yeah, GTA V, when I tried playing it on PC a few years after I first got it on PS3 and realized I couldn't copy my online character over it ruined the game for me :p

but in all seriousness, no not really, I appreciate every single one so far, I even sometimes enjoy having to clean my ball mouse again.

I actually like old, bad games 😜. So even when I revisit something from my childhood that is terrible, that is part of the fun.

There is one I can remember though. My son is going through a Star Wars faze so I booted up the Force Unleashed. I had played it twice before and remember rather liking it, but it was unbearable when I played it this time. Gooey graphics, overbloomed lighting, and super boring, repetitive, God of War inspired hack and slash gameplay. Hated it. Quit after like two hours. Will never play it again.

I won't say ruined, but there is sometimes a rude shock when I go back to certain FPS or racing games now that I'm spoiled by modern framerates. I still love Microprose Grand Prix for example, but I'd be more compelled to play a campaign if it wasn't capped at 25fps!

Pierre32 wrote on 2021-01-15, 23:57:

but there is sometimes a rude shock when I go back to certain FPS or racing games now that I'm spoiled by modern framerates. I still love Microprose Grand Prix for example, but I'd be more compelled to play a campaign if it wasn't capped at 25fps!

I often have the opposite, when I experience a game I used to play on an old slow machine with a low framerate on something way faster now and suddenly have a high smooth framerate it often just feels "off"

imi wrote on 2021-01-16, 00:02:

Pierre32 wrote on 2021-01-15, 23:57:

but there is sometimes a rude shock when I go back to certain FPS or racing games now that I'm spoiled by modern framerates. I still love Microprose Grand Prix for example, but I'd be more compelled to play a campaign if it wasn't capped at 25fps!

I often have the opposite, when I experience a game I used to play on an old slow machine with a low framerate on something way faster now and suddenly have a high smooth framerate it often just feels "off"

I can dig that. It's almost like the "soap opera effect".

I've actively avoided replaying some games that I really enjoyed on 8-bit home computers. This is especially true for simulators where the gameplay might hold up if their performance didn't render them virtually unplayable now. They didn't run badly in my memories, and I don't want to spoil those.

I think I actually still have a big-box copy of Megarace somewhere.

It had the fmv background/track, with scaled bitmap cars on top right?

It was decent for the time (I remember it being rather impressive)... but I suspect I too would be disappointed to go back and play it now.

Blood with videos, I can only play the ripped version without videos.

Not really ruined, but on some games I was kinda confused when my memory differed heavily from what the game actually is like.

sometimes it's not the game as such but the nostalgia that disappears upon replays

irksome controls that once were acceptable, the inability to jump in some FPS games, being unable to skip animations and so on

moreover there was a kind of ignorance one had about games when younger, beliefs that were wrong but somehow increased immersion, things such as believing you have to take a run up to jump further when actually the distance is simply x + constant, the belief that one had to interact with an NPC when actually events were independent, the belief that one car is better than another when actually they are programmed identically; small impressions created in the immersion of gameplay that are more to do with player's mindset and interpretation at the time than the programming.

coming to such games later (and new games for that matter) I now can see better what its actually doing - that is intellectually interesting but somewhat at the cost of that innocent youthful immersion

in particular most strategy games feel more like 'playing' an interesting spreadsheet than actually ruling a kingdom or whatever

I seem to end up playing Doom or Doom 2 about once a year, That inital first half hour it looks like big blocky mess till I adjust and get used to it again.
I find alot of games especially dos games I can only play for about an hour at a time before getting bored with it unlike all those years ago when I could play for hours.

Some games may have not aged so well but no I haven't fired up a game from my youth and been outright disappointed.

gerry wrote on 2021-01-22, 14:50:

sometimes it's not the game as such but the nostalgia that disappears upon replays […]
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sometimes it's not the game as such but the nostalgia that disappears upon replays

irksome controls that once were acceptable, the inability to jump in some FPS games, being unable to skip animations and so on

moreover there was a kind of ignorance one had about games when younger, beliefs that were wrong but somehow increased immersion, things such as believing you have to take a run up to jump further when actually the distance is simply x + constant, the belief that one had to interact with an NPC when actually events were independent, the belief that one car is better than another when actually they are programmed identically; small impressions created in the immersion of gameplay that are more to do with player's mindset and interpretation at the time than the programming.

coming to such games later (and new games for that matter) I now can see better what its actually doing - that is intellectually interesting but somewhat at the cost of that innocent youthful immersion

in particular most strategy games feel more like 'playing' an interesting spreadsheet than actually ruling a kingdom or whatever

Well put. You're totally right. As an adult I can definitely see the edges of the simulation much more clearly which does take away from the "magic".

chinny22 wrote on 2021-01-22, 15:46:

I seem to end up playing Doom or Doom 2 about once a year, That inital first half hour it looks like big blocky mess till I adjust and get used to it again.
I find alot of games especially dos games I can only play for about an hour at a time before getting bored with it unlike all those years ago when I could play for hours.

Some games may have not aged so well but no I haven't fired up a game from my youth and been outright disappointed.

I used to replay certain games but even that seems an hour or two too many now, almost a shame not to be so keen to replay them - but these games are places I've been many times and there's no need to go back so often, that's what I tell myself anyway!

And I am not a purist, so if there is a nice "vanillaish" modern source port available I usually will gladly play that sometimes. but the original audio/visual assets have to be used. They can be enhanced, but not changed completely.

PS. Black Mesa is a masterpiece, I can get the Half Life nostalgia, and the real visual elegance of Source engine.

Did you use a modern TFT/LCD screen by any chance, too?
If so, then it's no surprise. That will double ruin the experience.
😉

To make old games look "best" it's recommended to find out what kind of monitor setup the developers (or the audience) of the time used.

In case of consoles, this also includes the video connection.
For example, the 8-Bit/16-Bit generation was intended to be viewed via RF or CVBS/Composite on the TVs/video monitors of the time.

Playing them on never screens, -even if they are CRTs-, is not "good" .

Modern CRT TVs have poor tuners that can't properly display 240/288p signals.

Or their tuners can't handle the weak RF signals properly, as often seen if someone tries to attach an Atari 2600 to a modern CRT TV.
I guess that's because the modern TV's tuner wasn't seriously meant to receive signals over terrestrial antennas, but rather was designed to receive analogue Cable TV.

Also, these modern CRT TVs may use different CRT mask types that don't play nicely with the source material.

So better restore a 1970s to 1989 TV.
Or one of these little portable/luggable TVs.
Earlier TVs may have issues, too, because their signal stability is likely too poor.

Anyway, the same is true for VGA monitors.
For "best" (most faithful) experience, get yourself a slightly blurry 14" VGA monitor from the late 80s/early 90s and cautiously fix it, if necessary.
If it has knobs and no on-screen display, the better. 😀

Jeez, just no.

Here in Europe we had RGB (analogue or TTL) connections for pretty much the entire spectrum of the 8 and 16bit generation, so saying that they were 'supposed' to be viewed over awful RF or even composite connection is just not something that wasn't true here.

As for going back and playing on a CRT again. No thanks. I grew up in the 70s and 80s and sitting playing a game or programming on a 50 or 60hz tube screen is just not appealing at all. Some things are just better left in the past.

A quality lcd and/or scaler can give you the visual appearance of a period display with the headaches, sore eyes and other downsides. Plus, they take up a hell of a lot less space, too. Good riddance to CRTs.

Hey, no problem, i still play NES Contra on my 65" LED, and do not use any filters, the "small boxes" do not bodher me. Sound and the gameplay is the same..... no "bilinear filtering" for me....

megatron-uk wrote on 2021-01-29, 18:13:

Jeez, just no.

Here in Europe we had RGB (analogue or TTL) connections for pretty much the entire spectrum of the 8 and 16bit generation, so saying that they were 'supposed' to be viewed over awful RF or even composite connection is just not something that wasn't true here.

Jeez, yes!

Old console games were (often) made with NTSC video via RF in mind.
Composite also works, because that's what the RF modulator was fed with.

Home computers may be different.
They were computers, not toys, after all and had dedicated RGB ports.

Game designers of the day surely had workstations with RGB monitors, but took advantage of the inferiority of domestic TVs.

That's what kids had, after all.
The RF and Composite cables that shipped with the consoles reflected this.

RGB is the worst choice when it comes to authenticity (in this case).
Effects like dithering required Composite/RF.
And in case of rainbow banding and artifact colours, NTSC.

RGB was used in Europe since the 80s, yes.
But it was a luxury, not the norm. Many cheaper and existing TVs still lacked it.

The French needed SCART badly, because SECAM required a memory device which made consoles supporting SECAM very expensive and complex.
So they either used PAL internally with SECAM converter chip or used RGB straight away..

So let's show some respect for the artists that worked so hard and admire their works in Composite. Let's go beyond RGB. 😉

That 's one "correct" setup, by the way.. :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-8m7dQLqbU&feature=youtu.be

Almost all +90's consoles in Germany had a SCART cable or an adapter that combined the 3 cables into SCART.
However the quality was only "alright" unless you went out of your way and bought a proper special SCART cable that sort of sent a different video signal to the TV which way 100 times clearer and sharper.