We often look back fondly on the games of yesterday, especially when it comes to the purity of their design. In the days before DLC, before always-online, before microtransactions, they were things that you bought, once, they were complete, and you could enjoy the entire experience.
For a moment, though, let's pretend that was never the case. That the humble NES had a modem, that 80s Nintendo was smarter about the internet than 2013 Nintendo is, that your favourite old games were riddled with the kind of nickel-and-diming bullshit that so many games today are full of. Or just made easier by the kind of hand-holding design so prominent in games today.
Maybe they'd look something like this. Programmer and writer (and it seems decent comedian) Hugues Johnson has, perhaps taking a page out of Zack Hiwiller's book, imagined many of the greatest games of the NES era as titles bogged down with the baggage of today's games.
It is amazing. I've included a few highlights below, but there are more at Hugues' site.
If NES games were made today [Hugues Johnson, via neatorama]