Games back then also had to fit on a specific chip in the cartridge. A lot of them would probably have had a lot more fluff if they had more space to put it on.
I think there is just way more games now so you can pick a game back then and find a bad game to compare it to now, but there are also tons of really good similar games now you just have to sort through so many
Funny, since the “then” also features handholding in the form of a giant banned with “checkpoint” on it.
This also doesn’t take into account how much more complex games have become.
Compare Super Mario to something like God of War. “Walk to the right” to “explore vast environments”. And even those games are average.
Games back then also had to fit on a specific chip in the cartridge. A lot of them would probably have had a lot more fluff if they had more space to put it on.
I think there is just way more games now so you can pick a game back then and find a bad game to compare it to now, but there are also tons of really good similar games now you just have to sort through so many