lol i guess thats tru for most part... but not all nintendo games did "RIP Pokemon"

That's what i was going to say.

 i dont know about strategy games tho because they usually get secuals pretty quick as well and not too many ppl play the originals

This is my first post on this site, I was reading this thread and felt a strong urge to respond.

To sum up what everyone else has said:

In general the thing that ages nearly any game from any genre in the context you are asking about is graphics. Occasionally a huge leap will occur within a genre that will make certain games more outdated, but the biggest is graphics. There are other considerations, such as games that rely on AI for example, the AI may seem silly or annoying several years down the road. So games that rely least on graphics have the best chance of standing the test of time. More or less all of the genres mentioned here follow this.

The more a game relies on a human to be enjoyable, the more staying power it has. This means multi-player games have much staying power, as well as strategy games that are based around thinking.

RTS games: These games have generally just been newer version of chess. Chess has amazing staying power because its basically pure strategy. And Many RTS games are similar, where the units on the screen are just icons to make sure you know what you are doing. The 3d graphics recently have generally been a nice touch but are unnecessary overall. As long as the RTS games don't rely on those graphics they'll generally do fine.

Tetris has some amazing staying power because the graphics on the screen are just a symbol for you brain to recognize what each icon is, so the graphics are generally unimportant. The game relies mainly on the person playing to do all the work, to become immersed in the game, instead of a game like Bioshock or half life 2 that rely on graphics. They admittedly also rely on great story telling and acting, scripted events, which wont ever be outdated. (well the scripted events will be). Other puzzle games like bejewelled also age well.

cel - shaded games as mentioned previously cant rely on amazingly realistic graphics to boost their sales so the game better have something else going for it. Maybe the artwork is really amazing, which is the graphics of the game, but cel shaded graphics have a lot more staying power, because it doesn't age. The best example I can give is look at The Simpsons, they have been on the air for nearly (exactly?) 20 years, and except for the first few seasons there has been little difference in how everything is animated. Or Disney cartoons, like Bambi. Thats artwork. Artwork not made with the computer rarely ages. Like the Mona Lisa.

Racing don't often have great staying power, but better than say the average FPS. Racing games that rely on the shiny graphics are screwed, unless everything else is top notch too. I still love playing Mario Kart 64. As well as Mario Kart DD.


FPS shooters generally have the least staying power because they generally rely most on shiny graphics. There are exceptions though. FPS's that are in various niches may do better, ones focused on scaring the shit out of you, telling a deep story, etc. As for a FPS that has great staying power, take Team Fortess 2, Everything is cartoony, graphics aren't the main concern, but the graphics are nice looking, and do their job.

It also adds to the staying power of expansion packs are released, as well as the game allows for users to add to the game, which is something that is huge, and we are seeing an explosion of recently. Look at Gary's Mod for HL2, community driven allows for longer replayability. Bungie noticed the importance of that to a degree and added a map editor in Halo 3. Little Big Planet is a game that intends to be entirely focused around this idea. Some people mock it but thats mainly because its family oriented. (much like people mocked the wii)

To sum up my summing up:

-Less staying power if the game relies on the newest technology in hardware and software.

- More staying power if the game relies on anything that wont be outdated technology wise in a few years. Cartoony graphics, humor, multiplayer, games based around strategy (thinking) etc. Mods, expansion packs, and user created content are also great helps.

That was a long post. Anyways, Hi everyone I am new here. I like the conversation and people seemed friendly, and I wanted to respond to this thread so I signed up. I may be new to this forum but am not new to forums in general. Peace.

RPG's - I still enjoy playing all of those classic SNES ones, although certain platformers are close(DKC, SMW) but those are more for nostalgia sake.

RPG's have never really lived off of graphics(See DQ), it has always been an extra.

@EternallyIgnorant

 For some strategy games that is correct however if you play games like Starcraft or Warcraft there is still some people online and Starcraft is ten year's old.

2D games don't age too, 2D Fighters, 2D RPG's, 2D platformers, even 2D racers


Also every game that has Mario in it, age very nicely =P
Same can be said with almost any Nintendo published game