NES/SNES Classic Editions

[Frankie Blueberries]

Nothing on the N64 has held up. The system was the entry point in 3D gaming that has evolved to this day, which is a major difference when compared to the NES/SNES collections. Literally all of those games would be bad now once detached from nostalgia. Many of them always were.

You're mostly right, but there are a few games that have held up IMO. Mario Kart, Mario Tennis, Smash Bros, and NFL Blitz are all still very fun and don't feel that dated. You could probably make an argument for both Zelda games as well (I played them on the 3DS recently and they still were very enjoyable, but they remastered them a bit).

 

[Shareefruck]

Nothing on the N64 has held up. The system was the entry point in 3D gaming that has evolved to this day, which is a major difference when compared to the NES/SNES collections. Literally all of those games would be bad now once detached from nostalgia. Many of them always were.

I tend to lean this way as well.

As a kid around 1995-1998 (I lagged behind the release dates by a few years for some reason), I was obsessed with the SNES, and then once everybody transitioned to the next generation, I just completely lost interest in the medium as a whole. At the time, I assumed that I was just growing out of videogames, but in hindsight, after regaining some interest in the more recent generations, I think I just legitimately disliked the way those games looked, sounded, and felt as a whole (and still do).

 

[Retrocity]

Hopefully you'll be able to get an extra NES controller easily with the re-release of the NES Classic. I was able to get the system, but not an extra controller. Never really had the need to justify a 3rd party one, but I'll jump on a first party one at retail. I've been regularly seeing the SNES classic in Target, even full shelves at times, so that should be a good sign for those who weren't able to get the NES the first time around.

I agree as well on the N64 sentiment. I had a lot of fun playing the games on it back in its day, but the games haven't aged nearly as well as the games of the 8/16 bit eras. Definitely some that do, and I'll reserve judgement until there's an official announcement that it's actually happening along with the game list and features (gotta be 4 player right; how much will those extra controllers be - rumble support?).

 

[guinness]

Out of curiosity, why do you prefer the Genesis over the SNES, and what are your favorites on that console? I went through the process of trying to catch up on it and only a handful of titles stood out and have held up for me.

As someone that had a Genesis over SNES back in the day: sports titles (EA and Sega), Sega titles like Streets of Rage series, Decapattack, Golden Axe, Sonic series, Shining in the Darkness/Shining Force, Shinobi, Castle of Illusion, Road Rash series, Strider.

HM: Ecco the Dolphin is a odd one, as it's good, but from what I remember, it's fairly hard.

 

[Blitzkrug]

I kinda feel the same about the N64. No desire to buy a mini version when a lot of those games aged very poorly.

The SNES and NES to an extent are immune to age problems since the games were so simple yet so incredibly well designed graphically/mechanically. Stuff like Super Metroid, the RPG games, Mario World and Yoshi's Island are still as great to play as they were 25 years ago.

The only games that aged really, really poorly on the SNES classic would probably be the two star fox games. I'd argue Earthbound but i think that game was kinda clunky even in 1995 with some of the...odd design choices Itoi made.

Looking at the N64, a lot of the games have aged like crap. Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask are damn near unplayable after playing the 3DS remake which cleans up a lot of the issues (especially with Majora)

 

[Shareefruck]

I kinda feel the same about the N64. No desire to buy a mini version when a lot of those games aged very poorly.

The SNES and NES to an extent are immune to age problems since the games were so simple yet so incredibly well designed graphically/mechanically. Stuff like Super Metroid, the RPG games, Mario World and Yoshi's Island are still as great to play as they were 25 years ago.

The only games that aged really, really poorly on the SNES classic would probably be the two star fox games. I'd argue Earthbound but i think that game was kinda clunky even in 1995 with some of the...odd design choices Itoi made.

Looking at the N64, a lot of the games have aged like crap. Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask are damn near unplayable after playing the 3DS remake which cleans up a lot of the issues (especially with Majora)

Along these same lines, there are quite a few quality of life/translation-related patches available that solve some interface design-choice issues with certain SNES games, and they reveal that beyond those superficial conveniences (that in my opinion, aren't that important), games like Earthbound age really well. Things that fix the localization/translation issues of the Final Fantasy games, the controls of Earthbound, etc.

I recently found out about these and it's a pretty neat rabbit-hole to go down.

 

[The Nemesis]

That was my thoughts on it as well. I think there's a decent chance of getting Diddy Kong Racing and a small chance of getting Goldeneye (I believe EA owns the rights now based on that Wii remake?).

That would still be a solid list of games, though. I'd add Pokemon Stadium, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron or Shadows of the Empire or Pod Racer, Turok (probably has aged poorly though), NFL Blitz (this has held up very well - I played it recently) or Madden 99, NBA Showtime, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 or 2, Bomberman 64, Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey or NHL 99, Harvest Moon, and Resident Evil 2. I presume getting half of these games would be difficult with the licensing. Still, this would make for a great library of games, even without the Rare classics.

DKR has a bunch of Rare characters in it. They'd have to alter the game to remove Banjo, Conker, and several of the randos (like the turtle and whatnot). There was a DS port/remake/sequel that stripped out a bunch of the roster to try and accommodate this later on. I'd honestly think there's a better chance of getting Goldeneye than DKR since Goldeneye would only require clearing the Bond license (though that seems like it might be a stretch. I'm pretty sure half the reason that the Goldeneye remake uses the Daniel Craig Bond and new likenesses for the classic characters was licensing actor images from the original Goldeneye cast would be too difficult)

Also I don't think sports games have enough broad interest for the most part. I mean the mini NES had Tecmo Bowl on it, but it basically required the fact that game is a sorta cultural icon. There was the opportunity for NHL 94/95 or Ken Griffey Jr Baseball or NBA Jam on the mini SNES and they didn't.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Nothing on the N64 has held up. The system was the entry point in 3D gaming that has evolved to this day, which is a major difference when compared to the NES/SNES collections. Literally all of those games would be bad now once detached from nostalgia. Many of them always were.

Eh, I wouldn't go that far. I'd say that Mario 64 and Star Fox 64 are both enjoyable, if a bit janky sometimes, experiences even today, and Mario Kart 64 is still downright fantastic albeit small. I would agree that a load of N64 games have major nostalgia goggles around them more so than 2D SNES games still holding their own given how refined they are compared to the experimentation and rough around the edges quality of the N64.

And I'd highlight GoldenEye as the single biggest example of "aged poorly" game in history.

 

[aleshemsky83]

A handful of N64 titles have held up alright, but even PS1 has aged badly, spyro still looks alright and that's about it.

The difference is PS1 has a lot of fantastic looking 2d games that N64 doesn't.

 

[Blitzkrug]

It's a lot of the games that came out towards the end of the N64's life that held up.

Smash Bros, all of the Mario sports spinoffs, Paper Mario, Mario Party 2 and 3. All good examples of still good to play today.

The earlier stuff like Ocarina, SM64, Wave Race, Jet Force Gemini and Blast Corps? Absolutely junk for the most part.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

It's a lot of the games that came out towards the end of the N64's life that held up.

Smash Bros, all of the Mario sports spinoffs, Paper Mario, Mario Party 2 and 3. All good examples of still good to play today.

The earlier stuff like Ocarina, SM64, Wave Race, Jet Force Gemini and Blast Corps? Absolutely junk for the most part.

Obviously a game like JFG isn't going to hold up well, but the bolded are honestly still as enjoyable as when they first came out.

 

[Oilers Propagandist]

The mini snes is the best thing ever, my only beef is that I wished they used a bit more of the extra space that is left on there. You could fit another 150+ games, im sure they would sell like hot cakes with another 20+ games at at a price point of around $150 or so.

Anyways I modded this thing and can play NES and Sega games too, best investment of an unused hour in a while haha.

 

[Oilers Propagandist]

It's a lot of the games that came out towards the end of the N64's life that held up.

Smash Bros, all of the Mario sports spinoffs, Paper Mario, Mario Party 2 and 3. All good examples of still good to play today.

The earlier stuff like Ocarina, SM64, Wave Race, Jet Force Gemini and Blast Corps? Absolutely junk for the most part.

I absolutely agree with you regarding this. When I tell people that I never really liked sm64 and OoT, they called me crazy and would get upset for some reason. They are great games for the time but they were just not for me.

Smash and mario party 1-3 i play with my brother friends and the woman here and there after a couple of drinks every few months. Heck i recently replayed DK64 after it was collecting dust for a few years haha

 

[Blitzkrug]

Obviously a game like JFG isn't going to hold up well, but the bolded are honestly still as enjoyable as when they first came out.

Debatable. SM64 still has the clunky camera and odd design choices, though i'll take the original game over the DS remake. It certainly is still playable though, just more subjective.

Ocarina, and Majora's Mask by extension however? Nope. Awful framerates, slow, plodding cutscenes with unskippable text, trash design in some aspects (iron boots switching in the water temple) and so on. the 3DS completely changes that game for the better. Ocarina constantly has frame drops for no particular reason. While i'm not all about graphics, when your game has trouble maintaining 20 FPS on a god damn cartridge in an already slow paced design? that's a major issue.

There isn't enough nostalgia juice in the world to cover how badly Ocarina has aged.

 

[aleshemsky83]

I honestly don't get the criticism of Mario's camera, that seems like revisionism. The camera was fantastic at the time and it's only aged because all modern 3rd person cameras have gradually improved upon the template it created. It takes like 5 minutes to get used to it again.

Ocarina is still fantastic, unskippable cutscenes still exist so I'm not sure "aging" is a word of use for that, I've mentioned this before but most modern games basically use its control scheme completely unchanged, dark souls is one that sticks out. The iron boots switching in the water temple is definitely annoying, but that was annoying at the time too.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

I honestly don't get the criticism of Mario's camera, that seems like revisionism. The camera was fantastic at the time and it's only aged because all modern 3rd person cameras have gradually improved upon the template it created. It takes like 5 minutes to get used to it again.

Ocarina is still fantastic, unskippable cutscenes still exist so I'm not sure "aging" is a word of use for that, I've mentioned this before but most modern games basically use its control scheme completely unchanged, dark souls is one that sticks out. The iron boots switching in the water temple is definitely annoying, but that was annoying at the time too.

For Mario 64, I always joke that the toughest enemy is the lakitu cameraman, but aside from a few instances it defaults to the right position and like all 3D Mario games, mario himself controls phenomenally. The game still holds up because of how well the worlds and objectives were designed.

And I don't get what the complaint is from Blitzkrug with OOT. The 3ds version is literally the same game with better graphics and the ability to switch items slightly quicker. If those are dealbreakers, I have to wonder why you're playing these games in the first place.

What makes both these games great that developers seem to have forgotten is that bigger (or more)=/= better. Mario Odyssey has like 800 stars to collect, but they're literally everywhere and so easy to collect it somewhat cheapens cheapens the whole experience. While Mario 64 is a much shorter game, the obstacles you face to get the stars are just better crafted towards those specific challenges.

 

[Supermassive]

The mini snes is the best thing ever, my only beef is that I wished they used a bit more of the extra space that is left on there. You could fit another 150+ games, im sure they would sell like hot cakes with another 20+ games at at a price point of around $150 or so.

Anyways I modded this thing and can play NES and Sega games too, best investment of an unused hour in a while haha.

I wasted way too much time following old/outdated/wrong instructions trying to mod this thing, to the point where I was ready to junk it. Then I found one youtuber that knew his stuff, and ten minutes later I've got it working. Absolutely maddening, trying to find current info on something that's been out for a while and has had several revisions!

But now that its working, damn...what a cool little device. Anyone buy the wireless controller yet? Going to pick one up soon.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

DKR has a bunch of Rare characters in it. They'd have to alter the game to remove Banjo, Conker, and several of the randos (like the turtle and whatnot). There was a DS port/remake/sequel that stripped out a bunch of the roster to try and accommodate this later on. I'd honestly think there's a better chance of getting Goldeneye than DKR since Goldeneye would only require clearing the Bond license (though that seems like it might be a stretch. I'm pretty sure half the reason that the Goldeneye remake uses the Daniel Craig Bond and new likenesses for the classic characters was licensing actor images from the original Goldeneye cast would be too difficult)

Also I don't think sports games have enough broad interest for the most part. I mean the mini NES had Tecmo Bowl on it, but it basically required the fact that game is a sorta cultural icon. There was the opportunity for NHL 94/95 or Ken Griffey Jr Baseball or NBA Jam on the mini SNES and they didn't.

Only Banjo and Conker were removed from the DS version of Diddy Kong Racing as I said earlier.

 

[Shareefruck]

I tried out the expandable memorable mod and it's pretty great. Basically have everything that I could possibly want on this thing now, including PSX games and the larger arcade/GBA games (like Mother 3, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Garou Mark of the Wolves, Metal Slug 3, Symphony of the Night, and the PSX Final Fantasies).

I honestly don't get the criticism of Mario's camera, that seems like revisionism. The camera was fantastic at the time and it's only aged because all modern 3rd person cameras have gradually improved upon the template it created. It takes like 5 minutes to get used to it again.
Ocarina is still fantastic, unskippable cutscenes still exist so I'm not sure "aging" is a word of use for that, I've mentioned this before but most modern games basically use its control scheme completely unchanged, dark souls is one that sticks out. The iron boots switching in the water temple is definitely annoying, but that was annoying at the time too.

It's not revisionism if people are talking about how good it is now/how well it holds up under scrutiny rather than whether or not it was a problem at the time, and you choose to include the latter in your definition of "good". If it's aged at all (whatever the reason, understandable or not), that criticism would be warranted.

 

[Liminal Cat]

People absolutely complained about Mario 64's camera in 1996.

 

[ManofSteel55]

It's a lot of the games that came out towards the end of the N64's life that held up.

Smash Bros, all of the Mario sports spinoffs, Paper Mario, Mario Party 2 and 3. All good examples of still good to play today.

The earlier stuff like Ocarina, SM64, Wave Race, Jet Force Gemini and Blast Corps? Absolutely junk for the most part.

The only one of those "junk" titles that I think is actually junk is Blast Corps.

 

[aleshemsky83]

People absolutely complained about Mario 64's camera in 1996.

I'll have to take your word for it since I was relatively young, but I had no issue with the camera. Then again I was at an age where I didn't even realize superman was a bad game, just thought it was really hard.

Edit: I should clarify I replayed it a couple years ago and had no issue with the camera then either outside a couple times.

 

[aleshemsky83]

It's not revisionism if people are talking about how good it is now/how well it holds up under scrutiny rather than whether or not it was a problem at the time, and you choose to include the latter in your definition of "good". If it's aged at all (whatever the reason, understandable or not), that criticism would be warranted.

True, I guess my point is that the criticism is overblown, it's very similar to modern 3rd person cameras, just without the second analog stick. It's much easier to get used to then people claim, imo it's because so many games today control so damn similarly that people just find it so jarring going back. Every single game controls either like assassins creed or far cry or splinter cell if it's a stealth game (which people really don't give enough credit for how much it influenced the stealth genre), so when something is different they consider it bad.

It's like how halo started the 2 weapon slots and regenerating shield. Every game copied it when it didn't even make sense, just because it was popular and people were used to it.

Maybe I'm wrong but that's how I see it.

 

[Supermassive]

I'll have to take your word for it since I was relatively young, but I had no issue with the camera. Then again I was at an age where I didn't even realize superman was a bad game, just thought it was really hard.

Edit: I should clarify I replayed it a couple years ago and had no issue with the camera then either outside a couple times.

The people I knew who complained were Playstation owners, usually RPG diehards and 2D "purists", who wanted nothing to do with Nintendo. They were easy to ignore.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

True, I guess my point is that the criticism is overblown, it's very similar to modern 3rd person cameras, just without the second analog stick. It's much easier to get used to then people claim, imo it's because so many games today control so damn similarly that people just find it so jarring going back. Every single game controls either like assassins creed or far cry or splinter cell if it's a stealth game (which people really don't give enough credit for how much it influenced the stealth genre), so when something is different they consider it bad.

It's like how halo started the 2 weapon slots and regenerating shield. Every game copied it when it didn't even make sense, just because it was popular and people were used to it.

Maybe I'm wrong but that's how I see it.

The people I knew who complained were Playstation owners, usually RPG diehards and 2D "purists", who wanted nothing to do with Nintendo. They were easy to ignore.

Agreed. Actually, for the vast majority of the game the camera is in the right place, so you don't even need to rotate it with the c buttons. The only exceptions are a couple of spots in worlds 13, 14, & 15.