Games that you loved when you were younger, but no longer do?

Sadly, nostalgia can be a bitch. Sometimes those games we used to think were the greatest things of all time turn out to be nothing short of a disappointment when visited today. Here is my story.

I was channel surfing on Saturday morning, and stopped upon an episode of Spongebob. I was filled with a rush of nostalgia. For some reason, this took me back to a time when Saturday mornings were always the same. I would always turn on the TV to cartoons (whether it be the original run of Pokemon, or Spongebob, or even Digimon), and plop myself in front of the computer (Compaq, AOL 4.0, and 64MB of RAM baby. We were living large) with a cup of instant coffee (ever seen South Park? My childhood reminds me of Tweek). The first and only website visited that morning? Runescape.com. The game was in its primitive stages at the time (bad graphics, few quests), but I didn't care. It was free. And best of all? This was the game that introduced me to online gaming. I could hook up with my friends at any time and rock the gaming world.

I spent hours on this game at a time, fighting, looting, mining, ect. There was nothing better than showing off your rare loot to your friends, who would always be jealous.

So here I am. Probably 10 years later. I figured, why not? I fired up Runescape.

The first thing I notice (after some trial and error with the password) is the graphics. They upgraded them right around the time I quit, and they don't look half bad (for a free browser game).

But let's talk gameplay. This game is nothing but a grindfest. I tried out some mining. All I did was walk back and forth between the mine and bank, monotonous clicking and all. I was bored within 10 minutes. All I could think was "Wow, I must have been really easy to please". I stopped before I ruined my childhood memories.

If there was one good thing I saw, it was inflation. Some of the rare items that were only available for one day were worth an insane amount of money. They also seemed to attract a lot of attention.

But sadly, the game just wasn't the same. As I look at my row of consoles sitting in front of my TV, I just can't help but think how much I would rather be playing them then this online MMORPG.

So, do you have any stories or games to share?

Plenty of games. I'm going through an old-school craze at the moment so I'm running into a bunch of games I no longer care for. I was playing some of the SNES import Dragon Ball Z games (Hyper Dimension and Butouden 2) and they are terrible fighters. I guess I was so in love with DBZ as a kid that I looked past the shittyness.

I also popped in Pilotwings as a request for a friend and he thought it looked better in his memory. Still it was fun, but it looks like ass on a 50' DLP.

I used to like Karate Champ. I was intrigued by all of the different moves you could pull off. But there were obviously lots of improvements in the 1 on 1 fighter genre after this game, which gave the player a lot more freedom. Karate Champ is stilted and boring by comparison.

MC Kids

All those action games I used to play on my SNES. Those were the games that had no saves/used limited continues so you'd mindlessly play to beat it in one sitting. I don't mean beat-em-ups though, those never get old.

Final Fantasy series. that, JRPGs in general.

Some (Lost Odyssey is the only to immediately come to mind) are still alright, but as a whole I have a LOT of trouble picking up a JRPG. One more surprise princess and I'll ing off myself.

Pretty much most JRPG’s for me. They used to be my favorite genre, but I just don’t have time to sit through them anymore. I may spend the same amount of time in a WRPG like Fallout 3, but in that amount of time, it seems like I accomplish more.

Although I can still play FFIX and Chrono Trigger, every other JRPG I’ve tried recently, I’ve given up on after 10 hours or less.

Tekken 1 for Playstation. I remember playing it for the first time in almost a decade and noticed that 1) the characters don't jump, they float, 2) Kuma looks like a retarded bobcat, 3) Paul's fists are bigger than his head, and 4) how Namco turned this game into one of the most successful fighters of all time was nothing short of a miracle...

Tekken 1 looks terrible, and slow as hell compared to 3D fighters today. I remember cheesing out with Lee's infinite kick combo since you could sidestep. It was Tekken 2 that really added more depth to series. And yeah Kuma looks like a turd brown mosaic badger.

Gran Turismo - graphics are just too blocky these days.

[quote name='Brownjohn']Pretty much most JRPG’s for me. They used to be my favorite genre, but I just don’t have time to sit through them anymore. I may spend the same amount of time in a WRPG like Fallout 3, but in that amount of time, it seems like I accomplish more.

Although I can still play FFIX and Chrono Trigger, every other JRPG I’ve tried recently, I’ve given up on after 10 hours or less.[/QUOTE]

Same

I'd have to say FF7. I loved that game to death when it first came out; so many sleepless nights and dozing off on the bus and in class trying to pick up all the limit breaks, get all the ultimate weapons, and beat all the weapons, not to mention farming multiple Knights of the Rounds.

I picked it up on PSN (despite having 2 black copies - I'm a rabid collector, one is still unopened) recently, and while it looks okay on the PSP, it looks like crap on the big screen. I forgot that the in game graphics were so much worse than those amazing cinematics (which having seeing Advent Children no longer seem as awesome). It's just brutal playing it on the PS3.

Playing on the PSP isn't much better though - I forgot the length of time between saves when you still haven't gotten access to the overworld or are in a dungeon. I tried playing some recently on a trip to a friend in Georgia and I couldn't get to a save point on the approach and had to lose about 30 minutes of gameplay -_-.

On a related note, 2 games that have withstood the test of time are FF4 and 6 - on the SNES. Seriously, even with the new DS versions out, I'd rather bust out the old cartridge and grind some Pink Tails or check out some Shadow dream sequences.

Super Mario Bros 2. That shit was magic when I got it as a kid. What a piece of crap game.

Sonic R. I played it for hours & hours back in the day, but now when I pop it in I unlock everything in about 30 mins & the characters look like shit. The soundtrack is still awesome though.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the PS1. I tried playing it a few months ago but the graphics were just too bad to handle. I really enjoyed that game too.