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PS1 Nostalgia Trip: What We Miss Most

Twenty years of PlayStation. It's still difficult to believe.

There's no denying that we've come a long way since the mid-90s. Anyone who tries to deny it is blinded by those attractive rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia.

That being said, you have to take the good with the bad. It's equally blind to say that everything about the industry and the PlayStation brand is better today. So, with that understanding, what do you most miss about the glory days of the original PlayStation? Sure, the technology is ridiculously outdated by today's standards but there's more to this hobby than pretty pictures.

To be frank, I really do miss memory cards . You can crow about the Cloud and the fact that a hard drive lets us save just about whenever and wherever we want. I get it. But here's a rebuttal: Firstly, being able to save constantly drastically reduces the challenge of any game. Secondly, I really miss being able to take my memory card to a friend's house and show off my progress in a game. Your save data is supposedly far more protected and far-reaching than ever before and yet, it's not so easily trasnferable as it used to be.

And yeah, despite the inherent positive side of downloads, patches, and updates , I still miss the push-and-play days. You can start a game just as fast as you could in the original PS1 days (or close to it, depending on the game). But there will inevitably be a patch or update or something that will hinder things. Because I rarely play online, these updates usually matter little to me. I could also do without the constant urging to play online or utilize social media to "bolster" my experience. Even when playing a campaign, you still feel hounded every now and then. Just leave me alone.

And lastly, I miss some of the so-called archaic gameplay systems . Yes, I'm talking mostly about turn-based mechanics and yes, I will always maintain that they're a perfectly viable gameplay system for a dozen different reasons. Won't get into that here, though…what do you miss most?

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Temjin001
Temjin001
9 years ago

I definitely miss being able to buy a game and know it'll just work. These days it's bug central.

My AC Unity arrived in the mail today from GameFly. I can't tell if it's the disc or the game but my PS4 is acting like it can barely run the game. I've had cutscenes stall out on entire scenes and all I could hear was sound effects while I saw my guy's arm stalled on opening a door. I've had ridiculously long load times for both booting the game and loading a level. It all seems abnormal. I hear my disc drive constantly stopping and going, stopping and going, as if it can't read something.
Is this normal? Is this what people are complaining about? I'm used to bugs from AC, like dudes walking through each other but there's something really wrong with this. I've tried both with the patch and without.

kokoro
kokoro
9 years ago

I just miss Final Fantasy. When I think of PS1 I remember all those cosy nights playing FF8.

smileys_007
smileys_007
9 years ago

One thing that I missed on my ps1 and ps2 is that I was able to play almost all the games on it due to the fact that my ps1 and ps2 were modified and I was able to buy games back then for a very cheap price.. ^_^

PC_Max
PC_Max
9 years ago

Like some, I miss just being able to pop in the disc and play a game because it worked the first time. No downloads, no patches. Today, many gamers just say, its the nature of games to be buggy. So now a buggy game is mainstream. Sorry, do not like that trend.

As odd as it sounds, I still find myself playing Spyro at this time of year, be it on the PS3 now, but for a brief time it reminds of the better days of stability in the console and game. And no need to have to go online for a multiplayer component. That was reserved for PC's.

Keep playing!

Breadlover
Breadlover
9 years ago

Miss the cheat codes 😀

ethird1
ethird1
9 years ago

Even to this day, I never played the sheer amount of RPGS on any other system like I did the PS 1. Oh there have been better rpgs of course since the ps1 days, but if you loved RPGS you were in heaven back then.

Sony is stupid for not bringing out every single rpg ever made for the PS1 on PSN. Say like Suikoden 2.

But the way I hear it, they have a company make the games on a CD and sell them for new on Ebay. Hell, gamestop makes brand new Xenoblade games and sells them for 50 bucks a pop, calling them used. I played it recently and took it back after I put more than 200 hours into the game. I got back 40 bucks for it.

End of line.

SASSYGIRL82
SASSYGIRL82
9 years ago

So who's getting the new 20 the anniversary ps4 colored like an original ps

Vivi_Gamer
Vivi_Gamer
9 years ago

Offline multiplayer. It was completely destroyed last gen, even games like Burnout: Paradise got rid of the core component of offline multi-player. The problem is that with my PS3 I have friends visit and I just have nothing to play, you get the odd FPS with co-op but that's about it. I don't even have a second controller any more and and I have no incentive to by one as the games of this generation just don't cater to that experience. I had many fond nights of playing Crash Team Racing (Which I still believe surpasses any Mario Kart)4-player with our multi-tap. I simply don't get them sort of experiences these days.

SaiyanSenpai
SaiyanSenpai
9 years ago

Like Kokoro mentioned above, I miss proper JRPGs (back then they were just called RPGs) by Square-Enix. FFVII is what made me buy the Playstation.

___________
___________
9 years ago

what i miss most is the pure brutality and precision those games required.
exactly why so many people love super meat boy and spelunky, they perfectly replicate what the old school 2D platforms required you to do.

Anonymous
Anonymous
9 years ago

Yeah this era of "push to win" is pretty sad. Games like Uncharted that 3/4 of the game require zero skill. Puzzles are pretty much solved already, platforming is basically on rails, melee automatically squares you up with your enemy (theres no wonder there were so many tears shed with The Evil Within's controls. Theyve forgotten how to actually play games themselves), and the climbing is impossible to screw up. I miss the glut of skill games that were on the shelves in those days.

Ben Dutka PSXE
Ben Dutka PSXE
9 years ago

Kid: The controls in The Evil Within were mediocre. If you want garbage technicals to create your challenge, that's your business.

And if you think Uncharted requires zero skill, than you haven't played it on anything besides normal difficulty.

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
9 years ago

You need to be a fan of the Demon's/Dark Souls games.

___________
___________
9 years ago

i would be if it wasn't for the cheap unfair design.
crash and super meat boy are brutal in the notion that if you make a mistake you pay for it, but never are you punished for doing what your forced to do, or forcing you to do things that are tedious and annoying.
dark souls punishes you for things you couldn't of known, for instance you walk in a pitch black room and a enemy is shooting arrows at you i spent hours wondering around trying to figure out how the ^%$# to get down to watch a gameplay vid and find out it's only a small drop and you can jump down.
how are you suppose to know that?
you just take a leap of faith and die and loose all your gear?
crash, super meat boy, proper hard brutal games give you all the tools and teach you the ropes of the trade, then punish you for not utilising them how you should.
dark souls punishes you for not knowing things you couldn't of known, or not doing things that are boring tedious and frustrating!
theres a big difference between brutal and difficult, and cheap.

coverton341
coverton341
9 years ago

You clearly haven't honestly played Dark Souls or you would know that when you die, you do NOT lose all your gear. Give the game an actual shot before you make straw men to push down.

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
9 years ago

It was the age of JRPGs, and also I miss the initial amazement of what it meant to play games that would have been flat 2D as polygonal 3D experiences. Fighters were just stunning. Today there is no jump that is like that between consoles releases.

DemonNeno
DemonNeno
9 years ago

I remember staring at games and thinking "it can't possibly look BETTER than this!"

What I didn't realize then was the demise of turn based gaming. It never happened to get better than that. That will be missed forever.

Temjin001
Temjin001
9 years ago

I suppose I miss the more unified feeling in console culture. It seemed to me back then everyone who was a gamer was always excited about the next big breakthrough epic experience. Whether it was a survival horror like Resident Evil, a JRPG like Final Fantasy or a simulator like Gran Turismo or a big fighter like Tekken 3, or car combat like Twisted Metal, it always felt like everyone was praising and playing these games.. for the most part anyway. Sure, there's always the exceptions.

These days there's all kinds of different camps and it feels like values and praise get's directed in a much more fragmented way.

The diehard Nintendo loyalists are in a camp where fun is king and things like story, realistic graphics, and immersion take a back seat.
There's the whole multiplayer explosion camp. Where games like Titanfall and CoD and Metal Gear get premieres as basically only multiplayer affairs.
There's PC gamers in there too with their RTS and F2P games. They're part of the multiplayer camp, just a different dialect of it. Oh, and then there's the create your own world games like Minecraft and mario maker etc. I just can't get into those at all.

It seems to me big epic games that try to push boundaries are less appreciated and are bigger targets for criticism. Back then it felt like if it was a huge ambitious undertaking that looked boundary pushing it was anticipated by everyone. These days there's cynics abound. Opposing camps fighting over viewpoints. And just a more volatile climate in general.

Maybe it has something to do with less of an internet presence and message boards back then. Back then my social side of gaming was from my immediate friends and family and what magazines told me I should be excited for. Everything was much more filtered then.


Last edited by Temjin001 on 12/6/2014 1:35:19 PM

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
9 years ago

word

DemonNeno
DemonNeno
9 years ago

You've covered most of my gripes, Ben. The constant patching of online play, yet issues that frustrate me with single player campaigns continue to annoy – untouched yet hardly unnoticed.

I miss not having to install every damn game that I buy. I miss the amount of turn based games. I really miss the side strollers that didn't need to change the recipe for a great game. The Metro games, Castlevania, and Contra. I miss the emphasis on gaming with your friends. We used to have marathons with a room packed with people. Sure, at that time it sucked that I couldn't keep playing on my own. Every time I did, though, it left so much to be desired. The games were something that united our group of friends. The Nintendo, Sega, and Sony boys n gals all grinding games under the same roof. Everyone nagging that they sucked because of the different controllers. It was hilarious, annoying, and awesome all at once.

Online gaming doesn't do it for me. Even when it (rarely) happens to be with actual friends of mine. Hell, I don't even know any of my friend's PSN alias. What's the difference, after all? The whole online thing to me is such an alienated idea. You're there, but not physically. You don't time out the game and max out on food. Have super awesome boozing challenges while playing. Nothing. Just a bunch of unknown people hiding behind a network cable.

I think technology changed the game in a sense that feels far less satisfying. The pros do outweigh the cons, but there are plenty of cons that bum me out. Nowadays, even when my buddies are like "let's game!", we stare at what games I have and end up with a boxing or other fighting game (I don't do sports games aside from fighting). There aren't many games that allow local co-op. It's all online based shenanigans.

/rant

GreyGhost
GreyGhost
9 years ago

I miss the music that would play as you'd boot up a game on the PS1 …

Harerazer
Harerazer
9 years ago

I miss the innocence, for lack of a better term. The days when we continuously got new game ideas. Monster Rancher blew my mind and I found myself searching my house for CDs like a dope fiend hunting for crack. Blast Chamber, Robo Pit, Twisted Metal, Resident Evil, Poy Poy/Pointer's Point…games that filled all of the genres and gave us choices. Now shooters and action games populate possibly 70% of the market.


Last edited by Harerazer on 12/7/2014 1:57:36 PM

H8WL3R
H8WL3R
9 years ago

Monster Rancher!!! I think I may have mentioned it once before too. I think I still have MR2 (PS1), MR3 and MR4 (PS2). =) Yeah, I think that was (and still is) such a unique feature, and I was really curious and waited in anticipation to see what x music CD (PS1) or which x audio CD / DVD would birth which monster. It was also fun to train them and then enter them in tournaments. The 3rd even had some very mild adventuring, where you could visit a 4 or 5 rather small, but varied locations, and the 4th has some dungeon crawling where you could bring 1 or 2 of your monsters with you. Yeah, I guess a part of me misses that series. Would be nice to see it reborn on the PS4 (or at least some spiritual successor maybe).

Rachet_JC_FTW
Rachet_JC_FTW
9 years ago

the simplity of gaming in the early days for sure and the memory card thing i totally get you i did that quite a few times myself but yeah i think thats probably it for me i agree with you on most of what u said is the same for me

games acutally being done and ready to go when you put them in the disk tray and no gigantic patches that i miss alot

happy gaming

H8WL3R
H8WL3R
9 years ago

@Vivi_Gamer. True there maybe not as many 4 player options in gaming today, but we are still fortunate there are some.

Twisted Metal… I do like the newest one as well and that does sport up to 4 player split-screen, so that could be an option for some whom are into that. I've only played it a few times and haven't finished Sweet Tooth's story yet, and I've also started a split-screen 2 player co-op campaign.

I'm sure most are probably aware, but Resident Evil 5 and 6 do also have a 2 player split-screen mode as well.

There are a few racing 4 player split-screen games I can think of, granted they are kart racers, but to me ModNation Racers and LBP Karting, Cars 2, Sonic & All-Stars Racing, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (which is probably most like Mario Kart with the transforming vehicles) are viable options… and definitely family friendly too!

4 player options in fighters, as far as I know include the Tekken Tag Team games, Mortal Kombat (9), Street Fighter x Tekken and the Smash Bros. esque (PS All-Stars) Battle Royale.

As for shooters, well I miss TimeSplitters, but I've only have and played the 3rd one, Future Perfect. I just really liked the variety in environments and ambiance, as well as the diversity and number of characters and weapons. I wish that one had been re-made, even re-mastered for current gen consoles. I've tried the demo for Goldeneye 007: Reloaded and have read / heard that it's a decent game which also features 4 player-split screen.

RPGs with this feature include Diablo III (any console iteration), and Dungeon Hunters: Alliance which are probably the closest 4 player experience to Champions of Norrath. There are a few more that can sport 2-3 player local co-op such as Dragon Siege III (2 players I think) and Sacred 3 (2-3 players I think).

I hazard a guess you and most, if not all who frequent here are probably aware of these titles as well as the number of local players supported, but I just thought I'd list some of the ones I was pretty sure of, and perhaps it could help someone out.


Last edited by H8WL3R on 12/10/2014 5:20:04 PM

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