Old Games vs New Games

[Alolan_Apples]

While we can all agree that video game hardware has improved over time, I’m not sure if I can say the same about software. Some people think older games are better. Others would say newer.

Before we can start the discussion, here’s how I define old and new for this thread:

• Old/Classic - anything originally released for the Sega consoles, NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, GB, GBA, PS1, PS2, and PC prior to 2007. This also includes remakes/remasters of these games made for a newer console (i.e. Super Mario RPG for Switch).
• New/Modern - anything originally released for the Xbox consoles, Wii, Wii U, Switch, DS, 3DS, PS3, PS4, PC since 2007, and any mobile platform. This also includes older mobile games.

Basically, it’s a choice between anything released before the internet gaming era and anything during the internet gaming era. New and modern games will eventually become old and classic games, but my designation or separation of these games will remain to be the same as the gaming industry lives on.

So the question is, do you prefer the older games or the newer games?

 

[nightglow]

I do prefer older games often. Its not the age or nostalgia that causes this. I have played old games I have never played before and thought they were great. What I think it is, is that older games had more thought, time, and creativity packed into them than modern games. With limited cartridge space, and often limited color space or pallet, and competing against other companies or games with pixel art, more effort was put into them to stand out and be entertaining.
Today, alot of time is put into graphics and 3d models do take more time than pixel art does. Also, the ability to push out a game to the public faster exists because they can just send remote patches... while in the past, if a game needed a change, they would have to sell an updated version on a cartridge. Knowing that would upset alot of people if there were a lot of changes, and rightly so, they made more effort for testing and making sure the game is complete, leaving versions that may be released later as the same game usually as a few bug fixes or fix something that the public found offensive rather than the versions actually adding game content.
This isn't me ****ting on new games, as there are some new games that I thought were also great, but they tend to be more on the indie side. And they probably spent more time on the game before launching it to the public as opposed to a larger developer.
When developing a game, you need to decide where are you going to spend your time, especially if you are going to have deadlines. Where are you going to try to cut time and how are you going to try to cut time?

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I like a mix of the two. I just get games that interest me the most.

 

[Mairmalade]

I like games that mold the charm and style of older games (e.g., UI, human-drawn elements, and, to an extent, simplicity,) while bringing in better quality of life mechanics from newer, modern games

The best and easiest example would be Harvest Moon 64 in comparison to something like Stardew Valley. I don't think I could go back to Harvest Moon 64's inventory and farming mechanics when I've now been spoiled with systems that are so much more intuitive.

That said, some newer games have so many ideas and systems where they're too overwhelming for me. I'll also rule a game out solely on overly complex/tiny UI, which I, unfortunately, find a lot of modern games have.

 

[Lazy_Chad]

As a boy who grew up on Sega Genesis, I SHOULD be saying "old games." . . . BUT, "The Nintendo Switch" has BLEW MY BRAINS OUT!!! It has gorgeous, AMAZING games AND it's a handheld?!?

New games ANY DAY despite my Genesis/N64/Gamecube obsessions!

 

[Alolan_Apples]

With the exception of the Animal Crossing games and (to an extent) the main series Pokémon games, I think older games are way more superior than newer games based on how I defined “old” and “new” in this thread.

Nostalgia aside, my favorite genre is 3D platformers, I prefer local multiplayer over online multiplayer, and E and E10+ games over M games, all of which were more prevalent on the older consoles than the newer consoles. Granted, Super Mario 3D All Stars and Pokémon Let’s Go (my top two favorite Switch games) were made for the Switch, but they still fall under the “old” territory because of the games they’re based on/included. The same can be said about the 3DS versions of Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask, HD remasters of GameCube games, and the mobile/iOS game RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic (which is really RCT2 under a different name). I can’t play older consoles forever since they’re aging, but since I can play N64 games on the Switch (including Pokémon Stadium), I can stick to the older games while playing a much more superior console.

The other things the Nintendo 64 had that newer consoles rarely, if ever, had a racing game that’s modeled like a 3D Platformer (Diddy Kong Racing), a Match-3 puzzle game that’s nothing like Royal Match or even Bejeweled (Pokémon Puzzle League), an on-rails photography game (sorry, but I like old Pokémon Snap more than New Pokémon Snap), and Hey You Pikachu (which would’ve been better if the VRU recognizes lower-pitched voices).

I’m also not a fan of first-person shooters, fighting games, freestyle adventures like Elders Scrolls, freemium games, paid DLC, achievements, and online gameplay. I also don’t like how even newer games have been taking a few steps backwards when the decisions are unreasonable or are bad for the game. In other words, it’s the style of gameplay, not nostalgia, that makes older games better than newer games.

 

[Croconaw]

I like a mix of the two. I prefer older games for Nintendo consoles, and newer games to XBOX. I own a Series X primarily for sports games. I'm anticipating a new college football game very soon and I'd love to be able to play it. As for Nintendo, I do play some spin-off Super Mario games like Mario Kart or Mario Party. Paper Mario is also fun, but I'm not sure that necessarily counts as a spin-off. I prefer the older versions of those for sure. Paper Mario 64 was one of the best games I've played.

 

[Seastar]

Honestly, I don't have a preference. It really just depends on the game.
Also seeing DS and Wii as "new" and GBA and Gamecube as "old" makes the decision so much harder for me, lol.

Some of my favorite games are on the Switch, and some of them are on older consoles.
Some examples of games I like that count as "old" here are Paper Mario TTYD, Chibi-Robo, all the Pokemon GBA games, Kirby 64, the Zelda GBC games, and Earthbound.
Quite a lot of games I consider nostalgic count as "new" because my first console was the Nintendo DS. I honestly don't count these as new. (Kirby Canvas Curse is from 2005?) But whatever. Time is moving fast and even some 3DS games have become nostalgic to me.
Also I just realized separating DS and GBA makes no sense whatsoever when I consider Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Blue & Red Rescue Team exist and count as some of my favorites...

Some new games I like that are actually new? Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Undertale, Deltarune, A Hat in Time, Bug Fables, and Splatoon 2 & 3 are all games I can play on my Switch.

 

[Yanrima~]

I'm not really a classic or modern purist so maybe a mix of both. I didn't grow up with NES, SNES, and N64 honestly.

I'm more of a DS and Wii person so maybe both old and new or basically games which I find interesting. Both eras have good and bad games.

For example, the classic games era tend to have generally enjoyable and memorable games. But, they also have movie or TV-show tie-in cash-grab that doesn't work properly in the gameplay department or are generally bad (E.T. for Atari 2600 anyone?).

The new era sure is an era in which we have lots of live service unfinished games priced at $60-$70 with additional microtransactions, bad writing, and laced with a host of other problems in triple A full games in the late 2010's-ongoing. But, they also have good games coming out from the early decades of the new era (Ds, Wii, 3DS, etc.) along with a stream of passionate indie games and games made by AA developers that are better quality, is experimental in bringing games to new heights, and have reasonable prices.

In conclusion, both eras of video games have their own good and bad apples.

 

[Zerous]

I don’t think I can choose between them.

I have a love for so many older games, but I also love plenty of new games. Whilst I do disagree with a lot of newer games models and have issues *cough* Pokémon, I feel like for every old game that is fondly remembered as a classic, there are 20 other games that were unintelligible, boring or had bad design, although there is a charm to them now as they are older and fun to look back on. I’m sure some of games criticised now will have people fawning over them in the future. Even Pokémon bw, which was so hated years back, is now generally considered some of the best Pokémon games since the people of my generation who played it as kids have gotten older and are the main ones who talk about it online.

I love so many games from every console generation, so for me the decade a game was made doesn’t hold much influence over my opinion of it.

 

[ShinyDungeoneer]

I prefer older (gamecube) games. While I am a DS kid (and always will be), my gamecube arguably has better games, like Animal Crossing, TTYD and Sonic Riders. I am still looking for GCN Puyo Pop Fever (have DS ver.) and Sonic Adventure 2, but I'll find them eventually!

 

[ZeldaCrossing64]

It's hard to say, I like both for different reasons. Here's an example: My favorite Zelda games are Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, both of them being N64 games. My favorite console is the Wii and my favorite handheld is the 3DS, both of them being modern gaming systems.

If I had to pick one for the sake of argument, I'd say I prefer newer games. Generally speaking, I enjoyed modern games (like AC:NH or Zelda: TotK) a lot more.

 

[Violet Witch]

I prefer newer games for the graphics and the better immersed feeling you get thanks to today's technology as well as how powerful PC's and consoles can be. However I miss older games for the fact that they were always more stable when it came to bugs and glitches etc.

 

[PapaCrossing]

I prefer old games solely for this reason: you pick it up and play.

Maybe I'm just getting impatient lately, or slowly becoming self-aware that video games take up too much time, but newer games are too story-driven. I feel they take up too much time with banter when all I want to do is play.

I don't dislike modern games, either. I do enjoy a lot of them. I just don't need a 30-minute cinematic scene followed by 23 boxes of dialogue to figure out that I go into the dungeon over there.

 

[rocketspruggs]

I like a mix of both modern and classic games, even though I voted for classic...

Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 3DS games are fun to play, but I also like some Game Boy Advance and GameCube games, too.

 

[danmokun]

Game Boy Advance and GameCube games

Have you been playing these recently? My little ears perk up little a puppy when someone says GameBoy Advance, but then they say Pokemon or Fire Emblem and I'm like yeaaah nevermind. Recently I've played Super Monkey Ball on the Game Cube. I think the GBA also has a Monkey Ball game, but I haven't played it yet.

 

[ShinyDungeoneer]

Have you been playing these recently? My little ears perk up little a puppy when someone says GameBoy Advance, but then they say Pokemon or Fire Emblem and I'm like yeaaah nevermind. Recently I've played Super Monkey Ball on the Game Cube. I think the GBA also has a Monkey Ball game, but I haven't played it yet.

out of curiosity, which gamecube monkey ball game did you play? The GBA one is essentially a demake of Monkey Ball 1, so you aren't missing much if you've played GCN SMB1 but not GBA SMBJR (Super Monkey Ball Jr.)

 

[danmokun]

which gamecube monkey ball game did you play?

You a fellow monke roller too? I have SMB1 and 2, as well as the Deluxe Mod for the Game Cube. I have SMB Deluxe on PS2 and that one's a steaming pile of Gon Gon doo-doo.

 

[ShinyDungeoneer]

You a fellow monke roller too? I have SMB1 and 2, as well as the Deluxe Mod for the Game Cube. I have SMB Deluxe on PS2 and that one's a steaming pile of Gon Gon doo-doo.

I've played Banana Mania, Blitz HD and emulated JR (so technically played the original). I really like playing with the monkey customization in BM.

 

[Khaoticnoize187]

Its older games for me and if it is new, its oftne those that have a retro style to them like say octopath for example or nso.