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Classic Games (Games) Games

Why Classic Video Game Revamps Must Disappoint 129

Posted by Soulskill from the all-those-extra-bits-are-a-blessing-and-a-curse dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Somehow my brain, so addled by pop-culture and videogames, drew a link between the alteration of the game-play mechanics in a 20-year-old series, and growing up. I want things to be how they were. I want to play the games I played when I was a child, only I want them to be new. Naturally, this just can't happen. Things will never be the way they used to be. Summer days are no longer spent running around outside before collapsing on a sofa to try to beat Labyrinth Zone; instead they're spent in a sweltering office full of morons who watch The Apprentice. Life has changed. Circumstances have changed. Even if the perfect 2D Sonic game were released tomorrow, it still wouldn't feel right, because I'm no longer the person who played those games.'"
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Why Classic Video Game Revamps Must Disappoint More

Why Classic Video Game Revamps Must Disappoint

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  • The new Sonic would be great if it didn't run at 10 frames per second.

  • Really? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Haeleth ( 414428 ) on Friday June 24, 2011 @05:33PM (#36560684) Journal

    And yet when I go back and play classic games, often in emulators -- games made at least 15 years ago, and in a few cases over 25 years ago! -- I sure feel like I'm enjoying them.

    And it's not purely nostalgia; I have enjoyed games from that era that I did not play at the time.

    • Comcast! AT&T! (Score:3, Insightful)

      by earls ( 1367951 )

      Someone throttle this pirate!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

        Not going to help much with stuff he's downloading being smaller in size then modern web pages.

        • I don't think he meant "throttle" as in bandwidth...

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by tepples ( 727027 )

          smaller in size

          Doesn't matter. It only has to be big enough to be original. George Harrison lost a million dollar lawsuit for copying nine notes from "He's So Fine" into his song "My Sweet Lord".

      • I too have enjoyed playing old games I never played at the time, though usually on e.g. a PS2 version. I wish I could legally get the ROMs to play on MAME.

        Also, the originator doesn't have to be insulting -- The Apprentice (and other reality shows) can be very entertaining.

    • Re:Really? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Hatta ( 162192 ) on Friday June 24, 2011 @05:56PM (#36561024) Journal

      As an avid retro gamer I don't think there's much more to be said. Maybe he forgot how to have fun. The rest of us enjoy classic game play.

      Personally though, I don't see the point in retro remakes. I'd rather play the original, in almost every circumstance. Developers should spend their time making new games in the classic genres.

      • I'm fine with remakes, as long as they have something new in them. It can be anything ranging from a new area to a new character or a new class. And no, graphics aren't something new to me. I expect the remake to sport new graphics, unlike Tales of Phantasia's remake on the GBA (which looked worse than the SNES version).
        • I agree, the Final Fantasy remakes (especially Dawn of Souls) were amazing on the GBA. But Phantasia was a terrible remake, and when the "professional" translation makes more mistakes than the DeJap fan-made translation, it isn't a good sign. Overall though I've been disappointed with Namco's efforts with their Tales series in the west. Namco could have done a lot to help the RPG-starved Wii by releasing Tales of Graces for it rather than inexplicably deciding to only release it for the PS3 in the US. Then

      • My thoughts almost exactly.

        In Japan, there's this weird culture of remakes. See: Sega Ages 2500 series. I played the Outrun version. It's replaced the original version for me in terms of what I'd go to for classic(read: not 2. Although OR2 is good fun) Outrun time.

        Upgrading graphics, tightening a few things, etc. is almost preferable to me over a sequel to redo old games in the modern age. MegaMan Powered Up/RockMan RockMan simply was awesome.

        We have better CPUs, better graphical capabilities, controll

        • We have better CPUs, better graphical capabilities, controllers, etc. Let's use them.

          We don't necessarily have better controllers. The directional pad on even a worn Nintendo Entertainment System controller is far more precise than the miserable failure of a directional pad on an Xbox 360 controller [destructoid.com].

          • Funny, my PS3's DPad works just fine.

            (BTW, Microsoft responded to that letter with the pro controller. Last time this happened, 2nd gen controller sucks, was the 5200. I hope Microsoft's listening.)

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by tepples ( 727027 )

              Funny, my PS3's DPad works just fine.

              An Xbox 360 controller works out of the box on most PCs. As I understand it, a PS3 controller needs a special driver, and according to this article [hardcoreware.net] (found via Google ps3 windows 64-bit), your PC has to be connected to the Internet every time you plug in the controller. If you were referring to the use of a PS3 controller with a PS3 console to play PS3 games, I'll address that after Sony's TPR web site [scea.com] comes back online.

              BTW, Microsoft responded to that letter with the pro controller.

              I've read articles claiming that Microsoft was making a pro controller, but I never ended

              • It most certainly does not work 'out of the box' You have to buy a special USB dongle receiver for $20 to get it to work on PC. And to be fair, Sony has never supported their game pad being on PC, even if it is using bluetooth.

                If you have to connect to the net everytime to use the controller thats a driver/software implementation issue imposed by a 3rd party.

                IM sure this http://www.pcworld.com/article/204614/microsofts_xbox_360_dpad_update_something_old_something_new.html [pcworld.com] is the xbox 360 'pro' version

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

                  It most certainly does not work 'out of the box' You have to buy a special USB dongle receiver for $20 to get it to work on PC. And to be fair, Sony has never supported their game pad being on PC, even if it is using bluetooth.

                  That's if you want to play wireless. I picked up a wired controller for cheap and it works just fine. Eventually I relented and picked up the $20 receiver because well, cords suck.

                  I like it because it's a nice gamepad to begin with - I even have a Xbox360-to-PS3 adapter so I c

              • I don't know about windows but throwing my six axis on my Mac via usb and hitting the ps button pairs them together via Bluetooth.

      • Metroid Zero Mission is fantastic. other than nostalgia, I can't see a reason to play the old one. it really feels clunky and you're getting nearly the same experience with zero mission (plus epilogue)

        Final Fantasy 1 for the PSP is superb. it is better than the original in every way. after playing the original for 15-20 years, I thought that the GBA and PSP versions were too easy/dumbed down, but the more I played them (especially the PSP version), the more I realized that the original was broken in several

        • Metroid Zero Mission is fantastic. other than nostalgia, I can't see a reason to play the old one. it really feels clunky and you're getting nearly the same experience with zero mission (plus epilogue)

          As an avid Metroid fan, I'd have to say you perhaps missed the point of the original Metroid? It didn't involve hand-coddling, story-driven direction. It threw you in a sandbox with a vague notion of your mission, then let you discover in a 2D platform adventure just where you were supposed to go and what yo

        • I've been with you until the part about Doom 3.
          I've played Doom 3, everything on max, dark room - all the things needed to enjoy a dark atmospheric game.... It was *OK*, but felt a bit boring.

          Then I fired up jDoom with a 3d model pack and played it with a friend............... DAMN!! That was FUN. Pure unadulterated fun.

          Doom 3 is technically superior, but the old Dooms are just funner... And to be honest, the old monsters were SCARIER and much more vile than the new ones.

      • Yes I agree 100%. I've been working on goldchest with the same idea. Take an old game goldbox but re-imagine it.

        http://goldchest.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net]

    • Classic games are great for gamers on a budget too. If you can get past the outdated graphics there are tons of gems from the 90's for sale on Steam or GOG for just a few bucks. Right now GOG is having a sale on Interplay games, so I picked up Fallout 1, Fallout 2, and Fallout: Tactics for $9.

  • Really? (Score:3)

    by WrongSizeGlass ( 838941 ) on Friday June 24, 2011 @05:34PM (#36560690)

    I want to play the games I played when I was a child, only I want them to be new. Naturally, this just can't happen. Things will never be the way they used to be.

    You can substitute just about anything for 'play the games I played' and that statement would hold true. The times (and games and people) are a changin'.

  • Summary: (Score:3)

    by humphrm ( 18130 ) on Friday June 24, 2011 @05:37PM (#36560744) Homepage

    What a drag it is growing old.

  • Sonic may not be the best example (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Hahnsoo ( 976162 ) on Friday June 24, 2011 @05:40PM (#36560786)
    Sonic the Hedgehog may be a poor example for this topic. The gameplay consisted mostly of running and jumping really fast while grabbing rings. It took advantage of the console technology of the time to provide smooth framerates with no tearing, which allowed the backgrounds to zoom by quickly, giving the illusion of speed. But that was the gimmick. Sonic the Hedgehog, as a series, wasn't known for being difficult (like Mega Man) or innovative (like Marathon). It doesn't even have that much of a compelling story (like RPGs). The same gameplay 20 years later may appeal to some people, but most gamers who played Sonic back then are different people now and are looking for more than just running and jumping really fast while grabbing rings (which is one of the laments of the article).

    A better example of a classic revamp would be the Bionic Commando Rearmed or the most recent Mega Man game. Bionic Commando Rearmed adds a lot of modern features to the original game, like big boss battles, hacking mini-games, and the ability to swap weapons within the stage, but the basic mechanic of swinging and shooting is still challenging. The most recent Mega Man was pretty popular, despite (or perhaps because) it staying true to the 8-bit Mega Man graphics and gameplay, mostly because it still maintained the same level of challenge.

    Of course, many classic games are getting a cloning vats treatment on the iPhone/iPad/iFranchise and Android market. If anything, the older 8-bit, 16-bit, and PS1 era games (or clones of those games) are seeing a bit of a renaissance on those platforms.

    • Mega Man is also my pick for the appropriate counter-example. The recent re-releases used the old engine, so the controls felt exactly the same. And they perfectly recreated the feel of the old title. The difficulty level, the unfairness of play, everything was just right--just with all new levels and enemies. The way I wanted to throw the god-damn controller at the screen was exactly the same as when I first discovered the game in 1990. The only difference was that I'd be far more likely to damage my

      • Mega Man is also my pick for the appropriate counter-example. The recent re-releases used the old engine

        You mean the recent sequels? (Rockman 9 and 10 - both are on PS3...)

        They don't actually use the old engine, as they don't run on an NES emulation. The old engine has been reimplemented. This is why Rockman 9 had an option to allow you to emulate sprite flicker (which on old hardware would have been caused by software dealing with a hardware limitation on the number of sprites per scanline) - it's also why they were able to do things in 9 and 10 that aren't actually possible on NES hardware.

        I did enjoy th

    • Yes. In fact it would make the worst example considering that Sega ported it to PC (Sonic2 [in a pack of other games along with Vector Man], Sonic3, Sonic&Knukles, and Sonic3+Knuckles) and I still have it installed and running via WINE (runs natively on XP).

      Additionally, I've also got the XBox 360 Ports of Sonic 1, 2, 3, Knuckles, Even the Dreamcast game Sonic Adventure (Directors cut) is available on the XBox Live marketplace. I've got the MegaMan series on the 360 (as a single disk) as well...

      • LOOK HARDER PAL. Seriously. There is a mod community.

        Yeah, well until the rockers kick your f****** heads in [wikipedia.org], that is.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tepples ( 727027 )

        Unlike most, who may be operating in a gray area WRT copyright laws, I dump my own original ROMs for use in emulators on my PC

        What dumper would you recommend buying for NES, Genesis, and Super NES cartridges? Retrode is sold out, and the guy who made them complained that it'd be too hard to autodetect the mapper in order to dump NES games.

    • Sonic the Hedgehog, as a series, wasn't known for being difficult (like Mega Man) or innovative (like Marathon). It doesn't even have that much of a compelling story (like RPGs).

      The counterexamples to your assertions are, respectively, Sonic 2, Sonic 1 and Sonic 3&K. As platformers, they delivered on all three of these counts. I'll refer you to this article [gamasutra.com] about S3K in particular.

      I think the analogy to Sgt Pepper is apt, if a little presumptuous. Certain games define the genres in the eras they are ma

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by equex ( 747231 )
        Exactly. For the same reasons as every movie which did the Bullet-Time effects after The Matrix, was pretty much forgotten. The only way one can try to remake the classics would be to assume the same mindset at they had back then and try to do a honest re-iteration of the game design and planning. Take what worked well and keep it and add a little extra that 'would have been nice' in the previous game. Upgrade and redo graphics but for gods sake don't alter the general feeling and atmosphere of the game. D
    • Also, the Sonic games over the last 5 years have been giant turds of games on their own. I played that one simply titled "Sonic the Hedgehog" and it seemed half finished, the graphics seemed PS1 era, the controls sucked and the level design was awful, short stretches of boring platforming separated by half-arsed cutscenes. Also, random bugs where you would die for no reason, like using circle to grab a string of rings but sometimes you would fling off into space instead. You don't have to be a hurt Sonic fa

    • I don't think Mega Man 8 is a good example since it is a game designed to feel old.

      The article/summary is also too vague and looks at only one side of the coin. There are many reasons for people to desire new old games.

      Some literally just want to go back in time and relive those gaming days as if technology had never improved. For them something like Mega Man 8 is perfect.

      Others want those beloved characters to stay alive or return in new adventures with today's tech. For these players games like Zelda Twil

    • New Super Mario Bros. is another interesting example. In so many ways it is just SMB3 or SM World rehashed, with new levels and better graphics. But as a "retro experience" game for the DS, it hit just the right note. I enjoyed Sonic Rush for the same reason; the handhelds are perfect platforms for retro gaming experience, and they managed to keep the nostalgic feel without just doing a direct port.

      I just don't see the point of cramming nostalgia characters into whole new games. Mario only gets away with th

  • WoW sucks. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    ...Sorry, couldn't resist the snipe.

    But I reached this conclusion after being bored this past winter, and searching for a decent MMO. There aren't any. (EVE, of course, but I'm sorry - anything that requires complex spreadsheets that would make economics majors cringe isn't a game. It's not even a hobby. :P)

    I started reflecting upon the sad state of affairs that is the MMO genre, and I realized something. Part of what made MMOs attractive in the first place was the fact that they were, pardon the pun,

    • that initial moment of awe-inspiring potential - stepping into a massive, virtual world for the first time and simply being astounded by the potential - can never come again

      Wish I had modpoints right now. I was an Asheron's Call addict rather than EverQuest, but I feel exactly the same way. Nothing will ever feel the same as it did when I first logged into something of such an enormous scale. I guess it's true what they say: You can't go home. :(

      I also wonder how much of it had to do with the rest of the players feeling the same way. MMOs today (especially WoW, but especially EvE . . .) seem to have a much nastier playerbase than I remember from my Asheron days. Maybe

    • Not to sound like an advert, but you might wan to look at Guild Wars 2:

      - No "holy trinity", dedicated tanks and healers forcibly removed to focus on tactics rather than roles.
      - No WoW-style quests, entire overworld is dynamic events that have different outcomes in the persistent world based on if you succeed or fail.
      -Buy to play, with no monthly fee.

  • Tempest, Battlezone, Missile Command are the worst (Score:3)

    by Quila ( 201335 ) on Friday June 24, 2011 @05:46PM (#36560886)

    Tempest can't be played correctly without a potentiometer (the round dial), Missile Command can't be played correctly without a big trackball, and Battlezone can't be played without the two sticks that mirror real-life tracked vehicle driving (which I've done).

    However good the graphics and mechanics are recreated, it doesn't work without the controllers the games were designed for.

    • Eh, I've had a pretty good time with a Missile Command clone recently, driven by the mouse (which is, after all, just an upside-down trackball).

      The other two, sure, I agree with those.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Hatta ( 162192 )

      Tempest acutally uses a spinner. Potentiometers can only move so far in one direction, a spinner moves freely. You can build one from an old ball mouse pretty easily.

      For missile command, you can get arcade style trackballs still. I have an X-arcade trackball and it's quite good. I wouldn't recommend the joysticks though.

      For Battlezone, and other dual stick games like Robotron 2084 I've found the analog sticks on the dual shock to be a very very good replacement. But again, you can buy twin sticks for u

      • I have yet to find a good spinner for playing Tempest with MAME. The optics in converted mice cannot handle the speed required, compared to the dedicated hardware of the arcade cabinet.
        • I am not afiliated with them in any way, but have you tried www.ultimarc.com? They sell all kinds of controllers and interfaces for the DIY arcade cabinet. I only bought two sticks and a dozen of buttons from them for a cabinet i built for my employer's cantina at the time, so i have no experience on the spinners they sell, but perhaps it's worth checking out.
          I still plan on building a home console (atom or i3 based) with a self-built retro-looking controller, for my kids to experience the games i played ye

    • Centipede is a more popular title than all these, and that also falls into the category where it's not the same with a trackball that doesn't feel like the one you'll find in a computer trackball. There are some reasonable arcade trackballs for emulation you can use to make it and Misslle command workable though, as well as some other big trackball games (Marble Madness, Crystal Castle).

      Emulating the Tempest spinner is much harder but still possible, by purchasing the same type of hardware and calibrating

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Greyfox ( 87712 )
      Tempest, Missile Command and Centipede play respectably well with a Logitech Trackman Marble. If you really like the big play-doh trackball, they sell one of those too.

      360 degrees can NOT be played without a joystick that can rotate around an axis but doesn't have freedom to go through the center. The game is just impossible.

      Spy Hunter absolutely can not be played without the 4 button steering wheel controller, shifter and pedal to control your speed. Which makes me sad because of all the video games I

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by al0ha ( 1262684 )
      True That Tempest. That and the fact that no video game since has been as challenging; period. Tempest rules them all!

      Tempest, while it had basic graphics, was a fast kick-ass game, you had to be one bad mo'foing potentiometer master which super brain to hand reflexes to rule at that game.
    • Nothing compares to the hell of replicating/emulating the 49-position optical joystick used in Sinistar.

    • Missile Command can't be played correctly without a big trackball

      I've tried to make Missile Command work with a directional pad [nintendoage.com]. Did I fail?

      Battlezone can't be played without the two sticks that mirror real-life tracked vehicle driving

      Na naa, na na na na na na na na Katamari Damacy! (That's Japanese for "every console since 2000 has two sticks.") Plug your Xbox 360 controller into your PC's USB port, map the axes, and you're set.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PRMan ( 959735 )
      That's why I have an arcade trackball.

  • ... it's not that you want the game to play as it was when you were a kid. When you were a KID you were at the beginning of game design, as game design advances in a genre or area your expectation bar moves higher. The real issue is that developers don't know or are too afraid of revamping old games. They are afraid of updating the design by what has been learned since the old games release. And quite frankly I think too many developers are out of touch and don't have it in them anymore and thats why w

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Hatta ( 162192 )

      When you were a KID you were at the beginning of game design, as game design advances in a genre or area your expectation bar moves higher

      Or, when you were a kid you learned to like a certain style of gameplay, and game development grew away from that over time. In that case, it makes perfect sense to go back and play the great games you missed, rather than wasting time on games that aren't intended to give you that classic experience.

      • "Or, when you were a kid you learned to like a certain style of gameplay, and game development grew away from that over time. In that case, it makes perfect sense to go back and play the great games you missed, rather than wasting time on games that aren't intended to give you that classic experience."

        There are many great old game designs that just don't have enough meat on them because the content/quality bar has been pushed up. Most old designs don't suffer from out-right bad design, rather they suffer f

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by Hatta ( 162192 )

          And there are a great many modern game designs that don't have enough meat on them because the content/quality bar has been pushed so low to appeal to the lowest common denominator. That seems to be the prevalent trend. e.g. where are the turn based RPGs where you make your own party? What happened to FPSs with maps [buzzfed.com] of any degree of complexity?

          If anything modern games have fewer novel ideas, simply because it's all been tried before. Back in the 80s and early 90s there was so much new ground to tread.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by rgmoore ( 133276 )

          And there are many old games that are still very playable because they did a great job of basic design and were able to crank up to a high enough difficulty to give anyone a real challenge. I think this is true of a lot of the classic arcade games. They're built more around reflexes and hand-eye coordination than thinking and planning. As long as they can't be beaten by memorizing and following a predictable series of moves, they can be just as challenging as they were when they first came out.

  • Funny for this just get posted. A few hours ago I was introduced to "Super Mario Bros. Crossover (Hacked!)" - I suggest the nostalgic among us give it a whirl. It's the original Super Mario Bros. except that you can play through the game as other 8 - bit Nintendo characters such Samus, Mega Man, and several others. The people who put this together did a bang up job. I blew through level 1-1 -> 7-4 in about an hour with one of the Contra guys. You get all of there weapons and attributes, the in game music
  • What about the remake of The Secret of Monkey Island [lucasarts.com]? I thought it was terrific.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by h4rr4r ( 612664 )

      I play the original on my phone. Scummvm has been ported to just about everything with a CPU it seems.

  • Stop making excuses for Duke Nukem Forever. It was just bad, the poor reaction to it had nothing to do with nostalgia.

    I play plenty of old games (or remakes, or clones with the same mechanics) and find them just as good as I did when I was a kid. What the author is missing is the massive dopamine rush that some experiences produce and that you can never normally replicate (because your brain adapts, this is why junkies have to keep increasing their dose).

  • I just finished playing through Quackshot, and I'm working my way through World of Illusion. I also just beat Super Metroid. Sure, I'm not the same person I used to be, but I can appreciate things I didn't notice when I was a kid. Like level design, beautiful sprite work, little touches like Donald Duck closing his eyes when he fires or the water lapping against Samas' feet....

  • Speaking about the perfect sonic game, here's one based on the old Sonic 1 game, but fully modernized in 3D - the new "Sonic Generations":
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wuj-6T_ymqg [youtube.com]

    They've even used the same music from Green Hill zone (which I still love today), and the orchestration is good, but I still prefer the original for various reasons (chorus section has the bass-line moving instead of the melody, giving more contrast etc.). Also the 3D on first glance looks great. But rasterization actually really

    • holy crap. I thought Sonic Rush Adventure was damn good(Never played Rush). That looks amazing.

      I think CRT tubes had something to do with it. I still feel the same when I look at a classic game through an old CRT tube.

      Maybe it's also the fact that I didn't grow cynical in my years...

  • I've had just as much fun with Donkey Kong Returns as I had with the SNES series. Great game. Same goes for Mega Man 9 on the Wii Store. Bionic Commando Rearmed was good fun as well. It is possible to make games like they used to. You just have to look at the plethora of indie titles that are available on the Wii Store, XBLA, etc. Super Meat Boy anyone? That's Nintendo hard.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Yuioup ( 452151 )

      Exactly the point I wanted to make in this thread.

      Modern AAA games all seem to be the same because the developers and publishers want to keep playing it safe. Back in the 80s and 90s there was a lot more experimentation going on because it was the frontier of gaming concepts.

      If you really want to recapture your childhood and yet have fun with a modern game, play indie titles or Flash games. I personally think that Flash games is where it's at. There is an AMAZING amount of experimentation going on in that s

  • Elite is alive and well, re-born as Oolite [oolite.org]. Cross platform, open source and very free, with an enthusiastic community of players and modders.
  • I have realized the same dilemma. My solution is to stick with the old consoles for those games that I have played in my childhood. It's amazing how fun it still is to play SMB1 on original hardware. Playing on original hardware for classics still beats emulation in terms of accuracy and nostalgia. Even though I know the NES cartridges need to be aligned and not blown, I still blow on them just for the hell of it. Classics that I never had a chance to play as a kid I buy on eBay nowadays. For newer co

  • Nope nope nope (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Remakes suck because the designers remove things that made the original great.

    Persona was remade on the PSP, so they gutted the original soundtrack (one of the most memorable ones in a videogame) and replaced the entire thing with J-Rock/J-Hip-Hop. This was done out of some misguided sentiment of making the game more hip and youth friendly. People were disappointed across the board. Now with a sequel coming out, they held a press announcement _just_ to tell people the original soundtrack would be included.

    O

    • Yeah, this sounds right. The new 2d sonic games don't work because the physics aren't right. Sonic doesn't have the same weight and movement as in the old games. If somebody could just be bothered to play the old games and attempt to replicate what was satisfying about the mechanics, there would be a solid foundation to build on.

    • The Persona remake is actually pretty good: coherent with the rest of the series, since they restored the setting and spell names, and it works great on the PSP. If you actually like the music in Persona 3/4 (which I do quite a bit), then you'll like the new music for Persona PSP. Other problems with the original have been fixed as well. I expect it was done with some of the original folks involved, as you suggest. Persona 2/3/4 are brilliant, and the two other versions of P3 - FES and P3P - are excellent a

  • I'm quite happy to play games I grew up with on mame or if I happen to find an old arcade game while out and about. I can think of several titles (Final Fantasy, Suikodan and Star Ocean) that I'd buy again if they released updated versions of the games on new graphics engines and possibly revamped gameplay (Though not revamped to the current final fantasy combat engine. Maybe they could find one that sucks somewhat fewer goat balls.)

    I don't know what your problem is, but please don't project onto me if yo

  • I'm probably one of the more jaded people here when it comes to enjoying games. I rarely play them these days, as 'real life' gets in the way too much. Also, the atmosphere of games is WAY lower than when I was a kid. It's like having a weird dream, which has a strange kind of atmosphere, and then trying to explain that atmosphere to someone else - you can't do it (also similar to when you try to describe 'green' to a born-blind person). Hence nostalgia is incredibly difficult to pin down.

    However I will say

  • X-COM (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    If they made the original X-COM with new graphics BUT with the old game play it would still kick the ass of 95% of the Black Ops-Uncharted-Battlefied-Halo shit out there.

  • Playing the real Lode Runner on a decent Apple II emulator is pretty much exactly the same to me.

    I got sucked into it again a few months ago.

    You can't blame poor classic game re-makes on irrelevant changes in life. They do actually suck, inherently.

    • Lode Runner and Championship Lode Runner are gems. Hell, almost everything by BrÃderbund, such as Wings of Fury, or Spare Change are still fun games today.

      Sadly, I still can't find a decent "remake" of Aquatron, or Gemstone Warrior ;-(

  • Seriously, that game is exactly the game we all remembered, except better, and with epicly fun co-op.
  • What's wrong with the Apprentice? More entertaining than -most- TV shows around now.

  • I disagree with many of the comments on this thread. Some of the older games were just massively better.

    My favorite example: Civ 2.

    I've played every version of Civ out, the clones, the latest versions... None of them hold a candle to Civ 2. And it's not some nostalgia, and it's definitely not the graphics. IT'S THE GAMEPLAY. And this is true for nearly every classic game.

    Civ 2 though is the most profound example. Compared to Civ 2 most of the civs since released (and yes including civ 4 and 5) are just

  • Most new games using classic IP, IMHO, are pure shit from a classic gamer's perspective. Not that the games themselves are necessarily bad, but they have little business using the classic IP other than to capitalize on its brand recognition. I say this because in almost every instance the fundamental joys of the classic are lost in the modern incarnation. Compare Castlevanias 1-4 and SotN with any of the 3D Castlevania games to see what I'm talking about. It's often an issue of 2D gameplay translating horri

  • I've played a lot of video game remakes. I'm really a fan of the concept. I love playing old games with a facelift. But I don't consider them to be a replacement of the original, but a new experience. For example, in 2000 they made a fully 3D version of Myst called realMyst. I think it's wonderful (and it even has bonus content), but I still play Myst equally as much as realMyst.

    Now here's the key to enjoying the original and the remake -- the "switch" key that LucasArts implemented in the Secret of Monkey

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