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[Mibu no ookami]

I think it comes down to a lot of things

The ability to maximize art design within the confines of the technology.

Super Mario World will look great in 50 years because its art design isn't limited by technology and neither is its gameplay.

Too many games now don't feel like they have to innovate at all. That's the real reason people are upset with cross gen beyond just graphics.

 

[Mobilemofo]

It's perception Vs your reality isn't it. I've been gaming for 35 years now, from the CPC 464 to PS5. Imo, the hardware and games from back then were fun and there were some awesome games that had tremendous gameplay etc. But they were of their time and games gave come along way since. Everything bar AI has advanced significantly. It's good to have been part of what's come before, as you appreciate where we are now alot more. This gen will be looked back at with fondness/disdain in some capacity in decades to come. Graphics being mocked by the new gen guys. (Haha,, they had "consoles" ) If your an older gamer, you know the score by now.

 

[kevm3]

the 2000s have produced some of the best games of all time like the Souls series, Baldur's Gate 2 , Call of Duty 4, Splinter Cell and a few others... However, I feel the 90s was just iconic because so many new genres were created. Survival horror was created with Resident Evil... Yes you had Alone in the Dark, but the genre didn't really boom until Resident Evil. You also had RE's competion in Silent Hill.

You had the party brawler in Smash Brothers. Mario 64 was amazing for 3d platformers at the time. Rpgs in the 90s were unsurpassed. You had way too many classics like Final Fantasy Tactics, Alundra, FF6, FF7, Chrono Trigger, Suikoden I & II, Arc the Lad series, Lunar SSS and EB, Breath of Fire III, Shining Force, Xenogears, and countless others. You had amazing 2d platformers like Donkey Kong Country 1 - 3, Yoshi's Island, Sonic, Tomba, Megaman X etc.... amazing side scrollers like Shinobi 3. Historic games like Metal Gear Solid. Amazing smaller studio titles like Tenchu or Parappa the Rapper. Sidescrolling shooters like Contra 4 and Hard Corps, Metal Slug, among others. How about some of the definitive series in RTS games like Command and Conquer or Warcraft? How about the original X-Com? Fun party games like Poy Poy and Super Bomberman.

How many amazing fighters were being produced back then? You had Street Fighter 2 come in and basically become the definitive title for the 2d fighter genre. Then we also got SF Alpha series, Samurai Shodown, Xmen vs Street Fighter, Last Blade. Then we got some of the genre busting 3d titles like Tekken 2 and the Virtua Fighter series. The 90s were when the big 3 (Sony, Sega and Nintendo) were in their prime and actively battling it out.

 

[Rhazkul]

Yes. Back then video games were a niche market for nerds and geeks by nerds and geeks. Nothing like the big major profit driven market we see today.
I find myself playing way more small indie games than those big AAA formulaic blockbuster games because the indie games of today are the video games of the 90s (at least in spirit). For me gameplay always trumps every other aspect, i could not care less about 4K photorealistic graphics. Plus it feels like every of those AAA games is holding my hands and nothing is really challenging or difficult anymore (at least the single player games, i don't play multiplayer games which - to be fair - are fairly challenging simply because of the nature of competition and the human element).

 

[kevm3]

I also feel that this move to more ambient or 'epic orchestral' sounding music has removed a lot from games. I can barely remember any of the soundtracks from games in the past decade, but I can still remember songs from the 80s.

This just sounds cool. Something about limitations really brought the best out of some developers

 

[Northeastmonk]

There were passionate game makers during that time period. You saw today’s passion, but they were working/building tools that weren’t available. Making something like Xenogears without HD textures, unlimited hard disk space, and what not took planning and a lot of creative decision making. Now a days you can export some HD Texture Pack with a couple clicks. I’m not trying to say modern games aren’t hard because that looks like a beast to make. Even with all the tools that still seems like a massive project. Some of my favorite games were made in 2010 and beyond. I haven’t found games to replace a lot of Squaresoft’s works. The games look better, but the charm isn’t the same. I also believe games like Street Fighter II and DOOM are some of the best games ever made. Stretching some HD texture pack on it is great or making a new one is wonderful. It still doesn’t replace the original.

 

[Scotty W]

Apples and oranges have different pros and cons, but they balance out somehow.