10 Video Games That Only Get Better With Age

1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG2V8roVv9o After the radical departure that was Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, early screenshots from the next game in the franchise indicated that Nintendo was returning to the spirit of the original game for its debut on the Super Famicom/Super Nintendo. Expectations were obviously high for the game, but what Nintendo delivered was far and beyond even the highest of those. A Link to the Past felt like suddenly stepping into a portal and being transported into the colorful land of Oz. From the very beginning, with that rain beating down on Link's house as he's awakened by a strange woman's voice in his head, the game set the tone for something epic, and boy did it deliver. A Link to the Past is one of the most flawlessly-executed games ever made. You can try to nitpick the game and find flaws, but you'll have a very difficult time. Everything about the game just seems to fall into place. The graphics are colorful and beautiful. The music, in typical Zelda fashion, is majestic. The land of Hyrule is vast, diverse, and full of mysteries to be uncovered. And just when you think you've uncovered the entire land, you find out that there is a whole other Hyrule that must be explored - The Dark World, a dark doppelganger to the colorful land you'd become accustomed to. It is in this dark world that the game's true strength is on display, and that is in the unabashed creativity of the puzzles. In a series that is known for having some of the best mind-twisting puzzles in the entire industry, A Link to the Past's still stands as arguably the best in the series. Aside from the standard dungeon puzzles, many of the game's most mind-bending moments involved manipulating objects in one world, which would transform them in the other. A magic mirror allowed you to transport between the two worlds, and created some of the most brilliant and complex scenarios the series has ever seen. A pure stroke of genius. The game library of the Super Famicom/Super Nintendo contains many of the most timeless, eternally playable games that have ever been created. The fact that A Link to the Past often tops lists of the best games on this console says a lot. After A Link to the Past, the franchise would go on to change gaming forever with Ocarina of Time. It may be an eternal battle among gamers as to which of these two is the best Zelda game, but it's hard to argue against the notion that A Link to the Past remains the more age-proof game. It hasn't lost an ounce of it's charm, and still plays better than even the newer top/down Zelda titles that have released on Nintendo's portable devices, in this author's opinion. Rumors have been swirling about a remake of A Link to the Past showing up on the 3DS, including a statement from Shigeru Miyamoto himself. Regardless of how you play it, give it a whirl sometime soon, whether you've played the game before or not. You'll be treated to not only a sublime example of game design, but also to one of the most mysterious, challenging, and enjoyable experiences gaming has ever produced. A video game that gets better with age is something of an anomaly. I should make it clear that by no means do I feel that a video game that hasn't aged well is a bad game. These works are at the mercy of the technology that creates them, and due to this, they shouldn't age well by nature. For that reason alone, it is even more necessary to acknowledge these games that do age well, and make sure successive generations of gamers are aware of them. The part they play in the rich history of gaming as each year passes is an important one. So be sure to give these games a try, especially if you haven't played them before. If you have played them before, take it from me - the feeling you get when you realize your nostalgia wasn't due to rose-colored glasses is a nice one. Cheers, friends, and happy gaming! Which games do you think only get better with age? Let us know in the comments section below.