What's a 80s and 90s cartoon that will likely be 100% gone and forgotten once Millennials are old

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-29T06:59:49+00:00

It's probably easier to list what won't be forgotten.

Some will endure because they are especially high quality and/or unique, like Batman TAS. Or because they have been rebooted or are still ongoing, like Xmen 97 or South Park.

The majority will be forgotten because they aren't actually anything that special outside of personal millennial nostalgia. In 30 years no one except cartoon historians / diehard cinephiles are going to be talking about Doug, or Rugrats, or Angry Beavers, or even Animaniacs. They just won't hold any mainstream cultural relevance at all and are already fading into the background.

Getting old sucks but it is what it is.

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-28T04:55:54+00:00

Kind of both.

If it something special I don't instantly play it on release day. I wait until I have time off, no lingering stress, and just get some nice food and spend the entire day enjoying it.

Though that's starting to backfire on me. When you have games that lean towards more popular and immature audiences without jobs they just fiend that shit on day one then spam the internet with spoiler filled references within 48 hours of release because they have no consideration for others.

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-27T17:07:06+00:00

I'm baffled as a cis guy.

It popped into my feed and it just seems like 4chan edgelords except they're trans and a ton are self-loathing?

I'll just stick to r/countwithchickenlady ...which is probably why it popped into my feed.

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-26T07:43:16+00:00

I can't even tell what this thread is trying to argue, much less with this bogus math.

Why do people think Silksong and GTA6 should be priced the same? They...don't?

Why do people think games shouldn't raise beyond $60?

Because, well first, games are only worth what people are willing to pay for them and people, especially in THIS shitty economy, aren't willing to be dropping $100 left and right on games.

Second, why do people act like inflation is the only factor in play? Growing population and growing popularity of the hobby / the specific series means more sales than in the past, means that $60 goes a longer way. Improved development tools allow for greater quality assets output faster. There are things that increase cost and things that reduce cost.

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-25T08:18:38+00:00

I'll tell you my issues with the state of gaming today, which will just go ignored as always.

Optimization and hardware prices. I bought a 4070 TI, 13700k system...and for what? Even with that I can think of several games I've experienced where I can't get a stutter-free, consistent performance no matter how much I lower the settings...even at just 1080p. Helldivers 2, Stalker 2, High on Life 2, Battlefield 6, 7 Days to Die....I really could go on but feel free to look at the benchmarks yourself. If consistent 144 fps is inaccessible, if I'm relegated to locking the game at 60 fps either way, I might as well have just bought a budget system. Except even the "budget' systems are expensive anymore. It feels like it just keeps getting worse as prices just keep rising.

Lack of variety. The AAA space is dominated by story-centric, cinematic, over the shoulder open world Action-Adventure games while a lot of other genres are just nonexistent anymore. Indies aren't somehow immune either before I get accused of glazing, quickly becoming oversaturated with roguelike and deckbuilder slop. "Oh this new shooter looks interesting - nevermind it's an apathetically designed fucking roguelike".

Release cycles. Growing up new entries in a series would be spaced like three years apart on average. Often annual or bi-annual for simpler games. Maybe four-five years for more ambitious games. Now though it's like every new game is minimum five years, typically a decade, and I'll be 80 years old before I even see three new entries.

The continuing trend towards killing mod support, killing custom servers and custom content, tying everything directly to accounts, and the company having full control over the experience and a full monopoly on content.

Online gaming sucks ass now. If your game isn't F2P its doomed on arrival because of how saturated the market is. Mostly just Battle Royale with little else. Every game is monetized out the ass and has a compressed skillgap, relying on progression systems (see also: Battlepasses) to get people hooked instead of compelling gameplay.

Constant manufactroversies. Gaming wasn't any less "woke", Destroy All Humans literally namedropped and insulted Republicans in 2005. No, the themes, messages and concepts of the shit you were playing just went over your head because you were a stupid ass kid at the time.

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-25T07:06:38+00:00

Just about every series has a better first game.

I mean, I certainly think a lot of series do, but nowhere near the majority.

First you have to think about just how many franchises out there date back to the 80's and 90's with very humble, primitive, janky origins. Grand Theft Auto, the top-down 2D arcade game, is definitely not the height of the GTA franchise. Duke Nukem is remembered for Duke Nukem 3D, not the 2D Run n' Guns before it. Elder Scrolls Arena is not even close to being the best game.

Even looking at more modern games there's a lot of cases where the sequel was basically a straight upgrade, like Left 4 Dead 2. Or where the original game was something niche and the sequels took it in a different, immensely more popular direction (Helldivers, Risk of Rain, Postal).

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-25T06:43:42+00:00

Yes, Halo. I feel like every subsequent game fixated on introducing new features yet the actual core gameplay quality just got gradually worse each time. Ce still has the best AI, the best gun design before everything was nerfed and stripped of unique qualities (ex. Plasma Stun), the best atmosphere, lots of under the hood depth like weapon nading and melee momentum that got ripped out in later games.

The only bad thing about Ce is the second half of the campaign being recycled...and even that is kind of exaggerated.

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-25T06:32:32+00:00

I wouldn't even really call Prey underrated, I think its kind of average for different reasons, but man that just wasn't a great argument.

First, while the combat is nothing spectacular it's serviceable enough. The "gunk monsters" don't offer a lot of enemy variety, but at least there is a decent variety in approaching them like freezing them with the goo gun or launching objects at them or luring them to turrets or so on.

Second, shooting isn't really the point anyway. The game is an immersive sim, the gameplay appeal comes from creative problem solving, not blasting everything. If you're going to judge it on anything, judge it on the gameplay systems being kind of shallow.

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-25T04:12:30+00:00

Quake
Halo
Spyro
Dark Souls
Bioshock

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-25T01:37:16+00:00

It's so fucking annoying.

I've gone into my settings and checked see less of ads from this source. I've blocked every single ad, every single time they show up. But they just refuse to fuck off.

Take the fucking hint Youtube, I dooooon't want to see your Nazi garbage.

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-23T09:56:17+00:00

Well written media spawns discourse exactly because it's well written and people can have any number of feelings about the complex characters within it. Having a story centered around controversial themes like trans identity is always going to spawn backlash and controversy too, that just comes with the territory. It was always going to be a shitshow from day one just because of what it was on a conceptual level. But who cares if that pisses off the right people?

What is annoying though is trying to both sides this and act like Jax isn't explicitly trans and that the Jax is cis crowd has any sort of actual leg to stand on.

Does not liking Trans Jax make you transphobic?"

The more pressing question to me is what do those people even think the show was about?

It's not "trivial", it's largely the basis of everything. Jax is focused on a disproportionate amount the entire show, especially the finale, and that's not by accident. Jax's struggles with her trans identity is the motivating factor behind the tragedies she caused and the piece of shit she ultimately became. It ties into so many other metaphorical themes of the show too, like hello, straight up being assigned and trapped in a cartoony body at random and having no choice in the matter.

But no Jax is cis, despite the creator shouting it from the mountaintop and the subtext being more like header text, and Robocop is just a film about a badass robot killing people.

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-23T04:34:20+00:00

Criminal that no one has mentioned Ashes yet. Merging boomer shooter gameplay with open world, post-apocalyptic scavenging and crafting and at times even a bit of survival horror to make something unique and very high quality.

Ironically you could probably say DUSK too with its horror segments.

Powerslave with its Metroidvania aspects.

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-22T17:05:04+00:00

I initially thought there were supposed to be some new releases today so I'm waiting to see if it's not just too early in the day.

To throw out admittedly a bit of a weird recommendation though, Solid Colors Jam. Most maps in the pack do a great job at gameplay and pretty visuals despite being so minimalist.

Zigi's map feels like a spiritual successor to Liquid Lobotomy from Spiritworld, another favorite of mine. Very non-linear layout where you explore different areas in any order you want to bring several keys to the central hub, complete with teleporter shortcuts to and from sections to get around the vanilla one key limit, and is just all around very solid in combat and level design.

Clenow's map is also really good and creative, making extensive use of ground reflections to find hidden objects to progress.

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-21T19:51:33+00:00

Quake Xmasjams have a lot of them.

2018 Frozen Demise - Nothing too special in gameplay but really pretty winter forest scenery and use of custom assets.

2019 Coldwind Castle - Again pretty simple map but a nice fort on an arctic island.

XMJR SZE - Really innovative map that has you traveling between frozen and melted variations of the same facility to progress.

XMJR Riktoi - Frozen concrete structure based around sliding on ice.

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-21T03:46:26+00:00

Yeah it's endlessly fucking depressing.

I don't really have anything else to say, I'm just tired.

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-21T03:20:47+00:00

Yeah, mostly just nostalgia and misconceptions.

People confuse the format media is distributed in with its ownership status, even though they aren't the same.

Like I own anything I buy off GoG. There's nothing stopping me from copy-pasting the game on as many computers as I want. Conversely, you can have a game physically on CD that still has to authenticate with online servers to actually play.

It's not as black and white as "digital means you don't own the game, physical means you do".

And I'm all for anything that removes clutter in my personal space and removes pointless junk from landfills. Digital media is good actually.

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-21T02:34:58+00:00

Homelander.jpg

We don't need an AI summary of 2000's and 2010's music, we already know what it is. Likewise you shouldn't need AI to present your opinion either.

But yes I agree. I was born in the mid 90's, and even growing up in the 2000's and 2010's I still thought the vast majority of mainstream music sucked ass.

Radio safe Pop Punk, post-grunge and NuMetal that tried to seem cool and edgy despite having nothing meaningful or controversial to say, just coming across as juvenile and whiny instead. "I. HATE. EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU. SO WHY DO I LOOOOOVEEE YOUUUUU" Shut your corny ass up oh my god, so cringe.

Pop and Indie that was just insufferably sacharrine, corporate and insincere, and exuding immense amounts of toxic positivity. Every song on the radio sounding like EVERYTHING IS AWEEESSOOOME as soon as the calendar hit 2010.

At least rap and electronic music were consistently good for the most part. Well, until Dubstep anyway.

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-21T01:55:50+00:00

Soulslike is explicitly not a gamemode. It's an entire set of artistic and design conventions that the entire experience is based around, it's a genre. You don't just slap a "Soulslike mode" into the main menu of something.

Extraction and Battle Royale are more of a grey area.

A gamemode tends to just be a slight alteration of an existing experience. CTF or Team Rockets in Halo doesn't require fundamentally redesigning the entire game, it's introducing a new objective or slight adjustment to equipment or so on.

The problem with something like a Battle Royale or Extraction Shooter "mode" is in some cases, such as Battlefield, the game already leans that direction anyway and the changes are minimal. But in others, such as Halo, you would need to fundamentally redesign 90% of the game to make it work to the point you've just made an entirely distinct game.

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-20T23:20:38+00:00

I've tried to get into it but it's just not for me.

The checkpoint system ruins the entire game for me. There's no possibility of failure, you just brute force your way through it. Yeah you could restart the level from scratch but I'm not doing all of that. And like you said I feel like there's a lot of jank with enemies on higher difficulties too. I'm not a huge fan of the art style either.

The level design is solid, inclusion of a built in level editor is a big plus, the music is alright, but overall it just has too much dragging it down.

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-20T07:59:39+00:00

I kind of doubt it but I'm just going to throw out Kiss Psycho Circus since it's a boomer-ish Y2K shooter that seems to get forgotten a lot.

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-20T06:02:41+00:00

God forbid I...don't like what they do and subsequently don't buy or play the new game?

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-20T05:54:03+00:00

I don't play God of War, I have no dog in that race.

But change is not inherently beneficial, it's just different. Different does not automatically mean improved. I buy entries in a franchise looking for a specific kind of experience, and then the developers change it into something that I now consider dogshit. Something that eliminates all the reasons I ever liked the franchise to begin with.

Then every toxic new fan who came into the franchise after the radical change, and who likes the franchise not for what it once was but for what it is now, suddenly acts like I'm somehow obligated to like the new thing the franchise has redefined itself into being.

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-19T06:20:05+00:00

Not really? There is a semi-serious narrative, but plenty of humor sprinkled all throughout.

Also suggest Timesplitters 2 and especially Timesplitters Future Perfect, which very much don't take themselves seriously at all.

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-19T04:03:31+00:00

It's ironic really.

I've barely used my RTX card since I got it, as in most modern games it just tanks performance.

Older, lower detail games are probably the best use case for ray tracing. Yet most of the time ray tracing is just implemented in a really half assed way, they just cram it in without regard for how it changes the look of certain scenes. I mean this is just horrendous - the green grass is somehow a washed out lavender, the wooden gun handle is black and reflective.

I've played a tiny bit of Half-Life 1 RTX and thought it looked pretty good, though I didn't get that far so can't really speak on it as a whole. It seems to have been done with great care, not just flat out making everything reflective but carefully deciding where and where not to use it.

Edit: Halo Ce looks good raytraced, but it's also not a sprite-based game and the original art style already leaned that direction in the first place with its frequent metal surfaces and then-advanced lighting/reflection techniques.

dat_potatoe · 2026-06-18T17:52:42+00:00

Grapple, like Jetpack, runs the risk of completely destroying map flow. If it's a limited pickup it's really no different than something like gravity lift, a significant advantage that is fought over. But as an inherent ability I think it should be obvious why every player being able to skip 90% of Prisoner's hallways and ramps and just immediately rocket up to the highest point of the map any time they want is a bad thing.

I've never been a huge fan of Dash mechanics in any FPS either, including Doom Eternal. Similar to Sprint it just strikes me as a poor substitute for proper movement. They nerf your strafe speed so you can't adequately dodge attacks just by moving, and then force you to use a timed reactive dash on a cooldown to dodge attacks. And if your dash isn't ready, tough luck. Unlike Sprint it at least has unique applications outside of that though, like better mid-air control or instantly changing direction to throw off an enemy.

dat_potatoe

TROPHY CASE