The Energon Pub

Recently I picked up "Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection" for the 360. The first thing I found out was that most of the achievements are INCREDIBLY easy to get. The second thing I found out was that a lot of the games have not aged very well at all. However, there are a few gems on there, so what games do you think have aged well? My "off the top of my head" list:

Shinobi III: Before I got the collection, the only Shinobi I had ever played was a PS2 demo and NES emulated ROM. The moment I booted this game up I could tell it was going to be good stuff. I think it most has to do with it moving so fast, and the graphics still look pretty good. The enemies are varied, and even though I save stated my way through the game last night it was still a challenging but not overly difficult, fun adventure. It reminded me of Ninja Gaiden II(X360) a lot, and I wonder if the developers looked to Shinobi for inspiration, cause it has aged a lot better than the Ninja Gaiden NES games.

Sonic 1-3, Knuckles: I haven't played them in depth on my collection, but I've played them in depth before, and these really do stand the test of time. Classic platformers, though someday I might want to track down my own copy of the actual cartridges of Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles cause that's the only true way to experience those games.

Mario 1-3, World: I'm not including World 2 on here cause I haven't played it for a LONG, LONG time, but those first four, they really are something. Specially World, cause it was the Mario game I truly grew up with. Definitely some classic platformers, with better replayability than Sonic in my opinion.

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake(MSX): Barring a couple odd puzzles(smoking a ciggarette before using the hanglider, and the tap code that wasn't in the MGS 3 manual ), I found this to be a good game, and a great bonus. It has some neat boss fights, an actual story with characterization(unlike the first one, it's pretty bland), and you can see some real innovation with the stealth and overall gameplay mechanics. Plus the graphics still look pretty decent. A definite reason to pick up the MGS 3: Subsistence game.

Metal Gear Solid(PS1): Ahh now this is a classic game. The graphics haven't aged that well, but it's still a pretty fun game with some great voice acting and a good storyline. Nice varied boss encounters too.

Goldeneye 007(N64): I have never cared for Bond movies, tried a few times but I always end up falling asleep halfway in. But this game is just plain fun. Good assortment of weapons, somewhat destructible enviroments, plenty of enemies, good cheat codes, and missions that are straightforward and brighly lit(unlike Perfect Dark N64).

Cybernator(Super NES): Picked this up for $3 at a used game store, and it's just a fun side scrolling mech shooter. Pretty neat storyline, but the gameplay and graphics make it shine. Upgradeable weapons and having a lifebar bring the frustration factor of old shooters down to challenging.

Duke of Luns wrote:Metal Gear Solid(PS1): Ahh now this is a classic game. The graphics haven't aged that well, but it's still a pretty fun game with some great voice acting and a good storyline. Nice varied boss encounters too.

I agree with you here. I actually think that the original MGS is better than its Gamecube descendant. Konami did way too much tinkering with the Twin Snakes, but I digress.

The first game that came to my mind when I read this thread title was Super Metroid. It's a perfect game, and the formula the game is based on is timeless. A couple of other successful games that are similar are SOTN and, more recently, Shadow Complex. I think the concept of fighting and exploring in a side-scrolling environment is a gaming canon that will never die.

Goldeneye 007(N64): I have never cared for Bond movies, tried a few times but I always end up falling asleep halfway in. But this game is just plain fun. Good assortment of weapons, somewhat destructible enviroments, plenty of enemies, good cheat codes, and missions that are straightforward and brighly lit(unlike Perfect Dark N64).

I m going have disagree with you strongly. This game held together like it was covered in cosmic rust. The multiplayer experience is just terrible. My friends used play it all the time, we broke it out a year or 2 ago, we couldnt bare play more than 20 mins. The maps are so limited and the gameplay is so one dimensional compared to even halo 1.

Games that are fairly timeless and hold up well...

- Final fantasy 6, despite being high end graphics back when it came out, FF 7 looks like complete eyesours nowdays outside of the cutscenes. 6 being super deformed actually holds up better, as it doesnt have fight with the whole uncanny valley since it never tried look realistic. (alot of earlier generation semi realistic 3D aged very badly graphically.) The game play remains fun and solid as ever.

- Megaman Series, Whether its X or the original both collections are games I can pop in and beat the heck out tons of times and still enjoy. They generally offer a fair challenge and well put together.

- Contra hardcorps, My favorite of the entire series. Full of crazy bosses, a wide variety of interesting characters and weapons. I also love it had 4 main paths with different endings and 2 extra ones. Definitely alot of replay value. I still enjoy Super C and Contra 3 as well.

- Streets of rage 2, and Final Fight 3. Still to this date two my favorite beat em up games. The combat in both is so smooth, and fun. Theres been later editions, but they seem just jacked em up after they hit the sweet spot with both these. Especially Street of rage 3, they just tried too hard not retread old ground they added too many cracked out story elements and lame characters.

- Castlevania 3 and symphony of the night. My two favorite castlevania games. Castlevania 3 took everything great about the first and made it awesome. SotN made the ultimate sidescroller rpg experience.

-Mega Bomberman, The genesis version of this game is timeless. I can pop it in and my niece and nephew just laugh their butts off playing it. I think thats a sign a game did a great job when even the new generation of gamers can "get it" without having make excuses for how it aged.

These are all classics I love to death and see them as holding up pretty darn well. Honestly the games that probably aged the worst are early Ps1 games(wasnt till like 97 when Ps1 games really started hitting their stride.) and N64 games. I imagine the list of games that people have little interest in ever touching from that era of gaming would be quite long. People were trying so hard to innovate and figure out the new hardware that nothing from the earliest years really was that good.