I can’t help but feel excited when old games get remasters, rereleases, or become available to new people. A wonderful opportunity presents itself when new people get to play old games. Games tend to show their age when a younger generation of people try them from systems dating back before they were born. When this happens, you can see how well or poorly certain things have aged.
This is true not just for video games, but for movies as well. I never grew up on the Indiana Jones or Dark Crystal franchises. And because I didn’t have nostalgia for either one, I watched them both with new eyes. Honestly, neither of them did much for me without the nostalgia to go with it. My general opinion became, “It’s okay. Not phenomenal, but it’s fine.”
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Generation Gap
As a thirty-something-year-old, it can be interesting trying to talk to twenty-somethings about movies or video games. There are some references you share and some you don’t. But there is no need to be a snob when talking about certain things. Wait long enough and remasters happen for all of your old favorites. “You mean you’ve never played Xenogears?! How could you never have played Secret of Evermore?” But both people end up discovering new games they might not have discovered otherwise.
Megaman X games in the anniversary collection for the GameCube. Then one day, my GameCube stopped playing any discs at all. Even after cleaning the disc reader, the system would turn on but not register the disc inside. So I picked up both Megaman X Legacy Collections 1 and 2.
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The comparison between the PS4’s HD and the GameCube’s component cable graphics is gargantuan. Not only that, but with the new “Hunter Trophies”, it gives more incentive to beat the games again. Megaman X Legacy Collection 1 became the second game I ever platinum’d (the only other one being Life Is Strange, but that was as simple as beating the game).
And The Rereleases Keep Coming…
Game preservation is important as it ever was. It allows the old to become new and the new to become familiar with the old. Having conversations with video game fans who are different from you can help you realize certain things that you never realized before. Graphical upgrades can also make old games more appealing.
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It’s true whether you look at Link’s Awakening for the Switch or, like me, cannot wait until the Zero/ZX Collection comes out because of the Megaman X Legacy Collection. Revisiting the past is something that should be done occasionally. The more you learn about the past, the more it can aid you in the future.
But what do you think? What games are you glad that they released for a new generation? What can’t you wait to see? Let us know in the comments below!
