PS3, Xbox 360, Wii can’t hold a match to old-school game systems
While the rest of the gaming world is engaged in a viciously heated battle over which game console rules supreme, there is a group of silent gamers that goes about its business without a word. Those mysterious few are gamers who don’t buy into the hype of the “next-gen” war — for them, the best consoles are the ones no longer in production.
John Colonna, recent college graduate and long-time gamer, doesn’t have a lot of time to sit around gaming. Just married and employed, he’s spread thin and looking forward to his first paid vacation.
That doesn’t mean he doesn’t find a way to squeeze in a few minutes here and there to game, though. What might surprise most people is that his few minutes aren’t spent on World of Warcraft, Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, Super Smash Brothers, or any of the other outrageously popular games of the moment — Colonna pops in a copy of Donkey Kong Country into his SNES and goes to town.
You’d probably be even more suprised to learn that Colonna is a proud PS3 owner. When asked which system he prefers, Colonna answers, “My Super Nintendo, hands down.”
Here are the games he lists as his favorite for SNES:
1. All the Donkey Kong Country’s
2. Yoshi’s Island
3. Super Mario World
4. Super Mario Kart
5. Mortal Kombat 3
6. NBA Jam, Tournament Edition
That might leave a lot of readers wondering, “Why is a grown man spending his time on all those old kids games?” You’re answer is this — all those “old” games are arguably more exciting and challenging than most games on the market today.
That doesn’t just go for the Super Nintendo; think back to the Sonic games for Sega Genesis or many of the other popular games back when cartridges were the “new hotness.” Those games provided real challenges that took repetition and practice…even without save points, there isn’t anything much more exhilarating than beating that one level you’ve been failing for a while now.
Let’s face it: new games are designed to be challenging, but are inevitably easily beaten in comparison to some of the older games. There just isn’t the same satisfaction to beating the newer games as there was to the older games.
I’d be the first in line to buy a Super Nintendo if they were redistributed. Sure, they don’t have fantastic graphics…but graphics aren’t everything, as Wii owners know. If you’re looking for some good addictive fun, why not try John’s method — buy an old console on eBay and try your hand at some genuinely challenging and addictive games.
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23 Responses to “PS3, Xbox 360, Wii can’t hold a match to old-school game systems”
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March 27th, 2008
one game stands out in my memory of childhood gaming. super ghouls ‘n ghosts. actually two. double dragon.
March 27th, 2008
Excellent reading, Couldnt agree with it more. I have all my consoles still. I used to have alot of them hooked up (now i just get them through the wii shop channel). Its much easier then setting up all the consoles. The super nes was the best video game machine. Ever. Kids of today dont get it really, they dont understand why these old relics are treasured so much. They dont realize its the gameplay (although there were some good looking snes and mega drive games…many actually). My favourite top 5 snes games are:-
1. Super mario world.
Hands down winner. A masterpiece that still in my opinion has not been achieved since (mario galaxy included)
2. F-zero.
Fast paced racing that was so adictive that in the harder levels you needed like a zen type concentration to beat it.
3.Super Metroid.
The music was awesome, the vastness of the levels was un-imaginablely good. Dont need to say much as it speaks for itself.
4.Super Star Wars.
No save points in this game. Turn on the snes and its just you and your best abilities till you turned the machine off. Challenging, awesome score from star wars, cant ask for much more.
5.Donkey Kong Country.
The best music on the system. It re-introduced donkey kong in beautiful graphics matched only by its incredible game play. You could even save in this game.
The best things about these games is that there is no online! What a shock to todays youths. You were lucky to get a 2 player game in this generation. I would like to see some of todays so called “hardcore” gamers beat super ghouls and ghosts.
Thanks for listening.
March 27th, 2008
Super Mario World was my favorite. I could play that game for hours. Thanks for the post.
March 27th, 2008
yeah..i can’t blame him. if i had a ps3, i’d play my SNES more, too.
March 27th, 2008
oh look it’s kevin, the FUD mongerer, the liar, the, well you get the idea, when will you get a life and stop trolling?
March 27th, 2008
Moustachio – aw…did i hurt your feelings? the only one who lies around here are ps3 fanboys (ie; you) and sony. the fact is; the SNES is a stellar gaming system and the ps3, well… very, very, meh…. as proven by the poor attach ratio of games to console and the fact the ps3 is in LAST place even with the “100 million loyal sony customers” sony hyped. Its funny the even analysts are even reporting the ps3 will only sell 13 million by 2009. pathetic…
March 27th, 2008
That 13 million number is for that year alone not in total of the ps3 life. Its acuallay going to have over 20 million in a faster time the 360 did which is still working on its 20 million with 18 million sold to date!!!
March 27th, 2008
To help you out a lil ps3 already has sold 11.5 million the 360 is at 18 million the 360 had a year start on the system. That means when you stack games up to november these games being Killzone 2, MGS4, Lil big planet, RFOM2, GT4, Grand Turismo, and so much more heavy hitters in that time the ps3 will easily sail through as it already has passed the 360 in world wide numbers if you stack to time periods together. Even the US the only place 360 got a break from is starting to lose ground with the last to months going to sony. As far as the super nintendo goes it was a great system But mine is sitting in the closet with internet downloads you can still play it on your new system if thats what you chose to do and alot of times with better visuals and quality. And for $5 bucks or more might I add.
March 27th, 2008
That should shut Kevin up.
March 27th, 2008
hey guys, you have the same interest with me. I like the non-online game. because actually, my internet speed in my country is horrible for play game online:p. the game that I like very much are RPG games and Adveture games
March 27th, 2008
Can I just say one of the best parts of my day is reading through the vicious exchanges between moustachio and kevin? Thanks for making my day bright.
March 27th, 2008
Sorry, but that was a poorly written article.
I’m not “wondering” why he’s still playing the old-school “kids games.” Like myself, he grew up in that era so naturally he would have a tendency to prefer the older systems. What is there to wonder about?
Add if he prefers the older systems so much, why do you go out of your way to point out that he’s a “proud PS3 owner”? If he never plays it, why is he proud of owning one? For that matter, why did he buy one?
Speaking of “guy”…who is this guy you keep referring to? A recent college grad? Great source material. Take one random guy to support your article and say, “See! I told you old systems are the best! LOLOLOL” I’m a recent college grad myself and I would rather play Metroid Prime 3 over Donkey Kong Country any day. You could have at least taken a poll to get a bigger sample than one person.
Older games are harder to beat than new ones? I can beat Super Mario Bros. in under 6 minutes. Most NES games can be beaten easily in under an hour. How is beating Twilight Princess easier than the original Zelda?
Old games also have save files. So…yeah. Wrong again.
I’m 25 and have been playing video games since the age of 4. I grew up with NES, SNES, and Sega. Would I say Wii is the best Nintendo yet? I don’t know. It’s only been a year and 1/2 since it came out. I do know that Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3 and Super Mario Galaxy are some of the best games I have ever played. Super Metroid, Super Mario 3 and Yoshi’s Island are also some of the best.
It’s fun to debate which system is the best, but you can’t just arbitrarily say “older systems are more exciting and challenging.”
March 27th, 2008
Just for the record, I’m a different Kevin than the first poster.
March 27th, 2008
spencer – stop getting your “facts” from ps3 forums. the ps3 has sold nowhere near 18 million. Glad to do it, Triston.
March 27th, 2008
I play Games since the old Defender automat(and the BBC micro/C64),(since the early 80s) may fav must be the N64.
Games like Mario 64,Goldeneye,Turok 2,Zelda OOT,Shadowman,banjo Kazooie,Jet Force gemini are classic and made more of an impression on me as the SNES games(alough Yoshis Island with all 100 pkt. in EVERY LEVEL is really HARD!)
Without those N64 classic where would gaming be today?
Even Twilight Princess ist not really much different (in Gameplay aspects) than Ocarina of Time or not?
March 27th, 2008
You know what Ken? Really not in the mood. This guy is a real person…if you want, you can have his email address. Not all games had save points…you’re 25, but did you ever play the original prince of persia? Doubtful. That didn’t have save points and was one of the most challenging games on the market. Get your facts straight before making criticisms.
March 28th, 2008
It’s stupid to compare the game libraries of a system that passed through its entire life-cycle to a system that’s barely a year old. That’d be like me being proud that I’m stronger than a 4 year old.
March 28th, 2008
WTH R U guys aruging about???!!!!!
March 28th, 2008
i agree with these words very much…
i still get tingles over goldeneye for the 64… perfect dark too… i still play legend of zelda for the snes
ninja gaiden and contra for the nintendo just plain rock…
these past titles rock so much, and that is the reason all the 3d incarnations fail… because our first love just doesnt compare to these reiterations of games that made us gamers
gran tourismo and wipeout!!! for the ps… man those games were amazing… how wipeout hd? ftw?
i play ps3 and xbox360… for only 2 types of games… first person shooters and racing
never tried the wii yet…
im busy playing rock band on the ps3 at the moment
i am a fan of games… not consoles
strangely enough, my most favourite game is mario party
March 29th, 2008
Next on the to do list…show Jonathan Schlaffer this article, not that it will make any difference
March 30th, 2008
Brilliant – write an article, referring to some ‘person’ who prefers to live in a cave and play SNES in his spare time (god, is there any bigger way to say Im a caveman loser?) then make claim this is some sort of norm?
Article writer, go get some real info – go write a decent story, and quit with the fanboy flaming bs. These sort of pointless article show nothing more than how utterly foolish this website has become, and even better are the idiots arguing about old SNES games.. my god get a grip you bunch of 12 yr old mindless drones.
March 31st, 2008
“These sort of pointless article show nothing more than how utterly foolish this website has become…”
There was a point when it wasn’t? What?!
April 15th, 2008
Very useful information
I see there are realy good tips. I am going to use some of them