Ignoring the lack of updates if the game is buggy, games back then were also more focused on quality and make gamers replay the game with unlockable features based on skills, not money. I can’t count the number of times I played Metal Gear Solid games over and over to unlock new features playing the hardest difficulty and with handicap features, and also to find Easter eggs. Speaking of Easter eggs, you’d lose a number of hours exploring every nook and cranny finding them!

  • BargsimBoyz@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    Games were definitely buggy and I honestly think people forget how much better the quality is nowadays.

    I also think there is something to it just being the 90s or so and not having much choice. If you only have one game to play then of course you’re going to replay it to death. If I have a steam library of 1000 games then I’m much less likely to.

    A lot of this is just nostalgia for the past and the environment as opposed to games being any better.

    • Omega@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      There’s also the SNL effect. Everyone remembers the great games like Mario. Nobody remembers World Games.

      • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
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        2 years ago

        World Games was so good they made a spoof sequel of sorts called caveman games. A lot of people remember world games, it was a well received game. You had so many actually forgettable garbage games to choose from…

          • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
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            2 years ago

            But he says it wasn’t very fun and it was forgotten.

            He obviously didn’t forget it, and most people found it to be fun.

        • Omega@lemmy.world
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          2 years ago

          I have never heard anyone talk about that game, ever. But I remembered hating it as a kid. But social media wasn’t a thing back then. So I don’t know if it was talked about elsewhere.

          If that was a well received game, I guess it speaks volumes about the rest of the NES library.

          • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
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            2 years ago

            It’s because it wasn’t really a young kids game. It was aimed at a bit older of a crowd. They made a later version of it called caveman games that was geared more towards kids and it was a lot of fun, with mostly the same game mechanics.

      • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        I’m unfamiliar with that game. Was World Games buggy or just bad? The quality the OP referred to was bugs, not gameplay.

        Even the worst AAA game today has better game play than anything from 30 years ago. It’s the nature of extreme complexity that allowing players freedom makes complete debugging impossible.

        • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
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          2 years ago

          Hehe. World Games was an Olympic event type of game for the NES and other systems back in the late 80’s.

          It was actually a well reviewed and enjoyed game, so I’m not sure why he decided to use it as an example when there were so many other actually bad games back then. It also caused a “spoof” game to be made on the NES called “Caveman games”, which did a similar game style, but set in caveman times with caveman events. I preferred caveman games as a kid, and still do. Racing against a friend on who can rub sticks together and blow on the smoke to make fire first is still a blast. So is beating the other guy with a caveman club. Good times.

    • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      I don’t agree with that first point at all. Games were not all that buggy, It was orders of magnitude better than it is now.

    • ZoopZeZoop@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      I have 1000 games, but I still replay a bunch of them over and over, just at a less rapid pace.