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I remember the days of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, the Dizzy collection by Codemasters for example, and a whole host of other games. Well, nowadays, we're into playstation 2s and Xboxes lifted through the history of gaming ascending from Spectrums, Master Systems, Snes etc. I decided see if my old spectrum still worked, since I hadn't used it for a few years. I climbed into the loft; brushed off the thick covering of dust from my old ZX Sinclair Spectrum 48k; luckily the cassette recorder accessory was still in working order so, I was setting it up, as my brain was flashing through the great memories and great times, and pleasure this rubber-keyed spectrum had given me. I switched it on, and the first game I played was "Super Stuntsman" by Codemasters; must of taken 4, or nearly 5 minutes to load. The clearly evident poor quality of graphics shocked me. I tried several other games, and the same effect overcame me. How could I have ever been fanatic about this System. The graphics were bad, and the sound crackly and bleeps; nothing of how I remembered it. This is due to the latter consoles created with colours and textures of graphics which left the Spectrum for dust! Do any other older gamers share this view with me?
I still write programs on my ZX81 :(
I agree there's an epidemic of rose-tinted views about retro games. OPSM2 did a rant about it in their latest issue, along the lines of "Nostalgia is all about remembering the way you felt... when the world seemed so much simpler, when nobody played videogames except you. Truth is, 99.99% of old games were dreadful. Ghosts 'N' Goblins used to collapse platforums underneath you, just for a laugh, sending you back to the start of the level with no weapons, just a pair of pants. Nowadays people grizzle when The Getaway won't let you see around corners...Wake up and smell the 128-bit coffee..." etc.
I'm paraphrasing but you get the gist. Having said that, the Dreamcast was first launched in Japan in November 1998, over 4 years ago, and yet it can still kick today's consoles collective butts in terms of graphical splendour and gameplay.
I still reminisce about my first RPG, Rings of Power on the Megadrive. I booted it up about a month back just to relive a few memories and regretted it instantly, the music grated on my nerves, the sound effects were woeful and graphically my 10 year old niece could have done better with a felt-tipped pen.
My nephew still has a PSX and was playing on it yesterday, Donald Duck's Quack Attack I think it was (at least it had Donald Duck running through a platform environment), and all I can say is 'jaggies'. Same goes for Final Fantasy VII, jaggy edges everywhere, I can't believe I used to play that game for months on end (literally) without ruining my eyes.
The great thing is, I'll probably be saying exactly the same things in 10 years time about Final Fantasy X, Skies of Arcadia, Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec, Wipeout Fusion and so on. With a bit of luck, the next generation of consoles will eliminate completely the following retro-attributes:
Loading times
Poor collision detection
Slowdown
Slippyfeet syndrome
The generation after that will address future retro-attributes like:
Lag
Online cheating
Solar flare effects on data transmission
The biological chip in your console developing a complex and getting moody
And in 30 years time, we'll have nothing to moan about at all, except for the fact that our living spaces are too cramped to be able to play Unreal Tournament 2035 properly in a 3,000,000 square mile graphically projected holographic environment.
I agree there's an epidemic of rose-tinted views about retro games. OPSM2 did a rant about it in their latest issue, along the lines of "Nostalgia is all about remembering the way you felt... when the world seemed so much simpler, when nobody played videogames except you. Truth is, 99.99% of old games were dreadful. Ghosts 'N' Goblins used to collapse platforums underneath you, just for a laugh, sending you back to the start of the level with no weapons, just a pair of pants. Nowadays people grizzle when The Getaway won't let you see around corners...Wake up and smell the 128-bit coffee..." etc.
I'm paraphrasing but you get the gist. Having said that, the Dreamcast was first launched in Japan in November 1998, over 4 years ago, and yet it can still kick today's consoles collective butts in terms of graphical splendour and gameplay.
I still reminisce about my first RPG, Rings of Power on the Megadrive. I booted it up about a month back just to relive a few memories and regretted it instantly, the music grated on my nerves, the sound effects were woeful and graphically my 10 year old niece could have done better with a felt-tipped pen.
My nephew still has a PSX and was playing on it yesterday, Donald Duck's Quack Attack I think it was (at least it had Donald Duck running through a platform environment), and all I can say is 'jaggies'. Same goes for Final Fantasy VII, jaggy edges everywhere, I can't believe I used to play that game for months on end (literally) without ruining my eyes.
The great thing is, I'll probably be saying exactly the same things in 10 years time about Final Fantasy X, Skies of Arcadia, Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec, Wipeout Fusion and so on. With a bit of luck, the next generation of consoles will eliminate completely the following retro-attributes:
Loading times
Poor collision detection
Slowdown
Slippyfeet syndrome
The generation after that will address future retro-attributes like:
Lag
Online cheating
Solar flare effects on data transmission
The biological chip in your console developing a complex and getting moody
And in 30 years time, we'll have nothing to moan about at all, except for the fact that our living spaces are too cramped to be able to play Unreal Tournament 2035 properly in a 3,000,000 square mile graphically projected holographic environment.
Grandprix wrote:
> NOOOOO!! I still play my Spectrum even today. The memories alone is
> worth hours of gameplay. I remember the power pack for the Spectrum 1
> blew up. I was gutted. The Spectrum still has fun to offer.
Heh, I remember when my TV blew up.. *screen hazes and goes back to normal*
> NOOOOO!! I still play my Spectrum even today. The memories alone is
> worth hours of gameplay. I remember the power pack for the Spectrum 1
> blew up. I was gutted. The Spectrum still has fun to offer.
Heh, I remember when my TV blew up.. *screen hazes and goes back to normal*
Ful wrote:
I
> switched it on, and the first game I played was "Super
> Stuntsman" by Codemasters; must of taken 4, or nearly 5 minutes
> to load. The clearly evident poor quality of graphics shocked me. I
> tried several other games, and the same effect overcame me. How could
> I have ever been fanatic about this System. The graphics were bad,
> and the sound crackly and bleeps; nothing of how I remembered it.
> Do any other older
> gamers share this view with me?
What did you expect from a spectrum?
long loading times came as standard due to all the game data being on tape...
The graphics do look bad only if you compare them to machines that succeded them down the line.
There are plenty of speccy games that I would rather play today in their original form than some of the junk that gets released.
I
> switched it on, and the first game I played was "Super
> Stuntsman" by Codemasters; must of taken 4, or nearly 5 minutes
> to load. The clearly evident poor quality of graphics shocked me. I
> tried several other games, and the same effect overcame me. How could
> I have ever been fanatic about this System. The graphics were bad,
> and the sound crackly and bleeps; nothing of how I remembered it.
> Do any other older
> gamers share this view with me?
What did you expect from a spectrum?
long loading times came as standard due to all the game data being on tape...
The graphics do look bad only if you compare them to machines that succeded them down the line.
There are plenty of speccy games that I would rather play today in their original form than some of the junk that gets released.
I find some Spectrum games lose their appeal in this way, whereas some don't. I think you're right in saying that this is related to the awful graphics and sound quality relative to todays standards.
Whenerver you're playing games which are the latest thing, some of them you'll enjoy more than others, some you'll get bored of more quickly, some you'll come back to periodically, etc. Equally, some you are playing because the gameplay shines through, and some you are playing because it's a decent enough game, held togather by entertaining graphics and sound.
Going back many years later, they are no longer the latest thing. The ones you'll still enjoy playing are the ones where you never gave a second thought to the way the game looked, and the ones you'll play and think "Why did I ever play this?" are the ones which had excellent looks and sound for their time, covering over some perhaps not-so-great gameplay.
It's not just todays games that sold on nice looks, it happened back then too. It's only through looking back at them so many years later that you can really tell how good the game is.
How many of todays games do you think you'll still enjoy playing in ten years?
Better still, how many of those old Playstation and N64 games would you be happy paying money for now?
Whenerver you're playing games which are the latest thing, some of them you'll enjoy more than others, some you'll get bored of more quickly, some you'll come back to periodically, etc. Equally, some you are playing because the gameplay shines through, and some you are playing because it's a decent enough game, held togather by entertaining graphics and sound.
Going back many years later, they are no longer the latest thing. The ones you'll still enjoy playing are the ones where you never gave a second thought to the way the game looked, and the ones you'll play and think "Why did I ever play this?" are the ones which had excellent looks and sound for their time, covering over some perhaps not-so-great gameplay.
It's not just todays games that sold on nice looks, it happened back then too. It's only through looking back at them so many years later that you can really tell how good the game is.
How many of todays games do you think you'll still enjoy playing in ten years?
Better still, how many of those old Playstation and N64 games would you be happy paying money for now?
NOOOOO!! I still play my Spectrum even today. The memories alone is worth hours of gameplay. I remember the power pack for the Spectrum 1 blew up. I was gutted. The Spectrum still has fun to offer.
Dizzy rules :-)
Good first post too.
Good first post too.
I remember the days of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, the Dizzy collection by Codemasters for example, and a whole host of other games. Well, nowadays, we're into playstation 2s and Xboxes lifted through the history of gaming ascending from Spectrums, Master Systems, Snes etc. I decided see if my old spectrum still worked, since I hadn't used it for a few years. I climbed into the loft; brushed off the thick covering of dust from my old ZX Sinclair Spectrum 48k; luckily the cassette recorder accessory was still in working order so, I was setting it up, as my brain was flashing through the great memories and great times, and pleasure this rubber-keyed spectrum had given me. I switched it on, and the first game I played was "Super Stuntsman" by Codemasters; must of taken 4, or nearly 5 minutes to load. The clearly evident poor quality of graphics shocked me. I tried several other games, and the same effect overcame me. How could I have ever been fanatic about this System. The graphics were bad, and the sound crackly and bleeps; nothing of how I remembered it. This is due to the latter consoles created with colours and textures of graphics which left the Spectrum for dust! Do any other older gamers share this view with me?