Old school video games vs games of now which is better?

Nothing compares to the simplicity and fuckin awesomeness that was Donkey Kong, Super Mario World, PAPER BOY ASD;LFKJ, super punch out!!!!!!! MARIO KART! MARIO PAINT!!!!!!!!!! Theres nothing like it. No contest here.

@deni – You are always so right on!

Both are fantastic for what they were.

Old-good because they were simple

New-good because they didn’t screw up the melee system and nerf the sniper rifle

Man oh man, I miss starfox64. The question just got me thinking about it.

SNES and N64 aren’t old school in my book. In some ways I think the older games were better because there was less to work with. But then, it was a new industry back then and there wasn’t much to compete with.

Newer games don’t always lack heart and passion, not at all. Don’t be misdirected by countless games based on movies, TV shows or those designed to make a quick buck.
Old school games had their share of complete crap, too. (Total Recal, Urban Champion…Pit Fighter.)

I prefer role playing and horror themed games, on whatever spectrum of the industry they belong to. I’m a lot more interested in subject matter than technology, so it’s really secondary to me.

I’d much rather play Super Mario bros 3 on ye old Nes than Phantasy Star Online, but I would also much rather play Dead Space than Cruisin USA on the 64.

It all depends, whatever I’m having fun with.

Aww, I love the heck out of my Wii better than the old Atari/Sega/Nintendo stuff. I like the near-realism of today’s games. Tetris is still fun, though, and I have a version of that on my iPhone.

I miss Spyro the Dragon. :-(

I think both have their qualities. I loved playing snes and sega mega drive. Fun fun times. Though I am also having fun playing modern games too.

Actually, the new super mario 2d game is incredibly fun. 4 player is amazing. Brings old and new together in delicious party game fun.

Obviously the new games. Would you buy an old car or a new car if money wasn’t an issue?

@Blackberry Strangely enough, I swore that my next car would be from the 70s and not have a computer in it.

@mrentropy I can’t appreciate really old cars because I wasn’t alive then, but those new ‘muscle cars’ are so badass : ) I would personally like a new Challenger.

@Blackberry I would seriously maim someone for a new Challenger. But I’ll be lucky if I can afford a 70s muscle car.

Funny, I was just reminiscing about FIFA ‘95 on the Sega Genesis, but it probably had just as much to do with my age and my friends at the time.

Super Mario Kart is, in my opinion, the best game of all time. I have thousands upon thousands of ours of playing time, and despite not playing it regularly for maybe 15 years, I can still pick it up and win 150cc gold on Special Cup.

Having said that, Super Mario Bros. Wii is great too, as are many modern PC titles, so I don’t think there really is a definitive answer to the old/new question – we can only discuss personal tastes.

@MorenoMelissa1: you can emulate SNES and n64 games now very easily with pretty much any computer, so you don’t need to miss out on your classic gaming action.

There is a huge classic gaming community out there.
They love the old stand up games like Pac Man, Centipede, Tempest, Defender, Donkey Kong and so forth. What they love is the gameplay, not the graphics.

The nature of the arcade game is more competitive. You put in your quarter, play for as long as you can and then when you’re done, you step aside for the person waiting behind you. When gaming migrated from the arcades to the home, the focus on gaming changed.

On the home systems that competitive element suddenly went away. You could play as much as you wanted so long as you had the free time. Mastering a video was no longer as much of an accomplishment as it was before. Games also got easier. Who wants to play $50 for a video game that’s just going to beat you into submission?

So which genre is better? Tough call.
The early classic games were far more challenging but the games of today are far more immersive. It depends on what you’re looking for when you play.

As for the old school consoles, Nintendo had it all locked down. They have consistently made games that are just fun to play. When I got my NES system, I couldn’t play Super Mario Bros. enough. It had a simple yet wildly successful formula that was fun for hours on end.

There’s always going to be nostalgia for the older games. I think part of their appeal was with the low resolution graphics of the time you were forced to use your imagination more. I think another reason people say vintage gaming was better is because video games are a much larger market now and there are just so many bad games out there. I think ultimately what draws a person to a game is how it plays, which is something Blizzard understands implicitly. Now if they’d just release Starcraft II already.

If you’re looking for a short answer, I think the comparison is too much of an apples v. oranges comparison. Ultimately it’s the gameplay that determines a game’s success and there are fantastic entries from both genres.

Old games had the plot originality n’ stuff. New ones have the graphics. Take your pick.

Old games like Centipede, Berzerk, Castlevania, and many others challenge hand-eye coordination, reflexes, and pattern recognition on a level that modern games don’t even come close too. This is not a matter of my opinion, its just fact.

I far prefer older games (and by older, I’m talking 1995 at the newest) because they are simple and yet incredibly challenging. I also dislike the trend in newer games to focus too much on graphics and story – if I wanted to watch a movie, I’d watch a damn movie. If I’m going to play a game, just give me the basics and let me get right into it.

When did SNES/N64 titles become “old school?” Hardly retro at all.

I think it kind of depends on the genre. The shooter genre seems to only be getting better with time, whereas StarCraft, the greatest RTS ever made, is 14 years old now and I have yet to play a single fancy smancy new RTS that is better.

For shooters, however, Half-Life 2 was released in 2004 (gah! 6 years already!), Gears of War in 2006, and Grand Theft Auto IV was released in 2008, which rounds out my list of best shooters.

No I do not feel like arguing whether or not GTA4 is a shooter.