SNES was my favorite console because it was technically primitive enough the devs had to design around it’s limitations, but advanced enough that the gameplay itself could still be complex.
Hundreds of SNES games still look good and play well. With PSX/N64 generation onwards, the drive to make things look “better” resulted in visuals aging horribly.
Link to the Past still looks and plays great. Ocarina of Time (while a great game) looks like crap.
The SNES is an amazing console, I actually had a dream last night about discovering a long lost secret level in super mario world. In the dream it turned out that the level in the final area that has a secret ending creating a path directly to bowser (bipassing the castle level) actually had a second secret ending leading to an entierly new short path ending in a ghost house.
I’m also old. I grew up with an Atari 2600 and then an NES, plus an Apple II at my parents’ house and a C-64 at my grandparents’ house. When I want to play a game for comforting fun, those are the games I most often turn to because they take me back to a simpler time in my life while being generally simpler themselves. And sure, there were some games for those systems that were complex and dark, like some Infocom games and Wasteland, which I thoroughly enjoyed and even enjoyed the modern sequels to… but honestly, I’d rather play Snake Byte on an Apple II emulator most of the time.
Unless you want a phone game, there are so few games out there now that you can just pick up and play for five minutes and then do something else. Most of them are indie edge cases (which admittedly can be good games sometimes) or quickly made web games that pretty much suck. Everything has a complex storyline. They’re not games to me as much as interactive movies sometimes. And that’s fine when I have a couple of hours to devote my time to it, but not all that fine when I want a slight distraction while watching a YouTube video on the other monitor.
I swear, they’d give Tetris cut scenes if it existed today.
I also really liked some game (whose name I can’t remember) where you’re both cowboys and trying to shoot each other through a moving barrier in the middle.
Retro games rock. I’ve been playimg a lot of retro and retro-themed indie games lately.
SNES was my favorite console because it was technically primitive enough the devs had to design around it’s limitations, but advanced enough that the gameplay itself could still be complex.
Hundreds of SNES games still look good and play well. With PSX/N64 generation onwards, the drive to make things look “better” resulted in visuals aging horribly.
Link to the Past still looks and plays great. Ocarina of Time (while a great game) looks like crap.
Totally agreed. SNES hit that sweet spot of being the pinnacle of 2D consoles right before the awkward years of early 3D.
The SNES is an amazing console, I actually had a dream last night about discovering a long lost secret level in super mario world. In the dream it turned out that the level in the final area that has a secret ending creating a path directly to bowser (bipassing the castle level) actually had a second secret ending leading to an entierly new short path ending in a ghost house.
I’m also old. I grew up with an Atari 2600 and then an NES, plus an Apple II at my parents’ house and a C-64 at my grandparents’ house. When I want to play a game for comforting fun, those are the games I most often turn to because they take me back to a simpler time in my life while being generally simpler themselves. And sure, there were some games for those systems that were complex and dark, like some Infocom games and Wasteland, which I thoroughly enjoyed and even enjoyed the modern sequels to… but honestly, I’d rather play Snake Byte on an Apple II emulator most of the time.
Unless you want a phone game, there are so few games out there now that you can just pick up and play for five minutes and then do something else. Most of them are indie edge cases (which admittedly can be good games sometimes) or quickly made web games that pretty much suck. Everything has a complex storyline. They’re not games to me as much as interactive movies sometimes. And that’s fine when I have a couple of hours to devote my time to it, but not all that fine when I want a slight distraction while watching a YouTube video on the other monitor.
I swear, they’d give Tetris cut scenes if it existed today.
Out of curiosity, what’s you’re favorite Atari 2600 game?
I have the console in my retro collection, but I haven’t hooked it up in ages.
Ooh. That is a really good question.
I’m going to give a weird answer. Boxing. I’m not even a fan of real boxing. Something about it just tickles me.
I loved that one as a kid!
I also really liked some game (whose name I can’t remember) where you’re both cowboys and trying to shoot each other through a moving barrier in the middle.
Oh man, I know the game you’re talking about, but I just can’t think of it.
Dusk: You woke up hanging on meat hooks. Kill
Amid Evil: Evil has conquered the realms. Kill.
Cultic: You woke up in a pile of dead bodies while investigating a missing persons case. Kill.
Ion Fury: An asshole mad scientist made you spill your drink. Kill.
Turbo Overkill: Stop an AI bent of godhood. Kill.
System Shock: Also stop an AI bent of godhood. Kill.
Marathon: The AI bent of godhood is using you, but you both don’t like the alien slavers invading your spaceship. Kill.
Prodeus: IDK. Red Demons vs Blue Demons vs You. Kill