The format of these posts is simple: let’s discuss a specific game or series!

Based on a recommendation I received, we’ll change things up by actually not discussing a game or series like in earlier posts…

Let’s discuss the 8-bit era of gaming. What is your favorite game of this generation? What aspects do you like about it? What doesn’t work for you? Feel free to share any thoughts that come up, or react to other peoples comments. Let’s get the conversation going!

If you have any recommendations for games or series for the next post(s), please feel free to DM me or add it in a comment here (no guarantees of course).

Previous entries: Animal Crossing, Age of Empires, Super Mario, Deus Ex, Stardew Valley, The Sims, Half-Life, Earthbound / Mother, Mass Effect, Metroid, Journey, Resident Evil, Polybius, Tetris, Telltale Games, Kirby, LEGO Games, DOOM, Ori, Metal Gear, Slay the Spire

  • coyotino [he/him]@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    5 months ago

    I’ve been watching Jeff Gerstmann work through and rank the NES library over the past year, and I agree with your sentiment. It seems like there are only like 10-20 NES games that actually hold up, and the rest of the library is either “good for the era” or absolute garbage.

    • richmondez@lemdro.id
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      5 months ago

      I’d argue that is true of any generation, a few games are must plays and endure as such, then there are many that are just okay even at the time and then a bunch of crap it’s hardly worth playing.

      • coyotino [he/him]@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        5 months ago

        The “floor” for how bad a bad game can be has gone up as the generations have gone on. There’s always a few stinkers, but most PS2 games are objectively better than like half of the NES library.

        • richmondez@lemdro.id
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          5 months ago

          Better by which objective metric? Amount of content? Total size of game code and data? Got to disagree with you otherwise.

          • coyotino [he/him]@beehaw.org
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            5 months ago

            Like, half of the NES library is games riddled with bugs, or they are licensed games where the devs barely knew what they were doing so they just cranked out a piece of software that barely qualifies as a game. I’m not talking about the games that we remember. If you remember an NES game, even if you remember it as bad, I am 99% certain it isn’t one of the dogshit games I’m thinking of. I’m not talking about like, Excitebike or Bubble Bobble or whatever. Those are classics, even if they’ve aged poorly. I’m talkin games like, Fester’s Quest, or Mickey Mousecepade, or Jordan vs. Bird: One-on-One, or Time Lord. Games where just playing them feels bad.

            • richmondez@lemdro.id
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              5 months ago

              But there are games that have the same problems today, they just look better because they have higher resolution assets but as still riddled with bugs and control issues.

      • jecxjo@midwest.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        4 months ago

        I think the difference is that in the 8bit generation yhe majority of the game were bad relative to each other. The peak of the bell curve for 8bit was between mediocre to kinda bad games.

        While there are more games in later generations, it feels like the console manufacturers took more control and regulated what was published. Bad games happen now because of shitty business decisions and bad story writing. You dont see garbage being published just because you can.