Game Pass: Old School Gamers' Guide To What You Can Do On Game Pass

Game Pass is confusing. It can be difficult to choose from hundreds of games in almost every genre. But we’ve got you covered with these Game Pass recommendations for all of you old school gamers out there. The games that follow don’t just rely on nostalgia; rather, they take classic game design and give it a good dusting-off to make it shine again. These Game Pass titles show that great games don’t really die.

Battletoads

The trailer is available on YouTube

This isn’t an old game – in fact it’s quite new, having released in August 2020 – but gamers who fondly remember Rare’s Battletoads franchise from the 8- and 16-bit days will no doubt fall in love with it all over again in this reboot. Xbox Game Pass members get more Battletoads in the Rare Replay 2015 compilation. It features cooperative play up to four players and a cartoony, hand-drawn visual style.

Black

This first-person shooter for Xbox 360 and PS2 was the spiritual precursor to Bodycount. It was ranked as number. 99 in IGN’s Top 100 Shooters in 2013. While developing the game Criterion stated that they wanted to “do for shooting what Burnout did for racing – tear it apart.” Black is still remembered as one of the greatest console shooters today.

Command & Conquer Remastered Collection

The trailer is available on YouTube

A remaster of the first two Command & Conquer games with sound and graphical enhancements as well as bonus content. Other than that, the games have very little difference to the real-time strategy classics. It also includes Counterstrike, The Covert Operations and The Aftermath expansions, as well as additional missions from N64 ports.

Double Dragon Neon

The trailer is available on YouTube

Double Dragon Neon is at once a reboot of the classic beat ‘em up franchise and an homage to it. It is described as “a very western adaptation” of Double Dragon, though it strives to retain the personality of the classic entries. Series creator Yoshihisa Kishimoto was a consultant during the game’s development. While the core gameplay is familiar, there are some improvements. Double Dragon Neon’s 2012 release coincided with the 25th anniversary of the series.

The Elder Scrolls III – Morrowind

When it first appeared on the Xbox scene in 2002, this massively open-world roleplaying phenomenon was a game changer. With its thoroughly freeform gameplay philosophy and almost unprecedented breadth of scope, few gamer – and even fewer console gamers in particular – had ever seen anything like it. While the game Isn’t perfect to say the least ( it is a Bethesda game, after all), it was a genre-redefining title in its time, and one of the original Xbox’s greatest classics.

Fallout

The trailer is available on YouTube

The original Fallout was set in a retro-futuristic, post-apocalyptic world. It is remembered as a PC roleplaying icon and a spiritual successor of the 1988 sci-fi open-world roleplaying game Wasteland. It was the first game to explore the concept of giving the player moral ambiguity when they interact with the world or its NPCs. It also influences the way the player interacts with the world and its NPCs. Bethesda carried this concept to the latest installments of Fallout.

Grim Fandango Remastered

The trailer is available on YouTube

This 1998 adventure game is regarded as one of the most important video games. It doesn’t come as much of a surprise when you consider the game’s development pedigree. It was published by Lucas Arts – they that brought us such adventure game classics as Maniac Mansion, Full Throttle, and the Monkey Island series – in partnership with Tim Shafer and Double Fine Productions (think Psychonauts).

The game is often held as representative of video games as an art form, so much so that it was included in the Smithsonian Institution exhibit “The Art of Video Games” in 2012.

Rare Replay

You could think of this as a “Rare’s Greatest Hits” compilation, and that is saying something for one of the most storied game development studios in history. These 30 amazing games span many hardware generations, from the ZX Spectrum up to the Xbox 360. Many of the games remain in their original glory with some minor edits. A few of the highlights in this compilation include R.C. Pro-Am, Battletoads, Killer Instinct Gold, Banjo KazooieAnd Perfect Dark.

TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge

The trailer is available on YouTube

This is a modern remake of a classic brawler. Old school gamers who played the TMNT games on the NES will enjoy it. Shredder’s Revenge is an excellent throwback to those beat ‘em ups of yore with its side-scrolling action and pixel art graphics style, not to mention co-op for up to six players.

Grab your stuff

We hope that you enjoyed this little trip down the memory lane. These games were a mix between the old and new. Are there any of your favorite games featured here? Let us know what you think about these games by leaving comments.

It’s good to see games for everyone being offered on Game Pass, and it’s one of the things that makes Game Pass the best gaming service out there right now. If you don’t already have a subscription to Xbox Game Pass, you can sign up here. You can sign up right now Get your first month free of charge for just $1. To learn more, visit the Game Pass FAQ page. And don’t forget to check out our other “What to play on Game Pass” posts to see more Game Pass recommendations.

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