Board 8 > Which old classics have you finally gotten around to playing this year?

(+) Yeah! (+)

And were they as good as you expected?

2020 has left some of us luckier people with more time to play games, so I figure a lot of people have been working on their backlogs. I myself have beaten *checks Backloggery* 51 games so far this year, way more than I ever have before (I will never understand how some of you break 100).

The Switch's SNES library meant I could finally play some classics that I'd missed out on for so long, and weirdly I was a little underwhelmed with A Link to the Past (good but the series has iterated and improved on this formula since imo) and Super Mario World, but DKC2 blew me away with how massively it improves on its predecessor in every respect.

How about you folks, have you finally gotten around to that game you've been meaning to play for years and years, and did it live up to the hype?

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Conker's Bad Fur Day was a super interesting game for someone who played a lot of those Rare collectathon games but was too young at the time to appreciate the crass adult humor.

It felt like I was watching a cartoonist who's Nickelodeon show I loved as a kid doing an adult swim show.

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Uh I guess technically Trails from Zero is a decade or so old

It was pretty good

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pjbasis posted...

Conker's Bad Fur Day was a super interesting game for someone who played a lot of those Rare collectathon games but was too young at the time to appreciate the crass adult humor.

It felt like I was watching a cartoonist who's Nickelodeon show I loved as a kid doing an adult swim show.

I played CBFD at release and even then i knew I was too young to fully grasp all the references. Great game

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Shadow of the Colossus.

I love the idea of the game and I think the PS4 remaster looks amazing. That said, the controls are so garbage that I find it so frustrating to play the game.

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I played a lot of the old Mario games. Some for the first time and some for the first time in over 20 years or so.

SMB1 - is fine. I mean its hard for me to think of it back when it first came out and it was my first video game so I dont really remember it at all. It was basically a fresh play through and it still holds up fine so Id say it was about what I expected.

SMB2 - I like the music of this and how you can play as other characters, but otherwise its kinda repetitive and not too fun. Its not terrible though. Thats about what I expected anyways since the game has a bad reputation.

The Lost Levels - Didnt really enjoy this one so Id say its worse than expected. The gimmicks are kinda dumb and Id say the US SMB2 is slightly more enjoyable than this actual one. This one just feels mean spirited on some levels.

SMB3 - It was fun playing this one again and it held up better than I expected. The powers and levels are pretty fun. Just an enjoyable experience altogether.

SMW - Playing this one again was pretty magical. I actually remember way back when this game first came out. I was puking with the flu and when I wasnt doing that I was playing SMW. Kind of a weird first memory for a game, but what can you do. It held up really well and exceeded my expectations. It was the most fun of all the old ones I played and is even better than some of the later Mario games too.

The Legend of Zelda - I cant remember if I started it this year or last year, but the Switch NES Classics was my first time ever playing this game. It was pretty ok. I didnt really have any expectations for it, but it was fine enough. It was confusing figuring out where to go and what to do. It also sucked how it lagged if there were a few enemies on screen shooting projectiles.

The Legend of Zelda 2 - This was bad. At first I didnt think so, but after like the first or second dungeon it just becomes awful. Enemies are super annoying and constantly blocking your attacks while throwing a thousand projectiles at you at the same time and it just becomes terrible. I basically forced myself to finish it

Chrono Trigger

I was surprised by how short this game was. I didn't do all of the side quests or the 100 different endings but I think my final play time was around 20 hours. I could definitely see why this was so highly regarded when it came out but the battle system hasn't aged very well in 2020. Would love to see a remake where the characters actually talk to each other more than once or twice.

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Mega Man 7 was actually surprisingly good. Probably my third favorite in the franchise.

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I played Super Metroid for the first time earlier this year.

It was okay. I feel like I would have enjoyed it more had I gone in with less expectations. I think I've also learned that I much prefer the Castlevania aesthetic/feel over Metroid. It wasn't a bad game by any means and I really enjoyed some parts of it (the animals that teach you how to do moves that you already have access to but don't know about yet was brilliant), but because I played it so late I don't think it had as much of an impact on me as it did with others.

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i finished OoT for the first time this year, and i think i finally 'get' zelda games

stuff being inscrutable was part of the appeal. you were supposed to call nintendo help lines/buy strategy guides/ask your friends for tips and tricks

it's the sort of game that rewards you with a particular feeling on your second playthrough- you don't remember the exact solutions but your hunches guide you with a sense of familiarity

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Final Fantasy VII

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I played Super Metroid for a while, wasn't really a fan but I'd still like to go back and finish it. A big part of it is that it feels so imprecise and floaty compared to every other Metroid I've played.

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Oddly I thought Super Metroid held up really well back when I played it on Wii VC. A lot of the NES/SNES classics I feel like I have to view through the lens of "OK even if it's been surpassed now it was really impressive for its time" but not that one. SMB3 holds up way better than the ones before it, for sure. And better than like... anything from that era. I'm excited to play FF6 at some point so I can compare it to CT, which I enjoyed a lot on the DS but isn't my all time fav or anything (Crono+Frog+Ayla was like the only team I used). OoT and FFVII I played as a kid so probably wouldn't be able to view them clearly now without nostalgia goggles.

Speaking of Rare I also played Banjo-Kazooie, took me a while to get into but it turned out to still be pretty great (though the remaster improvements probably helped, ie not having to get all the notes in one life). Tried the sequel and bounced off pretty fast though, just wasn't feeling the vibes at all. Might try it again sometime.

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Actually.... none I think. The vast majority of my gaming time this year has been FFXIV, and the bulk of the rest was other new releases (especially ACNH)

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That's exactly why I've never tried to get into an MMO, I know it would just ruin the chances of me playing 100 other games lol. That said, I think I've only played one game that was even released this year.

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since august

Tales of Phantasia
Tales of Destiny
Tales of Eternia
Tales of Destiny 2
Tales of Symphonia
Tales of Rebirth
Tales of Legendia
currently Tales of the Abyss

<_<

first times for Destiny, Eternia, Destiny 2, Rebirth, and Legendia so I'll cover them very briefly with main takeaways

Destiny: wow Leon's overrated... this Japan's consistent #1 Tales dude? dum jerk... looking at each arc individually I really don't care about the plots (chasing Eye of Atamoni - Hugo arc - Kronos) and that's all I really think about for Destiny 1.

Eternia: hey it's like playing a modern Tales but 2D, great presentation, more engaging plot, and I ended up liking the cast well. Villains could use some work still, but it was a nice entry I didn't expect so early.

Destiny 2: ... I like this, but it's very conflicting. Reala sucks, as does the plot of Kyle just wanting to be a hero and finding the opportunity just following her blindly. Villains are better than the last two albeit with Barbatos disappointing expectations. Nevertheless it's still sticking with me memorably, with a great cast and engaging story for good and bad. Oh yeah and remember what I said about Leon?... my mind has been changed, top tier.

Rebirth: First, the 3-rails combat and the rush gauge make an intriguing battle system... although unfortunately the 3-rails part just gets really annoying as enemies keep switching out of your attacks and augh stuff. Didn't expect to love Eugene so much and Tytree's a good dude. The rest alright, Veigue took some growing but ends up better than most. Main take: Claire's Speech is one of the best scenes in Tales so far.

Legendia: multiple arcs of rescue Shirl -> oh no Shirl's gone whyy. Senel sucks until he stops being a jerk (then he's just whatever generic protag). The rest of the cast work well together but goddd this game's brought out my fury. Towards the end with the underground area gets interesting but it's so little so late... and then you get to the Character Quest arc and wtf what sadist created this? Also combat really boring and dungeons really make those random battles even worse, towards the end it all really just started blending together .

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Nothing I played for the first time this year that I'd consider a classic.

Shonen_Bat posted...

I played Super Metroid for a while, wasn't really a fan but I'd still like to go back and finish it. A big part of it is that it feels so imprecise and floaty compared to every other Metroid I've played.

I love Super Metroid, but I think this floaty kind of feel to it is what makes watching speed runs of the game so damn entertaining (best speed runs of any game tbh), because these people are playing it on a level that doesn't look at all how it feels to play.

BetrayedTangy posted...

Mega Man 7 was actually surprisingly good. Probably my third favorite in the franchise.

This is a hot take. Curious to know what outranks it, or what you've played.

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Star Fox (SNES) is the oldest game I beat for the first time this year, but I also beat Halo 2, Katamari Damacy, and FFVIII for newer old classics.

I enjoyed them all but idk if any of them hit my favorites. FFVIII was definitely the best of the four.

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Does Paper Mario TTYD count?

Almost done with it and it's a lot of fun.

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Let's see... played Lost levels, since after super mario 35 it didn't really intimidate me.

It was def not as hard as I thought it was going to be, but those castle levels were brutal, and not very fun. Lots of times it seems like you need to make a pixel perfect jump, but you actually need an invisible block placed in a weird place. Other times it seems like you need a block when you need a pixel perfect jump.

The parts where it's difficult are incredibly fun, the parts where it's obtuse I could do without

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Played the old PS1 classic Murder House.

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I didn't start it this year, but I finished FFVI for the first time and was thoroughly underwhelmed by the ending portions

good overall, but it could have been so much better than it was
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final fantasy vii
working on final fantasy viii
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I envy GMUN's dedication to Tales. I have never touched the series but hope to approach my FF runthrough with the same level of dedication. Maybe I'll try Vesperia to get a feel for what Tales is like.

I had to use the save states for Lost Levels when I played it on 3DS VC, some of it really is just weirdly designed.

Maniac64 posted...

Does Paper Mario TTYD count?

Almost done with it and it's a lot of fun.

Yeah I left it subjective so people could come up with their own definition of old/classic, may I ask did you emulate TTYD or buy it, I've been wanting to play that for ages but it's at such an exorbitant price now!

SeabassDebeste posted...

final fantasy vii
working on final fantasy viii

But will you finish FFVIII before the year is out?? You should make a new topic imo btw.

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Yeah I left it subjective so people could come up with their own definition of old/classic, may I ask did you emulate TTYD or buy it, I've been wanting to play that for ages but it's at such an exorbitant price now

I've owned it for years and never got around to playing it.

Once I finish it I can probably sell it to you for a reasonable price. Was just going to trade it in anyway.

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Super Mario RPG

If we count remakes, I also beat Seiken Densetsu 3 and Langrisser

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finishing off all the challenges in Kirby's Air Ride

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I beat ff8 for the first time but hardly a classic imo. Maybe you had to be there so to speak

Playing through the danganronpa series as well, doesnt live up to the hype for me either but its at least enjoyable in it's anime cheesiness

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andylt posted...

But will you finish FFVIII before the year is out?? You should make a new topic imo btw.

odds are good! the new fiancee is leaving town for a full month starting around thanksgiving...
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Maniac64 posted...

Once I finish it I can probably sell it to you for a reasonable price. Was just going to trade it in anyway.

Oh that's very generous of you! But I'm guessing you're American and GC isn't region free so it wouldn't work out, thanks though!

MZero posted...

Super Mario RPG

How does this hold up? I've been going back and forth on getting a SNES classic but there's only like 5 games on it I really want to play and 3 of them are on other platforms, SMRPG is one of the ones I'm curious about.

SeabassDebeste posted...

odds are good! the new fiancee is leaving town for a full month starting around thanksgiving...

Cool, and congrats on the engagement!

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Played through the first four Mega Man X games for the first time. I always held myself up as preferring the classic, "room to room" style of Mega Man better than the flow of X, but after going through... X peaks and valleys a lot harder, but damn are those peaks really solid.

X1 probably feels the most like traditional Mega Man. I do kinda feel bad that there's no way anyone who enjoys fun would pick a Robot Master other than Chill Penguin first, but the level design is rock solid and the upgrades make you feel like you are destroying the levels until Sigma smacks you back down (and then you e-tank through him). Definitely the most consistently good of the games.

X2 is... kind of absolutely fantastic? I wasn't expecting another SNES MMX to overtake the classic, but damn does X2 do everything in its power to be the best sequel to X it can be. Levels are more built around X's unique movement, the X Hunters are great opponents due to the tightness but simplicity of their patterns, and Light's upgrades just feel much better across the board, with Shoryuken feeling like the most well-earned 'ultimate' weapon due to the little death course you have to go through to get it. Spectacle is turned up to 11, with stages like Overdrive Ostrich's being huge, flashy highlights that exceed what Mega Man was before. Thoroughly enjoyed it top to bottom, might be my favorite Mega Man game now? Have to replay MM9...

X3 is okay. It is usually not greater than okay, but it's okay. Enemies have tons of i-frames, the upgrades don't feel as great, the weirdness of the Red Light Capsules is slightly baffling, and the upgrades just all feel slower and clunkier. The biggest loss is the X2 Buster Upgrade, the game actively becomes worse with the slow junk that is the X3 Upgraded Buster. Bit and Byte are decently fun at times, but it just feels like a slog. Kaiser Sigma is also the most repetitive anticlimax of a final boss.

X4 is a great, unbalanced mess. Playing as X gives you a baby mode game with a baby voice, as X just feels ridiculously strong here the more weapons he gets. The game also has a ton of gimmick stages, to mixed success - feels very Donkey Kong Country 3 in that regard. I love ideas like Cyber Peacock's, but found Jet Stingray to be a trial and error slog and Magma Dragoon to be entirely invalidated by Ride Armor, despite all of them being cool ideas. It's a game that gets SIGNIFICANTLY easier the further on you go, and while X is a fun novelty being this strong (along with the two buster upgrades - those are ridiculous), it's a game that climaxes in the middle. And then you play as Zero, and Zero might be the most fun 2D platforming character period? He absolutely needs the air dash, double jump, and spinny slash, but once he gets those, GOD does he feel good to just slice through everything. Having all his abilities be attached to inputs feels so good, giving a constant feeling of growth and skill-based application toward every use, and his abilities being tied to movement rather than pure damage makes the maverick refights MUCH harder and much more satisfying to go through. Some bosses are absolute junk with him (General especially), and it does ruin any sense of difficulty any stage has, but Zero's up there with Alucard for being just hilariously busted but so much fun to play as.

So probably X2 > X4 > X1 > X3, and everything X1 and above is at least "great"? Pretty good track record, really glad the series ends there and didn't continue on to wreck this feeling.

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Serious Sam: The First Encounter & Second Encounter (if those count as classics). They were just shooters, but I really enjoyed just the mass units and at times was laughing pretty hard since I was playing with a friend. There were a few moments I'm probably not going to forget for a while.

Banjo-Kazooie - The game design overall was great. Most of the levels were small, but had plenty to explore. The music was fantastic. Some of the worlds were just kind of annoying - Freezeasy Peak and Click Clock Woods being my two least favorite worlds. I liked the transformations and the mechanics that went with it.

Super Mario 64 - I can see why people would like it... But I did not enjoy any of the time I put into it.

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Oh that's very generous of you! But I'm guessing you're American and GC isn't region free so it wouldn't work out, thanks though!

I am indeed. Darn.

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When Dragon Quest 1-3 came out on the Switch, I beat each of them (Id played 1 several times and had beaten it, but 2 & 3 were first time playthroughs for me). Also beat DQ4 in the process - Id started it before, but Id never beaten it.

With the Castlevania Anniversary Collection, I played Castlevania the Adventure (GameBoy) for the first time. Ive never played Castlevania III, and its on the collection, but I havent gotten around to it yet.

I also randomly downloaded the Metal Slug collection on PS4, since Id never played any of those. Fun games.

Does God of War III count? Its as recent as the PS3, but its over a decade old at this point. Id beaten GoW 1&2 when the PS3 first came out, but never got around to part 3 until just in the last few months.

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Ive been replaying SM64 for like the first time since the 64 came out. Well it would be more accurate to say I was. I am struggling to care about the game at all. I remember loving it as a kid, but it just feels so bad now. I am not even sure if I will bother to finish it.

Yeah it's sad when a game you love doesn't have that appeal anymore, 64 has definitely dated quite a bit. It's why I'm annoyed they didn't try to do a proper remake again. At least the DS version added new stuff.

ViolentAbacus posted...

Banjo-Kazooie - The game design overall was great. Most of the levels were small, but had plenty to explore. The music was fantastic. Some of the worlds were just kind of annoying - Freezeasy Peak and Click Clock Woods being my two least favorite worlds. I liked the transformations and the mechanics that went with it.

Aw Click Clock is my favourite! Curious what you'll think of Tooie if you play it, if you'll be turned off right away like I was or if I'm on my own there.

I have zero experience with Mega Man (regular or X) or Dragon Quest but those Switch collections do have me tempted to try the series out...

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does Trails in the Sky count

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I played through Dragon Quest 5 earlier in the year and it was wonderful. I named my family party members after my own family to give the game extra emotional weight. Needless to say the first time I got a game over after that felt a little weird. But it made the experience much more satisfying and personal.
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I can actually answer this question!

Katamari Damacy
Early levels were a chore, later levels were really good.

I liked it and it had good fitting music.

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The first three Crash Bandicoot games via the N. Sane remakes.

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Crusader of Centy. It's Zelda but you have animal buddies instead of tools

Alone in the Dark 4. I can't really recommend it, it's alright I guess but also eh. The beginning is the best part. If you're really into RE then try it

Rule of Rose. I thought I was gonna hate it, but it's pretty cool. Although I suggest not bothering with sidequests because it's really bad in that sense. Tons of missables. Just ignore it. Play for story

In terms of old games I uh..
Warcraft III Reforged
The entire Hitman Series (first four games are classics I guess)
Age of Empires II Definitive Edition
And now playing Mega Man Zero/ZX Collection

The sad thing is...every single one of them is a replay. I played all of them a long time ago..

I guess that for "finally gotten around to" I can say I finally beat Hitman Contracts, after I gave up on it 16 years ago, back then I played 6 of the 12 missions, realized it's too boring and stopped
And Age of Empires 2 I beat all the campaigns (that took a while..) but only the original campaign was a replay - the Conquerors campaign was new to me

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andylt posted...

Yeah it's sad when a game you love doesn't have that appeal anymore

Honestly for all the games I replayed this year, pretty much all of them were just as I remember
Games that sucked still sucked (Hitman Agent 47, Hitman Contracts, Mega Man Zero 4, Mega Man ZX)
And games that were amazing are still amazing (Warcraft III, Mega Man Zero 2, 3, Age of Empires II)

Makes me feel like if I ever give FFVIII another chance I might not like it..again
The only game that I replayed this year that my opinion changed on is Mega Man ZX Advent. I remembered it fondly but..it isn't that good sadly

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And TTYD beaten!

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andylt posted...

How does this hold up? I've been going back and forth on getting a SNES classic but there's only like 5 games on it I really want to play and 3 of them are on other platforms, SMRPG is one of the ones I'm curious about.

It's actually pretty rad. I never played it as a kid so I had no nostalgic attachment to it or anything and it was still very good!

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Lots of interesting picks that I didn't have on my radar before, cool to know!

MZero posted...

It's actually pretty rad. I never played it as a kid so I had no nostalgic attachment to it or anything and it was still very good!

Oh good that's great! Now it was on VC for Wii/U so it will surely come to Switch Online at some point... What are the chances they'd do a SMRPG/Paper Mario series/M+L All Stars collection with a bunch of Mario RPGs on it >_>


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0% but I'd throw money after them for it, that's for sure.

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andylt posted...

What are the chances they'd do a SMRPG/Paper Mario series/M+L All Stars collection with a bunch of Mario RPGs on it >_>

I also say 0% but I would pay any price they asked if they did

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We can dream! We can dream...

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