The Retro Gaming Thread

[Byron Bitz]

What are your favourite retro games, consoles ect.?
I consider retro to be everything before the PS2/ GameCube generation but if ppl wanna challenge that definition we can have that discussion.

My favourite retro games in no order:
Majora’s Mask
Super Mario World
OoT
Super Mario 64
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2
Chrono Trigger
River City Ransom
Banjo Tooie
Goldeneye
Metal Gear Solid
House of The Dead 2
Earth Worm Jim 2
Mega Man 3
Rayman 2
NFL Blitz
Diddy Kong Racing

Click to read more...

 

[The Crypto Guy]

A quick list off the top of my head:

OoT (Fav game of all time)
Mario 64
Super Mario World
Mario 3
Goldeneye
FF 7,8,9.
Legend of Zelda: Link to the path
Donkey Kong Country
Super Mario Kart
WWF No Mercy

 

[Shareefruck]

I think most people would consider PS2/GameCube to be retro as well at this point, maybe even the generation after that.

The ones that still massively impress me, even ignoring nostalgia (which I don't really care for).

Super Metroid
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
Super Mario World
Portal 1
Garou: Mark of the Wolves
Ikaruga
Mother 3
Tetris Attack
Final Fantasy VII (I used to be a VI is better guy, but I've reverted back to still appreciating this one more, despite flaws. I'm not that big on IX)
Umihara Kawase
Shadow of the Colossus?

 

[93LEAFS]

I think most people would consider PS2/GameCube to be retro as well at this point, maybe even the generation after that.

The ones that still massively impress me, even ignoring nostalgia (which I don't really care for).

Super Metroid
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
Super Mario World
Portal 1
Garou: Mark of the Wolves
Ikaruga
Mother 3
Tetris Attack
Final Fantasy VII (I used to be a VI is better guy, but I've reverted back to still appreciating this one more, despite flaws. I'm not that big on IX)
Umihara Kawase
Shadow of the Colossus?

I'd say it took until the PS3/360 era for a lot of developers to really figure out 3D when it came to movement, especially for 3rd person shooters. A lot of those games can still feel modern, even if they don't exactly look it. Going back prior to that (PS2, Xbox, PS1, N64,), most 3d games feel pretty clunky compared to the standards now, whereas the 16-bit era 2d side scrollers have aged amazingly well and still inspire many great games. Not that I didn't love the PS2 era GTA for example (I eagerly awaited each release) or Metal Gear Solid, but I find those games much harder to go back and play, compared to something like Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country, Streets of Rage, Aladdin (sega/megadrive version) or Sonic games from the 16 bit era. First person shooters have aged better than their 3rd person counterparts though as the original Doom's DNA is in pretty much every indie boomer shooters.

Most of the games that would be considered my favorites that are retro are already listed. But, I'd add NBA Jam, Duke Nukem 3d, Mortal Kombat 1 and 2 and, THPS 1 and 2 off the top of my head. There are others I absolutely loved at the time such as the GTA trilogy from the PS2 era, but I don't find them much fun to go back and play anymore.

 

[Blitzkrug]

Favorite retro console i think would be SNES? I kinda go back and forth but most of my all time favorite games are on it so i think it wins?

In terms of games off the top of my head

Yoshi's Island (my all time favorite game)
Super Mario World
Super Metroid
Earthbound
NHL 94
Link to the Past
Ocarina of Time
Super Mario 64
Mario Kart 64
Pokemon: Gold/Silver/Crystal (doesn't really matter which)
Wind Waker
Paper Mario
Kirby Air Ride
Max Payne

 

[Liminal Cat]

Galaga
BurgerTime
Ms. Pac-Man
Robotron 2084
Vs. Super Mario Bros.
Ninja Gaiden
Journey to Silius
Batman (NES)
Jackal
Wild Guns
Pocky and Rocky
Assault Suits Valken
Revenge of Shinobi
Twinkle Tale

 

[Unholy Diver]

Toejam & Earl
WCW vs the World
WCW/NWO world tour
Ocarina of Time
Goldeneye
Turok II
Jame Pond II Codename Robocod
007 Nightfire
Metroid Prime
Tecmo Bowl / Tecmo Super bowl
NES Play Action Football
Tecmo NBA Basketball
Sports Talk Baseball
NHL 94
Dragon Warrior
Super Sprint
Ivan Ironman Stewart's Off Road
Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat
Pole Position
River Raid

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

What about retro PC games?? Like stuff for Windows 3.1 or Win ‘95 etc??

 

[Byron Bitz]

I think most people would consider PS2/GameCube to be retro as well at this point, maybe even the generation after that.

The ones that still massively impress me, even ignoring nostalgia (which I don't really care for).

Super Metroid
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
Super Mario World
Portal 1
Garou: Mark of the Wolves
Ikaruga
Mother 3
Tetris Attack
Final Fantasy VII (I used to be a VI is better guy, but I've reverted back to still appreciating this one more, despite flaws. I'm not that big on IX)
Umihara Kawase
Shadow of the Colossus?

I can get behind the PS2 generation being considered retro but definitely not the generation after that. Those games are very current, you’ve got games like Skyrim that they are still releasing updates for.

 

[Gecklund]

An older game that I’ve spent way too much time playing: Shining Force (first and second one). If y’all like the strategy games (like fire emblem), go get this now. It’s in the Sega pack on Switch.

 

[Jovavic]

^I can't quote for some reason but wanted to say the Shining Forces and Phantsy Stars are free on mobile

 

[Shareefruck]

I can get behind the PS2 generation being considered retro but definitely not the generation after that. Those games are very current, you’ve got games like Skyrim that they are still releasing updates for.

I feel like the degree that something sounds reasonably retro just depends on whether or not it was long ago enough to feel nostalgia for, and it's getting there for adults remembering the PS3 era from their childhood. The older you are, the less that's probably going to feel right.

 

[Jovavic]

I went from a Commodore 64 to SNES, explains my lack of NES games

Summer Olympics 1 and 2
Winter Olympics
Bruce Lee
Ghostbusters
River Raid
Spy Hunter

I'm sure I'm missing a bunch for C64

 

[Mikeaveli]

To me anything over 10 years old is retro. I also haven't played a ton of games from before the Gamecube era so my list will lean more towards newer games. Going by generation:

360/PS3:
Fallout: New Vegas
Minecraft
Sid Meier's Civilization V
Portal 2
Halo 3
Sonic Generations
Dark Souls
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver
Pokemon Platinum

Gamecube/PS2/Xbox:
Psychonauts
Persona 4
Resident Evil
Ape Escape 3
Kirby Air Ride
Sonic Adventure 2
Pokemon Emerald

N64/PS1:
Fallout 2
Fallout
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Crash Bandicoot

16 Bit:
Super Mario World
Yoshi's Island
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Chrono Trigger

8 Bit:
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. 3
Mega Man 2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles


I'm planning to go through a bunch of late 90's-early 2000's PC games the next chance I have to spend a lot of time gaming. Baldur's Gate and the other Infinity Engine games, System Shock 1-2, Morrowind, Quake, Thief, Deus Ex, Half-Life, etc. all intrigue me but I haven't played them yet.

 

[RandV]

I feel like the degree that something sounds reasonably retro just depends on whether or not it was long ago enough to feel nostalgia for, and it's getting there for adults remembering the PS3 era from their childhood. The older you are, the less that's probably going to feel right.

Obviously there's no set definition for defining "retro-gaming", and if younger adults want to include what they played as kids as "retro" then that's going to feel odd for anyone older. But I feel like the correct term for that is nostalgia, and on a technical level you can clearly watch gaming grow and evolve over console cycles to the point that the last few you're more or less playing the same games but in higher fidelity. Which most certainly was not the case in earlier gens.

That said, I think the clear marker is the PS2/Xbox/Gamecube, and the argument is whether this is included in retro or not (personally I'd say not) . I feel like this is where the modern standard was set - I mean look at the controllers they basically stopped changing at this point, but it was SD and they needed the next gen to start bringing it to HD fidelity. On the controller point keep in mind that while they release dual shock during it's lifecycle the PS1 controller was just a snes controller with hand grips and extra L/R buttons. So the way I'm putting it to use a comparison the PS2/Xbox era was the 'NES' while the PS3/360 and everything after has been an extended life cycle 'SNES'.

 

[RandV]

An older game that I’ve spent way too much time playing: Shining Force (first and second one). If y’all like the strategy games (like fire emblem), go get this now. It’s in the Sega pack on Switch.

Shining Force is my #1 nostalgia game. I can understand how it happened but it always seems wrong to me that Fire Emblem is the franchise that survived into the modern era, because between Shining Force and Ogre Battle Fire Emblem isn't even worth a mention to me from the SNES days.

 

[Gecklund]

Shining Force is my #1 nostalgia game. I can understand how it happened but it always seems wrong to me that Fire Emblem is the franchise that survived into the modern era, because between Shining Force and Ogre Battle Fire Emblem isn't even worth a mention to me from the SNES days.

I actually like fire emblem a lot more than Shining Force but I can definitely understand why people would prefer Shining Force.

 

[GreytWun]

What about retro PC games?? Like stuff for Windows 3.1 or Win ‘95 etc??

Ski Free

 

[Unholy Diver]

What about retro PC games?? Like stuff for Windows 3.1 or Win ‘95 etc??

I wish I had a time machine to go back and play Gold Rush!

 

[Commander Clueless]

What about retro PC games?? Like stuff for Windows 3.1 or Win ‘95 etc??

For those of us who didn't have consoles back in the day, we still had some classics!

Command and Conquer
Command and Conquer: Red Alert
Warcraft II
Dark Sun: Shattered Lands
Quest for Glory
One Must Fall 2097


Good times....

 

[The Crypto Guy]

For those of us who didn't have consoles back in the day, we still had some classics!

Command and Conquer
Command and Conquer: Red Alert
Warcraft II
Dark Sun: Shattered Lands
Quest for Glory
One Must Fall 2097


Good times....

Ah yes….warcraft 2 and Red Alert, amazing games. Insane that nobody can come out with a RTS like those games anymore.

 

[Mikeaveli]

Obviously there's no set definition for defining "retro-gaming", and if younger adults want to include what they played as kids as "retro" then that's going to feel odd for anyone older. But I feel like the correct term for that is nostalgia, and on a technical level you can clearly watch gaming grow and evolve over console cycles to the point that the last few you're more or less playing the same games but in higher fidelity. Which most certainly was not the case in earlier gens.

That said, I think the clear marker is the PS2/Xbox/Gamecube, and the argument is whether this is included in retro or not (personally I'd say not) . I feel like this is where the modern standard was set - I mean look at the controllers they basically stopped changing at this point, but it was SD and they needed the next gen to start bringing it to HD fidelity. On the controller point keep in mind that while they release dual shock during it's lifecycle the PS1 controller was just a snes controller with hand grips and extra L/R buttons. So the way I'm putting it to use a comparison the PS2/Xbox era was the 'NES' while the PS3/360 and everything after has been an extended life cycle 'SNES'.

To me if a game was designed for hardware that is now obsolete, it's retro. I don't see why it has to be more complicated than that

 

[Rodgerwilco]

It's difficult to put a hard line on where I'd cut off "retro" games, but generally anything from about 2010 and earlier to be "Retro", which would be about halfway through the PS3/Xbox1 generation.

I was born in late 1991, so my earliest gaming memories are from the Sega Genesis. My mom being a very avid gamer, in addition to the Sega Channel service are what really built my love for gaming, but the Playstation 1 is really where I fell in love with gaming.

My favorite retro games:

Runescape (old school version)
Final Fantasy 7, Tactics, X, and 8.
Metal Gear Solid 3, 1, 2
The Sims (Original + Expansions)
GTA: Vice City, San Andreas
Castlevania: SotN
Dark Cloud
SOCOM 2: US Navy SEALs
NBA Street 2, 1, 3
Black & White
Pokemon Gold & Silver
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, 1, 3
Age of Mythology
Nuclear Strike
Twisted Metal Black, 2, 1
Oddworld: Abe's Odyssey

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

I want to play old computer games that need to run on Windows NT, 95 and 98.
What should I do? Buy an old computer that run on these windows or install an emulator of these old windows on my recent computer (tower 2016). I want a safe emulator to install, I don't want to import bugs.
Any suggestions?

 

[RandV]

I want to play old computer games that need to run on Windows NT, 95 and 98.
What should I do? Buy an old computer that run on these windows or install an emulator of these old windows on my recent computer (tower 2016). I want a safe emulator to install, I don't want to import bugs.
Any suggestions?

I don't know anything about emulators, but there's two good options for old games:

1. gog.com, obviously. From The Witcher debs, CD Projekt Red, good ol games was the platform they started to resell old games. It's a regular store front now too, but you'll find a lot of old games here at a low price ($5-15 maybe) that are DRM free and updated to work out of the box on a modern OS.

2. abandonia.com. "Abandonware" is a term for when a software's copyright expires, making it public domain and free to download/distrubute/modify, and abandonia is a repository of such for free downloads of PC games. While they don't fix them up to run for you like gog does, they'll generally have the emulators you need right alongside the game to run it. If you have you're own old PC games you're trying to play, it's still probably a good place to check for emulator help.