Retro games that disappointed you the most.

[RaHoWa]

Which retro games have disappointed you the most, the ones you've dreamed of playing for years, only to discover that they don't suit your tastes?
For me, it's Bastard and Macross Scrambled Valkyrie on SFC. I'd been dreaming of playing them ever since I saw photos of them in October 1993.
It was only in 2018 that I was able to play them for the first time, and the disappointment was great.
Bastard was magnificent and looked original and impressive to me at the time. It remains a beautiful game for its time, but the gameplay is horribly repetitive and difficult.
As for Macross, I adored the original series and the shmup genre in general, so it appealed to me greatly. Some consider it one of the three best shmups on the SNES/SFC. Frankly, I'd put it somewhere between 7th and 10th.
It's not a bad game, but after the 1st level, which I found a little frustrating to play because of the lack of space, the quality seems to deteriorate with each level and the progression lacks variety.

 

[Sayo]

Nights Into Dreams, I had these ridiculous expectations for it as it was often touted as "the crowning jewel of the Saturn" but ultimately by the time I played it, it ended up being a game with a very shallow gameplay loop with some comforting visuals.
I assume it's held in high regard because the Saturn in the west didn't have that many releases and it was promoted by SEGA as that generation's Sonic replacement. There are admittedly far better titles for it like Panzer Dragoon and Cotton 2 which I would play any day over it, what the heck I even prefer Sonic 3D Blast.

 

[Gorse]

Nights Into Dreams

I'm a huge fan of Nights, but I see this opinion online commonly and it's easy to understand. What most people (including SEGA) do a poor job explaining about the game is that, from the ground up, it's an arcade-style point-scoring experience, not a standard "adventure" game like Sonic or Mario where the only goal is to finish the story.

The fun of Nights is in playing the levels over and over again to gradually get faster and better, unlocking new content each time your rank goes up. (That's why some levels only unlock when you get a certain rank in the previous one.) By beating a level faster, you can gain more time during boss battles or even disrupt the pattens of bosses themselves, and by defeating enemies and scoring points, you affect the game's A-Life system and unlock new forms of Nightopians (the little fairies that float around each stage). I also highly recommend exploring as much of each level as Claris or Elliot as you can before getting started with Nights properly, as you'll discover some really neat details and secrets. The game was designed to work in both 2D and 3D, which is a rarity to this day.

I think to really buy into the game's universe, you have to be a fan of A) SEGA arcade games, B) flamboyant theatrical productions like Cirque de Soleil, and C) non-verbal character psychology. The overlap there is razor-thin, and excludes most people who grew up on traditional game narratives where characters yap at each other in-between gameplay chunks (see: all JRPGs), but if you're a weirdo like me who does like all that stuff, it's a really unique and enchanting title. Everything I've written here only applies to the first game, though, because the sequels and spiritual successors all SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Sayo]

I'm a huge fan of Nights, but I see this opinion online commonly and it's easy to understand. What most people (including SEGA) do a poor job explaining about the game is that, from the ground up, it's an arcade-style point-scoring experience, not a standard "adventure" game like Sonic or Mario where the only goal is to finish the story.

The fun of Nights is in playing the levels over and over again to gradually get faster and better, unlocking new content each time your rank goes up. (That's why some levels only unlock when you get a certain rank in the previous one.) By beating a level faster, you can gain more time during boss battles or even disrupt the pattens of bosses themselves, and by defeating enemies and scoring points, you affect the game's A-Life system and unlock new forms of Nightopians (the little fairies that float around each stage). I also highly recommend exploring as much of each level as Claris or Elliot as you can before getting started with Nights properly, as you'll discover some really neat details and secrets. The game was designed to work in both 2D and 3D, which is a rarity to this day.

I think to really buy into the game's universe, you have to be a fan of A) SEGA arcade games, B) flamboyant theatrical productions like Cirque de Soleil, and C) non-verbal character psychology. The overlap there is razor-thin, and excludes most people who grew up on traditional game narratives where characters yap at each other in-between gameplay chunks (see: all JRPGs), but if you're a weirdo like me who does like all that stuff, it's a really unique and enchanting title.

I will admit that I wasn't aware of the depth of the game, since I had built myself up for a different experience than the one I got, I am going to have to keep all of this in mind for my next run, because I definitely need to get more out of it now.
Also, I can totally see the SEGA arcade DNA all over it now, there's a certain Space Harrier and Fantasy Zone feel to it and not merely from a visual standpoint.

because the sequels and spiritual successors all SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have yet to hear a single good thing about the sequels. I assume the remake isn't any better.

 

[Waiting For The Rain]

Final Fantasy Adventure/Seiken Densetsu
I've tried three separate times to get through it. The first time was more or less enjoyable, but when I ran out of keys in a dungeon far away from the nearest store (totally my fault, by the way), I realized I wasn't having enough fun to warrant trudging all the way back to get more.

Since then, I've also tried the Adventures of Mana remake and one more go at the original again and didn't stick with either for long. At its core there's a fun game there, but when I realize there's nothing interesting to find or see around the world like in a Zelda game, and that the RPG elements are so shallow they just boil down to how many enemies you've bothered to kill, I can't be bothered to play it through.