by The test of time is harsh and often unforgiving. While some video games age very well and are still fun today, many others end up being a bit dated and outdated, largely due to the evolution of mechanics provided by their competitors or even within the franchise itself!
With that in mind, we’ve put together the following list of 10 games that, if tried for the first time or revisited in 2023, might leave one confused and wondering how the hell anyone liked them back then. Remember, of course, that doesn’t mean they’re bad. On the contrary, many of them were excellent at the time of their original release!
Note that the games are not in any kind of order of quality, they are just 10 examples that we have chosen to support our arguments. This is by no means an absolute truth, since the matter itself has a subjective nature. That being said, check out the list below!
street fighter
The biggest prank of the first street fighter It’s just that maybe it hasn’t aged badly, but it hasn’t been that great since it came out. But that doesn’t tell the whole story, as its trump card was taking some ideas from old beat’em ups and adapting them to a structure where each level consists of a single boss. With the addition of special moves made with combo inputs, she set the stage for what would become her own genre shortly after!
It is true that the controls were somewhat imprecise, and it was necessary to abuse the negative edge and farofa to release even a single cod, but its historical value cannot be ruled out. Interestingly, it is even possible to argue that the Street Fighter IIwhile it’s an essential game and one of the best ever, it also hasn’t aged very well compared to its much more polished, precise and complex successors.
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune
Today, Naughty Dog is one of the most award-winning and respected studios in Western video games, but the motif of more cinematic storytelling began to take off in earnest from the first uncharted. Such as gears of war, benefited greatly from the addition of small walls to fight to make gunplay more fun and immersive, and helped popularize this game mechanic a lot. It’s just a shame that its text, graphics and level design leave a lot to be desired compared to its direct sequels that were also released on the PlayStation 3. Compare to Uncharted 2 and see how much better everything runs there!
Resident Evil
Another classic example of date games is the first one Resident Evil, mainly because of the tank-like controls and the fixed camera that changes perspective without warning. Fortunately, Capcom themselves noticed this early and gave us one of the best remakes of all time on the GameCube, a version so good that it later served as the basis for major re-releases on more modern consoles. When in doubt, always play the latest version!
Fantasy Star
There’s a lot to be said for JRPGs from the 1980s and 1990s, when developers were still refining the formula and finding the best pace for their epic narratives. When you go back to square one final fantasy is dragon questso you should notice the excessive grinding and confusion about the objectives, as it was very common to need journals with descriptions for progress.
But we chose to use the first one Fantasy Star for example, especially since it received a great makeover in the SEGA Ages version, with the right to an on-screen map and description of the items, which makes it much more user-friendly and shows how to “fix” the problems of a game that had some aspects which was aging badly. How good it is to relive one of the late Rieko Kodama’s best works in this most modern way!
Night trap
QTEs used to be a much more present thing in video games and today they have generally disappeared, but there was a time when they were all the rage and represented cutting edge technologies! A good example happened with the appearance of the first CD games, especially on SEGA’s CD titles, a console that prided itself on running many games almost entirely made of FMV. Player interaction was minimal and you only pressed a button from time to time to determine what kind of movie to play next. It had its merits in linguistic innovation at the time, but today it’s almost unpleasant, as evidenced by its very limited gameplay Night trap.
Siphon filter
Few games since the first PlayStation offered as cool shooting and espionage as Siphon filter! But unfortunately, only those who lived at the time or the most tolerant gamers with dated controls and camera could have fun revisiting this game. If you want to try it out for yourself, it’s available in the PlayStation Plus Deluxe catalog.
Crash Bandicoot
It’s nothing personal against Naughty Dog, but Crash Bandicoot It’s really a great example of a game that, at the time of release, looked very different, with the mascot sometimes running around with the camera on 3D platforms, but that makes its design problems more apparent today. Compare, for example, the phases of the first conflict with its very well thought out levels Crash Bandicoot 4which kept the high level of challenge, but now in a more cohesive, fun and better structured way.
The Sims
A real computer fever and responsible for the birth of a hugely successful franchise, the first The Sims it’s nearly impossible to play these days with its simplistic, unintuitive menus and extremely limited features.
Myst
Old PC adventure games are extremely charming and played an essential role in the development of video game narratives. From LucasArts games to innovative Mystits legacy can’t be ignored… but the latter is hard to play nowadays, ie… its once vivid and immersive world is now too limited and filled with puzzles too obtuse for its own good.
Royal hearts
Rounding it out is a franchise that’s as beloved as it is confusing, one of the biggest gems in Square Enix’s catalog and… frankly, a game that hasn’t aged as well as we’d like. At its launch there was — and still is! — something magical about seeing Disney characters and worlds co-exist with the Square Enix universe, but the joys stop there: both the camera system and combat controls are far from perfect. It’s worth revisiting more for the story than anything else.
