Returning to your childhood favourites (and being disappointed)

We all have games from our childhood that we remember fondly. I just wanted to share my experience of returning to one of my favourite games as a kid and getting burnt.

I can remember pouring hours and hours into Perfect Dark on my N64. I replayed missions endlessly, whether stealthily or on a murder-spree. I'd spend hours doing silly things that I wouldn't waste my time on as an adult - I'd re-do the training over and over and I may or may not have blocked the door open to the shooting range to fire unlimited arrows into the face of the guy standing outside on more than one occasion (don't judge).

It was just a fun game - better than Goldeneye in every single way in my opinion as a stupid kid.

I recently rebought Perfect Dark to return to my childhood playground and...wow, was it bad.

The gameplay doesn't hold up, the story was lame (especially from the moment Elvis appears) and I just didn't enjoy playing it. It completely tarnished my memories of playing it in my youth and I honestly wish I'd never returned for that hit of nostalgia.

Have you ever returned to one of your childhood favourites just to be let down?

I had a similar experience with Perfect Dark when it was re-released for Xbox Live. I was excited to play it, but the game mechanics have not aged well. Plenty of shooters have surpassed it, and it just feels clunky to control.

I never played it.. THEN, but I guess that is part of the problem that is happening when I try to play now Ocarina of time... the game feels odd and the controllers are weird.

I will soon TRY to play Xenosaga on the PS2 (this is a little project of mine) and see how well that game has aged.

Any comments on that?

Guess I should avoid going back to Perfect Dark. Agree that it was better than GoldenEye but I couldn't convince my friends at the time.

Went back to GoldenEye with the guys a few years ago and it was bad. The controls are just not good and how did we ever play so much of that?

I'm glad a few of you share the same thoughts as me (thought there was something wrong me...which is still up for debate, but..).

Clusks, I think it was the Xbox Live re-release now that you mention it. What a bad decision.

Stele, I'd recommend not returning to it honestly. Cherish the memories!

Funny you mention this - just last weekend I pulled out my old N64 and fired up both Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. They certainly aren't anywhere near as good as I remember them being. Having said that, I still enjoyed playing them - I like the fast paced, objective based levels and the stealth-action feel. I don't know if there's too many games since that have nailed it in quite the same way. But yes, the controls are terribly clunky. I was surprised at just how generous the auto-aim was, but turning it off made things near impossible.

I don't have many N64 games left after selling most of them, but the next one on my list to try again is Jet Force Gemini.

Also, the vast majority of NES games are nowhere near as good as I remember them being - super clunky controls and way more frustrating than fun. Although SMB 3 is the main exception that comes to mind.

I tried to go back to playing with a milk bottle by balancing it on my limbs. Even accounting for my current size and normal milk bottle size, it was nowhere near as mesmerizing as I remember it to be.

My answer, I think, lies with the PS1 Final Fantasy games. 7 and 9 specifically.

And it's not that I'm disappointed in the games themselves. They're exactly as I remember them. My disappointment lies instead with myself, or my circumstances. I am just incapable of making the effort and time to see these things through, post 30.

Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

I played Perfect Dark on an N64 a few months back, jesus that game is uncontrolable with the N64 control pad. Will always love the game for the good times but the world has moved on.

I wonder how the remake of Golden Eye (360) holds up, is it better with current creature comforts and iterations these days?

My mind immediately went to (1983?) “Transformers: the movie” - I watched it a few years ago, with my (at the time) 11(?) year old son... ooof, it was awful. I figure I’d have a similar reaction to the G.I. Joe movie.

Where I have no problem watching the old Robotech anime, with him.

What? I remember rewatching transformers the movie after the Michael Bay abominations and still enjoying it in my mid 20s. Much better than Bay-splosions trash.

The scariest gaming experience of my life was playing Silent Hill 2, in the dark, after I had just move to a foreign country and was all alone. At the time a 3D world was new and foreign to me (I had. Skipped the N64 generation, largely) and the game legit scared me. I tried to go back and revisit it and ... yea. Pretty much unplayable.

Same here. SH2 was my entry to the series, I remember renting it for Xbox over a weekend and just having a blast with it. I think we began Friday afternoon and beat it Sunday night, but I just don't have the patience for it anymore, even with graphics mods.
I'm ashamed to say it, but I don't like playing Master of Magic anymore either. It takes so long to get going, moving 1 space per turn is agonizing after playing modern turn-based strategy games.

I've gone back to SH2 a few times and enjoyed it. Just have a very soft spot for it I guess. Too bad there is no chance of a proper remake.

John Santina wrote:

Have you ever returned to one of your childhood favourites just to be let down?

Yup, all the Wing Commander games. All of them except Prophecy don't really hold up, like, at all, sadly.

John Santina wrote:

Have you ever returned to one of your childhood favourites just to be let down?

More accurate question is : have I ever not?

Games in the 80s were sh*t. We played them because they were the least sh*tty games available to us.

They continue to be sh*t when I revisit them. My nostalgia goggles aren't high-enough prescription to overcome that.

They're not ALL sh*t, but a lot of them are.

Veloxi wrote:

They're not ALL sh*t, but a lot of them are.

I literally can't think of a single 8-bit game that stands up. I'm including NES big hitters like SMB or the early Zeldas. All sh*t. Everything I loved on the venerable Speccy? sh*t.

I'll grant you there's some solid games from the 16-bit era, but even then, they're the very rare exceptions, and even then, they're sh*t without the nostalgia. Hand a 15-year-old Link To The Past and see how frustrating they find it.

Ok, wait, I've got one. Tetris. There's ONE.

Galaga still plays like a dream.

Aaron D. wrote:

Galaga still plays like a dream.

Yeah, so does Pac Man. Pole Position. Outrun. Those classic, simple games still work.

Veloxi wrote:
Aaron D. wrote:

Galaga still plays like a dream.

Yeah, so does Pac Man. Pole Position. Outrun. Those classic, simple games still work.

Veeeerrry arguable point.

Even if I accept that they "still work" (which IMO, they don't - they're tedious and clunky), they only work for the 3 minutes it takes to eat through your quarter. I might spend a full dollar on a few gos, but then I'm done.

You know what we'd call a game that you're done with after 12 minutes these days? A sh*tty game.

And therein lies the problem. The meaning of "game" has changed so much over the last 40 years that even calling them the same name feels like a stretch.

Jonman wrote:

The meaning of "game" has changed so much over the last 40 years that even calling them the same name feels like a stretch.

Has it really though? Maybe to you, it has, but these are still games in the truest sense of the word.

Veloxi wrote:
Jonman wrote:

The meaning of "game" has changed so much over the last 40 years that even calling them the same name feels like a stretch.

Has it really though? Maybe to you, it has, but these are still games in the truest sense of the word.

Yes it has. Joust and Shadow of the Tomb Raider are barely in the same country, let alone the same ball park.

My point is that while they're both linguistically videogames, the similarities don't go a lot further than that.

If you wanna look at it like some chasm that can't be crossed, so be it. Don't mean you're right.

I still love Super Metroid, Link to the Past, FF VI, and Chrono Trigger. 16-bit definitely has some things worth playing today.

8-bit might be tougher yes. SMB3 is pretty amazing though.

Was just revisiting Streets of Rage series. 2 and 3 are great but 1 doesn't hold up at all (except for the music).

Stele wrote:

8-bit might be tougher yes. SMB3 is pretty amazing though.

I would say Mega Man 2 and 3 definitely hold up. I replay them regularly. 4 is not bad either.

Stele wrote:

What? I remember rewatching transformers the movie after the Michael Bay abominations and still enjoying it in my mid 20s. Much better than Bay-splosions trash.

I mean, it ain't high art, but I still enjoy it. There's some really amazing concepts and voice work going on in this half-assed tool for marketing.

Also, not sure about the rest of GI Joe, but I regularly point to the opening sequence as the greatest rock opera never made:

Veloxi wrote:

If you wanna look at it like some chasm that can't be crossed, so be it. Don't mean you're right.

I think he has an interesting point, though. Video games now span such a breadth that trying to differentiate between the early games and things that we play now might be valid. I wouldn’t call somebody who plays jacks and pick up Stix a boardgamer.