It's not the quality of graphics, it's how you use it...

[Shun-Di]

Pokemon Red Version and Blue Version
The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time
Sonic Adventure 1 and 2
Super Mario 64
Super Smash Bros (N64) or Melee
Final Fantasy VII

All these things have one thing in common, they are hated for being either overrated in the eyes of newer fans or are considered old and not fun or epic.  Having played all of these games, I know in my heart and mind that it's simply not true.  This has been bugging me lately.  Why is it popular to hate games now because they're older?  Keep in mind these games were mind blowing back then and we still paid respect to games that came out even before them!  Did we bash Super Mario Brothers 3 because Super Mario 64 had better graphics?  NO.  Did we hate The Legend Of Zelda on NES because it didn't have 3D graphics or daytime and nightime?  NO.  So why is it younger people today are hating on early 3D games just because they don't look as nice in their eyes as say BOTW, Final Fantasy XV, or Pokemon Sun and Moon?  Not trying to hate on newer games either, (though i can't stand the direction Nomura is taking Final Fantasy) but why?  It's not nostalgia that blinds us, these games give us legit feels.  Do you hate an older movie because it's old?  Say if I compare Wrath of Khan to Star Trek Into Darkness.  Is Khan a bad movie because it doesn't look as slick or have as many explosions as Darkness?  NO.  Is Back To The Future a bad movie because it was made in the 80s?  Is the story not relatable?  Timeless?  What about the original Star Wars trilogy?  Things don't lose quality over time, no do they get better with age, imo.  They are classic because even though they may have small flaws, they are still good and enjoyable because that is how they were made.  They are pure entertainment.  Graphics do not matter, it's how you use them.  The game could be 8 bit, 16 bit, 32 bit, 64 bit, 128 bit what have you, it doesn't matter.  Older doesn't exactly mean flawed either when it comes to gameplay.  I don't care how many "advancements" we've made in terms of gameplay over the decades.  A fun game is fun.  If all you worry about is graphics, it's gonna look dated.  But critics seem to use this as an excuse to say early 3D games with polygons suck because it's early 3D and only focused on now dated visuals.  Once again, this is not true.  It should not be an excuse to hate all early 3D games as a whole.  I will have more fun playing Ocarina of Time or Majora's Mask than I will ever have playing Skyward Sword or even Twilight Princess.  Did i play the N64 as a kid?  yes.  That doesn't mean my enjoyment of the game is only because of nostalgia.  That is belittling our intelligence and doubting our ability to enjoy anything new.  The main problem I have with most AAA games today is that it's getting too Hollywood, where games today mostly worry about visuals and movie cutscenes moreso than fun gameplay.  I don't want to push quicktime event buttons outside of Shenmue or Kingdom hearts, for me those were the games that got quicktime right.  But now it's push buttons to win.  Yeah, Last of Us can be considered movie quality, but at that point, why not just make it a movie?  I also kind of hate when this sort of gameplay gets compared to Dragon's Lair, a game I consider to be very good once you memorize everything.  Plus it's also funny to see how many ways Dirk can die.  heheh.  Dragon's Lair doesn't hold your hand, it flashes whenever something pops up you can interact with or shows available paths to take, that's it really.  The game is even randomized, which makes it hard to memorize but also fun if you've never seen some rooms before.  It also didn't eat too much of your time and had an arcade feel to it.  Plus Don Bluth's animations are beautiful.  Yeah, it could have been a movie (ok so it IS getting a movie soon) but Dragon's Lair will always be more fun than say God of War 4.  Now there are newer games I do enjoy, Alien Isolation, Bayonetta, Sega All Stars Racing Transformed ect.  All good stuff.   But the hate towards older games because they're early 3D and "limited" or "okay for it's time" has to stop.

[DayOfLavos]

Graphics really don't make a game for me personally, though I used to be pretty put off by N64 graphics. I've gotten over that though. It's just hard for some people to go back to games with really dated graphics after being spoiled by modern games. I grew up with a Super Nintendo so I wasn't too spoiled, haha.

I know some people who are not only put off by older graphics but also specific styles of certain games. Some people don't want to play Earthbound because of the basic graphics, despite being a stylistic choice and also being a fantastic game.

[CrazyT]

I got into nintendo games quite late as well after dreamcast's 'demise'. Their games seem to age really well outside of some nes games. Despite my sega vs nintendo mentality it was hard to deny my amazing experience with some of the games. Ocarina of time still a masterpiece today imo. Final fantasy 7 as well. Played it very late and loved it to death after playing more advanced games like grandia 2 and skies of arcadia. Graphics really dont matter too much for me.

[crackdude]

Ocarina of time still a masterpiece today imo.

[Shun-Di]

It is STILL a masterpiece, and you need a Big Mac

[crackdude]

No. It's good, but hardly a masterpiece. It has been bested on all aspects by other games, Zelda and others.


Also, it's boring as balls.

[DayOfLavos]

Ocarina of Time was a masterpiece. Then Majora's Mask came out.

[Asha]

Well, I see this as a matter of taste and experiences. This kind of aversion is expected from an era where youngsters are growing up with newer stuff like Super Mario 3D World or Persona 5.


Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Smash Bros., Pokémon R&B and Sonic Adventure 1 are unforgettable to me thanks to my past with them. As a little girl that only knew 8-bit and 16-bit games, seeing Mario exploring a 3D world was mind-blowing. There was nothing like that on consoles in 1996.


In my opinion, it's a bit harder to get a positive sentiment from kids because of two reasons: 1-The flaws of those games are much more visible nowadays. 2-They grew with more refined game mechanics and graphics. Their time is different from ours time.

[Tad]

Most of the time, your eyes just adjust to whatever the art style is after about 10 minutes anyway. It may not be pretty, but if a game grabs you in other ways (story, gameplay, mechanics, sound design, music) then you'll continue anyway.

[Nameless 24]

Not a fan of Final Fantasy VII and it isn't because of the graphics.


Some older games have awful controls (otherwise known as Tank controls), that were pretty frustrating to play even back then.


I recall playing the original Metal Gear Solid years ago (a game I love), and the controls threw me off sideways...so I can see why that got remade with the MGS2 controls.


Graphics are debatable really. I can see past most graphics and enjoy the games mechanics (Yars Revenge is the oldest game I love, and that is a very basic game!), although that also depends on the systems used back in the day that were deemed acceptable back then.


Most games we know and love back then are loved because their systems can be played even today, but the more obscure/niche games in that era are not talked about for control, system and mechanical reasons. The flaws back in those days are seen today under a bigger microscope, and even at present, there are some games where their mechanics that are acceptable today may not hold up in 10 to 20 years.


Freedom Wars for example (another game I absolutely love), is going to fall this way as the controls are very complex, and in some cases, are not fun to the mainstream, so when people go back to that game, it's going to "suck". The graphics may play a part to some games, but I think the younger generation are intolerant to awful controls, an archaic system and a bad mechanism in games.


Some SEGA games do suffer from this too (the original JSR's controls are hard to get used to), but it depends on the person to see a true classic in the games for them to accept or ignore the older games. We all do ignore obscure or classic games for this reason really.


Just my two cents