As the years go on, there will inevitably be the release of new consoles. This often involves the discarding and setting aside of previous ones. Some of these consoles "age" better than others. By "age", I mean they are more fun to play after an extended period of time, regardless of how long ago it came out. In my opinion, Nintendo consoles seem to age better than its counterparts. If I were given the options of playing the Gamecube, Xbox, or Playstation 2 for example, I would most likely choose the Gamecube in a close race over PS2. Why? Because many of those games weren't striving for realism and are still a lot of fun to pick up and play to this day. Microsoft and Sony often publish a good number of games that have terribly outdated graphics, which is the wide appeal of many of these old releases. This isn't to say that all retro Nintendo games are better than the others, that's not what I think at all. However, I feel that Nintendo games and consoles generally age better. On another note, I have zero desire to play the Nintendo Wii, but I like the Xbox360 and PS3 okay, just not compared to the XboxOne and PS4. Another example I'll use is the Playstation Classic vs. the NES and SNES Classic systems. While I have little interest in the NES era of gaming, the SNES Classic contains many fun, popular, and still relevant games. Most of the games on the Playstation Classic don't really hold up as fun to me, seeing as they mostly been improved on in every possible way by its later games. My main point is that strong hardware will likely become outdated eventually, leaving the quality of games as the more important aspect. This is another reason for my love for Nintendo games (despite all of their many, many flaws). I still play Super Mario Bros. 3, Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario World, tons of N64 games, and more. I have other retro consoles from other companies, but I never touch those compared to the Nintendo ones. We are all entitled to our own opinions on this. I'd love to have a nice, reasonable discussion! What are your thoughts on the aging of consoles? Which one has games that have aged the best? Which consoles from the current generation will age the best? Worst?
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time still holds up today, blocky graphics and all. In fact, an HDTV gives those old blocky graphics a certain charm.
The current age of consoles definitely have potential of being the best that we've had in a long time. Honestly I feel like the PS2 has games that have aged the best. Never will games like Ratchet & Clank, Jak & Daxter, Crash, Spyro, Kingdom Hearts, Need for Speed, etc. get old. To those new gamers (kids in the new gen) who have never touched a PS2, they might not like those games much, but I feel like if they played any of these games they wouldn't see much of a difference in the quality of video and a lot of those games can be played for hours. The worst console that aged in my opinion, has to be the WiiU. The WiiU did not support many 3rd party games like the Nintendo Switch currently does. All of the WiiU games were mainly additions to games that have already been made like example: New Super Mario Bros, HD Ports (while the HD Ports were nice, it would of been nice to see more original content), Just Dance, etc. If the WiiU had more 3rd party game support I'm sure it would of aged better than what it did, but sadly we did not get those games that are currently out on the Switch. I really did enjoy the WiiU and I'm sad it aged the way it did, but it really didn't have all that much enjoyable content to it.
I have to sadly agree with you here, at least to an extent. The WiiU was fun imo, but its best games have only been improved upon for the Nintendo Switch, especially with Mario Maker 2 coming out. The one game on there that I will continually come back to has to be WindWaker HD, which is a great improvement in the original.
Honestly, I think the games that age the best are generally the ones that don't prioritise graphics over gameplay, and go for their own unique visual style rather than trying to push the hardware to its limits. Whilst plenty of games with "realistic" visuals still cross over into uncanny valley, older games that were touted as graphical marvels look absolutely horrifying by today's standards. The leap from 2D to 3D was, at the time, a pretty remarkable thing, but those earlier games that made that leap and were seen as pioneers of their time have, unfortunately, long since seen that time come to an end. I think the narrative plays a huge part in keeping games relevant, too. A good story can make mediocre gameplay a necessary evil that doesn't even feel like a chore. There are plenty of those to be found in previous generations...far more than current gens, because back then it hadn't all been done before. ...although there is nostalgia, that wonderfully infuriating factor that drives the industry forward even as it constantly holds it back. Nostalgia can override all objections and criticism and bring ancient games to the front of the pack. I don't think it can save a lot of games - playing the original Pokémon games now is agonising - but for those more iconic titles, like FFVII and Ocarina of Time...yeah. I would say nostalgia is the only thing keeping those two relevant. Ocarina especially, because the gameplay is absolutely dire when compared to the likes of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. It's that "I did it first!" factor that people just can't let go of for some reason. Playing with old controllers now is almost physically painful, though. With the sole exception of the Gamecube controller - which remains a technical marvel despite belonging to a console that was generally overshadowed by the PS2 - past generation controllers feel terrible in my hands...I have to play my PS3 with my Dualshock 4 because I literally cannot use the Dualshock 3 any more. I think the controllers are what set the consoles apart, in a way: you can make allowances for games not being as responsive as more modern iterations because they were either limited by the technology of their time or were starting points for gameplay that has long since been improved upon in a myriad of ways. But when you can't even PLAY the things, well... I would say that the console that has aged the best is the 3DS, because it's still relevant. That in itself is pretty remarkable, considering the extremely loud whining people have done about it, and how short the console life cycle is. That Nintendo can still support the system - alongside the Switch, which is obscenely successful - is pretty remarkable. It's last gen hardware - older really, if you ignore the New 3DS - in the current gen.
I prefer the Nintendo wii, solely biased from my childhood. Smash Bros brawl and twilight princess was my life back in the day. Smash Bros will always have a place in my heart as it is the only way my siblings could ever communicate without immediately quarrelling with each other.
I'd say certain games age better due to the graphics giving it a better charm. Tachyon: The fringe has aged well to me even graphically because while they went for realism, they still went all in on space tech science fiction. You would have to play it to understand and yes, this is a PC game. Kotor 1 has also aged well for me, looking just as good today as it did then. Nintendo games do tend to age well depending on the system, for example Pokémon blue did not age well for me at all, but dr. Mario did. I never played the Wii u, but my rune factory games for the Wii seem to be aging quite nicely. As for Pokémon, emerald and leaf green have gotten a nice touch through aging.
Consoles aging graphically is sad, but interesting. What was considered cutting edge at one point can now be considered archaic. I’ll go over all the major factors in this topic because I think it will become more important as time goes on. Keep in mind this from a guy who was born not long after the GameCube and didn’t get into gaming until the DS was fading out. Realism vs Stylistic for Character Models, textures, and backgrounds: When I see gameplay footage for latest [insert realistic looking triple-A game here], I think “that looks really nice, but I’m sure it won’t hold up in ten years.” This thought comes from playing games that were often deemed “technical marvels” upon release, but look jarring to someone who started during the HD gaming era like myself. Usually after a few hours of playing, I can usually look past that and enjoy the game for what it is. Personally, I think more stylistic games like Paper Mario and Okami still look great because they weren’t afraid of looking like they were hand drawn. In ten years, I wouldn’t be surprised if Cuphead and Hollow Knight are considered as some of the best looking games from the mid 2010’s. Resolution: Unlike graphical styles, I find it harder to get used to console games with outdated resolutions and aspect ratios. Whenever I play a game below 720p on my 4K TV, the picture becomes incredibly fuzzy due to upscaling. The only remedy for this is to buy an expensive upscale device. 4x3 is even worse. You have to deal with these distracting black bars that take up half the screen. Systems like the SNES classic that include custom side borders are a true blessing. This doesn’t apply with handhelds. Most of the time they can get away with a bad resolution since they’re on such a small screen. Controllers: This is something I can’t defend. Aside from the great GameCube controller (underwhelming d pad and all), there aren’t any retro controllers I find completely comfortable. The PS2’s analog sticks feel like they were glued with cement, the SNES controller is too small for anyone older than 10, and the Nintendo 64 controller makes me wonder what species the designers were. Of course they didn’t have as much to reference when designing these, but I’m not sure how anyone found most retro controllers satisfactory to use. Witnessing Games I Grew Up With Aging: For a while I knew the games I thought looked great as a child would eventually become dated. That time was a few months ago. I went back to my Wii U and tried Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Skyward Sword again. Both games I thought looked great. To my dismay, I saw nothing but low polygon counts, blurry textures, and a pixelated resolution. The games are still fun thankfully, but I wish they looked as nice as I remembered. Gameplay: As long as it isn’t the first title of a long franchise of anything pre-1985, I can still find the gameplay of most retro games up to date. Titles like Mario 3, Earthbound, and Chrono Trigger are still a blast to play even though I grew up with more advanced looking games.
Probably one of the least-recognized parts of consoles, despite being the only one we interact with. It's true that, like you pointed out, Nintendo has had a bumpy road with their controller design, but I would suggest it's been a steady improvement the entire time for them. The NES controller was literally painful to hold, so the SNES was given a round shape. The SNES had shoulder-buttons, but they were not-ideally placed and were underutilized because of their inconvenience. The N64 had better shoulder/trigger buttons, but had so many buttons they didn't know what to do with them. The Gamecube controller figured out where to put them... and so on. Bumpy, but steady improvement. Back to the point, stepping backwards along that progression sucks because it has one less convenience, and harms the life of the older consoles. You go back to the N64 and you have poor button placement, you go back to the SNES and you have a tiny controller, you go back to the NES and you have a rectangle. When something improves forward in time, it decays backwards in time, and that can apply to any aspect of aging and improvement. This is why PC is the master race. More than the graphics and the controllers and even the story, I put gameplay mechanics at the top of my list of traits that harms a console's or game's lifecycle. If you go back to Final Fantasy 1 for instance, the graphics are charming in their own way, and the story is simple and easy to follow, but the game itself is incredibly boring. Spam physical attacks or item-use magics until you slay every monster and beat the game. Compare that to classic Pokémon for instance and there's at least an aspect of recruiting a team, adapting to gyms, and choosing different attacks even while you're fighting random wilds. A boring game is boring, and a fun game is fun, and when the novelty wears off, that is the trait that will remain.
I think that the N64 aged fantastically, as well as a number of those games. I can't even tell you guys how often I've replayed Banjo Kazooie/Tooie, Mario 64, Bomberman, Rayman 2: The Great Escape, and other such games. The graphics may not be the most fantastic in the world, but because of their style I barely even notice.
I absolutely stand by the fact that older consoles have way more benefit than modern consoles. I love video games but with how certain things in the industry are going I see a huge crash coming in the next 5-10 years or so. It's sad given how much the devs of most games are just as passionate as the fans are but various people are screwing them out of what would otherwise be great games that we would still be talking about years down the line.
