# → Retro Gaming Talk ♛



## DiMera (Dec 20, 2012)

A thread for us retro gamers! I do play new games at times but there are old games that are still special to me <3

One series I can think of right now is the original Pokemon games, R/B/Y. I remember I got the Red Version & I chose Charmander, good times :3

Feel free to discuss old games you like & the good memories you have from past gaming experiences!


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## rymo (Sep 6, 2009)

I've gone on about this in various threads, but oldschool games were the best. I'll just list some of my favorites FPS games for now:

*Doom*
What needs to be said, really? Still one of the most enjoyable FPS games out there. Why? Great attitude, fun weapons, creative monsters, and best of all - AWESOME level design. Each map is a puzzle, unlike the typical linear Halo-esque maps that have almost no depth to them beyond looking pretty.

*Quake 1/2*
The evolution of Doom, and the first time I really got into online multiplayer. I played through this service called MPlayer, where everyone had a username and you could chat in the lobby and stuff. Quake 1 Team Fortress and Quake 2 CTF were some of the greatest multiplayer experiences I've ever had.

*Duke Nukem*
Not only totally badass, but had legitimately great level design. Multiplayer kinda sucked but single player was awesome.

*Half-Life*
One of the best singeplayer FPS's of all time anyone? Team Fortress Classic anyone? Counterstrike anyone? I mean come awn.

*Honorable mentions:* Doom 2, No One Lives Forever, Unreal Tournament and its many incarnations, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Descent (okay it was a flying game but still first person, and amazing), Hexen (LOVED THIS GAME!), Heretic, Rise of the Triad


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## Plopperton (Nov 27, 2010)

rymo said:


> I've gone on about this in various threads, but oldschool games were the best. I'll just list some of my favorites FPS games for now:
> 
> *Doom*
> What needs to be said, really? Still one of the most enjoyable FPS games out there. Why? Great attitude, fun weapons, creative monsters, and best of all - AWESOME level design. Each map is a puzzle, unlike the typical linear Halo-esque maps that have almost no depth to them beyond looking pretty.
> ...


All those games are awesome, and doom has some FANTASTIC music, but c'mon Dooms level design was ****. Some of the later Doom 2 levels were so frustrating hunting down hidden rooms and switches for keycards


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## rymo (Sep 6, 2009)

Plopperton said:


> All those games are awesome, and doom has some FANTASTIC music, but c'mon Dooms level design was ****. Some of the later Doom 2 levels were so frustrating hunting down hidden rooms and switches for keycards


Well I was more referring to Doom 1, but honestly those games were way ahead of their time as far as level design is concerned. Actually, they were in a time of their own because today's FPS games are mostly linear. Finding keys and hidden rooms and switches were part of the fun - levels that required thought instead of simple mindless action. Now it's all about twitch reflexes, back then it was about that AND using your brain. The levels actually had some substance. Doom wouldn't have been nearly as fun without the awesome levels, each with their own memorable theme song and incredibly memorable design.

I can remember so many levels in Doom, a 20 year old game, but ask me to remember more than a few maps from Halo or CoD and I'll be really hard-pressed to do so. What does that tell you?

Just my opinion, of course.


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## Plopperton (Nov 27, 2010)

I think Doom is at its best when its throwing hundreds of monsters at you at once. Spending hours running around in circles looking for hidden switches, mashing buttons on every texture you can hoping that it will somehow lead to the level exit is just bad design. It didn't feel like a puzzle at all, it was just obscure. I'm mostly talking about Doom 2 though, as I recently played through some of it and was reminded of how awful the later levels were. 

I'm surprised that you don't care for Halo though. A lot of its appeal is the fact that combat scenarios will never play out the same way due to enemy AI and big levels. It at least gives you different ways of approaching situations, as opposed to CoD's corridor level design


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## rymo (Sep 6, 2009)

Plopperton said:


> I think Doom is at its best when its throwing hundreds of monsters at you at once. Spending hours running around in circles looking for hidden switches, mashing buttons on every texture you can hoping that it will somehow lead to the level exit is just bad design. It didn't feel like a puzzle at all, it was just obscure. I'm mostly talking about Doom 2 though, as I recently played through some of it and was reminded of how awful the later levels were.
> 
> I'm surprise that you don't care for Halo though. A lot of its appeal is the fact that combat scenarios will never play out the same way due to enemy AI and big levels. It at least gives you different ways of approaching situations, as opposed to CoD's corridor level design


The first Halo I actually enjoyed, but after that it was basically just the same game over and over. Anyways, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on the Doom thing. It does seem like people have varying opinions on the matter. Here, for example, everyone is praising it:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=381383

But here it's a bit more divided:

http://www.gamespot.com/forums/topic/28759129/doom-level-design-will-we-see-it-again

Seems to be a hate it or love it kind of thing. Personally, I think the old FPS games were far superior than the batch of new ones we have today, and the level design is one of the reasons.


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## CrimsonTrigger (Jun 28, 2011)

My first game ever was Super Mario World. Really loved playing that. The third phase of the Bowser fight scared the hell out of me because of that evil clown car.

It seems like most Super Nintendo games have aged better than most early 3D games, but I think that can be explained because early 3D games were new and they were still working things out. Super Nintendo games were just the next step in the 2D era. 

In any case, I love a lot of Nintendo 64 and Playstation games too.


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## Wide Awake Nightmare (Dec 12, 2012)

Oregon trail is awesome.


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## Paper Samurai (Oct 1, 2009)

*Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening *

The best 2d LoZ game in my opinion 










*Shining Force on the MegaDrive.*

Very innovative for it's time.










*Yoshi's Island*

Probably my favourite Mario game, despite being the most unconventional compared to others in the series.


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## Plopperton (Nov 27, 2010)

Paper Samurai said:


> *Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening *
> 
> The best 2d LoZ game in my opinion
> 
> ...


Yes! Link's awakening is my favorite zelda game! :clap


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## Paper Samurai (Oct 1, 2009)

Plopperton said:


> Yes! Link's awakening is my favorite zelda game! :clap


Glad someone else likes it as much as I do  Most peeps I talk to consider A Link to the Past to be the definitive 2d Zelda, but Awakening trumps it for me. It seems a lot more balanced, the dungeons are better designed and the story is a lot more engaging.

OoT Narrowly beats it as my all time favourite Zelda though.


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## erasercrumbs (Dec 17, 2009)

Paper Samurai said:


> *Yoshi's Island*
> 
> Probably my favourite Mario game, despite being the most unconventional compared to others in the series.


Yoshi's Island is #2 on my 400 Favorite Games of All-Time list. It's really that good.


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## creasy (Oct 29, 2012)

A few of my earliest played and most nostaliga-inducing games/memories in video form (cause I'm too lazy to think up crap to type):


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## CrimsonTrigger (Jun 28, 2011)

I'd also say Link's Awakening is the best 2D Zelda, maybe even the best Zelda ever. But that means nothing coming from me considering I have like 7 favourite Zelda games. I just love the series as a whole, all of them. Even Zelda II which gets hate for no reason.


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## Genelle (Aug 19, 2009)

Pokemon Yellow, Yoshi's Island, Doom, Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Kirby's Adventure, Road Rash, Croc, Gex 3D, Super Mario Land 2, Hugo's house of Horrors, Paganitzu...

Oh man. So much love for these games.


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## CrimsonTrigger (Jun 28, 2011)

I should also give an honorable mention to Final Fantasy IV, which is my favourite Final Fantasy game. I first played it when my cousin let me borrow it on super nintendo, back when it was still called Final Fantasy II.

I did not get far at all. I got up to the second cave, then died horribly. I had no idea how to play RPGs back then, even with the version being as gimped as it was.

I finally finished it years later on an emulator. Of course, it's still gimped, and I did actually play the fan translation of the Japanese version, which I preferred from a gameplay perspective, but I thought the script was terrible, as it typically is in these fan translations.

Now I finally picked up the DS version. Haven't played much of it, but I think it looks great.

Also, shout out to my favourite Final Fantasy girl!


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## Nitrogen (Dec 24, 2012)

I miss the old Pokemon games. I really loved HeartGold for kinda reviving Pkmn Gold, I wish they would do the same with the R/B/Y, even though there's FireRed which was okay.

I miss the old SNES games like Yoshi's Island, EarthBound, Super Mario World, Kirby's Dream Land, Final Fantasy, Street Fighter, A Link to the Past, and Chrono Trigger. I also miss a lot of those retro fps.


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## Kanova (Dec 17, 2012)

Zombies Ate my Neighbors. Loved that game.


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## KILOBRAVO (Sep 17, 2011)

PS one DOOM, is probably one of the best games invented.

I agree that some of the more complicated levels, was running back and forth trying to find hidden keys ans switches etc.

The music on the PS version was 10000x better than the cheap crap sounding stuff from the PC versions. Play the game with earphones on, and there is real atmosphere....and it still has the capacity to make you jump when there is a sudden thing happens.

I find the best way to play the game, if you want to avoid the aimless running around looking for keys is to use the all lines cheat on the map to make navigation much easier.

Pause; enter tri, tri, L2 R2 R2 L2 R2 R1 squ.......all lines on map.
Then this way you can concentrate on easily finding the items required, while staying alive.

Ultimate doom, and doom 2 were very good. Final doom and the master levels were considerably more difficult, but still excellent.
Its also great to still have these games, because this was the iconic beginning for all of these first person shooter games within the 3D environment. There is extra nostalia.


***

Crash bandicoot also very good esp 2 and 3.


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## CrimsonTrigger (Jun 28, 2011)

Ahh I remember Doom. But we only had the trial version which just came with the first episode. My parents were too cheap to buy the full version. 

I used to play that when I had the chicken pox. I would get confused why the game dumped me in a pit of monsters after beating the game. No idea if that happens in the full version.

I should sit down and actually play the full version on day, but I don't know how to access it online. The only versions I could think of playing are the gameboy advance version, which I actually have a rom of but never really dug into it, and the Xbox 360 version, which is pointless because I don't even have an xbox anyways, haha.


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## gorbulas (Feb 13, 2004)

Steam has the doom games for pretty cheap if you are still interesting in playing them. 

@rymo maybe i've gotten older and a bit nostalgic but I still think these older FPS games are way better than most newer games coming out. PC is pretty much empty of fps shooters and and the platform has changed into MMOs. The consoles are getting all the FPS games coming out which is a shame because playing a FPS on a console is downright torture (not to mention you have to play for multiplayer which is a total rip-off compared to PC gaming). 

from time to time I try to play old NES/Genesis/SNES games by using emulation but the controls seem lacking and doesn't feel the same.


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## Awkto Awktavious (May 11, 2011)

Final Fantasy VI - My favourite game of all time. Still go back to it fairly often. The story, characters, music. My God, the MUSIC!

Super Mario World - I can probably play this game blindfolded. Its ridiculous how many times I played this game.

Super Metroid - Sadly I never got to play it on the SNES (even though I had the system; parents to cheap to buy it) But I played it on ROM and it is as good as everyone says it is. So atmospheric. Just incredible.

DOOM - Just about everyone's favourite old school fps. This game was/is so bad ***. I also only had the free trial version, which was a shame.

Raptor: Call of the Shadows - Top down shooter. Loved all the different weapons that game had.

Super Mario Kart - I remember in grade 2 or 3 a couple of us would sneak out at lunch time to go over to a friends house to play this game. So much fun, whether it was the grand prix or battle mode.

Donkey Kong Country 1,2 - Most people had no idea the SNES could produce graphics like that, it just blew everyone's mind at the time. But also the gameplay was amazing, although I was pretty bad at it.

I'm sure there's more


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## KILOBRAVO (Sep 17, 2011)

gorbulas said:


> Steam has the doom games for pretty cheap if you are still interesting in playing them.


You can download the whole ISO /BIn/ Cue files for both Doom 1, 2 and Final , off of PSXISOZONE ( I THINK IT IS), and then use something like IMGBurn, to burnt it to an ordinary CD, and this can be played in an actual PSX console, if you do the disk swap technique, or if the console is chipped.

Ive got a few games this way, but be prepared for a few hit and misses. Doom, and crash bandicoot all work OK for me......... all at no cost whatsoever........:yes


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## KILOBRAVO (Sep 17, 2011)

If *youre really old school*, you can also download PSone games that have stuff like old 1970's atari games as well as retro packs, like Space invaders, and galaxian, and pong and stuff, but TBH, I think the bare basic graphics of these games, and the fact that they are so very primitive even compares to like NES /SNES games ,the novelty of playing them soon wears off.....unless youre a total hardcore retro game fan

OHH anyone remember Starwing, a space flying game for SNES???........Ive played this on SNES9x emulator.........and on SNES when I had it..........very high degree of skill required to complete it.......I did.......very nice It was....


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## CrimsonTrigger (Jun 28, 2011)

KILOBRAVO said:


> If *youre really old school*, you can also download PSone games that have stuff like old 1970's atari games as well as retro packs, like Space invaders, and galaxian, and pong and stuff, but TBH, I think the bare basic graphics of these games, and the fact that they are so very primitive even compares to like NES /SNES games ,the novelty of playing them soon wears off.....unless youre a total hardcore retro game fan
> 
> OHH anyone remember Starwing, a space flying game for SNES???........Ive played this on SNES9x emulator.........and on SNES when I had it..........very high degree of skill required to complete it.......I did.......very nice It was....


If I remember correctly, Starwing is the European version of Star Fox, right? That game is definitely challenging, much more than the N64 version. I can only get to the second level before I get killed constantly and give up.


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## Genelle (Aug 19, 2009)

I still have Star wing on SNES. I have a bunch of SNES games that I still play all the time. Also have a working PS1 that I'm starting to collect games for again.

Really want a NES though!


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## Stoja (Dec 2, 2012)

Commander Keen!8)

Good old times:boogie


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## kingfoxy (Oct 18, 2009)

I still enjoy playing my ps2 and original xbox the plus side is you can get the games very cheap on amazon and if you are a collector its cool.I can spend hours just looking at the games I have bought for pennys when originally these were very expensive to own.


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## KILOBRAVO (Sep 17, 2011)

CrimsonTrigger said:


> If I remember correctly, Starwing is the European version of Star Fox, right? That game is definitely challenging, much more than the N64 version. I can only get to the second level before I get killed constantly and give up.


Ah.I remember that there was some non uniformity with this games name. 
I played and completed this on the SNES9x emulator.nad it was pretty hard.

IIRC the boss at the end was really hard to kill, but I eventually didi it.

SuperBattle Tank on the SNES was good as well......also completed that on the emulator.......


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## Xenos (Jun 24, 2012)

I didn't play Doom until the PS1 version either, but once I did it was months before I felt like playing anything else.

Anyway, I am old, so to me 'retro' always involves the Atari 800 computer that was my first gaming system.






My brother and I played the crap out of this back in the day. Didn't quite look like the arcade, but it had all the gameplay including 2-player support even though this vid doesn't show it.


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## CrimsonTrigger (Jun 28, 2011)

Also, Battletoads.


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## minimized (Nov 17, 2007)

I just brought home my Genesis and Game Gear from my grandmother's house... that got me even more excited than the actual festivities, seeing all of those old games and boxes and instruction manuals in better condition than they ever would have been with me. I also took her N64 as someone misplaced the chords for mine. I've been wanting to play both Zelda and Banjo-Kazooie games, but now I'd need to find a working tv. And Castlevania: Symphony, that one's great too.

I'd really like to buy an NES and build up a collection.


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## erasercrumbs (Dec 17, 2009)

Xenos said:


> Anyway, I am old, so to me 'retro' always involves the Atari 800 computer that was my first gaming system.


Whenever I hear someone say that the PS2 generation now counts as 'retro,' I take it as a personal attempt to make me feel old.


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## Lmatic3030 (Nov 3, 2011)

Wide Awake Nightmare said:


> Oregon trail is awesome.


Now that brings back memories


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## gorbulas (Feb 13, 2004)

Lmatic3030 said:


> Now that brings back memories


Oh yes! That and Carmen Sandiego were the only games I played in school.


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## Lmatic3030 (Nov 3, 2011)

Where on earth that wretched wench Carmen Sandiego?


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## Awkto Awktavious (May 11, 2011)

Lmatic3030 said:


> Where on earth that wretched wench Carmen Sandiego?


With her new boyfriend:


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## Lmatic3030 (Nov 3, 2011)

I always knew Waldo was up to no good


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## Mur (Jan 20, 2011)

I still have all my Pokemon cartridges also XD , I wonder if the data is still on there after all these years? I doubt it. I also have fond memories of waking up early in the morning to play the NES and the Super Mario Bros games


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## Lone-Wolf (Mar 2, 2011)

Mortal Kombat, Worms, Sonic, Lemmings


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