Hey all, I’m interested in playing some emulated games on my steamdeck, but I’m not sure where to start.
I’ve been having fun with Super Mario World, but a good chunk of that is because I played it a lot as a kid, so much of my enjoyment is from nostalgia.
Problem is, I didn’t play many too many games when I was a kid…
What older games out there would you say hold up in 2025? So that regardless of the nostalgia factor, they can be enjoyed by someone like me
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secret of mana, earthbound, and turtles in time :)
NES: Batman the video game (first one), TMNT II, Mario 2, Mario 3, Tetris, Kirby, Mega Man II and III, Castlevania, Metroid, Ninja Gaiden.
Genesis: Ranger X, Sonic 1 thru 3 plus & Knuckles, Comix Zone, Battletech, Phantasy Star II, X-Men, Streets of Rage 2
SNES: DCK2, Star Fox, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy III (VI), Legend of Zelda a Link to the Past, Terragama, Earthbound, Mega Man X, Super Castlevania, Super Metroid
N64: Star Fox 64, Mario 64, Both Zeldas, Blast Corps, Star Wars Shadows of the Empmire, Diddy Kong Racing, Quest64, Doom64
PSX: Xenogears, Final Fantasy 7 thru 9 and Tactics, Wipeout 1 thru 3, Brave Fencer Musashi, Intelligent Cube, Tomba, Crash Bandicoot 1 thru 3, Parasite Eve, Resident Evil 1 thru 3, Silent Hill, Street Figher Alpha 3
DC: Tech Romancer, Shenmue, Crazy Taxi, Jet Grind Radio, Skies of Arcadia, Gundam Side Story, Space channel 5, Power Stone, Sonic Adventure 2
Batman the Video Game is a sick cut. Sunsoft was doing some good shit.
The soundtrack for it was so good. and yeah it’s by far my favourite NES game.
I don’t know if you played it, but there was a totally different Game Boy Sunsoft Batman game. Also very good, and it has one of the kickinest soundtracks of any GB game I owned!
2d games in general and basically anything that isn’t pre-analogue stick 3d. Some games have quality of life mods/ patches available that make camera not suck, etc.
OK, let me fix that for you permanently.
This is Retroachievements.org.
Not only does it do what it says on the tin, but it’s, for my money, the best discoverability tool out there for old games. The most obvious way to use it for that is to check the new games they’ve added achievements to, but they also have book club-style events (they’re revisiting F1 games this month to go with the movie currently in theatres), challenges, seasonal achievements, leaderboards and all sorts of the types of metagaming stats tools you’ve seen in modern platforms to point you in the rigth direction.
You can start by selecting “all games” and sorting them all by players to see what’s popular. Or, hell, reverse sort by players and see what weird crap is in there. Once you start down that rabbit hole you’re more likely to have too much in your retro backlog than you are to ask this question again.
Wow that’s very useful for discovering games. Thanks!
Hulk Ultimate Destruction, nothing else comes close.
Friggin car halves as boxing gloves
NES: Contra, Bubble Bobble, Faxanadu
SNES: Super Metroid, Kirby Superstar, Chrono Trigger
F-Zero X on N64
Starflight, on Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. The graphics don’t look outdated, it just feels retro.
Terranigma (SNES)
SSX Tricky, Mercenaries, Katamari Damacy, FIFA Street, the various Mario Kart games.
The PS2 version of Shadow of the Colossus still looks great to me.
Honestly depends on what kind of games you like.
Many Metroid games are classics and still great to play. For the 3D Metroids, you can install Primehack and play Metroid Prime Trilogy for an amazing experience. For the classic style 2D metroids, I’d recommend a play order of Zero Mission (GBA), Samus Returns (3DS), Super Metroid (SNES), and Metroid Fusion (GBA).
Many older mario games are great, both 2D and 3D. Mario 64 has some great recompiled versions, and even stuff like sm64coopdx that lets you play online coop. Mario Sunshine (GCN) is fun too, and both Mario Galaxy (Wii) games are fantastic. Lots of good Zelda games too, such as Wind Waker (GCN/WiiU). Until recently I would have highly recommended Xenoblade X (WiiU), but it just got a remastered and expanded version on switch.
The 2D Castlevania games still hold up well, except the NES ones for being NES hard. Most of them are available for purchase through collections.
Paper Mario
A lot of PS2 games have busted PC ports or ports with invasive EULAs. PS2 is still probably the best way to play GTA: San Andreas.
But really, just pick a console with a graphical aesthetic you like and find the games people buzz about. I’ll give you some recommendations, based mainly on my taste, but a quick “(console) best games” search can help you expand upon this.
NES: Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out, Super Mario Bros 3, Kirby’s Adventure, Castlevania, Mega Man 2, Contra
Genesis/Mega Drive: Streets of Rage 2, Castlevania: Bloodlines, Road Rash, Sonic 2, Contra Hard Corps
SNES: NBA Jam: Championship Edition, Mega Man X, Star Fox 2
PS1: Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, Crash Team Racing, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Metal Gear Solid
N64: Super Mario 64, Star Fox 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Mario Kart 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Dreamcast: Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, SoulCalibur
PS2: GTA San Andreas, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3, Tony Hawk’s Underground 2, Resident Evil 4, Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid 2 & 3, Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts II, Sly Cooper (entire series)
GameCube: Super Mario Sunshine, Mario Kart Double Dash, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Super Smash Bros Melee, SoulCalibur II
Xbox: Halo, Halo 2, Fable: The Lost Chapters
That’s a decent start, but not comprehensive by any means. Just pick a console with games you like the look of and search the top-rated games, the cream really rises to the top when you’re looking for retro games.
You just gonna forget all about the Saturn?
Great console. Never going to recommend it to an emulation beginner. Honestly, it was a stretch to even recommend N64 games. Emulation for those are all wack as well.
