New games for old timers to pick up

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So I've been thinking I might venture into gaming again. I stopped when 3D games started becoming the in-thing. I can't play them because I get motion sickness.

Can you recommend some good games for old timers who want to venture into gaming again? Bear in mind the last console I had was a SNES and my favourite games were Rare's Donkey Kong trio.

I don't have a console now I have a laptop.

What's piqued my interest is a review I saw of Shovel Knight.

https://uk.ign.com/articles/2014/06/26/shovel-knight-review

This really should be in the Video games subforum, and not here in Science.

Aw rats. Clicked on the wrong link. Saw the word Technology.

Hopefully a mod moves it.

Anyway, there are plenty good 2D games around:

* Stardew Valley is fun, it's a top down 2D gardening game if you're into that, comes with a slight adventure portion thrown on top of it.

* Starbound is a 2D space exploration/builder which is fun.

* Europa Universalis 4. Not quite 3D, but.. mostly 2D. Grand strategy game (complex) that takes a while to master, but when you do it... wow!

* Creeper world: Arc eternal. Less complex 2D Strategy game.

* Democracy 3. 2D Political simulator.

* Game dev tycoon. Isometric 3D (2D) game-dev simulator.

* Gunpoint. 2D spy story. Lots of fun!

* Hocus. Perspective puzzler in 2D.

* Lyne. Another connect-the-dots puzzler. Also in 2D.

* Mini Metro. Small rail simulation i 2D. Connect stations and make trains run and pick up passengers.

* This war of mine. Play as a civilian during a wartime situation. Yupp, in 2D.


I suggest you watch "lets play" or review videos on youtube of these games before you buy. Saves a lot of money...

Shovel Knight is an excellent game, especially for fans of early 90s games. It's sort of like a combination of Mario 3 (overworld map and platforming), Zelda 2 (medieval setting), and early Mega Man (beating bosses for powerups). The level design is great, the graphics and music call to mind the best of the 8 bit era--honestly I could go on, but Shovel Knight sounds like a perfect choice for someone like you. Highest recommendation.

Outside of that, Stardew Valley is like a more expansive Harvest Moon but still has SNES-style graphics.
As for side-scrolling games, I've heard Hollow Knight is a great Metroidvania-type game.
Cave Story is another Metroidvania with more of a sci-fi, run-and-gun angle to it with more great pixel art and chiptune music.
Undertale is a very critically acclaimed 2D RPG with SNES era graphics. The battles are turn-based and integrate elements from shoot-em up games (you dodge enemy attacks like you would in a bullet hell game.) The gameplay is good, but the music and especially the story are really what set this one apart tbh. Highly recommended--for fans of Earthbound especially.
Super Meat Boy is a platformer that calls to mind the Nintendo-hard games of yore, although you have much greater freedom of movement than games like the early Castlevanias, and its also much more forgiving when you die (you respawn in seconds).
If you're a real masochist, or if you were a master of old NES platformers, I Wanna be the Guy is a ridiculously difficult game which takes the idea of Nintendo hard to the next level. You have 1 HP and everything is trying to kill you (to the point of comedy). Only play this one if you're really looking for pain.
Hotline Miami is a bloody, comical top-down shooter with an 80's vibe and an unusual story focused on conspiracy and misleading the player.
Cuphead is a run-and-gun game like Gunstar Heroes on the Genesis. The game is quite difficult and has a beautiful art style that makes it look like you're in a 1930's cartoon.

This guy has a lot of "Steam drunk" videos where he reviews modern games on steam that call to mind games from the 8 and 16 bit eras, so that's another resource that could help you out.

I think if you loved the Donkey Kong Country games, Ori and The Blind Forest is an obvious recommendation for someone averse to 3D games. It's a beautiful sprite based platformer with tight level design and challenging platforming, high production value and inspired art design.



Another recommendation would be the indie PC game Cave Story, which is a freeware game that saw enormous success and has since re-released with an HD remake. I have not played the remake, but I can say that the original is one of my favourite action platformers ever. You can download the original free version here.



Braid is another platformer, but is distinctly different from the others I've mentioned for its emphasis on interesting mechanics and puzzle elements. It's still what I'd call a platformer and one versed in the classics from which you remember (obvious callback to Mario/Donkey Kong in its trailer), but it beats to its own drum.



I've mentioned the above due to your love of the Donkey Kong Country trio of games, which the above most closely resemble, but other games that callback to games of the SNES era I'd recommend would include Puyo Puyo Tetris (competitive block puzzles), Crosscode (action rpg), Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight (Metroid style action platformer), and Stardew Valley (Harvest Moon successor farming simulator).

Games that are releasing soon I'd recommend you check out would include Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I will look these up.

Here's another game that I really enjoyed. I quite like point and click puzzles. The graphics on this one are cool and kinda quirky.

Ooh that looks good!

Honestly, the best thing you could do is to just go browse along either Steam, or Itch.io. 2D graphics are huge right now. Alot of gamers dont get so easily "wowed" by 3D graphics nowadays (because we've all seen it a million times now), so developers have been realizing that they can use ANY type of graphics, and it turned out that many prefer 2D (both devs and players).

I mean seriously, you can find THOUSANDS of 2D games in any genre. Itch.io in particular is a place that focuses very heavily on those.


Note that Itch.io is much easier to browse than Steam. Steam has all sorts of gems to find... but it's actual storefront is a busted disaster.

Thanks. I was trying to engage people in conversation about what they like though. I can't do that with Google or Steam.

Also I'd rather have some recommendations than blindly click through pages and pages of games.

I was having a conversation on another thread with another user and I didn't want to derail the thread, so started this one.

I'd love to get back into the original Pokémon games from the late nineties; red, blue and yellow. I don't suppose there's any way of doing this without forking out on an ancient console that'll break the first time I switch it on.

Hate all video games later than about 2006, though for different reasons from Hurtloam's.

Would you not be able to run then on an emulator on your PC?

Our SNES died and I continued with Donkey Kong games my Dad set up on our PC using an emulator.

Perhaps, but I'm almost entirely ignorant when it comes to that sort of thing. I wish Nintendo would just release new versions of its old consoles - as a one off, but then people would realise how badly they're being ripped off by the junk currently on the market.

I'd also recommend Stardew Valley, maybe games like Harvest Moon. They're very relaxing and Stardew Valley should run just fine on laptops.