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Oooooooh back in the good old days when games weren’t about fancy framerates and how many polygons you could squeeze on the thingy me bob to get the watch ma jig to do the………okay I’ll shut up. Retro gaming what’s all that about? We all like to look back and reminisce about the good old times, the days of sprites and games that came on Tape Cassettes. Anyway me being the money hungry person that I am have always sold my old consoles when I’d done with them whether it was too finance a new console or a 6 pack and a curry. I was tired of seeing people going on about how “they don’t make games like they used to” so when my mate comes along and offers me a Megadrive and 20 games for £10 I jumped at the chance for a retro gaming fix. Now was the time to find out for myself if games really where better back then or whether it’s just my memory failing me.
Excited I yanked the Megadrive out of the box and plugged in the leads to my TV, took me a while to get over quite how ugly the control pad is, compared to the Cube controller I may as well of been holding a brick. Anyway enough of the cosmetics on with the game, sifting through the mountain of games I came across an old favourite, Road Rash 2. I inserted the cartridge and flipped on the power switch, the music started and I was in….music? well okay the strange attempt at rhythmic beeping started, I really haven’t got a clue how we ever put up with this noise. Anyway into the game, the game started and off I went….now I’m wondering if my eyes have gone funny over the years cause I really can’t remember the graphics ever looking this bad, I wasn’t expecting much cause it’s an old game but really, it’s evident how much technology has moved on. Anyway as the old and boring saying goes “gameplay over graphics” I started the race whooooosh we’re off…well not really a whoosh more like a slow trundle, suddenly a car appears from nowhere and I fall off my bike…crap…10 seconds later I’m back on my bike and we’re off again, getting faster decide take a swing at one of my fellow bikers only to get lamped round the head with a metal chain…..crap…..another pause and I’m back on my bike. This sort of carried on for about 10 minutes at that point I turned off the computer and looked for another game to play, not a bad game but certainly not how I remember it. I can’t imagine how I used to play it for long lengths of time and the fact that I payed over £40 for it makes it even more painful.
Sifting through the cartridges again I came across Sonic 2, the daddy of all Megadrive games. I can remember back in the day when it came out, the whole Sonic VS Mario thing, hell the launch was so big the headteacher of my school mentioned it in assembly to the delight of all the students, when I look back to that I realise it was just a sad old mans attempt to get the students on his side but anyway, nevermind. Flipped the power switch again and up came the Sega logo, more cruddy graphics as expected, not as cruddy as Road Rash though, the game starts I run through a few levels collecting coins and doing Sonic stuff really. 10 minutes later I turn the console off and search for a new game, starting to see a pattern here?
Next game I played was Streets of Rage 2, now this is was one of my all time favourite games. Looking at it now I kinda wonder why, all you do is walk along bash the punch and kick buttons every now and then and hope for the best. Don’t get me wrong it’s still fun but the game play’s just so damn shallow. There’s no storyline, why on earth the police decide to send a group of punk kids on roller blades in to beat some crooks up is anybody’s guess, don’t these people have guns? So yet again 10 minutes later I turned the console off, punching the same enemies in the face gets a tiny bit monotonous after a while.
This process carried on for most of the afternoon, I went through Flashback, Another World, Sonic 3, Toe Jam and Earl, T2 Arcade game and a few other that sucked the balls so much that I can’t even be bothered to type their names out. What’s the point in this topic I hear you ask? Well it’s not for me to sl*g off retro games I’ll tell you that (though I guess I have already). The point is that I’m fed up of seeing people on the Internet going on about “ooooh gaming’s not how it used to be”…no it’s not, thank god. The next time you see someone say “oooh they don’t make them like they used to” turn round and say “shut it you retro tart”. Old games are all good but we as gamers have got it so good nowadays, the amount of depth and shear diversity in genres cannot be paralleled by the SNES days of gaming where it was all platform clone A, platform clone B. Be thankful that technology has moved on so rapidly in such a brief space of time.
Just realised this topic isn’t really going anywhere and it's getting far too long; it’s more of me ranting cause I bought a Megadrive and wasted my money, I would have had more fun paying someone £10 to punch me in the face. Anyone want a Megadrive? You pay the postage and we can sort something out. I probably shouldn’t post this cause it’s a load of rubbish but I’m not typing this much and not pressing post so ummm here goes 1…..2……3…….4…..
If anyone actually manages to read the whole thing then I feel for ya buddy, you must be even more bored than me.
Excited I yanked the Megadrive out of the box and plugged in the leads to my TV, took me a while to get over quite how ugly the control pad is, compared to the Cube controller I may as well of been holding a brick. Anyway enough of the cosmetics on with the game, sifting through the mountain of games I came across an old favourite, Road Rash 2. I inserted the cartridge and flipped on the power switch, the music started and I was in….music? well okay the strange attempt at rhythmic beeping started, I really haven’t got a clue how we ever put up with this noise. Anyway into the game, the game started and off I went….now I’m wondering if my eyes have gone funny over the years cause I really can’t remember the graphics ever looking this bad, I wasn’t expecting much cause it’s an old game but really, it’s evident how much technology has moved on. Anyway as the old and boring saying goes “gameplay over graphics” I started the race whooooosh we’re off…well not really a whoosh more like a slow trundle, suddenly a car appears from nowhere and I fall off my bike…crap…10 seconds later I’m back on my bike and we’re off again, getting faster decide take a swing at one of my fellow bikers only to get lamped round the head with a metal chain…..crap…..another pause and I’m back on my bike. This sort of carried on for about 10 minutes at that point I turned off the computer and looked for another game to play, not a bad game but certainly not how I remember it. I can’t imagine how I used to play it for long lengths of time and the fact that I payed over £40 for it makes it even more painful.
Sifting through the cartridges again I came across Sonic 2, the daddy of all Megadrive games. I can remember back in the day when it came out, the whole Sonic VS Mario thing, hell the launch was so big the headteacher of my school mentioned it in assembly to the delight of all the students, when I look back to that I realise it was just a sad old mans attempt to get the students on his side but anyway, nevermind. Flipped the power switch again and up came the Sega logo, more cruddy graphics as expected, not as cruddy as Road Rash though, the game starts I run through a few levels collecting coins and doing Sonic stuff really. 10 minutes later I turn the console off and search for a new game, starting to see a pattern here?
Next game I played was Streets of Rage 2, now this is was one of my all time favourite games. Looking at it now I kinda wonder why, all you do is walk along bash the punch and kick buttons every now and then and hope for the best. Don’t get me wrong it’s still fun but the game play’s just so damn shallow. There’s no storyline, why on earth the police decide to send a group of punk kids on roller blades in to beat some crooks up is anybody’s guess, don’t these people have guns? So yet again 10 minutes later I turned the console off, punching the same enemies in the face gets a tiny bit monotonous after a while.
This process carried on for most of the afternoon, I went through Flashback, Another World, Sonic 3, Toe Jam and Earl, T2 Arcade game and a few other that sucked the balls so much that I can’t even be bothered to type their names out. What’s the point in this topic I hear you ask? Well it’s not for me to sl*g off retro games I’ll tell you that (though I guess I have already). The point is that I’m fed up of seeing people on the Internet going on about “ooooh gaming’s not how it used to be”…no it’s not, thank god. The next time you see someone say “oooh they don’t make them like they used to” turn round and say “shut it you retro tart”. Old games are all good but we as gamers have got it so good nowadays, the amount of depth and shear diversity in genres cannot be paralleled by the SNES days of gaming where it was all platform clone A, platform clone B. Be thankful that technology has moved on so rapidly in such a brief space of time.
Just realised this topic isn’t really going anywhere and it's getting far too long; it’s more of me ranting cause I bought a Megadrive and wasted my money, I would have had more fun paying someone £10 to punch me in the face. Anyone want a Megadrive? You pay the postage and we can sort something out. I probably shouldn’t post this cause it’s a load of rubbish but I’m not typing this much and not pressing post so ummm here goes 1…..2……3…….4…..
If anyone actually manages to read the whole thing then I feel for ya buddy, you must be even more bored than me.
Page:
I could do with a megadrive...
Anyway, a few things I thought about while reading your post. First off, you now have a good idea how people who weren't into games regarded them all. Rather pointless and unimpressive. In ten years time you'll be able to look at the games around these days and see the same thing. Nicer graphics than before, better gameply than before (in theory) but still, ultimately, pointless.
The one thing that many retro games have, that most games around these days don't have, is a true 'Arcade' feel to them. Games back then were a test of skill, a challenge - like Streets Of Rage 2 for example. These days you have longer play games (yet we no longer have the attention span to play any part of a game more than once, it seems) which require more time than skill to finish.
Anyway, a few things I thought about while reading your post. First off, you now have a good idea how people who weren't into games regarded them all. Rather pointless and unimpressive. In ten years time you'll be able to look at the games around these days and see the same thing. Nicer graphics than before, better gameply than before (in theory) but still, ultimately, pointless.
The one thing that many retro games have, that most games around these days don't have, is a true 'Arcade' feel to them. Games back then were a test of skill, a challenge - like Streets Of Rage 2 for example. These days you have longer play games (yet we no longer have the attention span to play any part of a game more than once, it seems) which require more time than skill to finish.
Speak for yourself.
I picked up a Snes with Super Metroid and Donkey Kong Country.
They're still fantastic.
Obviously not technically stunning, but surprisingly slick and playable considering how old they are.
Also, they DON'T make games like this anymore.
2D platformers are pretty unique compared to most modern day games.
I picked up a Snes with Super Metroid and Donkey Kong Country.
They're still fantastic.
Obviously not technically stunning, but surprisingly slick and playable considering how old they are.
Also, they DON'T make games like this anymore.
2D platformers are pretty unique compared to most modern day games.
Oooooooh back in the good old days when games weren’t about fancy framerates and how many polygons you could squeeze on the thingy me bob to get the watch ma jig to do the………okay I’ll shut up. Retro gaming what’s all that about? We all like to look back and reminisce about the good old times, the days of sprites and games that came on Tape Cassettes. Anyway me being the money hungry person that I am have always sold my old consoles when I’d done with them whether it was too finance a new console or a 6 pack and a curry. I was tired of seeing people going on about how “they don’t make games like they used to” so when my mate comes along and offers me a Megadrive and 20 games for £10 I jumped at the chance for a retro gaming fix. Now was the time to find out for myself if games really where better back then or whether it’s just my memory failing me.
Excited I yanked the Megadrive out of the box and plugged in the leads to my TV, took me a while to get over quite how ugly the control pad is, compared to the Cube controller I may as well of been holding a brick. Anyway enough of the cosmetics on with the game, sifting through the mountain of games I came across an old favourite, Road Rash 2. I inserted the cartridge and flipped on the power switch, the music started and I was in….music? well okay the strange attempt at rhythmic beeping started, I really haven’t got a clue how we ever put up with this noise. Anyway into the game, the game started and off I went….now I’m wondering if my eyes have gone funny over the years cause I really can’t remember the graphics ever looking this bad, I wasn’t expecting much cause it’s an old game but really, it’s evident how much technology has moved on. Anyway as the old and boring saying goes “gameplay over graphics” I started the race whooooosh we’re off…well not really a whoosh more like a slow trundle, suddenly a car appears from nowhere and I fall off my bike…crap…10 seconds later I’m back on my bike and we’re off again, getting faster decide take a swing at one of my fellow bikers only to get lamped round the head with a metal chain…..crap…..another pause and I’m back on my bike. This sort of carried on for about 10 minutes at that point I turned off the computer and looked for another game to play, not a bad game but certainly not how I remember it. I can’t imagine how I used to play it for long lengths of time and the fact that I payed over £40 for it makes it even more painful.
Sifting through the cartridges again I came across Sonic 2, the daddy of all Megadrive games. I can remember back in the day when it came out, the whole Sonic VS Mario thing, hell the launch was so big the headteacher of my school mentioned it in assembly to the delight of all the students, when I look back to that I realise it was just a sad old mans attempt to get the students on his side but anyway, nevermind. Flipped the power switch again and up came the Sega logo, more cruddy graphics as expected, not as cruddy as Road Rash though, the game starts I run through a few levels collecting coins and doing Sonic stuff really. 10 minutes later I turn the console off and search for a new game, starting to see a pattern here?
Next game I played was Streets of Rage 2, now this is was one of my all time favourite games. Looking at it now I kinda wonder why, all you do is walk along bash the punch and kick buttons every now and then and hope for the best. Don’t get me wrong it’s still fun but the game play’s just so damn shallow. There’s no storyline, why on earth the police decide to send a group of punk kids on roller blades in to beat some crooks up is anybody’s guess, don’t these people have guns? So yet again 10 minutes later I turned the console off, punching the same enemies in the face gets a tiny bit monotonous after a while.
This process carried on for most of the afternoon, I went through Flashback, Another World, Sonic 3, Toe Jam and Earl, T2 Arcade game and a few other that sucked the balls so much that I can’t even be bothered to type their names out. What’s the point in this topic I hear you ask? Well it’s not for me to sl*g off retro games I’ll tell you that (though I guess I have already). The point is that I’m fed up of seeing people on the Internet going on about “ooooh gaming’s not how it used to be”…no it’s not, thank god. The next time you see someone say “oooh they don’t make them like they used to” turn round and say “shut it you retro tart”. Old games are all good but we as gamers have got it so good nowadays, the amount of depth and shear diversity in genres cannot be paralleled by the SNES days of gaming where it was all platform clone A, platform clone B. Be thankful that technology has moved on so rapidly in such a brief space of time.
Just realised this topic isn’t really going anywhere and it's getting far too long; it’s more of me ranting cause I bought a Megadrive and wasted my money, I would have had more fun paying someone £10 to punch me in the face. Anyone want a Megadrive? You pay the postage and we can sort something out. I probably shouldn’t post this cause it’s a load of rubbish but I’m not typing this much and not pressing post so ummm here goes 1…..2……3…….4…..
If anyone actually manages to read the whole thing then I feel for ya buddy, you must be even more bored than me.
Excited I yanked the Megadrive out of the box and plugged in the leads to my TV, took me a while to get over quite how ugly the control pad is, compared to the Cube controller I may as well of been holding a brick. Anyway enough of the cosmetics on with the game, sifting through the mountain of games I came across an old favourite, Road Rash 2. I inserted the cartridge and flipped on the power switch, the music started and I was in….music? well okay the strange attempt at rhythmic beeping started, I really haven’t got a clue how we ever put up with this noise. Anyway into the game, the game started and off I went….now I’m wondering if my eyes have gone funny over the years cause I really can’t remember the graphics ever looking this bad, I wasn’t expecting much cause it’s an old game but really, it’s evident how much technology has moved on. Anyway as the old and boring saying goes “gameplay over graphics” I started the race whooooosh we’re off…well not really a whoosh more like a slow trundle, suddenly a car appears from nowhere and I fall off my bike…crap…10 seconds later I’m back on my bike and we’re off again, getting faster decide take a swing at one of my fellow bikers only to get lamped round the head with a metal chain…..crap…..another pause and I’m back on my bike. This sort of carried on for about 10 minutes at that point I turned off the computer and looked for another game to play, not a bad game but certainly not how I remember it. I can’t imagine how I used to play it for long lengths of time and the fact that I payed over £40 for it makes it even more painful.
Sifting through the cartridges again I came across Sonic 2, the daddy of all Megadrive games. I can remember back in the day when it came out, the whole Sonic VS Mario thing, hell the launch was so big the headteacher of my school mentioned it in assembly to the delight of all the students, when I look back to that I realise it was just a sad old mans attempt to get the students on his side but anyway, nevermind. Flipped the power switch again and up came the Sega logo, more cruddy graphics as expected, not as cruddy as Road Rash though, the game starts I run through a few levels collecting coins and doing Sonic stuff really. 10 minutes later I turn the console off and search for a new game, starting to see a pattern here?
Next game I played was Streets of Rage 2, now this is was one of my all time favourite games. Looking at it now I kinda wonder why, all you do is walk along bash the punch and kick buttons every now and then and hope for the best. Don’t get me wrong it’s still fun but the game play’s just so damn shallow. There’s no storyline, why on earth the police decide to send a group of punk kids on roller blades in to beat some crooks up is anybody’s guess, don’t these people have guns? So yet again 10 minutes later I turned the console off, punching the same enemies in the face gets a tiny bit monotonous after a while.
This process carried on for most of the afternoon, I went through Flashback, Another World, Sonic 3, Toe Jam and Earl, T2 Arcade game and a few other that sucked the balls so much that I can’t even be bothered to type their names out. What’s the point in this topic I hear you ask? Well it’s not for me to sl*g off retro games I’ll tell you that (though I guess I have already). The point is that I’m fed up of seeing people on the Internet going on about “ooooh gaming’s not how it used to be”…no it’s not, thank god. The next time you see someone say “oooh they don’t make them like they used to” turn round and say “shut it you retro tart”. Old games are all good but we as gamers have got it so good nowadays, the amount of depth and shear diversity in genres cannot be paralleled by the SNES days of gaming where it was all platform clone A, platform clone B. Be thankful that technology has moved on so rapidly in such a brief space of time.
Just realised this topic isn’t really going anywhere and it's getting far too long; it’s more of me ranting cause I bought a Megadrive and wasted my money, I would have had more fun paying someone £10 to punch me in the face. Anyone want a Megadrive? You pay the postage and we can sort something out. I probably shouldn’t post this cause it’s a load of rubbish but I’m not typing this much and not pressing post so ummm here goes 1…..2……3…….4…..
If anyone actually manages to read the whole thing then I feel for ya buddy, you must be even more bored than me.
Page: