A very old game which you would still enjoy playing today

Hi System Wars. What is the oldest game you would enjoy playing today, even though its graphics and gameplay are severely outdated? Old puzzle games such as Tetris generally don't rely on graphics or other tech-heavy stuff, so they don't count here.

Personally I'd say Defender of the Crown on Commodore 64 from 1987. It is a turn-based strategy game, which even today is challenging and fun. The graphics were state-of-the-art back then, and even today they aren't too ugly to look at.

Another prime contender would be Sonic 1 from 1991. Still fun, still looks pretty good.

Yes! Graphics is gimmicks!

I still have a bot match in Unreal Tournament 2004 every now and then.

I also like to go back and play Total Annihilation (1997) and Sonic 3 & Knuckles (1994) sometimes. I grew up with those games.

Also, not strictly in the spirit of this thread, but I've also quite recently played source ports of Doom (1993) and Quake 1.

The oldest games still play now and again are probably Master System titles.

Shinobi, Phantasy Star, Master Of Darkness, Alex Teh Kidd In Shinobi World etc..

Been wanting to pick up C64 mini

Anything from the 2D era is always a fun time playing very old games...especially on the SNES/Sega Genesis era that is. Games like Mario World comes to mind and Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Meh, lots, and I'd say lots more if more were available.

Mortal Kombat 2 and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.

I go back to play Everquest from time to time. Doom is one I sometimes get an urge to play through again, it never seems to get old and then some Megadrive and Amiga classics. Thats about it.

There’s a good deal of NES games that I still enjoy playing. Some would be The Legend of Zelda, Mega Man 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, Contra, Super C, etc.

Probably Jet Force Gemini and Coker. Don't see myself enjoying anything else.

Not sure the oldest, TBH - I still play old games from the late 80s pretty regularly. Earlier than that and the appeal does start to break down. Often (but not always) NES and Master System and 2600 games have better counterparts on the SNES and Genesis and DOS.

I'm not too sure... I'll gladly go back to 8-bit days if the game is good. I did enjoy text adventures when playing at a friend's house, but definitely not my schtick enough to revisit.

Quake 3

Day of Defeat

Halo 2

Galaga

Pacman

donkey Kong country

Mario 64

SSX

DJFFNY

There are more "very old" games that are fun to play than modern ones.

If puzzle games don't count, then maybe Pac Man.

I still play age of empires 2 and i love it.

Probably Sim City & 2000, Caesar 1 & 2, Shining Force 1 & 2, DQ3, FF6 and Chrono Trigger if we talking early 90's.

PS1 era and above lots.

Galaga, this game is timeless... I think I have bought it either physically or digitally for every PS console since PS1.

Ultimate Doom.

Mario 1, 2, 3 don't age. But most the good stuff is 1990+ for the NES and there's quite a few from that era that I still play.

Sonic 2 and Sonic CD are still two of my favorite games.

Lots of shit, but I wouldn't go for earlier stuff than SMB on the NES.

I think the thread should have been about 3D games. 2D games age really well. But I think people have their limits with 3D games. A lot of 5th and 6th gen games haven't aged well imo.

I mean, if we go back and look at the earlier Elder Scrolls games for example, they went for a 3D look. Can people play those easily?

Personally, I just went back and started playing the original Tomb Raider. The old graphics and the sound design actually make it quite a creepy game.

Sensible Soccer

Unreal Tournament

Frogger

pokemon red/blue can still pick these up and run a playthrough if the mood takes me, for 3d Kotor 2 even without mods still holds up from a story perspective even though graphically it's rough and the gameplay feels very dated.

@Archangel3371: Some of those old games were hard. Can you still beat Contra if you play it today?

@lundy86_4: Generally, when I go back to 8-bit/16-bit titles which I was fond of back then, they don't hold up well today. I guess that nostalgia value has its limits. That is why I really admire games such as Defender of The Crown and Sonic. Being playworthy after 30+ years is quite a merit.

I might give Commando (C64) a retry soon. Also, anyone remember Mikie from 1986? The objective is to escape school while teachers are hunting you. Could be fun as well.

@sakaixx: Have you ever tried FF5? I found the combat system to be a lot more challenging and rewarding than FF6. FF6 has the best story, music and graphics though.

@pmanden: have finished it but the PS1 version. Out of all 8-16bit FF, only FF6 I return and play cause of its presentation.

I have a lot of fond memories of games on the Spectrum 48k, Atari ST, SNES etc but I have no desire to ever play them again. I barely have enough time to play current games let alone revisit game I played decades ago.

Retro gaming just isn't for me.

Streets of rage 2 I can still play any of the old school beat em ups and have fun.

Old: Herzog Zwei - every once in a while.

Aging: Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain - weekly.

Any of the Megaman X titles (aside from X7) and Sonic 1 are still a blast to play, and short enough that they won't wear thin before they're over. I also tried Settlers 2 again and while I don't have the time to be sucked into it like kid me was, it still holds up barring the primitive UI.

There are a ton of games from the NES era I would still play.

Oh hell yeah! I’ve gotten so good at Contra that I can literally play it without ever getting a game over screen indefinitely. Can just keep rolling it and have to just decide to stop playing. That’s without using the 30 man cheat code of course.

Space Invaders (1978)

Played it again not too long ago (either this year or last year) and it was still quite fun to play. Interestingly, it has a cover mechanic, which was abandoned by later shmups before making a comeback in the third-person shooter genre decades later.

Every once in a while i'm in the mood for some good old Punch Out or SMB3. Those never get old for me.

@Archangel3371: Wow. I thought the 30 lives code was mandatory. You da man!

@kizza_soze: This

@madsnakehhh: I played Punch Out for the first time a few years ago. Fun game, and I managed to go all the way, except Tyson who always kicked my incompetent butt.

I have recently been playing the Bard's Tale games from the C64 days. Also recently picked up Dragon Warrior and Skate or Die 1 & 2 for my NES. Probably dig it out this coming weekend.

A good game is a good game. If I think about SNES my first console ever that I had than DK2 and zelda link to the past come to mind. Both in like top 15 games of all time list.

@pmanden: 1979. I spent hours playing Asteriods last weekend.

Ninja Gaiden since nobody has mentioned it. It's annoying AF but still can be fun and has some pretty great music.

@dabear: A thing I dislike a bit about very old games is that you can never complete them. They don't have endings. As a kid I used to play Mousetrap on Colecovision for a couple of hours straight and racked up billions of points. But never saw an ending, lol.

@my_user_name: I never played Ninja Gaiden but I would like to try someday since I like challenging games. Is it available in some form on either PS4 or xbox?