I just bought a handheld emulator (Anbernic RG35XX) and I’m now overwhelmed with options.
I’m also expecting to be destroyed by the games some of you were playing as children, but whatever. Anything PS1 and older is appreciated.
Castlevania symphony of the night is a gem
Grim Dawn, SMW, asteroids, metal slug, ms. pacman, centipede. Oh and defender and joust
Somehow my tastes stagnated and ossified so I mostly only play my childhood games. That said those that stood up the most are
Super Smash Bros Melee Super Mario 64 Wave race 64 1080 Snowboarding Rise of Nations
Those 5 games have cumulatively, for better or for worse, consumed a pretty sizable chunk of my lifespan. Sounds depressing to think of it that way, but then they did such a good job of being fun that I continue to enjoy that time so you got to hand it to them, they’re hella good games.
MULE (c64) and Hack/Nethack (x86).
Literally none of them. I go back to visit my old blast from the past games and boy do they suck.
Except Left4Dead 2
Defender of the crown, c64 version.
Splinter cell: blacklist Metal gear solid
Splinter cell: blacklist
This is like 15+ years after the time period OP is asking about lol
OP has made a fatal mistake by making that criteria the last sentence of the description instead of in the title. Irrelevant suggestions ahoy!
MediEvil. The original, not the remake of course.
Age of Empires 2.
I absolutely suck at multiplayer, but it really is a fun game. I liked how its campaign mode teaches you history too. It got two remasters, and both are quite good in their own way. 2013 has visuals similar to the originals, and Definitive has its visuals vastly improved but kept the gameplay same.
As for consoles, Chrono Trigger for SNES is the most remarkable game I can think of. It takes time travel very well, I was honestly surprised how such a game was made at that era.
If you want a more casual game, Puyo Puyo for Genesis could do well. It could be hard when you first get into it. The games back then were written to be more difficult to get more playtime out of games; and the AI can easily catch you off guard with big chains. (Its english counterpart for Mega Drive is called Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, but the game is easily understood as it is already.)
You should definitely check out Project Celeste. It’s an opensource revamp of AOE-Online with great single player campaigns and multiplayer mode. They are constantly adding content and campaigns to the game.
Planescape: Torment and Civ 2 Test of Time.
Crash Bandicoot, Star Ocean 2, Legend of Legaia, Klonoa, Final Fantasy 7 of course, Kingdom Hearts 1
Earthbound, Super Mario World, Chrono Trigger, Donkey Kong Country, Sonic & Knuckles, Bust-a-Move, Vectorman
Not a childhood game, but the Japan-only SNES strategy RPG Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War is a great handheld emulator game! There’s English patches for it.
Some random games from the mid 90s and earlier that I enjoyed when I was younger:
PS1: Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy 9, Lego Racing
SNES: Final Fantasy 4, Super Mario World
GBA (not of this era, but they’ll probably run on your Anbernic): Fire Emblem (any of the GBA games, but Blazing Blade aka just Fire Emblem is a great starting point), Metroid Fusion
GBC: Link’s Awakening DX
Edit: GB: Donkey Kong 94
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Super Metroid
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest
Chronotrigger
Advance Wars 2
Psychonauts (maybe that’s too new idk)
I just played Super Mario World again. Great game!
With DevilutionX you can also play the original Diablo with gamepad controls.
Starfox 64 is also awesome.
And the original Tomb Raider is always great.
These are made for X86, so I’m not sure they technically count as “old games”, but I’ve had a blast with recompiled+ported versions of TLoZ:OoT and Perfect Dark.
Ship Of Harkinian in particular adds so many features and improvements, that I’m not sure I would enjoy the original OoT played on an actual N64.They may still hold up when emulated, though…
I tried playing Perfect Dark on N64 again during the pandemic. Single player was great, multiplayer runs at like 12 fps and I have no idea how I ever played it as a kid.
The real camera controls in Ship of Harkinian are a game changer. It suddenly feels like a modern game.
I’m going to be honest, that’s the one improvement I’ve never used - the original pseudo tank controls are fine to me, at least on a X360 controller
Interesting, the camera is almost always the weakest link in early 3D games for me.
