Games that have not aged well

Nostalgia is a wonderful thing, but bringing nostalgia forward to the present is not always a good idea. As video games become more refined, older games may seem clunky and difficult to play by comparison, as their limitations due to the technology of the time - or unrefined systems that have been improved upon in subsequent releases - become apparent.

What are some video games you have played that you feel have not aged well? Are there any games you enjoyed in the past that you would not replay now because of this?

I think an game that does not aged well for me to replay it, is gta 1 and 2, don't get me wrong, i like those gta's because they are the ones who started this franchise, but i wouldn't ever say i would replay it, because i think top-down games are not really my style, i do play more the 3d and hd ones than the 2d's.

Mario 64 looks terrible in places. Especially Mario himself. At least the DS version looks a bit better.

Final Fantasy VII is an immediate one for me. I've been struggling to play this due to the polygonal shapes that really irritate me after awhile, which thankfully did not transpose over to the entire series.

tranceking26 said:

Mario 64 looks terrible in places. Especially Mario himself. At least the DS version looks a bit better.

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It's a pity that Nintendo didn't wait until the 3DS so we could have something like Super Mario 64 3D alongside Ocarina of Time 3D, Majora's Mask 3D & Starfox 64 3D

Eragon, the Nintendo DS version. I loved the book series, and the open-world RPG was amazing for 10-year old me. After playing it again a month ago, I found the fact that the character models don't even have facial features somewhat disturbing...

Crash Bandicoot for PS1.

Yeah, that game's a classic on it's own right but looking back, it's obvious that it was a product of it's time first and foremost. Clunky controls, unforgiving difficulty and worst of all, you could only save when you completed a bonus round or got a gem. That's it. Oh and said saved games for some reasons loaded with everything else on your Memory Card, meaning you had to know the correct Icon to pick (though it was pretty easy to figure out which one it was in first place). There's a reason why game's don't show you files from other games. But then again, PS1 was relatively young back then so it's not surprising if games tended to be a little awkward compared to the games that would come later.

... ... said:

It's a pity that Nintendo didn't wait until the 3DS so we could have something like Super Mario 64 3D:

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Yeah that would have been a good idea.

I was also wondering what 64 would be like with Odyssey graphics. I'd love to see that.

I know i'll be killed for this but I'd say Earthbound. Unlike it's sequel (?) mother 3, it seems to be really outdated and have a lot of mechanics that could make someone even quit the game entirely (limited bag space just as an example).

I'm gonna keep thinking mechanics-wise, but I'll be honest, it might be kinda shallow but the first thing that comes to mind for me when I think about games not aging well is graphics, specifically realism - with how fast realistic graphics are improving all the time, games that are just a few years old look so dated so quickly. Sometimes it's not just an aesthetic preference either, I do recall some games where it was actually harder for me to get around because the 3D models/backgrounds were rendered poorly and it was messing with my depth perception a bit.

Wild Arms 3, mostly because of the character and enemy designs. You'd have to have a serious passion for grindy RPGs in order to look past the graphics as it will become very evident pretty early on that you are playing an early 2000s-era game.