Old Games

Sixty Ninth Post: Old Games

I have been playing old 8-bit NES Roms on the Sega Dreamcast. When I was a kid I was an expert at these games. Now that I am older, I thought I would like the games because they are the classics. Contra, Ninja Gaiden, Mario, etc. This just isn’t so. The games stink.

I don’t know why I didn’t notice this when I used to pay $50 per video game, but these games are all based on the same principle: jump, shoot, and move across the screen without being hit. It is the same thing in every 2D side scroller. Sure there are some RPGs but there interfaces are terrible and for playability reasons it is hard to get into the game. So every eight bit game is just like Mario Brothers. Basically the only games I like are Mario Brothers, Tetris, and Zelda.

Today’s games add more elements to the game. They are 3D, but it isn’t just 3D that makes a good game. The elements I am talking about are easier user interfaces, Internet and multi-player games, real time strategy, first person shooter, intelligent AI, and more puzzles and thinking than just shooting and jumping.

I realize that today’s games evolved from the early games, but how did us gamers ever get addicted to games that couldn’t be saved. Games that took a day to finish and had to be finished in one setting. I didn’t like starting back at the beginning of the level once you continued. Didn’t we realize that once you bought one game the others were just the same jumping and shooting movements.

I think today’s games are better than there ancestors. Not just because of the graphics or 3D worlds, it is because of game play. Plus today’s games give you tools to customize or build your own game, so that it is more than just playing a game it is about design. I know that many still like the old games and would disagree, because those are the games they grew-up playing. I am going to keep my opinion that today’s games are better, but who knows how today’s games will look 10 years from now.