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Which Generation aged the best?
- Thread starter German Shocks
- Start date
CuteFaceJay
Member
This generation marketing could have been so good with the 1024 bit marketing.
TwoHearted
Neo Member
I used to think 16bit era aged beautifully, and while it did. I can't help but keep going back to Xbox 360 and PS3. Something just felt right about that gen.
jshackles
Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
One of the reasons that the correct answer is SNES era is that they had enough pixels and color depth to make incredible sprite work, and the ones that have aged the most gracefully have done so specifically because the people creating the games understood that they were making art, as opposed to some disposable entertainment.
They also benefitted greatly from the cartridge format's low seek times, which is why 2D sprite-based games in the following generation on the PS1 still looked amazing but aged horribly because of their long load times (think about the Chrono Trigger PS1 port). Obvious exceptions exist, like Symphony of the Night and it's loading screens hiding in empty castle corridors, but overall I'd say that 2D games suffered until their more recent resurgence.
They also benefitted greatly from the cartridge format's low seek times, which is why 2D sprite-based games in the following generation on the PS1 still looked amazing but aged horribly because of their long load times (think about the Chrono Trigger PS1 port). Obvious exceptions exist, like Symphony of the Night and it's loading screens hiding in empty castle corridors, but overall I'd say that 2D games suffered until their more recent resurgence.
Nocty
Currently Steaming
I voted SNES but only for a handful of games that had a timeless style such as Chrono Trigger amd FF3. Earlier stuff before the more advanced techniques kicked in has aged far worse and as much as I love the SNES library for nostalgia reasons I struggle replaying any of them now.
PS3 era is a close second. There are some great looking artstyles from that generation, and for the most part they still look alright today.
PS3 era is a close second. There are some great looking artstyles from that generation, and for the most part they still look alright today.
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nkarafo
Member
Depends on where you draw the line at when something is considered "aged".
PS4/XBOX one generation games have "aged" better than that if we use the same logic. They look even closer to current games, to the point where you can't even tell which is which.
But are they old enough? Have they really aged at all? Do you consider PS4 games as retro? I don't and i also don't consider PS3 games as retro either because not much has changed since then.
But the PS2 generation does feel different in that games were still not as mainstream, had less hand holding, they felt more like games for hobbyists and nerds and less like mainstream movies, etc. So they feel like games from a different time but at the same time they don't have too many of the issues old 3D games are associated with like non-standard controls, low frame rates, non-accelerated 3D visuals and low poly models that look too angular.
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John Bilbo
Member
Each generation is now just as they were before, not more, not less.
Flash Junkins
Member
16 bir
ClanOfNone
Member
I woulda killed for one more predominately 2D/sprite based generation. One more gen with Sega and Nintendo utilizing hardware like a Neo Geo on steroids.
SirTerry-T
Member
We could have had that if more buggers had brought the Saturn!
I don't really think SNES games DO look particularly good tbh. Just because it was the last generation of predominantly 2D games doesn't mean they'd reached some kind of plateau. It just mean games moved onto 3D. Something like Rayman Origins looks WAY better than anything on the SNES. I think the only 16 bit game I still find genuinely nice to look at is Yoshi's Island, and maybe a couple of the Sonic games. Everything else looks really really dated.
I'd say the PS2 era has aged pretty well. Games look simple, yeah, but are generally less of an eyesore than PS360 games, with their horrible art and poor performance.
I'd say the PS2 era has aged pretty well. Games look simple, yeah, but are generally less of an eyesore than PS360 games, with their horrible art and poor performance.
crackajack
Member
Hard to actually predict but generally even 5090 maxed does not make proper good looking PS5 games look old, on PS amateur. So PS5 stuff won't age much anytime soon. PS4 did, due to framerate.
SNES had Starwing and Stunt Race FX which are just terrible 3D games in hindsight. It had mode7 garbage. Only the sidescrollers hold up decently. The tech experiments were okay back then, so they added value while aging teribble but without them the style range would have been very limited.
NES group definitely even worse.
N64 even until much of PS4 era also looks rough for different reasons.
Also controllers from the earlier eras are just terrible, at least with bigger hands and definitely would not have the required number of buttons to control modern rather complex games. I sometimes think current games and controls are somewhat overcomplicated, just unfocused but not even having the option to do more then run and jump aged hardly well in a platform and era perspective.
Zannegan
Member
Visually? Easily the 16-bit generation. They really mastered 2D pixel art to the point that they still look good today.
In terns of gameplay, I don't know that we've seen any real advancements from the Wii/PS3/360 generation. I think of Skyrim, Red Dead, Dead Space, Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare, Halo 3, Gears, Banjo Kazooie: Nuts&Bolts, Crackdown, God of War 3, Killzone 2, inFamous, Uncharted, Mario Galaxy, Xenoblade, Wii Sports, Bayonetta, Assassin's Creed, Borderlands, Mass Effect, Arkham Asylum, Crysis, Total War, Left 4 Dead, Minecraft, etc. etc.
I'm just going from memory, so I'm leaving out a bunch, and my personal genre biases from back then are shaping the list (no fighting games, while shooters and open world games are overrepresented). It was also a generation that was heavy on some genres (FPS) and light on others (JRPGs). Even so, just feels like, for every major genre, all gameplay conventions we've come to expect were perfected during this time, and everything that has come since has been refinements.
It doesn't hurt that the GaaS concept was still in its infancy and limited to either meaty expansions or throwaway cosmetic microtransactions. Games had to ship complete and succeed on their merits as a complete package. The potential for nickel-and-diming players that shapes much of game development and direction today was still over the horizon. Game budgets and team sizes had grown but were still small enough for a sub 3-year turnaround time.
In short, for the West, that generation represents most of the best of what we have now minus much of the worst. You can go back and pick any of those games up, and they play very comparably to same-genre entries made today.
Caveat: My argument applies more to Western games. For Japan-led genres, I could see the PS2/Gamecube generation being seen as the best for a lot of the same reasons.
In terns of gameplay, I don't know that we've seen any real advancements from the Wii/PS3/360 generation. I think of Skyrim, Red Dead, Dead Space, Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare, Halo 3, Gears, Banjo Kazooie: Nuts&Bolts, Crackdown, God of War 3, Killzone 2, inFamous, Uncharted, Mario Galaxy, Xenoblade, Wii Sports, Bayonetta, Assassin's Creed, Borderlands, Mass Effect, Arkham Asylum, Crysis, Total War, Left 4 Dead, Minecraft, etc. etc.
I'm just going from memory, so I'm leaving out a bunch, and my personal genre biases from back then are shaping the list (no fighting games, while shooters and open world games are overrepresented). It was also a generation that was heavy on some genres (FPS) and light on others (JRPGs). Even so, just feels like, for every major genre, all gameplay conventions we've come to expect were perfected during this time, and everything that has come since has been refinements.
It doesn't hurt that the GaaS concept was still in its infancy and limited to either meaty expansions or throwaway cosmetic microtransactions. Games had to ship complete and succeed on their merits as a complete package. The potential for nickel-and-diming players that shapes much of game development and direction today was still over the horizon. Game budgets and team sizes had grown but were still small enough for a sub 3-year turnaround time.
In short, for the West, that generation represents most of the best of what we have now minus much of the worst. You can go back and pick any of those games up, and they play very comparably to same-genre entries made today.
Caveat: My argument applies more to Western games. For Japan-led genres, I could see the PS2/Gamecube generation being seen as the best for a lot of the same reasons.
SNES/Genesis and PS2/GC/Xbox
Not even close with the others imo. 8 bit is obviously just way worse than 16. N64/PS1 are great but struggle with early 3D problems (still lots of gems and great to go back to but objectively rougher to play than PS2/GC/Xbox).
Maybe unpopular opinion but 360/PS3/Wii aged terribly in so many ways. The advent of a lot of the shit I hate about modern AAA game design started here + never in my life do I want to use another Wiimote.
Not even close with the others imo. 8 bit is obviously just way worse than 16. N64/PS1 are great but struggle with early 3D problems (still lots of gems and great to go back to but objectively rougher to play than PS2/GC/Xbox).
Maybe unpopular opinion but 360/PS3/Wii aged terribly in so many ways. The advent of a lot of the shit I hate about modern AAA game design started here + never in my life do I want to use another Wiimote.
German Shocks
GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief and Nosiest Dildo Archeologist
Dreamcast specs:
The source for its "128 bit" claim seems to be the 128-bit vector support.
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DreamcastSkies
Gold Member
Not sure if it aged the best but I think people pine for the feel of the PS3/360/ Wii era the most.
MrTroubleMaker
Member
On the Sega Dreamcast, the "128-bit" designation largely referred to the system's 128-bit SIMD (Single Instruction, Multiple Data) vector graphic engine. While the main CPU was actually a 32-bit chip, the dedicated graphics processor and vector unit processed data in 128-bit chunks.
mopspear
Gold Member
PlayStaytion
Member
32-bit and 128-bit, the ps2 was literally made to steal your time very nicely.
rodrigolfp
Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
PlayStaytion
Member
You didn't liked the psone? any reason? It's the only console I liked it's shitty graphics.
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FoxMcChief
Gold Member
16-bit
Super Nintendo games still look good on my Switch 2 screen.
Super Nintendo games still look good on my Switch 2 screen.
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Sportler
Member
The FF8 comparison is garbage. The original looks better on a CRT.
PeteBull
Member
Agree, like all other games at that time, they were made to be played on CRT, but again, we live in 2026 so not that many ppl play on CRT anymore, there are some obviously but barely any1, so gotta look at them from standard flatscreen tv perspective.
Mr.Phoenix
Member
Nostalgia is great and all that... but I will say PS4XB1 gen... we are still playing them right now, and likely will be with much better lighting next gen too. And everything from those older gens before it are getting remakes now, so that kinda confirms they haven't aged that well.