My brother and I have been playing some old Nintendo 64 games on our console, and the upscaling on HDTVs make them look very pixelated. So, I downloaded Project64, and emulated some of the same games on my 1080p ASUS monitor where the games' 3D graphics were drawn at nearly native resolution. I personally think Zelda, and a bunch of Nintendo's other 1st and 2nd-party (Rare) titles look amazing --even with low-res textures. So, I'm starting to think today's gamers, even younger games who didn't grow up while 3D games were just making it to consoles, could actually enjoy these games even compared to games that utilize today's bleeding-edge graphical quality. Steam also has many games that are a throwback to the 16-bit era such as BroForce.

What do you all think?

I still replay games on Nintendo 64, and even SNES.

It's not only nostalgia I think. The games were simpler back then, and I feel it was more enjoyable that way

Edit: Nostalgia!

Graphics is not as important as people think it is. A lot of people play Minecraft, despite its blocky nature.

Although we still get wow-ed by ultra-realistic HD graphics with unlimited polygons, it is not the end of all means when it comes to gaming. Video game is a chemistry between graphics, sounds, music, and interactivity. It is important, but other factors are equally so.

So yes, I would still play N64 game. I remember playing Conker's BFD endlessly with my lil bro. As a matter of fact, once in a while, I'd open up YouTube, and specifially look up for Conker BFD videos of the N64 version (not the Reloaded Xbox one) just for nostalgic reason.

I agree: people are way too obsessed with graphics nowadays. As an engine programmer, I too get obsessive when it comes to the programming side of things because I want it to run quickly. Then again, Nintendo, Rare and the other companies put a lot of resources into making their games look as good as they could on their hardware of that time too.

I really do think gameplay and story are the most important, however. Sometimes, story can get me hooked. For example, Final Fantasy X is one of my favorite games of all-time, but it is a turn-based RPG. There is quite a bit of strategy involved, but it's still go from Point A to Point B, fight boss/witness event, then go to next Point with random battles and possible grinding along the way (random battles always disrupt my train of thought too). I still like leveling up, and getting my players stronger, though.

I'd like to see another Rare-like adventure game like Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64 (only less overwhelming), and Conker's Bad Fur Day. Even with the low-poly graphics of those days, the textures were vibrant, and the repetitive texture tiling common to their time wasn't so noticeable. Just looking at low-poly games like that get me excited, and I actually wouldn't mind sitting down, and playing a game as I really don't anymore.

I have to say that some of those games, in my mind at least, were so incredible when they came out, that it is kind of disappointing to go back to them.

3D graphics have come such a long way that you forget sometimes how low-res and low-poly things once were.

Of course after playing for a while, you forget about all that.

Be sure to try diddy kong racing! My favorite N64 game (I think I beat it 2 times on the emulator).

Until 2 years ago I had an N64 with Mario 64, Perfect Dark, several wrestling games, and many other games. I bought the Zelda Gamecube disc a while back (used from Gamestop) that has both NES zeldas and both N64 Zeldas. I loved Goldeneye on N64. I unhooked my Wii, but still think about hooking it back up and buying tons of the old NES and N64 games.