Games you thought were awesome until you went and replayed them years later

[Patney]

I played Resident Evil when I was 6 years old and I never had any issues just because the game didn't tell me exactly where to find what I needed. I miss the times when exploration was encouraged
And why compare L4D with RE? They're drastically different games. L4D is all about shooting zombies for fun (very arcadey game), RE is all about ambience and survival (until RE4 came and changed everything).

Also, Resident Evil 2, a fetch quest? Oh please, you must lack a soul if you didn't notice the flawless atmosphere and failed to appreciate the deliciously cheesy plot and dialogue. I weep for you.

[Aussie2B]

Geez, what's with everyone throwing around "fetch quest" improperly lately? Games like Resident Evil 2 and Super Mario 64 are NOT fetch quests for crying out loud, people. There isn't a precise definition for a fetch quest, but you should know it when you see it. Like if you're playing an RPG and get to a town where a NPC has a key you need to open the next dungeon but won't give it to you until you go to some mountain and fight a monster to get a special herb that will cure his sister's mysterious illness (all of which is never heard of again after it's over), THAT is a fetch quest. A platformer with a variety of different goals to complete its stages is NOT a fetch quest.

[Sunnyvale]

Geez, what's with everyone throwing around "fetch quest" improperly lately? Games like Resident Evil 2 and Super Mario 64 are NOT fetch quests for crying out loud, people. There isn't a precise definition for a fetch quest, but you should know it when you see it. Like if you're playing an RPG and get to a town where a NPC has a key you need to open the next dungeon but won't give it to you until you go to some mountain and fight a monster to get a special herb that will cure his sister's mysterious illness (all of which is never heard of again after it's over), THAT is a fetch quest. A platformer with a variety of different goals to complete its stages is NOT a fetch quest.

Just because you shoot the zombies instead of telling your sprite to doesn't immediately make it not a fetch quest. I left a detailed description of my personal definition of fetch quest. If you believe it to be an incorrect one, than please, point out which parts of my definition are incorrect, in your opinion. As I see it, replace 'herb' with 'Unicorn Coin' and 'NPC' with 'Statue', and we're on the same page.

[Sunnyvale]

I played Resident Evil when I was 6 years old and I never had any issues just because the game didn't tell me exactly where to find what I needed. I miss the times when exploration was encouraged
And why compare L4D with RE? They're drastically different games. L4D is all about shooting zombies for fun (very arcadey game), RE is all about ambience and survival (until RE4 came and changed everything).

Also, Resident Evil 2, a fetch quest? Oh please, you must lack a soul if you didn't notice the flawless atmosphere and failed to appreciate the deliciously cheesy plot and dialogue. I weep for you.

I loved the original Metroid for exploring, getting lost, running back and forth... When I was 11. Now, I have other irons in the fire. As for the ambiance of RE2, the apparently Illuminati-controled police station pissed all over that for me. The suspense was gone the third time I backtracked. If zombies kept re-appearing, I'd be entertained. As it is... Weep away.

And play L4D on Expert with one partner and two helath-pack mules, and tell me it's just shooting zombies for fun, not about survival. The smokers screwing a well-laid plan to waste in a second, tanks with no warning, witches in places you must go... And if you don't explore, searching for pills n bombs, you'll have a hell of a time beating it. However, you won't get stuck at the end of a level after killing all of the zombies because you didn't look in the right corner of the right room. And I wasn't comparing the games as much as showing the fetch-questishness of RE2.

[Patney]

Just to get it out there: The Left 4 Dead games are among my favorites, but I was just pointing out the fact that I don't think Resident Evil and Left 4 Dead are comparable and I don't get why you're bringing it up. You're basically saying "a kid who enjoys the mindless shooting of Left 4 Dead (I mean this in the best way possible) would not enjoy the exploring and puzzle aspects of Resident Evil" like it's Resident Evil's fault and not the player's. This is wrong. And even on Expert you barely need to explore to find some pills or medkits, and I don't get how this is any less fetch quest than picking up the occasional herb in Resident Evil.

Oh, and if you think finding items in Resident Evil is so cryptic, you severely need glasses. Every usable items emits a blinking light or something like that, and they're usually out of place (either an unusual object or a 3D object on a 2D background).

[Sunnyvale]

Again, not comparing the two games. And think back to the first time you had to insert the crank in the socket in RE2. Find that hole real quick? No one I know did, and I was in my 20's then. I have a degree of appreciation for the RE series, but when I think of games that had promise but crapped on it with stupid puzzles and htf items, that one tops the list. Remember, this is about games we used to like but now don't. As for L4D (yes, it's awesome!), I haven't found a single kid that can thump it on Expert without help or finding loopholes (run to the safehouse after alerting the horde on the 3rd level of the Airport, for example. The horde seldom comes.) My statements regarding both FF and RE are opinion, my personal taste.
You don't find medkits on expert. And if you're slow about finding the pills, kiss em goodbye, Louis will have them. No, not the same, but to say it's a player's fault for not liking puzzles and searching is a little, well, 'wrong', IMHO. I like Cosmic Ark on the 2600. Does that make me a newb?
I won't give you a hard time for not liking Mountain Dew, please don't tell me I have no soul or need glasses because I find fetch quests tedious. I'm sure we have more in common than not...

[Aussie2B]

Just because you shoot the zombies instead of telling your sprite to doesn't immediately make it not a fetch quest. I left a detailed description of my personal definition of fetch quest. If you believe it to be an incorrect one, than please, point out which parts of my definition are incorrect, in your opinion. As I see it, replace 'herb' with 'Unicorn Coin' and 'NPC' with 'Statue', and we're on the same page.

It's just a puzzle that's naturally incorporated into the game. Plus Resident Evil games and the like often give you the opportunity to find whatever item you need before you get to whatever impasse that requires it. And if they didn't have these puzzle blockades, then they'd just be straight action games, which isn't what the developers are aiming for. Going back to my RPG example, you can have a puzzle just like that in the middle of a dungeon too, and that wouldn't be a fetch quest. That's just a part of the dungeon. A fetch quest is something that's completely off to the side and irrelevant, created solely for the purpose of busy work and extending a game.

[Sunnyvale]

OK, thanks for the clarification. My definition is different, or perhaps I see things differently. I find the entire 'put a coin on the statue' thing completely irrelevent, and it's not the only example of this in the game. Puzzles are one thing (bookcases), searching for this to put it into that is busy work. The opportunity to get things in the right order exists, yes. If you know the game well. Or get damn lucky. That game is supposed to be about killing zombies, uncovering Umbrella's involvement, surviving... But instead it seems to be about finding this to go with that, completely off-topic items. If you had to find a vial of zombie blood and use it to get access to a new area, I would still label it a fetch quest, but not a ridiculous one. The unicorn coin and police station that was obviously cryptic before the virus just ruined it for me.

[The 1 2 P]

There are plenty of alternatives. I love the Wico sticks - high quality joysticks that feel great in the hand. I never had problems with the regular cx-40's though although many people don't like them.

I have absolutely no desire to play any 2600 games ever again, regardless of the controller.

[Edmond Dantes]

Knew I'd get grief bashing FF!

Dude, "getting grief" means that someone is actually flaming/harassing you. Nobody is.

And I second Kupomogli's advice: stop running from enemies. It appears that you're approaching the game the wrong way which might be why you're having problems with it. I certainly never had half those difficulties.

[Sunnyvale]

Dude, "getting grief" means that someone is actually flaming/harassing you. Nobody is.

And I second Kupomogli's advice: stop running from enemies. It appears that you're approaching the game the wrong way which might be why you're having problems with it. I certainly never had half those difficulties.

Seems we differ on the definition of getting grief. Yes, I'm not being flamed or harrassed. I am being given advice on how to play a game I beat 20 + years ago.

Anyway, do you kill all the wolves on your way to open the chests after you get the Mystic Key? That's what I mean by running from enemies. If you spend an hour playing, you're lucky if you finish anything besides gaining some XP. Had it in the late 80's, and I loved it then. Seems boring and slow to me now. I do appreciate the advice from you both, but I assure you, I'm no newb. I know how to thump an RPG just fine. Fact is, like so many others who have posted on this thread, my age has caused my tastes to change. What once was interesting and exciting is now dull. Almost any RPG is weak to me now, too much work, too much searching, too much killing for XP. I got Zelda for the Wii 3 weeks ago. I've got about 2 hours into it. *yawn*

[Edmond Dantes]

I typically do kill every enemy I encounter, unless I'm in a hurry or else this close to death.

Anyway, back on topic I found another game for this thread:

Strider (as in Hiryu, not the Lord of the Rings guy). I first discovered this via the copy packaged with Strider 2, and while I never liked the sequel much I loved the first one and would endlessly replay it even though I beat it on my first go. I loved the cipher, I loved the music and the little robots and the climbing up the walls and everything. But I just got done playing it again (this time via the Capcom Classics Collection) and what I originally took to be a fun, challenging game that demanded skill now comes off to me as just plain cheap and cheating. Nine times out of ten, one hit kills you even when you have full health just because that same hit happens to also knock Strider right into a pit. On the flying fortress level I swear I saw Hiryu--several times--actually catch a platform, and then just decide on his own to let it go and fall to his death. This is aside from several times where he landed on the very edge then seemed to just step off of his own accord.

Then again though, one thing I learned from owning the Capcom Classics Collections is I really don't like a lot of Capcom's arcade games... they all seem to be just impossibly cheap and not fun at all, in contrast to their console games.

[Graham Mitchell]

I typically do kill every enemy I encounter, unless I'm in a hurry or else this close to death.

Anyway, back on topic I found another game for this thread:

Strider (as in Hiryu, not the Lord of the Rings guy). I first discovered this via the copy packaged with Strider 2, and while I never liked the sequel much I loved the first one and would endlessly replay it even though I beat it on my first go. I loved the cipher, I loved the music and the little robots and the climbing up the walls and everything. But I just got done playing it again (this time via the Capcom Classics Collection) and what I originally took to be a fun, challenging game that demanded skill now comes off to me as just plain cheap and cheating. Nine times out of ten, one hit kills you even when you have full health just because that same hit happens to also knock Strider right into a pit. On the flying fortress level I swear I saw Hiryu--several times--actually catch a platform, and then just decide on his own to let it go and fall to his death. This is aside from several times where he landed on the very edge then seemed to just step off of his own accord.

Then again though, one thing I learned from owning the Capcom Classics Collections is I really don't like a lot of Capcom's arcade games... they all seem to be just impossibly cheap and not fun at all, in contrast to their console games.

Well, they're arcade games. They're designed to take your money. But I hear what you're saying. I just try to appreciate them for the other things they have to offer (ambience, fast action, cool visuals). Having infinite continues helps curb the frustration a little bit. Have you played Magician Lord lately? Such a tragedy...it's a beautiful game but it's nearly impossible. If anyone has beat it, my hat is off to them.

[Edmond Dantes]

Magician Lord? No I haven't. That's on one of the Taito Legends collections, right?

I'm so disappointed that Taito never collected all the Bubble Bobble games in one place.

And I get that they're designed to be quarter-munchers, but there are ways to do that and still be reasonably fair about it. Capcom seems like they just threw every sadistic trick in the book at you and called it a game. Though, to be fair I also suspect there might be differences between the PS1 port and the Capcom Classics Collection.

[Sunnyvale]

And I get that they're designed to be quarter-munchers, but there are ways to do that and still be reasonably fair about it. Capcom seems like they just threw every sadistic trick in the book at you and called it a game. Though, to be fair I also suspect there might be differences between the PS1 port and the Capcom Classics Collection.

Capcom seemed to enjoy breaking your spirit one quarter at a time, until they came up with the best quarter munching scam of the 90's: Street Fighter 2. Remember the lines of quarters on those machines, and no one mad at the game, just the other person. Marketing worthy of Microsoft.

[spongerob]

Capcom seemed to enjoy breaking your spirit one quarter at a time, until they came up with the best quarter munching scam of the 90's: Street Fighter 2. Remember the lines of quarters on those machines, and no one mad at the game, just the other person. Marketing worthy of Microsoft.

So true. I remember when my local grocery store got MK very early on, and I mean practically as they were being shipped out of the production warehouse, they grabbed one. It was there forever before the home versions popped up. And that thing had lines seemingly from day one, until the Gen/SNES versions dropped in price.

The crowd's were huge, you'd have to wait at least 20 minutes or more to get a spot. And then when you got up there, some guy with 30 bucks in mom's quarters and no life went to school on you. And that was playing against a human-the CPU difficulty typically started out easy and then became impossible. But you're completely right, we just ate it up. No one questioned it. Brilliant stuff.

[Sunnyvale]

I was 16 when SF2 hit the arcade. Just had my first crap job, and I hadn't bought a SNES yet (too busy chasing girls n whatnot). I spent $60 a week on that damn machine. Like you said, it was usually a person with no life who schooled me. Then I broke down and bought a SNES, the port looked so good. It wasn't.

[Casati]

NES Super Mario series, but mainly because they've lost their novelty. They really aren't bad games.

Also, Sega's Sonic games. They designed them so just after you reached max speed while gaining rings in those loops, you'd collide with something and lose all of your rings.

[Edmond Dantes]

Yeah, Street Fighter II is when Capcom really hit their stride, and honestly having every version of it is one of the reasons I bought both the Capcom Classics Collections--didn't even really care about the other stuff. I mean its cool to see what the arcade version of 1943 is like (I grew up on the NES one) but as I said, most of the non-SFII games are just junk.

In other news, is there a way to make the robot tiger companion appear in Strider? Getting it is how you unlock one of the bonus features on the Collection, but unfortunately it seems to be totally random--I played through the game twice now without ever seeing it. Sigh... this is why I hate it when they go back and add unlockables to a game that wasn't originally planned around them (actually, why I hate unlockables period).

[spongerob]

Excitebike for me was one of those rare treats as a kid. Perhaps because the local rental place never had a copy in, but when a friend had Excitebike, man I just got that feeling like "I'm in for a shitload of fun". And it was. It was simple bike racing but the course building was a blast and seeing if you could make a course even you couldn't drive was just a shot of joy filled fun for a little kid.

I went back and played it and while I can pinpoint what I found great about Excitebike, it just isn't as fun anymore. It's just gaming evolution. Why play that when I can play Joe Danger?

[Sunnyvale]

Yeah, Street Fighter II is when Capcom really hit their stride, and honestly having every version of it is one of the reasons I bought both the Capcom Classics Collections--didn't even really care about the other stuff. I mean its cool to see what the arcade version of 1943 is like (I grew up on the NES one) but as I said, most of the non-SFII games are just junk.

You can count the console ports that topped the coin-op on two hands, at most. And half of those are Capcom ports. So yes, I think you are dead-on with your evaluation of their early arcade days. Like a lot of the SMS games, just unbeatable. At least you can replay the SMS game for free!

[Tron 2.0]

Magician Lord? No I haven't. That's on one of the Taito Legends collections, right?

Magician Lord is for the Neo-Geo but it is on SNK Arcade Classics for the PS2&Wii.

The game can also down loaded from the psn and wii/vc.

Bewarn it's a hard one though it's one of my favorites on the neo-geo people either love it or hate it.

[Edmond Dantes]

Reviving this thread because I found another one. And yes, it's a Capcom one:

1943: The Battle of Midway

My childhood love of this game can be summed up like so: my dad bought me the NES version so that I would stop pestering him for quarters every time we went to the local arcade.

Today, I'm playing it via the Capcom Classics Collection and... wondering what the hell I loved about it. Besides having the same sort of cheap "challenge" I notice from all other Capcom games, my impression now is that its a really pedestrian shooter, with not a lot to make it stand out. I can only guess that I loved it back in the day because I hadn't discovered R-Type and Thunder Force yet.

[retroguy]

While I can't think of a game that fits this topic exactly (the superficial ages, big whoop), there have been games that I've replayed years later after reading or hearing something about them that suggested there was something terrible or bluntly shit about them. You know, when somebody's complaining about some supposed awful game (or portion thereof) and you think to yourself, "Really? Bullshit." and play the game again to verify?

This! I replayed Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout after seeing James Rolfe's review of it and it's not nearly as bad as he says it is (still a funny episode, though). It's actually a pretty good alternative to Super Mario Bros. if you don't feel like playing that for the hundredth time.

[Edmond Dantes]

Same goes for Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle too. I feel like Rolfe didn't give the first game a fair shake (I never played the sequels though)