Pleaseeeeee find a more interesting way to talk about old games than saying “it doesn’t hold up,” I promise you that Jedi Power Battles was not some vaunted masterpiece in its own time.
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What i want to know is what does "hold up" even mean? I find they DO because they still offer the exact experience i wanted as a kid when i first got them, and that's still what i want from them. If someone says "it doesn't hold up" i assume everything else is "game old, not new" in more words.
But then again, i'm impressed by a game that hooks me- not how it hooks me. I'm a difficult fish to hook for video games, none released since Night in the Woods have, and before that it was probably a DS game.
Maybe some people should reevaluate what they want games to be and if that's even a game.
Cuz buddy if all you want is super realistic graphics and lifelike tasks that can be accomplished by a realistic simulation of a human body then i have some really great news about this thing called the world outside your gaming chair.
This new version is much better than the original, it’s a little uncanny valley and the heads are a bit big, but ultimate it’s a PS1/Dreamcast game……embrace the cheese, it’s part of the charm.
I think there's a middle ground. When I criticize things I don't like about games I do (the camera in SM64, the controls in MM Legends) "doesn't hold up" is shorthand for "this was good/acceptable at the time, but is hard to go back to".
But you're right that blanket "old=bad" is poor criticism.
It had difficult and imprecise controls, but it 100% delivered on the fantasy of being a Jedi for the first time - reflecting a blaster bolt perfectly back at battle droid was *peak*
I subscribe to the IGN method of posting the prior year's review of FIFA for the current year's release with an updated title as they hadn't actually changed anything in the game other than updating the roster and title.
there have been few rereleases that have baffled me more than that one, and I work in rereleasing all manner of weird and wonderful stuff from yesteryear!
Of course, I'm not saying it shouldn't exist! I'm saying it's surprising it was chosen for this treatment, given how the suits are normally focused on obvious "big wins". I wouldn't have thought that a middling PS1 brawler would have been top of the priority list for them, but, well, here we are.
I'm a big fan of Road Runner's Death Valley Rally from the SNES but it sure as heck ain't Sonic or Mario-level quality. People need to keep perspective, nostalgia can be blinding.
I was a prequel liking teenager that thought it looked amazing (graphics wise) but even then I chose not to play it. Probably read one review that gave it a 6 or 7 and chose to pass.
This. It's why I've wanted a Dino Crisis reboot/remake for years, not because it was great, because it was mid, but with interesting ideas and potential.
Remaking mid games and trying to make them great could be so much more interesting.
I feel like that critique is also why we don’t get more ports for older games and that is a shame. The point should be to preserve them even if they don’t hold up to modern standards.
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Maybe some people should reevaluate what they want games to be and if that's even a game.
They were fine before. Now we have higher standards for controls.
But you're right that blanket "old=bad" is poor criticism.
It had difficult and imprecise controls, but it 100% delivered on the fantasy of being a Jedi for the first time - reflecting a blaster bolt perfectly back at battle droid was *peak*
Minus that one level...
That and games that are not really available. Where is 'Metal Arms: Glitch in the System'?
Remaking mid games and trying to make them great could be so much more interesting.