With so few good new titles being released these days, especially by major studios, I figured I'd make a thread for everyone to share your favourite classic or older games, especially if they're lesser-known titles that others might have missed at the time.
I'll open with The Saboteur (2009), Mercenaries (2005) and Saints Row 2 ( The 2008 original)
IMO gaming peaked with PS2. That was when there was enough budget to give creative people the freedom to make their visions real, but not enough that the industry caught the attention of the MBAs, marketing drones, and HR nags.
There are enough games from that era to fill any adults free time.
Ratchet and Clank 2/3 are kind of amazing.
Ratchet and Clank 2 really changed the game by just adding a strafing movement, evolving weapons and health is all good but just being able to move and jump out of the way of incoming fire while shooting REALLY helped.
7th gen was also really good for handheld Japanese games. The jump to HD was a major hurdle that affected Japanese developers more, since they tended to be smaller companies in comparison to big AAA Western developers. So most Japanese companies chose to just make games for the handheld systems (DS and PSP, and later 3DS and Vita) with a lot of great titles.
The Jak series, timesplitters, god of war 1+2, ico, gran turismo 3-4, silent hill 2, ace combat 4, mgs2+3, dark cloud, tekken. The PS2 was stacked with exclusives that completely dominated the market. Game writing definitely peaked in the early 2000s.
I never had a PS2 but the Gamecube was really great when it came to Nintendo games. Technically they stopped looking like blocky messes, and were still small enough that they can have a real vision behind them. Paper Mario TTYD, Animal Crossing (even though that was an N64 game first), Mario Sunshine, Kirby Air Ride, etc.
I’d argue 360 and PS3 was probably my favorite and it’s all right before everything started going to shit
I'm a sucker for the PS1 Spyro Riptos Rage. Finally finished it after many years and it is very fun and challenging to 100% complete.
Replaying all three of them on my PS2 right now, great games. I would say 2 is probably the best though.
I need to play the first and third, I have only played the second. Worth to play the other two?
1 is a bit rough around the edges, and 3 is solid in my opinion, though it was always my personal favourite. I know some people don't like 3 because there's a little too much in the way of gimmicks where you play as other characters, but I enjoyed them enough.
Personally I think the 1st is the best of the trilogy. It has that basic simplicity and charm that makes it far more replayable on a casual level without a lot of "that fucking part" to go around.
Ripto is probably the better game overall, but if I wanted one to just sit down and play for a while without a lot of thought I'd always pick the original.
I'll probably have to give it a try then, thanks for the recommendation.
Since I grew up on real time strategies:
Dune 2000: it's simple yet fun and the cutscenes are very well acted, along with a fantastic soundtrack
Stronghold 2: this one still works on Steam and has a TON of user ceated content from maps, missions to an upgrade for the main campaign
C&C 3 Kane's Wrath: I would have put Tiberium sun as my favourite but I can't get a working copy (fuck you EA), so I'd recommend this one that came out in 2008. The campaign is great as Joseph D. Kucan kills it as Kane and you have more options in the standalone expansion from specialist troops like Zone Raiders to a fantastic bot mode.
They just rereleased the old C&C and Red Alert games on STEAM. So go get it!
Just had a look, you're right, well going to be playing Tiberium Sun in any downtime for a while
What I find hilarious though is every C&C game is rated highly positive EXCEPT 4, that really was the worst game in franchise till that mobile game, only good thing in it was Kane's performance.
All great options. Another really good older RTS is Star Wars: Empire at War. Still one of the best Star Wars games ever released.
Edit: I also loved the original Stronghold games, especially Crusader.
Tiberium Sun and Firestorm are both freeware. I dont have the URL on me but I downloaded them last year along with some fan patches and played through them for the first time. So good
I've played it since launch and I'm still discovering new things in my current run. The game's got a lot of meat on it and endless replay value.
Off the top of my head:
Need for Speed: Most Wanted
The OG Phantasy Star Online (never played online though)
Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
Star Wars pod racer
the IL2 WWII flight sim series
Dark Messiah Might and Magic
Bioshock
If you are going to put Bioshock on here, you really should put on System Shock and System Shock 2.
System Shock was remade in 2023 by Nightdive Studio. It is fantastically faithful to the OG System Shock. Shodan is one of the greatest villains ever written. She is 100% the inspiration for GLADOS.
System Shock 2 is still a great game. It is FPS action horror. I guess it is a little dated now, but it uses modern controls so it is playable. I am sure you can get mods to improve the graphics etc.
Also, X-Wing, TIE Fighter and X-Wing vs TIE Fighter were all outstanding games. They build on the lore from Star Wars and were a blast.
It is actually possible to kill a crippled Star Destroyer in one of the missions of X-Wing if you try hard enough. Normally their shields are immune to fighters, but this one has been sabotaged. See if you can take it out.
they've been on my list.
X-Wing alliance was a game my parents got me next to Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo and Freddy Fish, not realizing what kind of game it was. I have fond memories of digging up the discs in our junk drawers every few years and reinstalling it on our computers. it would install natively all the way from Windows 2000 to Windows 7, just had to have a joystick. I barely even played the campaign, I spent my entire time in the mission editor in playing custom missions. it was actually possible to kill a star destroyer with a YT 1300 or YT 2000 by setting the turrets to autofire and strafing it from a distance.
The Most Wanted game was a ton of fun and is the only Brown game from that era I ever really enjoyed.
agreed. best arcade racing game of the generation
I personally prefer Midnight Club 3, but Most Wanted is a solid choice.
MC3 and Most wanted are both solid. My preference is for the Underground games though. I spent so much time on both of them.
Old Black Isle RPGs.
I have yet to stop playing them. It's been at least 25 years...
Planescape: Torment forever
98-04 golden age of pc games... so many favorites but one that i especially enjoy from then is Septerra Core a western jrpg with full voice acting and very strange combat mechanics. it often came in a double pack with Shogo which is another great game from that time.. a fps with giant mech action
I'd argue the golden age was 1994 to 2004.
'94 starts with games like Master of Magic, System Shock, Warcraft's: Orcs and Humans, Eye of the Beholder and Menzoberranzan, Theme Park, X-COM: UFO defense and more. It was an tremendous year for gamers, and that's just where things started for the era.
As a kid nothing has ever given me as harsh of a lesson on percentages and chance than XCOM. 80% really just means 50%
other great games from roughly that era: Heroes of Might and Magic 3, Wizardry 7 and 8, Fallout 1 and 2, Jagged Alliance 2, Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic, Arx Fatalis, Dungeon Master
I'll just point out how many of those entire genres vanished once Console 'Tards vomited stupid all over games.
Master of Magic is turn based strategy, as was X-COM: UFO Defense
Eye of the Beholder was turn based RPG
Theme Park was an isometric builder
Warcraft Orcs and Humans was RTS
All gone as soon as the X-Box came out. Console 'Tards can't read and they only understand running and gunning. They only have ten buttons or so on their 'Tard 'Trollers. The attention span of a 'Tard is frighteningly short.
After the X-Box was proved to rake in the big bucks through 'Tard Tax, future development of AAA games was for 'Tard Boxes, then ported to PC.
It even happened to FPS games. Unreal Tournament 3 had 100 ms of lag baked directly into the network stack. It had fewer game modes and simpler, smaller maps. It was the worst of the series. It made the most money, because Console 'Tards got to play it for the first time.
Want the perfect case study? Deus Ex: Invisible War. In this sequel maps were reduced to the size of a phone booth. Maps and missions were made simple enough for 'Tards. Stealth was an ineffective afterthought. It made way more money than the original, ground breaking Deus Ex.
Console 'Tards ended the golden age of gaming. Then they fucked your mom.
Yup, the golden era ended around 2004 as the Xbox/console purveyors found points of cross-over with the PC market. There was pushback and "naysayers" (who were absolutely fucking right of course), but console 'tards are the reason gaming got so stupid. One-hundred million percent. It was like watching a train wreck in slow motion.
Same thing with anything really. Happened with the internet in general. Mass market appeal = Drooling morons pour in.
ill absolutely concede that.. i just pulled some years out my ass but yeah i enjoyed a good many games prior to win98... of course im probably a bit younger than you so they were more a long the lines of Hercules and Casper interactive adventure
Harpoon 2 came out in 1994.
The current, modded version of Harpoon 2 is still the best naval fleet simulator of all time.
It is realistic enough to use for command training, and still lots of fun.
The era we thought Valve could count to 3
Septerra Core looks interesting and I've never heard of it. Threw it on my wishlist.
i still play it on a win98 machine.. cant vouch for the steam version might run like shit
I really need to get around to finishing a playthrough of Septerra Core. It was one of those games that I always saw on the shelf at my local computer store but never managed to get my hands on until decades later on GoG. I put a couple hours into it years ago and ended up wandering away. I remember hearing it get compared to FF7 back when it came out.
dont forget to feed all the birds!
I will try to remember this for later.
It was also the golden age of Nickelodeon.
I borrowed Populous from someone to play on SNES.
I loved the aesthetics but never understood WTF was ever going on.
Quake 1 is a lot of fun. I prefer it over the sequels because they all lack the Romero design.
Unreal Tournament series was excellent and just made me realize where Fortnite actually came from.
The Castlevania series is full of amazing games. The Metroidvania are a lot of fun.
Mystical Ninja Goemon has a lot of fan translated games. It's a good series that only did well in Japan. I wish there was a new one even now.
Virtual On and Crazy Taxi are going to be in my arcade some day.
You should also check out classic Indies. Fans and professionals make games for old school consoles all the time. Some are really good.
Unreal Tournament 2004 multiplayer.
Maybe the only game that I totally jones for that I can't play anymore. An absolutely perfect game except for the network stack which was so buggy I wouldn't want to even run it in a VM on today's internet.
Time for an old school LAN party.
UT 2004 is my top rated multiplayer FPS of all time. It was just so damn polished. I remember buying the UT GOTY then a year later seeing it for sale.
"How can they just sell it again? I just bought it!"
Then I played it. It was just outstanding. I wasn't even mad.
Quake 1 remains such a standout for me. I still remember the Deathmatch levels..."Claustrophobopolis" ... "The Bad Place."
Loved zapping people by jumping in the water and using the lightning gun.
KeeperOfTheGate discharges into the water. 😎
My son and I play it at least once a month.
You'll love Daikatana.
If only I could love the NPCs...
Did Romero make you his bitch?
I remember I got Mercenaries as a giveaway game on my Xbox years ago. It's a fun screw around game for sure when open worlds were still kinda boring but didn't shackle you with realism.
On the thread of older games of open world chaos, Red Faction: Guerrilla is really fun too. I never tried the remake so if they woked it up or something then I wouldn't know.
I'm going to edit in a couple of my other old-time favorites that are less obvious than pretty much any FPS of the 90s:
Ys I and II are a lot of fun. They are very simple and there's loads of sequels if you still like them. It's possibly the longest running action RPG series in existence.
Shenmue I, and somewhat 2 but I think 1 is the best. It's clunky and janky but it's not the most action filled game anyway. Funny and serious game at the same time.
The list is too long to name every one, but I have a few games I keep going back to after all this time. I played some of these 30 years ago and not only do they still hold up, they're comfy in a way that's impossible to get these days.
Might and Magic 6. I probably play this once a year or so and have done since I was in middle school. It's just the perfect blend of comfy and campy, and an overall great game to boot. Easily attainable through GoG.
Heroes of Might and Magic 3. One of if not the best turn based strategy game ever made. Base GoG game is fantastic and there are also incredibly well done fan-made expansions that increase the lifespan.
Wizardry 8. Lots of jank and very harsh on first-timers, but easily one of the best blobbers ever made once you begin to master its idiosyncrasies.
Tales of Maj'Eyal. My vote for the greatest indie game of all time, still in active development after like 15 years or something. The best tactical RPG Roguelike on the market and it isn't close.
Baldur's Gate Saga. Goes without saying.
Master of Orion 2. The peak of 4x games.
Fallout 1, 2, 3, NV. 4 is a pile of shit, but all four of these games are great for a variety of different reasons. People shit on 3, but I still think its world and immersive strength are fantastic even if the rest of the game is rather lackluster.
Daggerfall Unity. The best Besthesda game released in the past 10 years and it isn't even close. Morrowind remains a classic and Skyrim and Oblivion get way more hate than they deserve.
Breath of Fire III. Lots of people talk about the RPG greats of the PS1 but leave this one out. They are wrong to do so.
I really could go on but this is probably good enough.
Honest to God best way to play NV and 3 for me was tales of two wastelands. Takes a while to set up but was glorious when I first played it like that.
seconding this.
Call of Duty.
No not modern warfare shit, and not 360 noscoping noobs in multiplayer COD. I mean the single-player campaign in OG CALL OF FUCKING DUTY.
If you like that try 2 and 3 as well, even though they are more of the same. Two is my favorite. It's a tired formula by now but at the time it felt like actually playing inside the Saving Private Ryan movie.
I remember COD2 being excellent. The shooting mechanics and graphics felt so gritty and realistic when it came out.
Yeah, 2 is my favourite, too (lol).
Especially the Russian campaign, where they yell something like "Die, fascistii" all the time, and with the random quotes each time you die.
Ahh, good times, good times.
I did also like the first Modern Warfare, though, with the Russian Separatist/Middle Eastern shit. Kind of gave up after that one though, lol.
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem for GameCube
X-Men Legends and X-Men Legends 2: Age of Apocalypse
Marvel Ultimate Alliance
GoldenEye (duh)
Diablo 1 & 2
EDIT - Forgot to add:
Shining Force 1+2 on Genesis
The Ooze on Genesis (pretty unforgiving)
Geist on GameCube (janky but fun and fairly unique)
SNES emulation : Too many classics to list all the good stuff. Just on the RPG side, Tales of Phantasia, Chrono Trigger ( a must play ), FFVI, Lufia II The Rise of the Sinistrals ( edit : there is a patch for the North America ROM to fix the bugs of the SNES release ), etc.
PC : Currently making a Settlement Survival town in Banished.
Jumping on the SNES bandwagon: the Megaman X series, particularily 1 and 2. Pretty much set the standard for action platformers and the soundtracks are total bangers to this day.
Illusion of Gaia, the mana series entries, Secret of Evermore, wouldn't be a bad idea to just grab the whole catalogue of snes titles.
Burnout Paradise (2008, PC). All of the Burnout games are fun, but that one is really my jam.
Black (2006, PS2). One of the first "destroyable environment" FPS's. The last levels get pretty intense.
NFS Hot Pursuit 2 (2002, PS2). Just a fun game. Play the PS2 version; it's way better than the others.
If you can find the copy that was leaked, the unreleased xbox 360 remaster of Goldeneye is a lot of fun. They did it the right way and kept the levels and gameplay exactly the same and just upgraded the graphics.
Arc the Lad, Sierra Games, Wing Commander, and this is really old school but Choplifter
If you are going to recommend Choplifter, then you need Loadrunner. A brilliant mix of puzzle and reflexes.
I've finally managed to get ahold of a copy of Eternal Dark: Sanity's Requiem.
It's so fucking good. It hits so many high notes I'm still gobsmacked no one's tried to copy it.
It was pretty niche back in its heyday, and I doubt "modern audiences" would be able to appreciate it, so such a project seems unlikely to get greenlit. A shame though, I remember back in college a bunch of us spending several weekends huddled around the TV in the common area watching my friend play through it. It was a wild ride.
Get s Sega Saturn emulator and play Dragon Force and Panzer Dragoon Saga. Both are good forgotten titles.
Saboteur is a hidden gem. I definitely need to play through that again someday.
Legend of dragoons for me, I replay that every few years. Story is fairly typical of the time, voice acting is.....also typical of the time.
But the addition system just goes so well with the jrpg formula. Magic being more limited where it's either by way of items or by turning into a dragoon also gives a nice sense of how special the transformation are.
Decent spread of characters for the team and has a fan made release that modernises it a bit so things look a bit better (I've downloaded it but haven't tried that version yet)
Legend of Dragoon is one of those rare games that actually got better with age. At the time, I remember being pretty disapointed in the game after the hype for it, found a lot of it to be pretty boring and cliche. The big unique thing about it, the active timed hits, was done in mario rpg. But then I played it again recently, and all the cliches just felt like a nice nostalgia blanket, same with the voice acting. The annoying hype has long-since died and I could enjoy the game just as a game. And the villians being called Winglies always makes me laugh, I don't know why. Great game for an RPG gamer.
A few older games I've been thinking about re-playing recently.
Alpha Centauri
Tony Hawk Pro Skater
Ocarina of Time
If you're in to adventure games, there are about a billion games that can be played with Dosbox or scummvm. I've been playing through a bunch of 80s/90s games recently. The hardest part is to not google when you get stuck! I'm on Legend of Kyrandia 1 right now, and I plan to go through the series. I never played the others.
ocarina of time is cool but check out mystical ninja starring goemon.. its kinda the same but way more bizarre traditional japanese shit... oh and giant mechs.
Don't go, the drones need you, they look up to you.
If you haven't, Ocarina of Time is probably my favorite game to play randomized and the only one that was ever fun enough to finish like that (instead of being a novelty).
It shows just how well made of a game it is, with dozens of little details and well developed mechanics that not only let you really sequence break without glitching but show that they planned for things you could never actually do in the game proper. Such as Adult Link not being able to move heavy blocks without the Goron Bracelet from Kid Link because he lacks the strength.
The Axiom Verge randomizer is pretty interesting. If I have an hour or two to kill I'll fire it up and go through a random seed.
I really enjoyed Axiom Verge the one time I played through it, but I don't think I know it well enough to randomize it.
I think any well made Metroidvania lends itself well to randomizing though.
I just put The Dig on my Switch last weekend, Scumm games were some of my favorite in the day, yet I never played The Dig. They are great to play on the go too. I rarely ever game handheld, but trying to sit amongst distractions and hold up a screen while using tiny controls to play an action game is just brutal.
Recently I replayed Lords of the Realm II (got the steam version).
I was awesome to replay the game (having played it nearly 30 years ago), and it was pretty cool because the Steam version had an expansion and updates that I never even knew existed back in the 90s.
I actually discovered Lords II because it came in a CD bundled with a PC gaming magazine back in 97 or 98.
Since there were no auto updates back then, I played the original version and got pretty good at exploiting the AI.
Cut to current year, and I was blown away how they had updated the AI. It was much harder to play against and more difficult to the exploit.
Still a solid medieval RTS / management game.
The music in Lords of the Realm II is still absolutely top notch. Loved the soundtrack to that game.
I've got a decent collection. I'll rattle off a bunch of games, as I've been playing through older titles lately, and the PS1 is what I have on hand right now, so...
RPGs: Arc The Lad, Final Fantasy IX, Monster Rancher 2, Suikoden 2, Star Ocean, Legend of Legaia, Grandia, Valkyrie Profile, Wild Arms, Xenogears, Breath of Fire 3 and 4, Legend of Mana, Legend of Dragoon, Threads of Fate, Azure Dreams, Saga Frontier 2, Vagrant Story.
Fighting Games: Bushido Blade, Star Gladiator, Tekken 3, Bloody Roar 2, Guilty Gear, Rival Schools, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Soul Blade
Adventure Games: Armored Core, Armored Core: Project Phantasma, Syphon Filter, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Medievil, Future Cop LAPD, Time Crisis, Strider 2, Alundra, Tomb Raider, Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense (Dreamcast version is slightly better though) Ape Escape, Brave Fencer Musashi, Metal Gear Solid
Platformers: Heart of Darkness, Klonoa, Jumping Flash 2, Croc, Wild 9, Tomba 2, The Oddworld series, The Rayman series, Crash Bandicoot 1,2 and 3, Mega Man x3, x4, and x5, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Strategy Games: Vandal Hearts, Final Fantasy Tactics, Ogre Battle, Sayuki: Journey West, Worms, Hogs of War, Front Mission 3
Survival Horror: Resident Evil 1,2 and 3, Clock Tower, Dino Crisis, Parasite Eve 1 and 2, Silent Hill
Racing games: Motor Toon Grand Prix, Crash Team Racing, Jet Moto, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 and 3, Gran Turismo 1 and 2, WipEout 2097
Assorted Others: Warhawk, Tenchu 1 and 2, Assault Rigs, Parappa The Rapper, Bust a Groove, Bishi Bashi Special, I'm The Chef, Incredible Crisis
Every edf game. Every armored core game(except 3 and V) Daemon x machina Xenoblade chronicles x(censored. Uncensored emulated)
Will find more older mech games till then
Front Mission is nice.
Some other easy ones: grandia collection still holds up and grandia 2 is one of my favorite rpgs of all time, I picked it up on sale on switch and it was worth it. An easy cheap pick up for quality- persona 4 golden, by far the best psp rpg now on steam. I heard the MGS collection got censored, but all the original games are worth playing. Strategy wise it’s never been easier to emulate GBA classics like Fire emblem, Tatics Ogre, advanced war, etc.
Check out the RetroAchievements website. Challenges for all of your favorite older titles and there's events you can do as well to find new favorites which earn you badges.
For example, this month's Game of the Month to beat was Dragon Quest: Rocket Slime and it was an absolute blast.
If you're into strategy games then definitely Rome: Total War (I), the 2004 original, as well as Medieval II Total War from 2007. Aside from the base games themselves they have so, so many mods as well (helps that the old engine is more moddable, especially map-wise, than the new engine used by the series since Empire), including some which are being worked on even today.
if you dont mind dos stuff and puzzels, check out the incredible machine series... esp the toon machine one. the puzzle editor alone can be tons of fun as is discovering niche physics interactions.
if you dont mind eurojank dos platformers that started on amiga check out trolls and oscar by flair software they're hop n bops as was common in the day but they did have their own power ups and a few that are bad by design. the big show stoper if you will was the yo yo, for the time im sure it was impressive a dual utillity tool of attack and grappling hook. both also had a bounus and an anti bounus level and you will want both as the continues can be found in the anti bonus.
Trolls used to be a really good 3D side-scroller -- I haven't played that game in decades but I remember the graphics being really good back in the day and it had solid controls for the time. One of the big problems back then was 2D side-srollers either had slippery-feet syndrome or mega-friction, so it was always difficult to gauge jumping in those games. I remember having a ton of fun with Trolls, but I'm curious how well it holds up these days.
It's the twentieth anniversary of Doom 3 this year. I think the original version and BFG Edition are on GOG if you have a preference.
Maybe I need to replay it just for the anniversary. I love that game. It's such a good game, and I don't care if it got a ton of hate. Still have the original CD/DVD (some sort of disc) of it from way back.
Edit: oh and I got sidetracked from what I meant to say, on GOG you actually get the original, the expansion, and BFG edition in one purchase. One of the few games I've broken my rules on and bought more than once.
I've just been playing Rollercoaster Tycoon 3. I played it back in the day but this time I'm completing the scenarios. I also plan to play SimCity 4 again when I get the chance.
Distant Worlds Universe.
Space based 4x.
It can be as involved or automated as you like, you can even leave it running and have it play itself until you come back.
Aurora / Quasar 4x.
Another space based 4x where detail goes into detail of details. A learning curve that makes dark souls look like a kindergarten game. "" graphics"" that will run on anything.
If you want to customise your civ, really go into detail and play with drop down menus then it's perfect.
Age of Wonders, Tales of Maj'Eyal, Rimworld, Factorio, Battle Brothers, UnReal World, Mount and Blade (and Warband), Kenshi, Kerbal Space Program (not 2, never 2), FTL and In to the Breach, The Bard's Tale (the first 3 were remastered fairly recently, pretty good for a 35 year old game)
Of note UnReal World has nothing to do with Epic, and is in fact OLDER than Unreal, URW was first published in 1992, and has maintained active development with a handful of updates per year.
I still get some entertainment from Age of Empires. Not a huge fan of the latest one but AOE2 on Steam holds up well.
glad to see Saboteur mentioned, as for recommendations i'd go with Prototype, Bulletstorm and Prey (the OG one)
Arcanum: of steamworks and magica obscura. Combat is a lot like the first two fallout games, but set in a magical world where tech is starting to establish itself. Gog has a version that still works on modern computers.