It’s not super old, but the original BioShock is one of those games that you can point to and say “this is art”. It’s an amazing exploration of Ann Rand, capitalism, addiction, art, deregulation, unions, and greed, all with the most beautiful art deco levels. The mechanics of the powers you get are tied into the themes and your choices of how to acquire them are in themselves a statement of the self vs others. It’s well thought out from the ground up, from aesthetic choices to narrative ones, and one of the few games that absolutely nails it.
I enjoy the gameplay of the second one even better, though I feel the attempt to explore collectivism doesn’t fit as well by using the same motifs as the first one, the dlc Minerva’s Den has the most tragic exploration of identity and the singularity out there.
The third is fun to play but I think they were trying to explore too much of everything at once, between America, racism, classism, quantum states and everything else, and unlike the first two, the mechanics of the plasmids didn’t really lend anything to the story. The dlc is fun, but rewrote a poignant lesson from the base game and watered it down.
I’ll add that while the remastered version of BioShock looks and plays somewhat better, the “improved” lighting completely destroys the original atmosphere. Keep that in mind if you’re trying this game for the first time.
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Katamari Damacy for the spectacle of it. Wait for a switch sale and let your mind be blown.
There are also 3 of them on PC and are quite cheap.
Look up a top 25 list for the SNES and play every one of them
Yea well ever since they did a huge crackedown on emulation. No thanks other wise I would download the shit out of them.
NoIntro Romsets on Archive.org for roms.
4chan’s Emulation General thread wiki for emulators etc.
They only care as far as going after large targets running rom sites (archive is much more than that, so they skirt by) and emulation of modern consoles (they go after the devs). They will never go after an individual just direct downloading and emulating shit.
Well, if you can afford it, the SNES classic has most of the stuff worth playing, with a couple of curiosities thrown in.
Believe it or not and I am showing my age but still own an SNES . And that was the last system I have ever bought.
How old? Heretic, Zork, Nethack, Metroid Zero ( it’s basically OG Metroid with quality of life upgrades). On the old Nokia, we had snake…
Sorry to let you down but Super Metroid sorry to burst your bubble but while NES may have had Metroid it was not the GOAT before the term was instituted.
“OG” means “Original Gangster”, like first of its kind.
Star wars Jedi Knight: Outcast and Jedi Knight: Academy.
I’m not really much of a Star wars fan and I looooved those fucking games.
Super Metroid because it’s amazing, and Castlevania Symphony of the Night for the same reason. I may be biased because those are two of my favorites ever but I swear they legit hold up.
Ummm do not know who would disagree with you about Super Metriod but that is my go to game when I am sick of the stupid shit that is being pushed out today.
As someone who didn’t play them back in the day, I feel like SotN holds up but Super Metroid doesn’t. Just as another opinion. I couldn’t really get into metroid fusion either. To me it feels like the moment-to-moment action gameplay is too clunky in the early metroid games I’ve played, even if the exploration element is neat. I did enjoy playing SotN for the first time a couple of years ago though. It’s been a while since I played either, so they’re not totally fresh in my memory - I guess it’s possible that I’m just more forgiving of clunky melee combat than clunky shooting.
Tangentially related, always amuses me how “metroidvania” has become the genre name, when originally it was just a way that reviewers poked fun at the big change between SotN and earlier castlevanias. They were like “this isn’t what I expect from a castlevania, it’s a great game but maybe they should have named it metroidvania”, and the name stuck. Another odd fact about that terminology is that according to interviews, the SotN designer never played metroid - they were inspired by the non-linear exploration with different routes opened up by items/upgrades in Zelda games (although obviously adding that to castlevania’s platformer gameplay makes it more closely resemble metroid). So it should probably be considered a zeldavania.
I played super Metroid for the first time in 2019 and it was amazing. Felt like it hadn’t aged at all and the atmosphere was incredible
Star Wars knights of the old republic 1 and 2
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Tron 2.0 - A FPS game set inside computers from the early 2000s. There were a lot of great weapons in the game but I always went back with the Disc throwing weapon.
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Homeworld 1/2/Cataclysm- An 3D space RTS series 1999/2000s. During the campaign all units made carry through to the next mission.
Homeworld is fantastic. I heard the new one sucks though and that really bums me out :(
I hear some of the online modes are awesome but the story was a bust. I was looking forward to a good old Homeworld story but I heard enough to know not to buy it.
It’s also one of those games that end up as discord competitive games, like a lot of fighting games. You kinda need to play against people who are really into RTS if you’re gonna play it online a few months after release.
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Many of the old Sierra and Dynamix adventure games are great. Kings Quest IV through VII are probably the ones that hold up best. The adventures of Willy Beamish, Heart of China, Police Quest and Space Quest.
The Donkey Kong remake on the GameBoy is still one of my favorites and an amazing puzzle platformer!
Don’t miss out on Mario Vs. Donkey Kong (GBA, with a recent Switch remake). It’s the psuedo-sequel. The sequels to it though are completely different gameplay styles, unfortunately.
Rollercoaster Tycoon. Super chill game, you just manage amusement parks and build rollercoasters. Openrct2 is an updated engine for it, which supports modern high resolution screens, but requires a copy of the game for the art assets.
Thanks to the community, you can download all of the RCT1, 2, and expansion campaigns in RCT3
Starwars Knights of the old Republic 1 and 2 they are on steam and kotar 1 can be played on a phone. AC blackflag. Dragon age origins. If you want a more specific recommendation based on a old gaming system let me know.
Thief 1 - 3.
I came here to say this! These games are highly underrated. Amazing story and world building, actually having to be sneaky even with low level enemies, amazing music, these were always my top faves.
I must admit I’ve never seen or played these. They might be a bit too new for me. I listened to an interview with the game designer on the retro hour a while back. It sounded intriguing.
Would you care to give an elevator pitch on why these are must-play?
The open world concepts for each level.
The story is found and told through other characters. A lot of the story is shown rather than told.
Thief 3 has the most horrific level design ever in the orphanage. A game review had a review (really more of a worship piece) just on that one level. (I think this is the review: https://www.pcgamer.com/journeying-into-the-cradle-in-thief-deadly-shadows/)
The stealth mechanics actually require stealth and are multivariate. Most stealth games stealth systems now are actually less advanced.
They’re great games.
Need for Speed Underground 2 was great came. Not sure how much nostalgia ia in there but it just felt good for a racer.
Bloons TD holds a special place in my heart and so does Runescape.
I know I am old and you don’t have to call me it but F Zero was my first forway into racing.
I loved F-Zero on the SNES and an old game called PoD: Planet of Death on the family PC.
