The Video Game Critic

This is obviously a site where people have played a wide variety of games over many years. So, what are some of the old school games you still play regularily today. Games that are just plain fun, don't seem to get old or feel dated and are fun to screw around with. I'll post a few of my favorites.

 

 

NES :  Ice Hockey : I don't think I have played the one player mode for more than 10 minutes my whole life. But I can play it game after game with another person. My brother and I have a standing bet that if someone can complete a shut out the other guy pays him $5 bucks. It is very hard to do, because when you control the goalie, you are still controlling your other skater, and consequently that pulls him out of the action, leaving your computer goons to put up some resistence. Nothing like a small side bet to make things interesting.

 

N64 : Mario 64 : A no-brainer I know, but this game is just perfect. One of a handful of game my sister will play from time to time and the only game she has truly gotten good at. If you have 2 consoles and copies of this game you can play "multiplayer" and race to clear worlds, get a certain star, 100 coin races, etc. That is very fun to do, and you should give it try.

 

I've never gotten tired of the original Perfect Dark for the N64.  Ice Hockey is cool even for non-nostalgia purposes; I've played it on emulators over the net with people, and it's just great.

Similar to your love of Ice Hockey, I still have a blast with Blades of Steel. I'll play it 2 player or 1 player. Of course, I actually only found the game a few years ago, so it's not a nostalgic thing like yours might be.

 

Other than that, aside from the general Mario/Sonic game, I still love to pick up quite a few old games occasionally. Ninja Turtles NES games are still great, Disney platformers held up really well, and I pick up old puzzle games pretty regularly: Trog (better than PacMan), Yoshi (better than Tetris), and Spot mainly.

 

Also, I play Super Street Fighter 2 quite often still. Since I can always beat it on all the way hard really easily I challenge myself to beat it without dying, or beat a character without getting hit.

I've been playing Duke Nukem 3D alot lately.

I've been playing some Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 on MAME. It's really fun, and I get to access the test menu for free play (ha-ha).

Since when do N64 and later games qualify as old school?

 

Anyway, the game that I will never get tired of, no matter how old it is, is Centipede.

I love River City Ransom for the NES. One of the best beat em' ups ever, and with great music to boot!

 

-Rob

Because of the hassle of hooking up old systems (I have my PS2 and Genesis hooked up ALL the time) , nowadays I often just play the emulated or MAME version of the old games I USED to play on Colecovision, 5200, etc...

These include LADYBUG, PEPPER 2, MR. DO!, ASTEROIDS, POPEYE, DIG DUG and lots more

Some games are actually BETTER IMHO on home systems though, so I hook 'em up just to play: 5200- JOUST, 2600-Ms. Pac-Man and Intellivision-Burgertime. Especially 5200 Joust, that game always feels sooo much smoother and like real flying then the somewhat slower Williams coin-op.

[QUOTE=Steerforth]

This is obviously a site where people have played a wide variety of games over many years. So, what are some of the old school games you still play regularily today. Games that are just plain fun, don't seem to get old or feel dated and are fun to screw around with. I'll post a few of my favorites.

 

 

NES :  Ice Hockey : I don't think I have played the one player mode for more than 10 minutes my whole life. But I can play it game after game with another person. My brother and I have a standing bet that if someone can complete a shut out the other guy pays him $5 bucks. It is very hard to do, because when you control the goalie, you are still controlling your other skater, and consequently that pulls him out of the action, leaving your computer goons to put up some resistence. Nothing like a small side bet to make things interesting.

 

N64 : Mario 64 : A no-brainer I know, but this game is just perfect. One of a handful of game my sister will play from time to time and the only game she has truly gotten good at. If you have 2 consoles and copies of this game you can play "multiplayer" and race to clear worlds, get a certain star, 100 coin races, etc. That is very fun to do, and you should give it try.

 

[/QUOTE]

I've been playing the heck out of Super Punch-Out lately. Tonight I beat Nick Bruiser in around 46 seconds on ZSNES. He's one of the easiest boxers to demolish once you get used to the patterns. I know there's people who can KO him in under 10 seconds which is insane. There's video on Youtube.

 

I also sat down the other day and tried to play through one of my all time favorite games Ninja Gaiden again. Level 6-2 must have been designed by a sadist. I gave up. Fun game but very, very hard. Thunderforce III is also a bit tougher than I remember. I'm having a difficult time with the lava stage.

 

For pure gameplay, I'm always a fan of arcade shoot em ups. I play Gunbird 2, Strikers 1945 II, Raiden, Vasara, Last Resort, Pulstar, Do Don Pachi, etc. on MAME. Even though I suck, I try not to use continues because that ruins the fun. Well, it's ok to use continues with Pulstar because it's still friggin' impossible even if you use a billion continues.

 

Oh and doesn't everyone agree that good looking 2-D never dates? An old PSX or N64 game that was impressive for the time might seem ugly today, but Donkey Kong Country, the Sonic series, Castlevania IV, Secret Of Mana, Metal Slug, etc. are as beautiful to behold and fun as ever. Long live 2-D.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[QUOTE=Michael Danehy] 

I also sat down the other day and tried to play through one of my all time favorite games Ninja Gaiden again. Level 6-2 must have been designed by a sadist.

 

[/QUOTE]

Which level is that? I think it is the one that I always get stuck on, and I'm curious so could you describe it for me?