The old and the forgotten games

Old games

To bide my time in the quarantine days, I decided to start a long overdue cleanup of my game room.

The game room has more than just old music.

In various crates that I put up, I stored games that I don’t play anymore. Some of the games I did not play were because of time constraints or because I simply had no friends to play them with.

I started a video game collection when I bought my first PS2 in 2002. The PS2 is not the slim model - it was the original, “fat” one. I played that console relatively every night, almost. I had played Ratchet and Clank, FFX, and some other titles I cannot really remember. Some games I tried to play, but wound up putting on the shelf and never bothered sending it to GameStop for what could have been a worthless trade anyway.

For a time, I did play FF XI. It was my first MMO, officially. But I never got far into that game and into the subscription and left it on the shelf. Hindsight followed and eventually, I wondered - what if I really got into FF XI for real, or even started WoW? (But in reality, I never picked up any MMO again until FF XIV-Realm Reborn arrived.)

The PS3 came along. I didn’t buy it at launch day, I waited until the price went down a bit to buy a PS3, it was the 80 GB model. While many people felt the PS3 / 360 generation was really the 360’s to lose, the PS3 ultimately rebounded as its game title library became competitive. Over time, the 360 has largely become a favorite for first person shooter fans, notably with Halo. But the 360’s lack of Japanese publishers and JRPG titles didn’t make it worth it for them. And ultimately, I never got an Xbox - the original Xbox, the 360, and even the Xbox One. I had been tempted before to get an Xbox, but by the time the Xbox One debuted, many of my game playing friends were already locked to the PS Network and that was it.

I also owned a PSP (PlayStation Portable) and a Vita. I went through one PSP; currently own a Slim model (the 1000 was since traded away to GameStop). Somehow I wished Sony was a little more bold with their game portables because even though they never surpassed Nintendo’s DS models, they were still worth the price. Sony eventually quit handhelds, seeing the writing on the wall, as the smartphone revolution took hold.

Some of the games I played on the PSP are noteworthy for their nostalgia - 3rd Birthday being one of them, as I never owned Parasite Eve 1 or 2 as they were PS1 games. Another game I played was Crisis Core, a FF7 prequel, that has since become relevant in light of the newer Remake FF7’s debut (and for reasons why it is relevant, I won’t spoil here.)

The first Nintendo console that I ever owned was a GameCube which I have since sold away when I moved to the Wii. I owned Wii and Wii U consoles and I sometimes wondered if they were a waste of money because I never played the Nintendo consoles as much as the Sony PlayStation. I also owned a Nintendo GameBoy Advance SP, which were handy when I commuted to work on the train and swapped between that and the PSP / Vita. I went through the DS models as well. Strangely enough, I never got into Pokemon games that much, until the smartphone game Pokemon Go debuted. In addition, I am an Animal Crossing late bloomer, having never played any of their previous releases until the Switch release of New Horizons debuted.

The 3DS that I own is a special Zelda themed edition, so I may end up keeping it for awhile.

What next for these old games?

More likely, I may end up holding onto the PS2 and the fat PS3 consoles, as the PS3 console is currently the lone remaining PlayStation generation that could play old PS1 and 2 games. I am about to send my older launch model PS4 away soon, as I have replaced it with a God of War themed PS4 Pro.

I’m currently figuring out which PS2 and PS3 games to save and which ones to send to Book-Off or to Goodwill. I probably may end up keeping all Final Fantasy releases except XIII (I loved XIII-2 more than XIII, and I feel XIII was the weaker Final Fantasy release that Square Enix has ever released.)

The PS4 is something else. I have not bought many PS4 games as of late compared to PS3, and the move toward digital download releases is making a case for having no physical release games. Many of the PS4 game discs just carry an initial release build on the disc and then users would have to download a Day 1 patch that could take up as much as an actual disc itself. (Square Enix packaged two discs with FF7 Remake, with one disc containing install data and the second disc containing actual content.)

The Wii U more likely may end up being the only legacy Nintendo tabletop console I will end up keeping. I’m still trying to figure out how to unload my original Wii console. I’m tempted to somewhat keep my DS Lite as well as my 3DS, as the DS Lite is the only DS model that has GBA compatibility (3DS does not support GBA cartridges).

On the Nintendo side, I do have a Switch, and I currently play Animal Crossing New Horizons on it. It is currently the only Switch game that I regularly play as of the time of this post. I still hope to try to finish Pokemon Sword-Shield in the coming days.