A Terrible Realisation...

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

GTA: Vice City is as old now as the songs on its soundtrack[nb]some of them, anyway[/nb] were when it was released.

"Out of touch, out of time" indeed.

[Jerzy Bondov]

What... Why would you do this

[JaDanketies]

.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

What... Why would you do this

Are you referring to me breaking the link, or breaking your mind?

[El Unicornio, mang]

And there's the same number of years between now and that song being released as there are years between that song being released and the birth of the NHS.

Still my favourite GTA game. My memories of the graphics are certainly different to how they actually are, looking at them now. But the soundtrack, gameplay, setting, humour... Would love a modern remaster.

[Huxleys Babkins]

The original Xbox is 18 years old this year. There'll be adults buying Xbox Series consoles who've never existed in a world where Microsoft wasn't making games consoles.

Oh, and the GameCube is a year older now than the NES was when the GameCube came out.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Still my favourite GTA game. My memories of the graphics are certainly different to how they actually are, looking at them now. But the soundtrack, gameplay, setting, humour... Would love a modern remaster.

It's a fine enough game in its own right (and an impressive achievement, considering how quickly it followed its predecessor) but is actually my least favourite of the PS2 trilogy. It lacks either the ground breaking impact of GTA3, or the gobsmacking ambition of San Andreas. Also, as great as the '80s art direction was, the map was easily the least fun to play in.

[bgmnts]

Vice City has the best voice cast and licensed music in any game ever and is a proper homage to 80's pastiche and I love it and it's incredible.

Although now I feel OLD.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Vice City has the best voice cast and licensed music in any game ever

I'd say it was a close race between Vice City and San Andreas on both counts, with San Andreas possibly winning the cast one by a nose. Turdbucket though he may be, James Woods was perfectly cast as a slimy CIA bloke.

[Consignia]

I think Vice City nailed the 80's feeling in a way San Andreas didn't for 90's. Or pretty much any game with a period setting. The soundtrack helps, but it's not just that. It's the art and colour direction, the way it invokes 80's TV and movies, so many things about it.

[The Culture Bunker]

I'd say it was a close race between Vice City and San Andreas on both counts, with San Andreas possibly winning the cast one by a nose. Turdbucket though he may be, James Woods was perfectly cast as a slimy CIA bloke.

It's interesting they moved away from the star-studded cast approach after SA, except for the radio DJs, when Vice City and (especially) SA had yer actual film stars all over the place.

Maybe they thought so many famous voices took away from the immersion, or something.

[Mister Six]

It's interesting they moved away from the star-studded cast approach after SA, except for the radio DJs, when Vice City and (especially) SA had yer actual film stars all over the place.

Maybe they thought so many famous voices took away from the immersion, or something.

Rumour is that a few of them got shitty and demanded more cash after SA, claiming (fucking obviously wrongly) that the massive success of the game was down to the 15 or so lines they delivered in the cutscenes. After that Rockstar dialled it down, because the slebs were more about showing off than anything gamers really care about anyway.

[Marner and Me]

Ray Liotta was apparently a 'mare in the studio and then when the game made cash money he wanted more, but R* told him to ram it as he'd signed a contract.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I think Vice City nailed the 80's feeling in a way San Andreas didn't for 90's.

To be fair, that was probably inevitable. '80s Miami is almost ridiculously iconic.

San Andreas may not have nailed the time quite as well, but as a setting it was (and still is) amazing. All three (THREE!) cities feel completely different and the surrounding countryside seems so much more expansive than it actually is.
Both games nail the sense of place better than GTA3 did for New York (although, admittedly I've never been there, or to any of the cities the series is based on).

[buntyman]

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Super-Mario-Bros-35th-Anniversary-hub/My-Mario-Timeline-1832479.html

Here's some other disappointing information. You put your year of birth in and it tells you how old you were when the various Mario games came out. Super Mario Land on the Game Boy was my first but when I think about how excited I was about each of the subsequent games, it feels more and more shameful the further I scroll along. Mario 64 when I was 15 is just about fair although I think I approached Mario Odyssey with a similar amount of glee as a 35 year old man.

[Ham Bap]

Love Vice City. Just brings back happy memories. Outstanding soundtrack and gameplay on its day.
I was 3rd year at university when it came out and just brings back great memories of having all the time in the world to play it, just a great time.

I got a PS5 the other week and one of my first thoughts was if I could still play this game on it. I think i can, but havent downloaded it yet.

Put me in a nursing home in 35 years time and sit me in front of this game.

[boki]

I still occasionally play it (largely because I only have one console more recent than my PS2, and that's the Wii so no GTA there).  It retains its appeal cos I've never got any good at it, so I just wander round listening to the radio and jumping off of high things rather than fanny around with the missions.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Also pretty cool that you can play the full game on an average smartphone.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Love Vice City. Just brings back happy memories. Outstanding soundtrack and gameplay on its day.
I was 3rd year at university when it came out and just brings back great memories of having all the time in the world to play it, just a great time.

I, too, was a feckless student and it would be difficult to overstate what a big deal Vice City was at the time. GTA3 was a phenomenon, but it had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Vice City was a full on event - a proper Hollywood[nb]or Vinewood[/nb] style blockbuster that we would all discuss between lectures the next day.

An '80s nostalgia boom was inevitable, but were Rockstar at the avant garde of all that? The next thing I can think of would be the flash in the pan success of The Darkness the following year and it would be several years after that before  I would hear of Vapourwave.

[The Roofdog]

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Super-Mario-Bros-35th-Anniversary-hub/My-Mario-Timeline-1832479.html

Here's some other disappointing information. You put your year of birth in and it tells you how old you were when the various Mario games came out. Super Mario Land on the Game Boy was my first but when I think about how excited I was about each of the subsequent games, it feels more and more shameful the further I scroll along. Mario 64 when I was 15 is just about fair although I think I approached Mario Odyssey with a similar amount of glee as a 35 year old man.

Less than 2 years between Mario 3 and Mario All-Stars what the actual fuck it seemed like about a decade

[Billy]

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Super-Mario-Bros-35th-Anniversary-hub/My-Mario-Timeline-1832479.html

Here's some other disappointing information. You put your year of birth in and it tells you how old you were when the various Mario games came out. Super Mario Land on the Game Boy was my first but when I think about how excited I was about each of the subsequent games, it feels more and more shameful the further I scroll along. Mario 64 when I was 15 is just about fair although I think I approached Mario Odyssey with a similar amount of glee as a 35 year old man.

I'm pleasantly surprised that they've got the correct UK years there, a reminder of just how long it took for some of the older games to be released here - SMB3 on the NES was released here the same year as the first Sonic the Hedgehog on the Mega Drive, which seems like two completely different eras. In contrast it's a three year gap in Japan where Mario was way earlier.

My first Mario game was All-Stars in 1998, a great time to expand a SNES collection as they were slowly phasing it out and you could pick up games pretty cheap.

[Mister Six]

Both games nail the sense of place better than GTA3 did for New York (although, admittedly I've never been there, or to any of the cities the series is based on).

Annoys the shit out of me that I played GTA IV before ever going to NYC, and since moving there I bought a Windows 10 PC that won't let me play it.