this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2025
64 points (100.0% liked)

RetroGaming

23903 readers
79 users here now

Vintage gaming community.

Rules:

  1. Be kind.
  2. No spam or soliciting for money.
  3. No racism or other bigotry allowed.
  4. Obviously nothing illegal.

If you see these please report them.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Are they the 'epics' of their time, or some things that are less well known?

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Half-Life 1 (and expansions)

SimCity 3000, SimCity 4

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines

Deus Ex

Zoo Tycoon

Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love for Sail

Morrowind

Industry Giant 2

Fallout 1/2

Arcanum

SimTower

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Great list. I think I will replay about half your list at some point over the coming years. And might first time play Love For Sail as well.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I still love all of the 90s FPS games like Doom and Quake.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Same. The rise of the boomer shooter was fun but you can't beat OG.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Have you tried playing on a lower difficulty level?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

I’ll let my wife know that someone finally does!

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I'll still crack open any one of the Age of Empires series from time to time.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You just reminded me I have the first version of that game around somewhere, I might dig it back out one of these days soon.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

The original and Rise of Rome are great. If you don't have Rise of Rome it's almost mandatory, it runs a lot better and has a lot of quality of life improvements, like a higher population cap.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I still play through The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past at least a couple times a year though it's usually with the randomizer these days. It is objectively the best video game ever made, which helps.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago (8 children)

Guild wars 1. I don't play it often but every once in a while I get the itch. It's honestly still really compelling.

load more comments (8 replies)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago

Half-Life 1

One mod specifically (Sven-Coop). Been playing almost daily since 1999.

I still fire up Duke 3d and Quake mods from time to time as well. There are lifetimes of user-made content in some of these older games.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (5 children)

DOOM.
The old game got way better when they open sourced it and Quake 3d code was backported to make zDOOM. Its one of the largest modding communities that has ever existed. If you want to see what it can do, try Brutal Doom. That same engine is behind a new release called Selaco.

Serious Sam.
The first one. The demo is fine. Start off with a pistol. Its pretty easy to die at first, even if you know the game. I think that's why I keep opening it, I know it really well, and it still catches me.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Tales of Maj'Eyal; all the old scumm games, daggerfall, toejam & earl.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago

The Pokemon games on all of Nintendo's handheld consoles emulate really cleanly on a smartphone.

I'm a sucker for the Gen 1 nostalgia every now and then.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago

Quake. Still hold up, modding community makes tons of maps to play so it stays fresh.

Dungeon Keeper - keeperfx is a modern update of the engine / bug fix that makes it easy to play on a modern system.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Final Fantasy 6 but, back in my day, it was called Final Fantasy 3.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Here goes:

pc:

  • duke nukem 3d pc version
  • blood
  • redneck rampage (so funny!)
  • cannon fodder
  • day of the tentacle

megadrive:

  • streets of rage 2
  • road rash 2
  • ea hockey 2
[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Wow Cannon Fodder. I felt so bad for the guys that got wounded and just stayed there suffering.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I sunk hours into NetHack, and I still occasionally dive into the dungeons. I also have a NES emulator on my phone, but it's just not the same. I'll play Zelda or Metroid for the nostalgia, but it's not the same as sitting on the couch with friends.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

not the same as sitting on the couch with friends.

That's the biggie that the young kids of today just will never experience!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Super Nintendo:

  • Megaman X. I was never a fan of classic Megaman, but the faster, more action-oriented sequel/spinoff X series rates amongst my favorites. It has tight controls, good music, varied stages, and memorable bosses and combat encounters. I must have beaten the first game dozens of times over the years.
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. It and Link's Awakening on the Game Boy were so close to perfect that decades later they're still the basis of comparison for any new 2D Zelda-like.

PC:

  • Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. it was the game that introduced Bioware's trademark party banter and focus on interesting and likeable characters. The systems are a little rough but it still mostly holds up. Though it's been a while since my last playthrough, and I usually stop once I hit the Underdark and the open world structure constricts for a few hours.
[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

The music in the SNES Megaman X series is magic.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

If I could I'd still be playing wow but it's just not the same without the plentiful free time for it.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Private servers with boosted rates can scratch that itch while severely reducing the grind. Every couple years I'll poke my head into one, level to endgame in like a week, do some raids, do some PVP, then completely forget it exists. Couple years later, rinse and repeat.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago

Syndicate Wars. I honestly haven't seen anyone emulate that gameplay as well as SW did it since then.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

I didn't have video games in my youth, so I'm just catching up now.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

The original Legend of Zelda. I still have it on cartridge and every once in a while I'll just steamroll the entire game and whoop Ganon's ass. I can usually do it in about 4 hours.

I don't use any glitches or speedrun optimizations, I just know where everything is and what order to do things in.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Heroes of Might and Magic III

Worms Armageddon

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

HOMM3 is like a warm blanket when you're sick and tired.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Worms Armageddon was a classic

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

Every time Final Fantasy Tactics comes out again, I’m all over it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Major mix of eras and platforms, but here is my list.

AoE2

NFSU2

Halo MCC

Sim City 2000

Streets of Sim City

Roller Coaster Tycoon

Mario Kart 64

Perfect Dark

Goldeneye

Battlefield 3

Super Mario Bros Deluxe

Mario 64

Overwatch

Half Life 2 +eps

Gary's Mod

Command and Conquer Generals: Zero Hour

Fallout New Vegas

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

I've been on a Doom kick for a bit, although it's modified to retain some more current gen flair. Just finished Going Down Turbo with Project Brutality. Is it faithful to the OG? Not quite, but it's truly amazing how far the the engine has come despite being heavily modified in its own right.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

Fallout 1 & 2, Final Fantasy 9, Elite

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

I have replayed Baldur's Gate 2 more than any other narrative game, and will probably do another playthrough in the coming years. So it's most likely that. Oh, and Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven multiplayer on the PS2 whenever I am over at one specific friend's place. That was our go-to couch game growing up and it's still nostalgic.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

I bloody loved Harry The Handsome Executive. It was an Ambrosia Software shareware game from the 90s and was surprisingly underrated. Will probably run on Infinite Mac but it never got an OS X port or anything

I have an old iBook which it still runs great on

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Quest for Glory series! Betrayal at Krondor

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (4 children)

Yeeeeah! I haven’t played these in forever but Hero’s Quest was my first Sierra adventure and holy shit was it magic. And Krondor - Raymond freakin Feist writing games!!

Both absolutely epic! Although in my case we’d be playing fast and loose with the term “youth” this was stuff I played after college but still.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Rayman's saga Especially Rayman 3 and Rayman 2, I am so excited for the upcomming fan-remake Rayman 2: Redreamed

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

I still find Civil War Generals 2 to be a really fun and challenging game. The visuals are still perfectly readable and charming.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

HL2 still holds up after 10+ playthroughs.

Last time I played it was when the commentary track was added. Played 80% of the game in one sitting because I was so hooked.

load more comments
view more: next ›