persona – Nostalgia Gamer

The video game industry saw plenty of high-profile releases and announcements in 2023. Retrogames were no exception to this. Even going into 2024, I can’t shake the feeling that 2023 was one of the best years in gaming ever. From Tears of the Kingdom to Baldur’s Gate 3, there was plenty to talk including some of the remakes. Here is a not so all encompassing and a not so chronological list of the retrogame related happenings from the past year.

Two scary good horror remakes start off the year

Capcom

Both Dead Space and Resident Evil 4 stun players by recreating their genre defining gameplay.

Persona 4 Golden widens its release and Persona 3 Reload announcement

Atlus / Sega

Fans of the series can finally play these JRPG staples in more places and an ambitious remake for Persona 3 are announced in 2024.

Goldeneye comes to Xbox

Rare / Nintendo

Not much else to say here, this FPS legend deserves every bit of its praise.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition also arrives for Xbox platforms

Microsoft

This undisputed classic needs no introduction, and this particular entry is always welcome.

Metroid gets a prime remaster

Nintendo / Retro Studios

It’s a fantastic release and a very welcome update, full of graphical enhancements and modernized controls.

Final Fantasy music and gorgeous pixels

Square Enix

The Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters see a much needed console release and we get a wonderful collection of works from veteran video game composers in Theatrhythm Final Bar Line.

Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection

Capcom

A much beloved series of games is rereleased for modern systems with better-than-expected sales. Mega Man Legends ports anyone?

System Shock comes back

Nightdive Studios

This release reviewed well, the cult classic is finally given justice.

Double Dragon barely leaves a trail

Maximum Games

Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons looks cool but is barely mentioned after its release.

Long dormant mechs rise again

FromSoftware Inc., Bandai Namco Europe S.A.S

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon went on to become one of the best action games of the year and Front Mission 2 Remake is released.

Sea of Stars releases

Sabotage

Comparisons to Chrono Trigger were made and excellent art styles brought this to the forefront of many headlines this year.

Gargoyles Remastered

Disney

Another Disney platformer sees a formal release away from the confines of history.

Metal Gear Solid Master Collection is a master of none

Konami

These broken and wonky ports receive heavy criticism from hardcore fans and Konami promises to fix them with updates and support into 2024.

November brings us two amazing remakes from the golden era of RPGs

Nintendo / Square Enix

Star Ocean: The Second Story R gets new features and a well liked 2D/3D visual update. Meanwhile, Super Mario RPG is recreated from the ground up, but remains largely faithful to the late SNES release.

Fortnite brings back the original map

Epic Games

Perhaps for pandering reasons, but still a wild success.

Square Enix has us drooling for more Final Fantasy

Square Enix

The second installment of the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy is shown in 2023 and is set for the early months of 2024.

When I had found out that the PlayStation 2 would be able to play its predecessors games, I was instantly sold on the product. Keeping my old controllers, memory cards and games and using them on the new system was a big deal. It was a genius concept and a great way to keep a consumer base. It makes things an easy sell and sounds like something that should iterated upon with every console generation.

Backwards compatibility is great, I have played and finished numerous games using current gen consoles, namely Persona 3 and Persona 4. Using the feature wasn’t without issues though. Persona 3 would often times fail to save my file properly to the hard drive and Persona 4 would sometimes crash or freeze. These errors were probably not present if played on the originating console. Not only that, the resolution was scaled to fit a certain ratio.

There are some things you have to give away when you use backwards compatibility. Sometimes it is relatively error free when the hardware is built into console. Other times it might use a form of emulation like late models of “fat” PlayStation 3s. This may rub some fans the wrong way. Problems with backwards compatibility have been raised with the Nintendo 3DS with critics citing that old DS games better off on being played on a DS Lite or the like.

Backwards compatibility is not a new concept to the industry. You could even go back to the Super Nintendo to find the Super 8 and the Power Base Converter for the Sega Genesis. I have a feeling we won’t see it at all for the next generation of consoles. Besides some obvious technical and financial reasons console makers have to take into account, I think this generation has proved that it may not matter as much to fans.

If the current generation of consoles have proved anything about backwards compatibility it would be the fact that older games are constantly being re-released for current fan bases to enjoy. Nintendo has the Virtual Console, releasing titles from their previous consoles and even other consoles like the Sega Genesis. Sony does similar things, putting out titles from the PS1 and PS2 to be played on the PS3 and their handheld systems. It’s things like these that beg the question: why even implement hardware/software for backwards compatibility if you can just sell it again for current gen platforms?

I think it simply comes down to profit. You may not make as much as you originally did from the initial release but, you can still make money from it. Some extra money might be needed for porting, emulation and QA testing but, you will certainly make some sort of sales. All of that stuff may or may not come into play. Either way you have released a title that is currently not available on current gen consoles, making it less of a hassle to track down the game and other requirements to play said game.

So in essence, backwards compatibility has just adapted to a changing market and taken advantage of better technological resources. This can best be seen with the plethora of HD collections. From Silent Hill to Sly Cooper, gamers can enjoy dozens of games in a better quality than intended without having to search for multiple titles, consoles and peripherals.

The next problem is deciding which series or gem deserves to be remade/ported to our HD televisions.

Nostalgia Gamer

This site reflects upon games old and new, whether they are broken, busted or masterpieces

Tag: persona

Retrogames in 2023 had quite the year

Backwards Compatibility in the Next Console Generation