Classic games you don't like.

[sethsez]

Well, with the recent rush of negativity here, I decided to join in by ripping off a recent topic from insert credit, with a narrowed focus: what classic games, beloved by "everyone," do you not like or understand the appeal of?

I'll kick it off:

Metal Slug bores me to tears. I've tried to like it, but even the best ones (1, X and 3) make me want to go play something else about halfway through them. What's the appeal? Is it the physics where everything moves as if it's underwater (especially the main character's jumping, which is probably the floatiest I've ever encountered in a "classic" series)? Or is it the slow gameplay where everything moves at about a third of the pace of your average Contra game? I understand the appeal of the artwork, but in absolutely every other respect I think Contra pisses all over it, from faster gameplay to tighter controls to more interesting levels.

Add yours. And please try to keep it to at least Saturn/PSOne or (preferably) earlier. We have enough threads bitching about "new classics," this is intended to bitch about the old ones.

[Bishamon]

Mario 64.

I must be the only person on the planet that didn't really enjoy that game.

I really had fun with the 2D iterations on NES and SNES, but I found 3D mario to be 'meh'.

[thegreathopper]

The problem is you are playing the wrong Slug.
Everyone knows that Metalslug 2 is the best slug, and on mvs of course..not roms..

[sethsez]

The problem is you are playing the wrong Slug.
Everyone knows that Metalslug 2 is the best slug, and on mvs of course..not roms..

"Everybody knows" that people have differing opinions on what the best game in the series is (basically, anything that isn't 4 or 5). Besides, I've played MS2 (yes, on an MVS, along with all the other games in the series up to 4... having an ex who was hardcore into the Neo had its advantages) and it still annoys me just like every other game in the series.

And yes, I know most people love the series. That's the entire point of this thread. If people were talking about widely hated games then it would be pointless.

[landshark]

Dangun Feveron

[raiden]

Space Invaders

a really stupid game. The enemies move horizontally, when they touch the screen edge, they move down a little, when they reach your ship´s level, you are dead. So you want them to come down slowly. So you shoot one vertical row after the other. So you stay to one side of the screen. So... what are the 4 bases for, then? To hide behind? It´s pointless as you can´t shoot enemies from there, and you don´t have time to wait.

everything from Compile and Treasure

Compile: the games are remotely challenging until you found the weapon to use, after that they are sleeping pills.
Treasure: they can do bosses, but they can´t do stages. They try to divert attention from their lousy stages by adding 3 times as many bosses, but that doesn´t work at all, it´s like being supposed to eat caviar all day without any bread and butter.

Gaiares

Almost no bullets to dodge, only big lasers and blocks of collidible background. Might just as well play a game which draws nothing but a moving square with my ship inside it on the screen and has the objective of staying within the square. You could say that about R-Type as well, but that one at least has an interesting weapon system to manipulate.

[CMoon]

I also am not a Metal Slug fan...maybe I just suck at these games.

R-Type and similar high-memorization based shmups. I don't hate any of these games, they just don't grab me--too much frustration!

[Ord]

I don't like any of the sonic games. Personally I just found them dull and totally devoid of any skillfull gameplay mechanics. Give me the plumber any day!
Layer Section series & Soukyugurentai. I just don't like shooters that have a grid/web type laser seeking weapon system. It just bores me.

[Shatterhand]

Raiden, try some of the earlier stuff from Compile. Try out Guardic, the Original Zanac, FInal Justice and Gulkave, all available on MSX.

Besides, Compile has made other kind of games besides shmups. (Same could be said about Treasure, I guess, though the "boss thing" is in all of their games anyway)

For my classic games I don't like

Resident Evil - It's BORING. The puzzles are stupid, and the "action" is all about holding R1 + x and wait 'til the zombie dies. Unless you are out of ammo, then you have to keep dodging the zombies, which is annoying and still boring as hell.

Silent Hill - Same as above, except you now have crap graphics and a nausea-indulcing camera work. (At least for Silent Hill 1, I never played the others)

Final Fantasy - I don't like RPGs. I find random battles the most stupid thing ever to appear in a video-game. I don't like when my action in the game is just wait for a timer and then click in "Attack". I HATE Final Fantasy.

Diablo - Who said endless clicking in sprites is fun? I'd rather play those stupid flash games, at least in most of those the sprites are moving...

That's what I can think for now.

[sethsez]

Treasure: they can do bosses, but they can´t do stages. They try to divert attention from their lousy stages by adding 3 times as many bosses, but that doesn´t work at all, it´s like being supposed to eat caviar all day without any bread and butter.

Oh god yes. This is why I don't really care for Gunstar Heroes... great bosses, but the levels are duller than dirt. And then there's their "this could possibly be a game someday" releases like Stretch Panic or the Tiny Toons GBA game. Even Gradius V (by far their best level design) leaves me cold for reasons I can't really articulate.

[dtdg]

[quote="Shatterhand"]


Final Fantasy - I don't like RPGs. I find random battles the most stupid thing ever to appear in a video-game. I don't like when my action in the game is just wait for a timer and then click in "Attack". I HATE Final Fantasy.



I HAVE BEEN REDEEMED, THANK YOU!

[sffan]

The problem is you are playing the wrong Slug.
Everyone knows that Metalslug 2 is the best slug, and on mvs of course..not roms..

All the Metal Slugs seem the same to me. Just different levels of the same game. They never caught on with me, either. Maybe some day I'll get into them, since they do seem rather amusing.

As for classics I don't like: Any late 80s / early 90s shmups. I find the music annoying and the gameplay tedious on most of these. I love plenty of early 80s arcade games as well as those starting around 1995, but anything in between for me is extremely meh.

[Bishamon]

Resident Evil - It's BORING. The puzzles are stupid, and the "action" is all about holding R1 + x and wait 'til the zombie dies. Unless you are out of ammo, then you have to keep dodging the zombies, which is annoying and still boring as hell.

Diablo - Who said endless clicking in sprites is fun? I'd rather play those stupid flash games, at least in most of those the sprites are moving...

Two more that you can add to my list, for the same reasons given.

In fact, the first time I played Resident Evil on PS1, I remember thinking how similar it was to the original 'Alone in the Dark' for PC, which I had played until I got bored of it years earlier.

[russ]

Galaga - Maybe I'm just too warped by the modern shmups, but for some reason I never liked this game. Limited controls, excessive repetitiveness, and overall I just never found it any fun. Don't get me wrong, I still have a place in my heart for those early shooters - Xevious totally blew me away. Another thing is that Galaga machines are everywhere. I guess it's because Galaga is one of those ten or so games that are widely considered as THE classics (Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, etc.). And I never even see anyone play it, or enjoying any other shmups besides it.

[Dartagnan1083]

Donkey Kong Country...
Sure, it's kinda pretty and has nice music.
But that doesn't redeem it from generic design, screwy collision detection, lumbering controlls, innane bonus stages, and a complete virtually empty feel.
The sequel was a more compitent game, enjoyable even.
But the original is among the most over-rated games of all time.


Super Mario 1
I don't really hate this so much as I think it doesn't hold up nearly as well as so many fans like to think. Memorization and pure luck rule the later stages, and the Cloud-fucker is just plain annoying even if easy to kill. Beat it once and don't plan on doing it again. Yeah, it saved the industry....but that doesn't mean I have to like it.


Mortal Kombat anything
novelty violence alone makes not a great game
good for pre-teen bloodlust, not for much else.

[sethsez]

Oh, I thought of three more!

You know how people claim that the GTA games are overhyped messes that combine a bunch of genres but are mediocre at every single one? Guess what folks, Battletoads pulled this off first.

This next one is going back quite a while, but Megamania for the Atari 2600 gets a ton of love from that system's fans and I don't get it. It's a standard single screen shooter on a system packed to the gills with them, and even Activision themselves made better ones (Spider Fighter being their best). What's with all the adoration for a game that doesn't stand out in any way?

Finally, this one isn't bad, and I enjoy it, but I consider it a huge letdown after the previous game. Super Mario World is solid, but almost totally lacks the brilliant level design that filled Mario 3. In Mario 3, each new world brought with it completely new challenges and obstacles, and there was never mistaking which world (or level) you were in. Every area had its own unique personality. The same can be said for the early Sonic games, especially Sonic 2 where each zone had its own unique sensibilities. In Mario World, most levels are just palette swaps of other levels... one area might be slightly browner than the previous one, or the dirt tiles might have been made green to represent grass instead, but if you're not in a ghost house or a castle, there's a good chance you're in a filler level that doesn't really bring anything new to the game in terms of level design or style. If anyone has heard "they really only play one song, but what a song!" about AC/DC, that pretty much sums up how I feel about Mario World... the filler is good on its own, but there's too much of it. Additionally, the koopa kids feel rushed, because at first it looks like they're all going to have unique attacks, and then about halfway through the game they start repeating. In Mario 3 the repetition was consitent all the way through so it felt like a design choice, but here it felt like they just designed half of the boss fights and said "eh, screw it, let's just repeat these." And although the game DOES have some extremely interesting levels, almost all of them are secret and hidden away, which seems like a boneheaded move to me. That interesting design and variety should be sprinkled all throughout the game, not just stuck in secret areas that a gamer might not even know about.

With all of that said, I still enjoy the game overall, Yoshi was one of the best things to happen to the series, and the final boss is the best Mario boss ever. I just felt like it was a huge letdown after the brilliant Mario 3 (similar to how most people felt about Sunshine after 64).

[Dartagnan1083]

Megamania gets some of it's love for the premise.

Basically set in a star-pilot's nightmare.
So you shoot bowties, hamburgers, and zippers.

I think it's a nice distraction from other types of games, But I see what you're getting at. It really is mind-numbingly simple in design. . .something easily 1up'ed by TI-85 games.

[PaCrappa]

I absolutely HATE Sonic. Mega Man blows too. Battletoads gets the gasface. SNK fighting games pretty much all stink. I didn't like any Shining Force or Phantasy Star games. Final Fantasy seems wack but I only played part of III for SNES. Radiant Silvergun is not my bag. Sapphire is totally weak. If I tried I could think of other stuff but I'd rather think about awesome games.

Pa

[system11]

Defender. God damn I hate the controls in that game.

Every Mario game except for Mario Bros.

Mutant NES interpretations of games masquerading as a port.

[CMoon]

Sapphire is totally weak.

Wow, and all this time I thought Sapphire was one of those 'greats' I'd never get to play.

Defender. God damn I hate the controls in that game.

Word. I've never understood the love for midway, since they clearly hate gamers.

[Andi]

I hate Mario, Zelda, Metroid, basically all the popular Nintendo developed games on the NES.

I'm glad someone also said that Battletoads sucks. Thank you.

[Damocles]

Any and all proto-shmups. I dunno....maybe I'm spoiled from being able to move in eight directions, but I can't handle only moving in two. And yeah...Defender.....damn that button to make you turn around.....useless.

[roushimsx]

Final Fantasy 1 - 3, 7 - 8. 1 - 3 have not aged well at all. 1 is nigh unplayable, 2 I have no idea how I was ever able to enjoy it, and 3...god damn..it pains me to think that this will actually be available in english on the DS at some point. For shame. 7 and 8 both featured pretty painfully bad storylines sprinkled with bad combat systems and characters that I loved watching die instead of ever developing any bond with.

Metroid - Another game that people remember fondly through nostolgia. Horribly unfun and buggy Loved it as a kid, but there's no going back.

Legend of Zelda 2 - Jesus, how anyone ever saw this as a good game is beyond me. Shit graphics (even at the time), control, and dungeon design. A prime example of a big name pushing a shitty game's sales numbers up.

Snake's Revenge - this one is kind of cheating. A lot of people remember it as Metal Gear 2 and remember having a lot of fun with it, but holy hell was it a poorly slapped together piece of shit. The storyline was so bad it made Metal Gear Solid 2 look like Phillip K Dick and the side scrolling segements were painfully bad. Ugh.

Lunar - Oh god, don't get me started.

Vay - See Lunar and then multiply it a few times.

Shadowrun (SNES) - Let's see... let's mix a bad sci fi Sierra adventure game with Ultima 8 and see what we can come up with. The only reason people remember this game so fondly is because of the graphics (which look beautiful, and much like Ultima 8, they really do go a long way in hiding the shittiness of the underlying game from people just glancing at screenshots). Outside of the early Fed Ex Simulator and the lackluster graphics, the Genesis version trounced all over the grossly inferior SNES version.

Donkey Kong Country - OH SHIT, WE'RE SO CLEVER BECAUSE WE GO ABOVE 100% LOLOLOLOLOL. FIND TEH BANANAZ

Salamander - Sorry, I just don't memorizing games that much.

Rhapsody - Let's take a Strategy RPG, gear it towards preteen girls, and sell it to adult anime fanboys. Hillarity ensues.

Xenogears - They should have just called the game, "Clusterfuck".

Warcraft - They should have just called it, "Dune II with Orcs, Bridges, and Modem Play". Unoriginal as hell (par for the course when it comes to Blizzard) and overall just not a lot of fun. It was great to see Westwood steal a little of the interface from Starcraft for Generals and find a way to make it not suck.

Diablo - Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.

Mortal Kombat - Maybe the series is to XXXXTREEEEEEME for me or something, I don't know.

[FRO]

Diablo - Who said endless clicking in sprites is fun? I'd rather play those stupid flash games, at least in most of those the sprites are moving...

That could be said for the original Diablo. However, it's sequel was a MUCH deeper gameplay experience with far different character stats (they couldn't all use the same spells & skills) and the depth of the online play (with all the extra things you could do). I personally feel Diablo 2 eclipsed the original in every way.

As for the Galaga haters, I can't feel you on that. Whenever I see a Galaga machine, if I have a quarter in my pocket, it's gone.

[MSZ]

Metal Gear Soild
Sonic
Darius
Bio Hazard

And 99.9% of the western games. They suck.

[Shatterhand]

Warcraft - They should have just called it, "Dune II with Orcs, Bridges, and Modem Play". Unoriginal as hell (par for the course when it comes to Blizzard) and overall just not a lot of fun. It was great to see Westwood steal a little of the interface from Starcraft for Generals and find a way to make it not suck.

That's EXACTLY how I felt when I first played Warcraft, back at the time it was a new game. I was like "WTF, this is just Dune 2!"

For Mortal Kombat haters... I used to think like that, up until I begun playing MK Trilogy... the game does have some hidden gameplay on it, and playing with different characters does make some difference. Of course, isn't half as good as most japanese fighting game, but it's not as bad as, say, Killer Instinct.

[GaijinPunch]

I wouldn't say hate, but....

Biohazard
Street Fighter and all it's variants
R-Type

[The n00b]

Axelay- I hate this game. From the shoddy third person stages(that are trying to run on hardware that can't keep up) to the subpar horizontal stages, I think the game just stinks.

[SheSaidDutch]

Megaman Series-I find them empty and extreamly difficult

Donkey Kong Series- I loved the first one when I was a kid, but now it's meh

Console RPG's- IMO Western RPG's are superior in everyway

Zelda- Loved then SNES version as a kid, now I find it extreamly boring

Castleroids aka CastleVania crossed with metriod- Sure I've recently purchased SOTN but It's a love/hate thing, esp with the GBA vania's

Super Aleste-just meh esp with the SFX's

Layer Section-unispired tripe music/gameplay

Strider and esp Strider 2

M.U.S.H.A/Robo Aleste- Doesn't hold a candle to Zanac/Aleste of old

most of the MD SHMUPS

[BulletMagnet]

I don't like any of the sonic games. Personally I just found them dull and totally devoid of any skillfull gameplay mechanics. Give me the plumber any day!

Toss me on this pile. Every Sonic game I've ever played was far too "gimmicky" for me; it was more about finding spots where you could hold the "right" button down and watch him zoom through half the stage, than anything else. Precision platforming? He just wasn't built for it. Mario's a dorky, pudgy plumber, and always has been; Sonic's the "attitude" guy, who "out-cools" Mario in every way. Note who's on top after the dust has settled.

In fairness, though, most everyone else seems to love Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island; I never understood why. I like the visual style (it was especially unique back in the day) and some of the gameplay ideas, but the control simply felt "off" to me...in most other Mario games, you could make him either "walk" or "run" depending on the situation; with Yoshi, you're stuck at one speed, and the only platforming advantage you've really got in return is the limited "float" ability. And on top of that, despite all my problems with it, it's still easy enough for me to have twice had a perfect game on it. Not up to its pedigree.

On the shmup front, most here probably already know of my gripes with the Gradius and R-Type series...not that I never feel like playing them (I own several of each) or discount them completely, but there's a lot more drudgery in them both than many of their fans will admit.