Seasoned gamers know better than to replay a classic video game from their childhood because, most of the time, it’s nowhere near as good as it was when they first played it. Gaming is a truly fascinating medium, one that can captivate children and adults alike, but some memories are better left in the past.
7 Game Of The Year Winners That Have Aged Badly
These GOTY winners once wowed audiences, but years after their release, they’ve become quite outdated.
Of course, this can happen for various reasons. Some games from twenty or thirty years ago haven’t aged very well, while many others require a huge time investment to be properly enjoyed, which sadly doesn’t suit the lifestyle of a responsible adult. Many classic, nostalgic games should never be replayed, but the following ten are the most notorious examples of this unfortunate phenomenon.
Battletoads
Requires Constant Trial And Error
Those who grew up with an NES can attest that games from that era were crushingly difficult because they were meant to be completed in weeks or even months, despite their short duration. While there are lots of ruthless NES exclusives to choose from, Battletoads is definitely the biggest standout, as it’s now considered one of the hardest games ever made.
Battletoads is a beat ’em up with countless enemies and obstacles that can kill the player in one hit, little to no checkpoints, and a limited number of continues. Those who experienced this title when they were younger may have fond memories of it, but trying to complete it today will not only frustrate them to no end but will also require a major time investment. Fortunately, the recent Battletoads reboot from 2020 scratches that same itch while also being much more forgiving.
Duke Nukem 3D
A Raunchy FPS From The 90s (That Should Stay In The 90s)
While some classic PC-exclusive first-person shooters from the 90s have not aged well at all, titles like Wolfenstein 3D or Doom are still worth checking out for their historical importance. However, the same can’t be said for Duke Nukem 3D: it truly feels like a product of its time.
Duke Nukem’s iconic first foray into the 3D gaming realm has outdated mechanics and controls, but the main reason it doesn’t warrant a replay is its sense of humor. Raunchy and/or crass comedy was all the rage during the 90s, and while Duke Nukem 3D still has some funny lines, most of the game feels juvenile and immature. When its long-awaited sequel, Duke Nukem Forever, came out fifteen years later, it was criticized for the same type of comedy, which already felt cringeworthy in 2011.
Resident Evil
A Better Version Of This Game Already Exists
Resident Evil
- Released
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March 22, 1996
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Language, Violence
The original Resident Evil is one of those groundbreaking video games that felt incredibly innovative at the time. It paved the way for basically the entire survival horror genre, but it has now been topped by pretty much every title that it helped inspire.
5 Legendary Games That Aged Like Fine Wine (And One That Definitely Didn’t)
Let’s dive into a few classic games that have aged splendidly, along with one that hasn’t quite stood the test of time.
The tank controls, the fixed camera, the blocky 3D graphics, and the cheesy dialogue worked perfectly for the time, and they didn’t make Resident Evil feel any less scary either. But nowadays, almost everything about this game has aged poorly, and those looking to experience a tension-filled survival horror experience are better off playing any other entry in the Resident Evil franchise, including the first game’s Nintendo GameCube remake, which boasts improved graphics, more polished mechanics, and additional enemies and locales.
Crash Bandicoot
Way Harder Than Most People Remember
There’s no denying that Crash Bandicoot was one of the biggest gaming icons of the 90s, but, weirdly enough, it seems like many people have mixed up their memories of the first three PS1 games. Yes, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and Crash Bandicoot: Warped are fun 3D platformers with decent difficulty curves, but the original Crash Bandicoot is so devastatingly hard that it’s not worth going back to now.
In the first game, Crash felt much heavier and clunkier, and maintained no momentum if the player tried to move him in the air after a jump. On top of that, most of the levels are unforgiving and require pinpoint-accurate platforming. They are far too long, and they have very few checkpoints. If those who read all that somehow still want to replay the first Crash Bandicoot, they should at least try the remake in the N. Sane Trilogy collection, which makes the game a bit more palatable.
Pokemon Red And Blue
Filled To The Brim With Bugs, Glitches, And Broken Mechanics
Pokemon Blue
- Released
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September 28, 1998
- ESRB
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Everyone
No other cultural phenomenon has defined the 90s as much as “PokeMania,” single-handedly kickstarted by the North American release of Pokemon Red and Blue. However, those who have tried to replay these two games out of curiosity or nostalgia found out how broken they actually are, cementing the fact that they only became a massive success thanks to their unique premise.
Pokemon Red and Blue have unappealing black-and-white sprites, they lack many of the mechanics that made future entries more enjoyable and accessible (like Pokemon breeding, day-night cycles, held items, etc.) and are filled to the brim with technical issues, from bugs and glitches that can break the game to bizarre coding errors that somehow made it to the final product (like Psychic Pokemon being immune to Ghost-type moves, instead of being weak to them). It’s likely that many people who have fond memories of Red and Blue actually played their GBA remakes, Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen.
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GoldenEye 007
It’s No Longer The Best Multiplayer FPS On Home Consoles
Similar to Resident Evil, GoldenEye 007 is notorious for revolutionizing an entire genre, essentially proving that FPS games could also feel great on home consoles; they just required a carefully crafted control scheme. Moreover, it had a lengthy single-player campaign and an addictive multiplayer mode that many gamers spent dozens of hours playing alongside their friends when they were young.
The FPS genre wouldn’t be the same without GoldenEye 007, but trying to replay this Nintendo 64 classic today will immediately shatter that illusion. The control scheme that was so innovative in 1998 feels cumbersome and outdated now, and its multiplayer mode (which holds up surprisingly well) feels very limited. Needless to say, there are better FPS games on home consoles, many of which have online connectivity, which is way more convenient, as trying to get 4 friends in the same room is much more difficult as an adult.
Conker’s Bad Fur Day
A Parody Game That Felt More Clever When It Came Out
The 90s were the decade of raunchy, irreverent humor, and those reckless kids who managed to watch stuff like South Park without their parents’ supervision most likely ended up playing Conker’s Bad Fur Day at some point as well. Of course, this game is still a cult classic with a sizable fanbase, but it doesn’t have the impact it once did.
Conker’s Bad Fur Day boasts crass humor that feels too immature today (though it occasionally has some funny lines), not to mention that it relies too much on extremely outdated pop culture references. On top of all that, it also served as a parody of the 3D collect-a-thon platformers that plagued the gaming industry during the late 90s (many of which were made by Rare itself), so the entire game’s main joke is not as funny without that context. All in all, Conker’s Bad Fur Day is definitely a product of its time.
Grand Theft Auto 3
Open-World Sandbox Games Have Come A Long Way
Most people who consider the Grand Theft Auto series a crucial part of their childhoods (or, more likely, their teenage years) are often referring to titles like GTA: Vice City or San Andreas. Meanwhile, the game that made the franchise explode in popularity in the first place, Grand Theft Auto 3, is nowhere near as good or popular as its sequels.
Once-Great Open-World Games That Have Aged Like Milk
These legendary open-world games were great at the time, but really show their age in the modern day.
Of course, GTA 3 basically founded and popularized the modern open-world sandbox genre. These types of games wouldn’t be the same without it, be they entries in the same franchise (like GTA 5 or the upcoming GTA 6) or other titles it helped inspire (like Saints Row or Sleeping Dogs). However, GTA 3 itself has aged poorly. It feels very limited compared to other open-world games, and it lacks a clear sense of identity that would differentiate it from its follow-ups. Innovative and ambitious gameplay was all it had, and now that its gameplay mechanics are commonplace, it’s not really worth playing anymore.
World Of Warcraft
Requires A Massive Time Commitment That Adults Just Don’t Have
Of course, World of Warcraft still boasts a massive player count of over 200,000 people, but sometimes it’s easy to forget that this MMORPG was a huge cultural phenomenon when it came out. In the mid-2000s, almost everybody played World of Warcraft, and most kids and teenagers spent countless hours raiding alongside their friends.
Most seasoned gamers likely have very fond memories of World of Warcraft, but the unfortunate truth is that it’s not worth replaying today, especially for those who dropped it decades ago. A huge MMORPG like this requires a massive time investment that most responsible adults simply do not have, not to mention that the modern iteration of this game is drastically different from the one from 2004, as it has changed after constant updates and expansions.
Assassin’s Creed
Overshadowed Immediately By Its Sequel
Anybody who owned a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 during the late 2010s most likely played Assassin’s Creed at some point, since this franchise was incredibly popular at that time. However, most people tend to forget that Assassin’s Creed 2 was the game that turned this IP into a gaming mainstay. The first game was nowhere near as impressive as its sequel.
Yes, the original Assassin’s Creed is a serviceable stealth/action-adventure title that felt quite distinct during the seventh generation, but its presentation was lackluster, its main character was dull and forgettable, its climbing mechanics felt unpolished, and its missions were very repetitive. For Assassin’s Creed 2, Ubisoft took what made the first game special and improved everything else to make a truly incredible experience. Assassin’s Creed 2 is the game that’s still worth replaying today, not its predecessor.
PS2 Games That Have Aged Like Fine Wine
These PlayStation 2 games have aged so well that they are still highly enjoyable to this day.
