When new consoles are announced/released/discussed one question always rears its head: is backwards compatible?
That seems to be super important to a lot of people. But I don’t understand it: when I buy a new console I want to play new video games. I don’t think I’ve ever used a backwards compatibility function in a console ever.
Am I alone here?
It’s one of those features that sounds good in theory. I get it — you’ve spent all this money on video games, you want to be able to play them on the new console, but in my experience you simply don’t. When I get a new console I actually find it pretty difficult to go back to older games.
In fact, I don’t play older games in general. The one exception being Metroid Prime, which I replay quite regularly because it’s the best.
There are just so many new games to play. I literally don’t have the time to indulge in older games that usually sit better in your memory than they play in real life.
How about you?
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67 responses to “Tell Us Dammit: Do You Still Play Old Video Games?”
Chrono Trigger at least once a year for myself.
Really want to go back and play ALTTP again too, haven’t played through that epic adventure in a few years now
^This. You can never play enough Chrono Trigger.
I keep all my old consoles, so I would much rather play them on the original device rather than a port.
I do play older games, though I don’t often do revisits to stuff I’ve already played.
I don’t care about backwards compatibility though, generally I’ll just play it on the original hardware. It’s usually less fiddly to do so, eg with Wii you need a Wii remote to actually start up the game you’re about to play with a GCN controller. Easier to just start up the Cube instead, the game starts on its own after you hit the power button. New consoles are too full of menus and just shit in general.
I was playing Lego Star Wars on Xbone thanks to backwards compatibility. Other than that, I probably won’t use it until they (hopefully) release Red Dead Redemption.
I’ll also play some SNES games via emulator on my PC. regularly replaying the DKC games and Super Mario Allstars.
I dug out my gamecube last night and hooked it up for some gaming with the kids on the weekend coming.
While digging it out I found the antenna adapter for the n64 as well so I can hook that up.
I still play Demon’s Souls and xcom on PS3 but only on occasion.
Good choices *thumbs up*
Now that I have a PS4 I do find it hard to go back to games on the PS3. But I would love backwards compatibility on the PS4.
It would be great to just get rid of the old PS3 but keep working through my pile of shame on the PS4. At the moment, it does feel like the PS3 is just taking up space.
I used to think the same. But I had a PS3 that was reverse compatible with PS1 and PS2, and I found I never used it. I think I loaded one game for each platform, and that was just to see if it worked.
Its an overrated feature for me. You just dont go backwards when theres so much new stuff to play with. And I’m in the same boat with my pile of shame for the PS3. I just dont get back to it, but thats me, not the machine. Both are plugged in, by when I reach for the controller its the newer one I end up grabbing.
I’ve just got an itch to get rid of the PS3 and concentrate on the PS4 at the moment. But my OCD inner child keeps saying “you can’t do that until you clear the pile of shame!”.
My big issue at the moment is that I’m playing Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel on the PS3 and absolutely loving it. I really want to play LoH:ToCS 2 when it (should) come out later this year but it will be PS3 only.
To keep or not to keep? That is the question.
I hear you. As my flatmate has a PS3 I wont be getting rid of the games any time soon, and as my PS3 is one of the rarer fully backwards compatible models its retained some value purely for collectors, so I doubt I’ll dump it any time soon.
But I keep meaning to rotate it to the bedroom to replace the blu ray player I have there, and start working on the PS3 pile of shame from the comfort of bed.
I’m a bit of a hoarder with this sort of stuff, and in the end tend to pass them on more through losing them than selling them. Was most upset when my sisters tossed my N64 out, along with the 50ish games I had for it 🙁
I just started a new playthrough of Pokémon Heart Gold (DS) last week.
20 hours in and I haven’t picked a starter yet.
I own a current gen console so I have no choice
*ah-boom-tish
Occasionally, but much more often on Vita. I’ve got a few old PS1 (FFVII, Suikoden 1&2) and PSP (Trails in the Sky) on there that I’ll play a bit when I’m travelling. But when I’m at home, I don’t fire up the old consoles much except during the early stages of a new one when I don’t have many games.
I’ll draw a distinction between playing old games (whether on their original hardware or via backwards compatibility) and remakes, though i.e. I played the Uncharted trilogy and TLOU remasters on PS4 even though I might not have gone back to them again on the PS3. The difference being that the remasters are significantly improved over their original incarnations.
Yeah, the Vita is a retro(?) gaming MACHINE! Great for PSP and PS1 stuff. Now if only you could run a C64 emulator on it, I could get my Last Ninja fix as well.
EDIT: Holy crap apparently you can do it, but need homebrew 🙁
I am playing Day Of The Tentacle at the moment, does that count?
I drag out Pokemon Snap and Perfect dark on my N64 all the time.
The Pokemon yellow re-release has had me all tied up for the last little while though.
I still play old games. At least once a year I tend to replay Zelda LttP, and often play some old arcade games and stuff. Sometimes new games just don’t cut it when it comes to satisfying gameplay.
Yes.
Firstly, for a person like myself who basically ‘fell out’ of games altogether for a period, it’s a great way to bone up on history, and my ‘repertoire’ (for want of a less-wonky word).
The Wii brought me back to gaming. The Virtual Console and actually not being tied to an account for the amount of time it was (likewise, the 3DS) was for me, a positive. It was a simple process that is sadly now facing up to reality – everything needs a bloody password. Your own console itself was its own ecosystem.
The Wii Remote was/is an under-rated piece of equipment. I have adapters and dongles that make old NES/SNES/N64/Gamecube controllers work and so my Wii U can play literally thirty years worth of games 1:1.
I don’t like the term ‘backlog’ and never have. I have games from the 90s which I’m playing, and dabble in them from time to time. No rush, no need to be worried about modern trappings like online or trophies, it’s sublime.
Some of the stuff I’ve got on the go, they may or may not be on a VC-like service either:
PC: Fallout 1, 2, Far Cry 2. I am grabbing Warcraft 3 shortly.
NES: OG Zelda.
GB: I just got a Super Gameboy so I’m on a retro hunt. Any gems? I’m looking for classics not yet available on 3DS VC.
SNES: Final Fantasy 6. Kicking my arse. I need a walkthrough I think.
PS2: Just found a copy of Silent Hill 2. Can’t wait to start this.
Wii U VC: Earthbound (but of course).
Microsoft and Sony gleefully murdered backwards compatibility and we cheered them on for doing it (moar power or something). So now it’s coming back to the newer consoles in fits and starts, but we’re expected to pay for it. I will happily give these sorts of initiatives the benefit of the doubt, but for instance I looked at Rare Replay recently and was repulsed. It’s not a museum of some of my most treasured gaming history, it’s like that heads-on-pikes scene from bloomin’ Game of Thrones.
Yeah, now and then. Some are ‘old favourites’ that you use to just deadzone out and not be in the real world for a little while. Then there’s your crono trigger kinda thing which always bears revisiting. Plus some old emulated classics. The SNES library is a reliable source of amazingly high-quality gaming mechanics even to this day, with its button and graphics limitations. It boggles the mind that there aren’t games borrowing from more of their mechanics. I wanna see more modern NES/SNES game clones. Spy vs Spy, Metal Marines, Front Mission, Populous, Shadowrun, Jurassic Park, Starwing, Bomberman, Mario Kart, Syndicate, NES Turtles, Equinox, Desert/Jungle/Urban Strike, a version of Carmen Sandiago that doesn’t suck balls, Actraiser, Gargoyle’s Quest (Demon’s Crest), EVO, Harvest Moon, Kirby’s Dream Land… You could give me a CD full of Romz and an emulator to take into a fallout shelter, and I’d be happy for years.
Sweet list of games there. Equinox oozes with atmosphere and is unlike any other game I’ve ever played.
I still play racing games on the PS2 when I go visit my dad……..its taken a decade or so but he is now pretty good. At home I tend to play a fair bit of good old game stuff, mainly cause I grew up broke, like food parcels from churches, Santa never comes broke and looking at all the games the kids at school were talking about…..I may now be 35 but I can play them too now.
I do a quick run through of Super Mario Bros when the kids are in the bath sometimes. I’ve been playing games like 1942 with my 6 yr old lately, a bit of Raiden on the MAME machine. The PS3 is gathering a lot of dust though.
Does this answer your question? http://i.imgur.com/Igot6QU.jpg
dude, so jealous!
So that’s a “no” then?
Looks like they’re all just for show, nothing’s plugged in 😛
IT’s an in-progress photo, I only just moved in to this place! 🙂
I did exactly the same thing back when taking a picture of my then-new setup 😛
I rarely game on anything but my PC these days, but late last year when it was off getting repaired, I fired up the Xbox 360. I found that most of the games I wanted to play were my old backward compatible original Xbox games. Morrowind, Jade Empire and Fable.
Often, I play Resident Evil 2 pretty regularly. I also love to go back & finish old stuff.
Actually, I also spend time researching old stuff & playing them.
I do this with everything, films, tv, comics or animation. I find I learn a lot but experiencing the source material.
I love old games. I own a PS4 but have only played Untill Dawn on it.
Im currently trying to finish my PS3 backlog before I buy more PS4 games.
My backlog:
Metal Gear 3, 4 & Peace Walker
Yakuza 3, 4 & 5
Okami
No More Heroes
Alice Madness Returns (But probably only going to play the original game which came with it)
I just started playing the Metal Gear series for the first time this year. Just finished the 2nd one.
Im currently playing Yakzua 3 as this is also a series I have never played before. But had to start with 3 as 1&2 have not been re-released here.
Errr, I play a lot of old stuff…
Have a Nes, Snes, Genesis and Master System that get frequent use. I could list the games I play but it would be a long list.
Sometimes I set up two TVs and me and a friend play Sega, Nintendo stuff simultaneously. Total nerd fest.
I hardly buy new games because I feel I won’t enjoy them. Most games are unfinished on release and you never got that with older games. Day one patch for Streets of rage? Cut content sold back to you? Pffft, please.
I enjoy harder games most times, co-op game with communist credits? Perfect.
I’m not some old bastard either. Warble.
Heroes of might and magic 3
Diablo 2
Dungeon siege 1 and 2
Age of empires 1, 2 and 3
Medal of honour airborne
Crusader no remorse
NFS underground 2
Baldurs Gate 1 and 2
On the question of backwards compatibility… console issues lol
I HAVE FOUND THE ONLY OTHER PERSON ON THE PLANET THAT STILL PLAYS CRUSADER.
Hats off to you, good sir.
Hahaha thanks.
I play a lot of old games, either because I missed their original release or the game’s design holds up even after all the years and they are still very fun to play. In fact, there are a lot of older games that have far better design than many modern games.
I’ve a mate that played through Symphony of the Night last week, its almost a yearly ritual for him to do so for the last 10 years or so. This year I discovered he hadn’t heard of the “luck cheat” and got him to play through it that way. Best “cheat” ever, its the only way I play.
He also plays Ultima 7 once a year too. Exalt is dreamy, because getting that bitch of a game to run nowadays is harder than it was when it first came out. EMM386 I’m looking at you.
Most of it does not live up to the memory.
One exception though, Shining Force. I have to turn the sound off but I still play that through every few years.
I just traded in all my old stuff for that very reason. It just sits there and with all the new stuff going on I will probably never return to it. Only exceptions have been both 3DS Zelda remakes and FFX. They were played on new consoles though…
ive got a few mega drive games on steam that i play, also picked up a bundle stars (i think) pack which had a whole load of older games like cosmos cosmic adventure, duke nukem 1 and 2, blake stone, and a few other 3d realms games which ive spent some time playing.
My backlog is so big that all games are old games now.
Same. Exceptions being the few AAA titles like Fallout 4 that catch my attention.
Would die for PS4 backwards compatibility so I could play a decent skateboarding game again 🙁
Right now, the go to games for me are LotRO, and Rollercoaster Tycoon 2. So yeah, I’m playing old games.
Theres always an old game sitting there that catches my attention for a while, even when a AAA prime game comes along. Some of those classics still hold up damn well.
Then theres the pile of shame that almost guarantees an old game will be played regularly. While it wasnt specifically a new years resolution, I said to myself that I wouldnt waste money on games this year until I got that pile down somewhat. Havent totally kept to that (sales are sales after all) but the pile is getting smaller.
I do play old games, but only occasionally. I’ll fire them up on the virtual console or a *cough* emulator *cough* or something every now and then.
I replay, Shadow Man on Dreamcast, RE4 on Wii, all the 3D Zelda’s and Paper Mario 1 and 2.
Ok I have 2 NES (One is the dog bone model) 1 SNES, 4 N64 (2 Normal, 1 Clear Purple and Pokémon one, Wii U, 2 Master Systems (both models), 2 Mega Drives + Mega CD, 1 Saturn, 1 Dreamcast, PS1,2,3,4, Xbox & 360 and a NEO GEO CD.
I have around 400 games the most I have is about 50 on the Mega Drive.
I rarely play my retro stuff. If I do it’s always Castlevania: SotN or Lufia 2
I have close to 1TB worth of emulators and roms, as well as a massive collection of pre Xbox consoles so yes 🙂 most new games just aren’t as good as older games.
Playing through Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen right now haha
i have a working 486/pentium1/athlon machines to cover most every era of gaming so ill be voting yes :p
I replay The Dig once a year on average. I pick up Doom occasionally since I have it in about five different formats. Just last night actually I booted up the 360 version on my Xbox One and started episode 2. Apparently I’ve never played episode 2 of the original Doom before, only episode 1. My old adventure games like Sierra “Quest” games and Monkey Island never get old.
Does Doom 2 with the Brutal Doom mod count?
If so, yes.
Do most of my gaming on PC and PS4, but I play my Mega Drive and Dreamcast consoles quite regularly.
Just last night, I played some soul calibur and SF Rush 2049 on DC, followed up by some Flashback on the MD [Wow, such a fantastic game still!].
I’ve also recently been playing quite a number of games on a PS1 emulator on my phone with a DS4 controller adapter. Tony Hawk 2 [still the BEST!], Gran Turismo, The Fifth Element, Colin McRae Rally and Medal of Honor have all been played the last week.
I regularly get cravings to play though some older games. The last one was Daggerfall which is one of my goto games. Before that was Nostalrius. I’ve noticed though since there are more retro style games these days that i dont play the old consoles as frequently as i used too.
I still play all the old games I grew up with – on the original consoles I got during the 90’s and whatnot. I will also occasionally buy classics that I missed out on a s a kid and add them to my collection. As it stands, I currently have an NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, Wii, Wii U, PS2, PS3, and PS4 all hooked up to my HDTV.
Due to space constraints, I decided against buying a good quality CRT to play my retro games on, so instead I bought an XRGB mini.
SNES, NES, N64, GameCube, and PS2 are all hooked up to it. SNES and NES use RGB cables, N64 uses S-Video, and the GameCube and PS2 both use component cables running through a remote-controlled component cable switcher. Set the TV and XRGB to the right inputs, and off you go – pixel-perfect. My Wii, on the other hand, runs through my Yamaha RX-V1900 receiver, as do my newer consoles. For whatever reason, the inbuilt upscaling on my receiver cleans up the Wii’s progressive signal better than the XRGB does.
I still regularly replay things like Yoshi’s Island, the DKC games, LTTP, Super Metroid and so-on. Usually during slow release months, so if nothing new is coming out for a while and I’ve cleared my backlog, then I’m more than happy to go back to some classics.
Oh, Still have my old GameBoys and stuff, so I’ll occasionally play some Wario Land or Donkey Kong ’94.
We still have the PS3 connected since the PS4 won’t play the games. But the WiiU will play any Wii games we feel nostalgic for. So, yes, backwards compatibility (is a a thing we would like).
All the time, I mainly play current gen but its not uncommon for me to bust out an older console and spend a weekend revisiting an old favourite.
In recent months I have played the following to some extent:
Rocky – Gamecube
Luigi’s Mansion – Gamecube
Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 – PC
Dune 2000 – PC
Trophy Bass – PC
Sonic 3 – Megadrive
Aussie Rules Football – NES
All the time.
During the recent internet outages in Tasmania, I got most of my gaming from pulling out the Gamecube and playing Phantasy Star Online (Hah! Irony!). My Vita and 3DS are used less for their own games, and more as portable retro machines. I geeked out hard a few days ago when Gunstar Heroes was added to Xbone backwards compatibility, and spent the afternoon replaying with free shot, then fixed shot, then different power combos.
Yes, i’m currently playing through The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons.
i’m also playing through Resident Evil 4 again.
I recently played through Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain.
and these are just a few, I play much more older games than I do new games now, i’ll pick up a new game that i’m interested in every now and then but mostly i’m playing through older games I never got to play through before as there’s plenty of fantastic games throughout gaming history that I never got to try and i’m having a blast =)
last year I played Through Castlevania 1, 3, Rondo of Blood, Symphony of the Night, Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance, Aria of Sorrow, Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, Harmony of Despair and Order of Ecclesia, all for the first time.
also the 3 Time Splitters games =) I could go on for ages but i’ll stop here.
Short answer, yes I do still play old games =)
I am a HUGE supporter of reverse compatibility :/ The reason I got the old fat PS3 was for this sole reason! I STILL play it and STILL play PS2 games on it. The biggest regret I have for owning a PS4 is that it doesn’t do backwards compatibility 🙁
I think XB1 is doing it right. Its a privilege but it is a very appreciate one.
Also, I play Super Metroid, Snow Bros and multiple emulated games daily…. a great game is a great game!
yuuuuuulp
my 3ds spends just as much time playing DS games as it does 3ds games. I have a gaming tablet set up just for nes/snes/gb/sms/psone/n64
Definitely still play a lot of the old D&D PC classics on my Mac – the TSR Gold Box Series with Dark Sun, the Forgotten Realms 2.0 games including Dungeon Hack, Baldur’s Gate games and the isometric Fallout games. Great games with enough character customisation and playstyles to run through every year or so
Not since I’ve had kids. I don’t have time to play the latest and greatest let alone take a trip down memory lane no matter how much I’d like to play through Chrono Trigger again.
Just picked up a game boy micro on eBay so I’ve been playing lots of my old GBA carts, finishing Yoshi’s island on the train to work is great fun
We play old games all the time with all these retro style indie games flooding the market, like on ps plus free games and all over steam its like we can only count on the AAA titles to bring new exciting innovative stuff.
Im sick of seeing new indie games with old style 8-bit or 32-bit graphics. LIKE IF I WANT TO PLAY AN OLD STYLE GAME I WOULD JUST OPEN MY SNES OR GENS EMU AND CRANK SOME NOSTALGIC GAMES.
RETRO STYLE INDIE GAMES AND GO FUCK OFF
But yes i like to play retro games like mario or megaman every now and then
As the proud owner of a NeoGeo arcade machine. Old games get a workout on a semi regularly basis.