I was a Genesis kid, but I played most of the SNES classics while it was still the 90s.
Donkey Kong Country has always been criminally overrated. Even on a CRT television it was just not that good.
In fact I’ll go so far as to say that between the SNES and the N64, Rare made exactly two great games: Goldeneye and Diddy Kong Racing. Everything else was middling.
Sonic the Hegehog wasn’t fun. Good art direction, great music; terrible level design that very often countered the premise of “going fast.” I never found them enjoyable and find it crazy how big the series is, even though most games in the franchise are said to be garbage even by Sonic fans.
Rare games just had this style that made everything feel a little off.
Like eating a Subway sandwich. The ham doesn’t just taste like ham; it tastes like ham + Subway. The turkey tastes like turkey + Subway. Banjo-Kazooie was the worst about this. It just had so much of this extra “Rare” flavor on top of it.
And like, you don’t notice it at first until you try the breakfast sandwich, and when that tastes like egg + Subway, you can’t eat there anymore because that’s all you can taste.
Modern games don’t suck. That’s a silly thing to say.
Rare’s N64 platformers especially wouldn’t hold up today.
Go play DK64 today and tell me it’s better than a modern game. But you have to play it all the way through, all the bullshit repetitive item collection, going through the same rooms with every character to get every boring banana.
I was a Genesis kid, but I played most of the SNES classics while it was still the 90s.
Donkey Kong Country has always been criminally overrated. Even on a CRT television it was just not that good.
In fact I’ll go so far as to say that between the SNES and the N64, Rare made exactly two great games: Goldeneye and Diddy Kong Racing. Everything else was middling.
Many such cases
Sonic the Hegehog wasn’t fun. Good art direction, great music; terrible level design that very often countered the premise of “going fast.” I never found them enjoyable and find it crazy how big the series is, even though most games in the franchise are said to be garbage even by Sonic fans.
For kids with very strict religious parents, sonic is the coolest media they are allowed to consume. Anything cooler than sonic would be satanic.
Hmmm… 🤔
Incubus Summoned!
Uh… Perfect Dark and GoldenEye.
I mentioned Goldeneye.
Yeeeeeaaaaaauuuhhhhhh but then you paired it with Diddy Kong Racing. Replace that with Perfect Dark and then you’re valid.
Diddy Kong Racing is a masterpiece. I don’t think you played it all the way through.
I didn’t play it, watched a friend at his house play. Just wasn’t my thing. Felt too close to SNES Mario Kart, which was way better.
I’d take Diddy Kong over any version of Mario Kart, any day. It’s less random, with more streamlined items and tighter mechanics.
long sigh look. SNES Mario Kart kicks Diddy Kong on its worst day. Especially in the multiplayer battle arenas. It’s just me spitting hard fax.
Banjo kazooie and dk64 were tops, you take that back right now
I’d say those were solid games, but not great.
Rare games just had this style that made everything feel a little off.
Like eating a Subway sandwich. The ham doesn’t just taste like ham; it tastes like ham + Subway. The turkey tastes like turkey + Subway. Banjo-Kazooie was the worst about this. It just had so much of this extra “Rare” flavor on top of it.
And like, you don’t notice it at first until you try the breakfast sandwich, and when that tastes like egg + Subway, you can’t eat there anymore because that’s all you can taste.
… that “style” is what makes modern games suck. They lack that authenticity. Rare’s games had personality.
Modern games don’t suck. That’s a silly thing to say.
Rare’s N64 platformers especially wouldn’t hold up today.
Go play DK64 today and tell me it’s better than a modern game. But you have to play it all the way through, all the bullshit repetitive item collection, going through the same rooms with every character to get every boring banana.