Games that HAVE aged well

Sonic 3 And Knuckles, Streets Of Rage 2, and Driver 2 (somewhat).

I played Symphony Of The Night the other day to see what all the fuss was about, and I was surprised by just how far ahead it was, even by today's action game standards.

For an old game, Medieval I Total War is still an enjoyable experience. Heck Rome and Medieval II are standing up to the test of time fairly well, primarily because of their insane modding communities.

Age of Empires II: The Age Of Kings is always fun. Also, Command And Conquer Generals, if you count that.

The first two Doom games for me. I still play them, and they're still lots of fun. Not to mention all the user-made wads

Tetris

• Kirby games. Especially Kirby Super Star.
• Super Metroid
• Donkey Kong Country
• Starcraft
• Command And Conquer games pre-Generals. (Not fanboyism or Game Mod pimping. The games play quite well despite 15+ years of innovation in the RTS world since 1995.)
• Halo Combat Evolved.
• Embodiment Of Scarlet Devil and Perfect Cherry Blossom. The first is already 10 years old!
• Super Mario Bros 3

Tetris Attack.

Motherfuckin' Tetris attack. That game still looks, sounds and plays almost as good as any 2D block based puzzle these days (within reason). If my SNES' power outlet hadn't died I'd be playing the shit out of it.

Also, oddly, Mortal Kombat 1 through Trilogy still look pretty damn good, if not a bit too cheesy.

And I agree, C&C has aged rather well. On that same note, Dune 2000 is still tons of fun.

Um... have you seen those battle animations recently? They were made when the idea of 3D animations was interesting in and of itself, nowadays it's just slow.

Metal Gear Solid 1 on the Playstation One. Still plain fun even after all this time. I always have a hard time getting used to the controls after not having played it in ages though.

Vagrant Story. The visual design, animation and cinematography is amazing, and the game mechanics are, while difficult, still deep and engaging. The score is also remarkably atmospheric, with Sakimoto's orchestration managing to survive the transition to sampled MIDI.

Chrono Trigger still holds up, not just story wise but graphically. Late SNES sprites just look good.

Master Of Orion and Master Of Magic both have shockingly good controls for PC games of their vintage. Makes playing them a pure pleasure even for a modern gamer. What can I say, I'm used to old PC games having awful controls.

Good choice.

Seconding Vagrant Story. I didn't even play it when it first came out, only just getting it on PSN, but I absolutely love it.

Pajama Sam!

Also, the two Lego Racers games... my siblings STILL play those games...

Half-Life 2 very much holds up today, since it was far ahead of its time in 2004.

I agree, but the crow's feet are slowly, yet surely emerging.

Mario 3, World, Yoshi's Island are good examples.

It's a tad broken, but Fallout 2 is still very fun to play, with really funny easter eggs, a good combat system, and a good story.

It's not the cream coated chocolate filled orgasm it was back in the day, but Ocarina of Time is still a good game. Not great, but very good.

Megaman X hasn't aged a damn day, if you asked me. Well, there are the final few levels, but other than that, it still holds up very well.

Almost forgot; Wind Waker is as beautiful now as it was years ago.

edited 3rd Nov '12 4:16:39 AM by eternalNoob

Half Life 2 and Freelancer definitely...Freelancer need windowed mode though...

edited 3rd Nov '12 4:58:21 AM by onyhow

Super Smash Bros Melee. And EarthBound.

Descent is still one of my favorites to this day. Not too many games out there that take advantage of 6 Degrees of Movement.

Master Of Magic is an obvious one.

Heroes Of Might And Magic III.

I'd kind of disagree about both text games and many adventure games: They often rely on pretty obscure interfaces to modern gamers. (I mean, we who played them back then don't mind, but for new players...)

Super Mario 64: The graphics are dated as hell, but the gameplay is still solid and fun, some of the best in the series IMO.

edited 3rd Nov '12 5:35:42 AM by majoraoftime

Rocket Knight Adventures still holds up really well.

Also, Day Of The Tentacle still looks good and sounds good. Still one of the best adventure games around.

Super Smash Brothers, pretty much any GBA or Pokemon game, the third Crash Bandicoot.

The third Crash Bandicoot? You sir, have my invisible give-me-five