Old Games Nostalgia

[Toby Frost]

I've been listening to some drum and bass mixes while I work, most of which are based on the music to old games from the mid-2000s from the Dreamcast and other consoles. The games of that time interest me: the graphics have a bright, slightly basic quality that I like, and there's a sort of cheerfulness to it all. I suspect that, as games weren't such high-cost projects back then, it was possible to create a game based on a wacky concept and not worry too much if it failed.

Anyhow, I wonder if there's anything like those old games on the PC these days, whether original games or (non-dodgy) emulators. I miss games being outright fun (and at least moderately easy).

 

[thaddeus6th]

I've mentioned this before here, I think, but Phantasy Star IV is a great RPG, and can be bought on Steam for 99p.

 

[Foxbat]

My nostalgia goes further back. I yearn for the simpler times of the Atari ST (circa 1990). The music was all blip blop beep and the games were simple yet fun. Nowadays, playing a game often feels like a chore.

 

[Dave]

(Also late 1980's or earlier 1990's) and I must have spent weeks on the Commodore 64 playing various "Dizzy" platform games, also a Sherlock Holmes first-person-shooter-type game, and then later when I first got online, with a game where you rode on the back of a Dragon and made it fly, and another where you fought WW1 biplane battles, with what appeared to be real ground features. Then it was Rollercoaster Tycoon and Zoo Tycoon with the kids (they used to remove the fences and let the animals eat each other.) And The Sims!!! We also played Age of Empires but it was never quite the same after we discovered the cheat codes for tanks, laser guns and rocket launchers. I used to try to finish Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, but I pretty much gave up on gaming after that.

In the late 1970's/ early 1980's also remember playing Space Invaders and Caterpillar for hours too - the amount of money that was put into those machines!

 

[thaddeus6th]

My nostalgia goes further back. I yearn for the simpler times of the Atari ST (circa 1990). The music was all blip blop beep and the games were simple yet fun. Nowadays, playing a game often feels like a chore.

Double Dragon brings back memories.

 

[Toby Frost]

We should probably change the thread title to "Old Games Nostalgia".

I bought Phantasy Star IV and had a go: it's definitely old, but it looks as if it might be good fun. It's quite weird having an "RPG" where you can't change your character's appearance or dialogue, but I gather a lot work like that.

 

[Dave]

I'll do that.

I forgot about the Asteroids arcade game from the early '80's. I don't know how as I probably spent more time playing that game that any other.

 

[reiver33]

For me it’s ‘Homeworld’, playing it again these days as it’s now on Steam.

 

[Foxbat]

I remember a games arcade when I was a kid. It had a very simple game that might have been called Depth Charge. It was like a reverse Space Invaders where you tried to drop charges on to passing submarines. Somehow, I discovered that if I wet my finger and touched the coin slot, I got a free game and a small electric shock. I used to spend hours playing for nothing and built up my tolerance to electricity at the same time.

P.S. Don’t try this at home, kids. Leave it to the experts and idiots like me

 

[thaddeus6th]

Toby, some aspects are surprisingly advanced, though. The story has quite some twists, from memory, and in combat you can do combos (try Chaz's Cross-cut and, I think, Rune's Hewn ability. Doesn't always work, but sometimes it creates the Grand Cross attack).