Curating a classic video game library

[Dave Gray]

I've been collecting cast-off video game systems from my family an am organizing a classic video game area in my garage.  I have several systems and games, but honestly, it's too much.  The vast majority of the stuff is unplayable crap.

I'm asking for help, but it's hard to even pinpoint what I'm asking.  I would like to figure out, in an ideal situation, what consoles I would have and, from that, which games have aged well enough to warrant having on-hand to play again.

I know this is hugely subjective, but even among some of my greatest games of all time, I consider them unplayable by today's standards.  As much as I loved Goldeneye (N64) or The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64), they just didn't stand the test of time are more important as stepping stones to better games.

I don't want to set an arbitrary limit on an amount of games from any system, but it seems like there wouldn't be a ton (maybe any) on some systems and others would have a lot.  I personally feel that certain generations of gaming are more timeless, like the 16-bit era...where the N64/PS1 era of polygonal graphics were perfected later and few games are still playable.

Here's a list of consoles, based on worldwide sales.  You'll have to use the data to guide you, but it won't be 1:1 data.  Some consoles had a few versions that played the same games and some were hugely influential but came out when people didn't know games yet.  I am only including home consoles that are played primarily on a TV and not including the current generation.

PS2
PS4
PSOne
Nintendo Wii
PS3
XBOX360
Nintendo Entertainment System
XBox One
Super Nintendo
Nintendo 64
Sega Genesis
Atari 2600
XBox
GameCube
Nintendo Wii U
Sega Master System
TurboGrafx-16
Sega Saturn
Sega Dreamcast


So, which of these are important.....and then I guess we should talk about which games should be on hand for each?  I don't think the Dreamcast or Saturn made enough of a splash but I've never owned one.  I do have a bit of a soft spot for a single TurboGraphx game, but (especially because of emulation), it's probably not worth owning a system for.

And how to handle sports games?  There are some sports games that are classics forever in my mind (NBA Jam, Tecmo Bowl) but it's not like you need to have any versions of Madden but the current one, right?

[Phishfan]

I think you need to have an Atari for Pac-Man

[masterfins]

Gotta be able to play Pong and Duck Hunt.

[Pappy13]

You are missing one of the best gaming systems of all time, the Amiga. The games on it were one of a kind in some cases, never seen anything like them before or after. You can purchase an emulator at the link below or you can try to find one that still works. Not sure how you would go about actually obtaining the games, that could be tricky. Some of them are in the public domain, but the best ones I don't think are. Might be a bit of work to get them to work, but well worth the effort if you're into that type of thing.

Some examples of great really unique games are The Killing Game Show and Blood Money. You might be able to find them on another platform, but the Amiga still has the best versions.

A500 mini

[Dave Gray]

I've never ever heard of an Amiga.  It sounds kinda of like a computer.  It ran a full keyboard and mouse with a floppy disk.

The combined versions (the one you mentioned plus something called an Amiga 1000 which was even more computer) are said to have sold about 5 million worldwide, but mostly not in the US.  I don't see anything on the wiki, but I think it probably means that it was sub-1 million units in the US.

[Engineering Owl]

NES/SNES
super mario bro 1/2/3
legend of zelda
contra 1/2

zelda link to the past
super metroid
super mario allstars
donkey kong country 2

Nintendo 64
super smash
mario part 2
mario 64
wwf no mercy
starfox

XBox
halo 1/2
battlefront 1/2
GTA SA
elder scrolls 3
THPS 3+


Nintendo Wii U/wii/gamecube (by default can play wii, modded wii u has full backwards compatibility)
super mario galaxy 1/2
donkey kong country
zelda skyward sword
wii sports
Wind Waker Remaster
super mario sunshine
mario party 8

emulation arcade station for everything else

[Spider-Dan]

I would like to figure out, in an ideal situation, what consoles I would have and, from that, which games have aged well enough to warrant having on-hand to play again.

Nintendo Entertainment System
Sega Genesis
Super Nintendo
PS2 (unless your PS3 is one of the launch units with PS2 backward compatibility; if it is, then PS3)
XBOX (specifically: the one I know you have)
XBOX360
PS4

I guess we should talk about which games should be on hand for each?

Start by listing what you have for those, and I'll tell you what I think you should add.  (keep in mind that PS2/PS3 can play PS1 games)

And how to handle sports games?

NES: Tecmo Super Bowl, Baseball Stars
Genesis: the original John Madden Football, NHL '93
PS1: NBA Jam Tournament Edition
PS2 or Xbox: ESPN NFL 2K5

Modern iterations of Madden/NBA2K/MLB The Show are a dime a dozen and not really even worth collecting; if you want to play them, just go get the newest one at that moment.

[Fau Teixeira]

Also remember to get goldeneye for whichever console that was on, that game was great.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time was also a banger

[Spider-Dan]

Also remember to get goldeneye for whichever console that was on, that game was great.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time was also a banger

Dave specifically mentioned those two as games he felt did not hold up, which is why I excluded N64 from my list of recommended systems:

I know this is hugely subjective, but even among some of my greatest games of all time, I consider them unplayable by today's standards.  As much as I loved Goldeneye (N64) or The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64), they just didn't stand the test of time are more important as stepping stones to better games.

[Fau Teixeira]

is this purely also a console list? there are a few PC games that deserve on this list.

[Pappy13]

I've never ever heard of an Amiga.  It sounds kinda of like a computer.  It ran a full keyboard and mouse with a floppy disk.

You ever hear of the Commodore 64? Basically it was it's big brother. Yes, technically it was a home computer, but it was best known for it's gaming and music capabilities just like the other Commodore computers.

The combined versions (the one you mentioned plus something called an Amiga 1000 which was even more computer) are said to have sold about 5 million worldwide, but mostly not in the US.  I don't see anything on the wiki, but I think it probably means that it was sub-1 million units in the US.

I don't really know how many units sold in the US from all versions. A quick bing search showed the Amiga 500 was the best selling model and estimates are it sold over 6 million units worldwide although you are probably correct that more than half were sold in Europe. This is still a decent amount of units for 1987. It doesn't compare to the more recent consoles, but back in the day that was pretty good especially considering it was more expensive than pure consoles. The Commodore 64 which I'm sure you've heard of sold around 15 million units for example.

But I wasn't suggesting the Amiga for it's popularity, I was suggesting it for it's uniqueness and quality of the system and it's games. Basically it was the best gaming machine available in the late 80's till at least the early 21st century and the PS2. Nothing else came close. If you were a serious gamer in the late 80's or in the 90's you would have known about it or you should have. Some of the best games that I've ever played were on the Amiga. Anything ported to the Amiga typically was better on the Amiga than other systems.

[Spider-Dan]

Stuff like the Commodore 64, Amiga, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC etc. are largely computers that were much more popular in Europe, where cheap microcomputers took hold in the post-videogame crash era (unlike Japan and the US, where the Famicom/NES took hold).  That's not to say that they didn't exist in the US, but they didn't have very much market penetration compared to video game consoles like the NES/Genesis/SNES.

If the intent is to catalog some of the best innovations in home gaming, you would want to include systems like the Vectrex, Atari Lynx, TurboGrafx CD, and Neo-Geo.  But it doesn't seem like that's what Dave is really shooting for.

[Dave Gray]

These are all valid discussions, but ultimately Dan is right.  I will be the first to admit that there were hugely influential and popular games for their times, but they are unlikely to be played for any reason other than "remember this" and it would only last for 5 minutes.

Goldeneye is pretty much unplayable.  The industry has settled on a dual-stick control scheme for console shooters.  Goldeneye has a single stick and weird strafing buttons.  It's like trying to play with your feet.  But on top of that, it was the very infancy of polygon graphics, so it also doesn't look good (not that it matters too much). 

If you're talking about console shooters, I don't think we figured it out until Halo 1.  From there, everything evolved from that.  I played the original Halo in its entirety on XBOX not long ago and it was still fun, though flawed.

And while it's debatable, I find the same to be true with Ocarina of Time.  There is a weird Z-lock-on system that just hasn't aged well.  I might be wrong about this, though, as I haven't REALLY given it my all to play that game again.  I do think that sprawling epics like that don't age great, also, because you generally have to put a lot of time in to get through the start of the story before the game gets good.

If you play Super Mario 64 for thirty minutes, it will be fun for thirty minutes.  You'd have to do a bit of busy legwork to even get the story started in Ocarina in 30 minutes.

[Dave Gray]

is this purely also a console list? there are a few PC games that deserve on this list.

I was thinking that these would be consoles that use controllers and connect to a TV.  There may be some wiggle room, but, in-general, couch play.  Nothing that requires a surface or monitor setup.

[Dave Gray]

I was going through some NES lists and I see that River City Ransom is on most top 10 lists, and sometimes as high as #1.

...it's a beat-em-up with some RPG elements, but I've never played it.  Does anyone have experience with these games?