Pretty self explanitory. What oldschool games (pre 1997) games have you been playing? Myself? ChronoTrigger on SNES, Final Fantasy 3 (US release) also on SNES and Hexen on PC.
I cant even begin to list all the classic game I still play. To be honest with you all, I have downloaded the Atari, NES, SNES, and SEGA Emulators, then went to the rom websites, and have downloaded every one of the games they had to offer. So I play a wide amount of the classic games.
As a kid, i actually used to have all those games, most of them I still have, along with the systems, but they are out at my dads, and I cant get those for a while, so I have been playing them on my computer. =p
I have two functional NESes along with about 50-60 games that I play regularly. I have an SNES (for mario world, mario kart and f-zero) but I don’t play it that often. I play duck hunt most frequently because it’s quick and still fun.
I think Duck Hunt was released in 84 - 85, so that certainly qualifies as "before ‘97’.
Not to harp on your age, but the term “old school” really does seem to change over time. 97 is hardly old school for me since I was out of high school at that point! Kick it back to the 80’s and then you’re a lot closer to the source.
i’m gonna agree with mike. old school for me would be pre-1990. and i don’t have any of my nes or snes stuff hooked up. haven’t had time, but i loved the mario games and street fighter on the snes.
I’m going to chime right in here (after I adjust my dentures and artificial hip).
Old school arcade games are Asteroids, Space Invaders and the like, and I was playing them before your parents reached puberty. Like, the 70s, dude.
THE Old school computer dungeon strategy game is Nethack (www.nethack.org). Still free, still being developed, and still the most complex, deepest game of its genre. It’s pretty much the only game I still play.
I think we need to distinguish between what are classicly known as “video games” vs. “arcade games”. I consider “video games” those that were developed on/for console systems (such as the TON of games that came out for NES) that were never really targeted for the arcade. Arcade games were geared towards the arcades and the genre of games were very different - these are fast-play, simple games that built off a single theme.
Most of the arcade games that were popular made their way onto Atari (and vice versa) since that’s the time Atari really came into it’s own. In the early 80’s we then saw ColecoVision bring more arcade games to the console with the NES following I think about 3 years later (in US markets - I believe Japan had the Famicom around 83 - but the exact years may be off here or there).
If we take Asteroids or Centipede as examples, it easy to see how these fit snuggly into the arcade genre. The real goal for these was to get the almighty “high score” and drop your initials for all to see and envy.
While Atari did have some longer playing games, the “video game” really came into it’s own under Nintendo with classics like Zelda and the ability to save your progress as you continued through the seemingly never-ending world of Hyrule.
So all this rambling aside, the question is - are we talking about any video game that falls under the “arcade game” or “video game” designation I’m making above or simply putting the stake in the ground with console-based games that were targeted for home consumption (pioneered by Atari, picked up by Coleco then revolutionized by Nintendo)?
Btw - this is just one of the many reasons why I love Japan and it confuses the hell out of me at the same time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Scm4O3pfRwk
(yes, it has to do with the thread oddly enough!)
I forgot to mention the arcade games, and the old games from acomed (SP?) I remember I had to type in “walk to the left/” for the guy to walk then “pick up the pumpkin.” “smash the pumpkin” “pick up the key”. Another favorite was “Thor, God of Thunder!”, then there was another game where your like a tomb raider, and have to go through each level, and its very strategic.
Great times!
Geez, I remember when Pong was cutting edge!
I recently downloaded Manic Miner off the web, and have spent the last month tearing my hair out trying to complete it. Can’t get further than level 16.
i have a gameboy black and white
Snes is the best system and its games are the best games so those are the only things i’ll bother mentioning.
First off there are to many wicked games for snes for me to name them all but a few of my favorites are
chrono trigger
final fantasy 3
street fighter 2, 2 turbo or super street fighter the new challengers
killer instinct
well i think i’ll just quit there because otherwise i’d end up naming way to many games. I would have to say that chrono trigger is probably my favorite game of all time. and killer instinct and street fighter 2 tie for me as fighting games because street fighter 2 is a complete classic and killer instinct has a wicked combo set up and quite cool characters as well as street fighter 2.
Tell Adam Cohen you want to go for a ride in Long Island, maybe he’ll invite you in to play the arcade machines Asteroids and Ms pacman 
he doesn’t have Frogger or DigDug though 
The gameboy was so amazing when it first came out. For the first time I could play video games anywhere! I didn’t have to be near a TV or at an arcade. I could sit in the library during lunch at school and play games! Astounding!
pong and tetris.
Asteroids is a true classic. I used to have an actual stand-up arcade Asteroids which stopped working and became a "really-bulky-useless-thing"™. I was way psyched to see a working one at Adam’s place.
Here’s a peek at my list of all-time favorites:
Pitfall! (Atari 2600) Running through the jungle, dodging scorpions and alligators, collecting treasure… you’re a bullwhip away from being a virtual Indiana Jones!
Lazy Jones (Commodore 64) The purpose of this game is to… play more games! What a cool concept?! This is perhaps the first instance of game-within-a-game play…
Hacker 2 (Apple II) No instruction manual, no hints, no nothing. You suddenly find yourself at the controls of a robotic surveillance system dropped inside a high-security facility and you’ve got to get to the “doomsday papers” before you’re discovered. Uber geeky, uber frustrating, but uber fun!
Wow! I remember Pitfall!
Using the underground passage meant you took a shortcut type of thing that moved you on several screens!
The crocodiles in the pond always used to get me.
You could stand right on top of their heads while their mouths opened, but you had to be pixel-perfect.
Ah, fond memories.
The thing I hated about pitfall was that it just went until the time ran out - there was no “ending”.
For something like Tetris, that’s great. For something like pitfall, not so great. That’s what drove me crazy.
Yes!