not worthy of the high praise they receive from some other people. I really think that nostalgia makes us all over-rate certain things.

I know that speaking for myself there are a lot of old SMS games that I love and enjoy and I totally recognise that if not for the nostalgia I would not be able to get into them at all. There is no doubt about it. I just like certain games because of the wonderful nostalgia of playing them for hours on ens when I was 13 years old.

However, in spite of this common phenomonon I do think that there are some classic games which are truly wonderful and timeless and can appeal to people regardless of nostalgia or age. Some games were just that exceptional. Also, I often find myself getting into some old games I missed way back when they came out.

Anyway, I think you make an excellent point which people rarely consider.

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Originally posted by neoalphazero
Frankly I wonder how people will stand the early days of Sega Saturn and Playstation, 95% of those games fare far worse than NES and SMS games if you ask me. *-neo

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That\'s a good point. I was never able to get too into a lot of 32-bit 3D games because they looked so meh, especially on Playstation with it\'s greyed out looking grainy graphics. I can see history not looking too kindly on some of those games.... but then again, maybe I am just speaking for myself and I was not too into them even at the time. *shrug*

I do think that NES games have aged quite bad as well. The graphics look pretty lousy. They\'re even worse than I remember them at the time. Just looking at the sprites for some games like Zelda and Megaman reminds me of this. I don\'t mind the look of SMS games though, because of the large sprites and more colourful games. Some SMS games look quite bad, but the better games still look *great* to this day IMO. I guess I draw the line inbetween NES and SMS for where I think games started really looking good. Not that NES, Atari, and SG-1000 games are not playable and fun.. game play is the most important thing by far.. I am just talking about looks.