Have you ever had someone recommend a classic video game to you that you missed out on, then tried that game and, despite the fact that they claim it’s one of the best games of all time, and they still play it weekly, you found it completely terrible?

Have you ever gone to a movie that’s a remake of an old franchise from your childhood that you never paid attention to, and your friends, who loved it as kids, say the movie is AMAZING, but you find it mediocre at best?

For me, the best examples of this are the original Diablo and the new Transformers movie. Diablo got rave reviews and is still pretty heavily populated on Battle.net, for a game that’s twelve years old and counting. I was too young for it when it first came out, but I got madly addicted to Diablo 2 and played it online for years. After playing Diablo 2 for a while, I figured it made sense to at least give Diablo 1 a shot, because I had heard it was a really solid game in its own right. But when I booted up the game, I couldn’t stand the archaic controls, the outdated graphics, and the primitive style. I didn’t have any nostalgia for it, so I wasn’t able to get past its age. I gave up after only a couple of play sessions and went back to Diablo 2.

As a kid, I had no real access to Transformers, though I did own a couple of the toys at one point. We lived in a tiny little town and only got three TV channels, so I never had the opportunity to watch or follow the show. So when I watched the new Transformers movie, I found it interesting and entertaining, but not amazing. The concept was kind of cool, but it didn’t stir up any primitive emotions for me or anything.

On the other side of things, I still boot up StarCraft now and then and run through a couple of missions or play some LAN games with friends. I played StarCraft a lot as a kid, and I remember how awesome it was to me then, so even though it’s old and outdated now and its presentation doesn’t match up to today’s games, I still find it fun to play.

I think I have kind of the same situation with superheroes, actually. I never watched any Spiderman as a kid, and today I don’t find him that cool. My dad had a few old comics for The Flash laying around the house when I was younger, though, and today The Flash is my favourite superhero. (And he is so much more awesome than Spiderman, by the way.)

The new GI Joe movie was recently announced, and I think it’s going to go the same way as Transformers did for me. I had a couple of the GI Joe toys, but it wasn’t a very big part of my childhood, so I don’t have much nostalgia for it. I doubt I’ll find it all that great, if I even end up seeing it.

What franchises, TV shows, and games were big in your childhood? Do you still go back to the well every now and then? Have you ever tried delving into a classic you didn’t have nostalgia for?

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