History Main / OlderIsBetter

** Also consider that for the above-stated reasons, the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee'' community insists on CRT displays for playing at a competitive level. The UsefulNotes/FightingGameCommunity in general is more tolerant of modern flat-panel displays so long as the input lag is below [=16ms=] (under one frame at a 60 Hz refresh rate), but some will still favor a CRT if given the choice.

** To elaborate, planned obsolescence is an idea that caught on (in the United States) in the thirties through fifties. The idea came about after several companies in the roaring twenties went belly up in the thirties (helping cause the depression) because their own reliable products killed any possibility of repeat business. Manufactures then wizened up and decided they didn't need to make products that last forever, only until they become unfashionable (which to be fair also made them affordable to more people). Thus its not rare to find some refrigerators from the early fifties still happily ticking away after decades of minimal maintenance while seeing fridges from the nineties doing the same is comparatively rare. However it should be noted this is starting to be subverted as the proliferation of used car dealerships and sites like e-bay assisting second hand sales has created a market for new reliable machines. Some manufacturers are starting to catch on, and have begun marketing their products on the basis that the buyer could recap a significant portion of their investment selling the product secondhand.

* Older appliances tended to follow a DifficultButAwesome mindset while newer top of the line ones are something of a SkillgateCharacter. Your grandparents drier operated on one motor controlled by a completely analog dials. It takes a lot of trial, error, and practice but they would have learned how to use it and gotten consistent results from it and expected it to last a life time. The modern drier however has several servos thrown in to articulate the drum, thermometers, multiple scales to detect weight distribution, humidity sensors, and a digital computer to control everything. It can deal with whatever mess you haphazardly throw in it pretty well, but after a few years or so something has probably started to fail and you won't get as good results when you try to learn what all those fancy settings actually do. While most users accept the convenience the modern option offers, there is a reason older generations can legitimately say theirs was better.

*** One of the ultimate examples of this trope in the game is the fact that the Heavy Stubber, a capable and reliable heavy weapon often found gracing Imperial vehicles and emplacements and churned out of Forge Worlds by the millions out of their simplicity, ease of use and ability to pump out reasonably powerful MoreDakka, is the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M2_Browning Browning M2]]. A gun first designed in ''1918'' still finds use ''dozens of millennia later''. Older Is Better indeed.

** There are communities known for a devoted preference to the Classic UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh OS as opposed to the more modern, [=NeXTSTEP=]-derived [=Mac OS X/macOS=], particularly those in need of a Digital Audio Workstation without the distractions and potential sources of latency that a preemptive multi-tasking OS would bring. It's for this exact reason that a late-model Quicksilver or Mirrored Drive Doors Power Mac G4 holds its value a lot better than the later Power Mac G5 - aside from the [=G5s=] being infamously prone to failure over the years, often a result of being ill-suited to dispersing the heat output of the [=PowerPC=] 970 G5, they cannot run the Classic Mac OS natively, and the Classic mode in OS X up through 10.4 Tiger (10.5 Leopard removed it) is not an adequate substitute.

** An even more extreme case that blends into hardware choice is the UsefulNotes/CommodoreAmiga user base, as they often equip their vintage Commodore-era Amigas with [=PowerPC=] accelerator cards, or sometimes pick out specific [=PowerPC=] boards (Macs need not apply), just for the sole purpose of running [=AmigaOS 4.1=] as opposed to switching over to Windows, [=macOS=] or Linux like the rest of the world.

%%* This is what Santa Claus believes in ''Film/SantaBaby''.

* ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'' has many of the weapons, helmets, armours, standards and cups mentioned as prized heirlooms and passed around and down generations for a long time. It is suggested they were forged by [[{{Precursors}} Giants]].

--> '''Olive:''' ''How'' did that survive the flood if your own badge phone didn't?!
--> '''Oscar:''' Psh, are you kidding? You've been out of the '90s too long. Modern phones will break if you so much as snap them in half, but everyone knows that older, clunkier technology is ''indestructible!''
--> '''Opal:''' I don't think that's how technology works, Oscar.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': Ancient Elven and Númenórean weapons are better than modern day Gondorian and Elven ones. The Silmarils were made by one of the most ancient elves, Fëanor, and nothing created since rivals their beauty. Likewise, the modern-day dwarves of the Lonely Mountain haven't managed to match the weapons and armour that were made by their ancestors, whose techniques were lost when Smaug killed them (they do mention having made advances in mining techniques in that time though).
** Inverted in the [[http://flyingmoose.org/tolksarc/book/ rec.arts.books.tolkien E-Text]]:
--->The Sword of Elendil was reforged by Elvish smiths. Not only did they put the two pieces together, which requires great skill if the joint is to be as strong as if the blade were newly-forged, but with the improvements in metallurgy which had been make during the millennia, they shaved a pound and a half off its weight, yet leaving the blade far stronger and less brittle than it had been before.
*** In Tolkien's worlds, this is woven into the fabric of the world. The world was at its peak in the moment of creation, when it was closest to and completely in accord with the will of Eru, and has been in an entropic spiral towards the end of the world ever since. Every new thing is by definition either an inferior copy of something old and irreplacable, or something corrupt and foul that hastens the decline.

* In ''Literature/TheNightAngelTrilogy'' there's a whole list of these, including an ancient technique for forging swords and jewelry and everything ever made by Ezra the Mad.
** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that the tomes that recorded Ezra's techniques were destroyed in the lead up to a dark age.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series comes pretty close to realism on this issue. [[AfterTheEnd After the nuclear war that almost wiped out civilization]], pre-War technology ([[EnergyWeapon plasma rifles]], [[PoweredArmor power armor]], and so forth) is highly sought-after and usually much better than what you'll find in the hands of raiders and psychos. But it's not the technology that's been lost so much as the means to produce it—hard to make power armor when you don't have access to anything more sophisticated than a hammer. When factions get large enough and powerful enough to build ''new'' technology, it's usually on par with the pre-War stuff in the cases of the NCR's industrial capacity by the time of New Vegas.
** ''Usually''. ''VideoGame/{{Fallout Tactics}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' shows that the Brotherhood of Steel have the means to construct airships despite the state of post-War America but still rely on pre-War vehicles. The Institute of ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' zigzag this: they can and have made [[DeceptivelyHumanRobots robots]] and [[ArtificialHuman synthetic humans]] that can pass off as normal people and even ''synthetic gorillas'' but the problem is that the robots are often more dim than pre-War robots and the laser pistols and rifles they are given are actually bigger and fire weaker shots than pre-War laser weapons, like those used by the Brotherhood of Steel.
** {{Exaggerated}} in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' where despite the presence of plasma weapons, miniguns, laser rifles and mini-nuke launchers, one of the best [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter Small Guns]] is a lever-action rifle from the 1860's that belonged to Abraham Lincoln. It has high damage and is one of the few weapons in the game to have zero bullet spread, though the relative rarity of its .44 Magnum ammo makes it slightly impractical in the early game. Honorable mention goes to [[BoringButPractical Ol' Painless]], the unique hunting rifle, which similarly has zero spread despite being an old bolt-action rifle with no sights and rusty metal parts that would fall apart if it wasn't for duct-tape and prayers.

* ''Videogame/{{Cyberpunk 2077}}'': Zigzagged with Rache Bartmoss' deck. A lot of netrunners are very keen to take a look at the legendary work of the man who destroyed the internet, but find most off the stuff on there disappointing, which is understandable, given that Bartmoss has been dead for decades and netrunning has moved on. However, some of Bartmoss' software works on basic princples that are very different from those that became mainstream, and suggest some very tantalizing ways to do things that no-one's thought of.

-->'''Kathrena:''' "Flintlocke, I don't know if this quest you found for the ''ultimate goblin engineered weapon'' is legitimate. It's written in crayon."
-->'''Flintlocke:''' "''ANCIENT'' crayon!"

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''{{Literature/Moonflowers}}'' evokes this: TheFairFolk have averted getting HijackedByJesus, as [[TheWildHunt the Hunter]] mocks Irish Christianity for "taking the old ways and wrapping them in flimsy little excuses." Holy-water has a very small effect on the river-spirit Maidin, since he only complains that it makes his arm itch ([[NiceGuy but he's much friendlier than the Hunter and even helps with Christian baptisms]]). Alloys like steel and titanium are ineffective when fighting the Folk, as ColdIron is one of their traditional weaknesses. Later on, the Fianna use obsidian weaponry when trying to kill the Hunter in the Otherworld, because the Folk would smell too much ColdIron on them. Not quite a cut-and-dry case of Older Is Better, as one of the main points is [[BlueAndOrangeMorality how strange and incomprehensible the Fair Folk are.]]
* In ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'', [[JerkAss Super Kami Guru]] encourages Nail to fight [[BigBad Freeza]] by reminding him he had been trained in the "ancient ways". After Nail and Freeza fly off to the battleground, the Grand Elder drops this bomb:
-->Super Kami Guru: "Fool. If he had been trained in the NEW way, he might have stood a chance."
[[/folder]]

* [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-Zagged]] in ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower''. The [[{{Precursors}} First Ones]] left behind [[LostTechnology ancient technology]] that can be used for horrific destruction on a scale that even the [[GalacticConqueror true leader of the Horde]] envies. However, the underlying systems for activating it are also ancient and his own technology has long since surpassed it, meaning that he can reverse-engineer a means of utilizing the weapon as soon as he gets control of it which makes him much more dangerous and difficult to stop.

** In "Pumm-Ra", Mumm-Ra is poking around Cats Lair in disguise. He's trying to open the lock on a door, and muses, "Ah, a very ancient lock design, unknown on Third Earth for a thousand years. Unknown, that is, except to one who has ''lived'' for a thousand years!"

* This trope actually held perfectly true for any number of things for a period directly after the fall of the Roman Empire. A quick study of Medieval architecture will show that Medieval builders had a preference for building on the foundations of or simply modifying old Roman buildings because Roman engineering was simply better. Part of this was a single LostTechnology that was mostly forgotten until the 14th century: concrete.

** On a similar note, older style electro-mechanical irrigation timers (which have been entirely supplanted by digital ones) routinely sell online for hundreds of dollars. Rain Bird's RC series in particular have a reputation for being virtually indestructible, with 50-year-old units working as well today as they did when they were new.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Manga/FairyTail'': Natsu happens to be a first-generation Dragon Slayer, but still manages to be just as powerful, if not more so, than successive generations.
** Then compare them to Achnologia, a former Dragon Slayer who is now a Dragon and an extremely ancient, extremely powerful being.

%%* The Franchise/{{Nasuverse}} tradition of magic using this trope is the reason why [[VideoGame/FateGrandOrder Kirchtaria Wodime]] is [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter far strong]] than our protagonist {{Literature/Percy Jackson|AndTheOlympians}}. While Percy might have gifts and powers from the ancient Olympian Gods, Wodime's astrology magic utilizes the stars themselves, which inspired humans long before the Olympians arrived on Earth.

* Defied with Wrex's ancestral armor in ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'', which had been stolen from his family centuries ago. With all the trouble you go through to help him get it back, you'd probably expect it to be his best equipment. Instead, advancements in technology since it was originally made have rendered it completely obsolete, with Wrex himself even calling it "a piece of crap". He ends up keeping it anyway, but only for sentimental reasons.
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', the [[{{Precursors}} Prothean]] Particle Rifle will continuously fire until it overheats, at which point one has to wait until it cools down to fire, just like the guns in the ''[[MythologyGag first]]'' game. It seems the Protheans never thought of (or disliked) using disposable heat-sinks as ammo. It was explicitly stated to be a design chosen due to logistic problems.

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* In the Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}, all things magical run on this principle. Servants from ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' gain strength with age and fame. Gilgamesh, being the oldest Heroic Spirit, uses this to compensate for being up against more famous Heroic spirits in both the [[Literature/FateZero Fourth Grail War]] and [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight the Fifth Grail War]]. [[WorldsStrongestMan Not that he'd need it]].
** The boost his opponents get from being more popular, as Rin explains, is actually pretty insignificant[[note]]That boost would be far more significant in the actual location where a Servant's legend originated. For example, Lancer (Cú Chulainn) would be at his strongest in Ireland, Rider (Medusa), Caster (Medea) and Berserker (Heracles) would all be strongest in Greece and Saber (King Arthur) would be strongest in England and Wales...though the latter two are so universally renowned that they'd get some degree of power boost anywhere on Earth. But since the Holy Grail War takes place in Japan and none of the Servants in either the Fourth or Fifth Grail War were Japanese (aside from the "fake Servant" Assassin (UsefulNotes/SasakiKojiro), this didn't really come into play.[[/note]], whereas being 1500 years older than any other spirit in the war is a gigantic boost to his power.
** This also applies to Noble Phantasms which are based on a Plato's Idea of Form. In general, the older a Phantasm, and thus closer it is to the original conception. As a result an older Phantasm will defeat any similar Phantasm born from a newer iteration of the legend (e.g Gram, the Sword pulled from the Tree, of Norse Mythology is superior to Caliburn, the Sword in the Stone, of Arthurian lore). Gilgamesh possesses "prototypes"(Perfect Form) of all later Noble Phantasms, each one significantly stronger than its more well-known derivatives, with only a few exceptions.
** This is actually a {{Franchise/Nasuverse}} rule of magic in general. Creatures and magical artifacts also get stronger with age. A sufficiently aged magic sword can tear apart a modern mage's barrier simply by being drawn. A creature from the Age of the Gods, is so powerful they are consider on par with the Five True Magics. Older magus families are generally better magus families than newer ones; someone like Waver, whose family legacy is only two generations old, will never be as good as someone from a family whose legacy goes back much farther, like Rin's.
** Subverted by Archer. He's technically the newest Heroic Spirit [[spoiler:since he's from the future]]. While he's pretty weak stat-wise and would lose to the likes of Lancer or Saber in a straight-up physical confrontation, he's also arguably the most powerful Servant summoned in the Grail War [[spoiler:since his "Noble Phantasm" is actually the ability to reproduce copies of various weapons he's seen throughout his life, including weapon-type Noble Phantasms with few exceptions. The nature of his powers also makes him the perfect counter to Gilgamesh.]]
** Magic itself also follows this rule. Servant Caster, who lived in the Age of Gods [[Myth/ClassicalMythology (Ancient Greece)]], can use very powerful spells using few (and sometimes only one) word, while modern magic users need one minute to conjure magic of such power, it's no wonder that her "High-Speed Divine Words" skill is at A level. Even the exceptionally rare True Magic (which cannot be learned and only randomly crops up as the inherent trait of some lucky magus) can't compare to magic from the Age of Gods, as it tends to be extremely specialized whereas Caster can use her ancient magic for basically anything she pleases.
[[/folder]]

* Even in cases where the new is near universally considered better, sometimes there are a few advantages that the older technology possessed. For example, digital TV runs circles around analog TV in most regards. Digital is more compact, has an order of magnitude better resolution[[note]] though its obligatory to mention that analog sets practically unlimited horizontal detail but a very much fixed number of lines along the vertical axis[[/note]], less artifacts in the picture, and are inherently easier to use with digital devices than analog. However, in two ways digital has worse viewing angle. Analog [=TVs=] inherently have to have a convex curve in order to work, which makes them easier to clearly watch from more areas of the room. Digital has a relatively narrow band of optimal viewing angle before glare gets nasty and it’s hard to see anything. Furthermore, it was common to mount analog [=TVs=] on lazy suzans and orient them as needed. This hasn't been as common on digital [=TVs=] since, counterintuitively, the lighter nature of the devices makes them easy to fall over and break. Nearly nobody who has a digital TV would trade theirs for an analog one for this advantage, but there was some questioning why convex digital [=TVs=] aren't made when manufacturers released digital ''concave'' screens.

[[folder: Mythology and Religion]]

** During the Crimean takeover, Russian army forces switched almost entirely to using messengers instead of radio for communication. This got Western intelligences completely fooled and taken by surprise, as they saw no increase in radio activity just before the invasion.

* Averted for fun in the ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' TV series, where an ancient golem awakens to crush the heroes and promptly breaks down from centuries of disuse.

* In the Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}, all things magical run on this principle. Servants from ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' gain strength with age and fame. Gilgamesh, being the oldest Heroic Spirit, uses this to compensate for being up against more famous Heroic spirits in both the [[LightNovel/FateZero Fourth Grail War]] and [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight the Fifth Grail War]]. [[WorldsStrongestMan Not that he'd need it]].

OlderIsBetter may also be depicted in stories set in more modern eras. The heroes may find that a vintage rifle or pistol is in some way superior to modern gear, often in accuracy or ruggedness. In some cases, the lower technology of an old weapon may render it less vulnerable to new countermeasures. As well, fictional characters may love vintage cars, stereos, cameras or other old items, perceiving that these items look cooler or perform better.

The idea, especially in Fantasy settings, that older things are generally stronger or more effective. The swords, armor, magic etc. left behind by an old civilization are better than those made today. Many works of Science Fiction have LostTechnology that people can no longer replicate after a dark age. In general, anything that can be described as "ancient" is better than its modern counterparts, as if society is regressing rather than inventing new technologies and improving on old ideas. In fact, the old technology is so superior that it continues to outperform [[RagnarokProofing despite spending a dozen centuries half buried in dirt in a cave]].

MedievalStasis help explain/justify this trope: if technology is not advancing, then the best items of the past will be better than the run-of-the-mill stuff of today, and will hence outperform if they survive the years. Or perhaps the old tech was made by {{Precursors}}, who truly ''were'' leagues and bounds more advanced than modern folk. In fantasy, one might also say that [[StrongerWithAge magical beings and artifacts become more powerful over time]].

** [[TheSoulless The Necrons]]...basically ''are'' an Ancient {{Precursor|s}} race, only made into immortal, self-repairing robots and locked in stasis for 65Myr. They haven't improved their technology because it's already vastly superior to everyone else's and they are now unthinking automatons, for the most part.

* ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet'': Either played straight or inverted, depending on which version you play. ''Scarlet'' features ancient ancestors of present day Pokemon, while ''Violet'' features futuristic descendants of modern day Pokemon. In either case, they're massively stronger than their modern day counterparts.
* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'' and Brotherhood both feature this. Altair's centuries old armor is better than all modern armor. Justified by it being made from a {{Precursor|s}} alloy. Ditto for Brutus' (as in Caesar's killer) armor, which is better than modern armor too, despite being even older. Similarly, Altair's sword and Brutus' dagger are better than their modern counterparts. And even in the Modern Era, the Pieces of Eden are the most powerful artifacts ever created - another example of ancient {{Precursor|s}} technology.

** {{Exaggerated}} in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' where despite the presence of plasma weapons, miniguns, laser rifles and mini-nuke launchers one of the best [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter Small Guns]] is a Henry lever-action rifle from the 1860's that belonged to Abraham Lincoln. It has high damage and is one of the few weapons in the game to have zero spread, though the relative rarity of the .44 Magnum ammo it fires makes it slightly impractical in the early game. Honorable mention goes to [[BoringButPractical Ol' Painless]], the unique hunting rifle, which similarly has zero spread despite being an old bolt-action rifle with no sights and rusty metal parts that would fall apart if it wasn't for duct-tape and prayers.

* ''VideoGame/FearAndHunger'' has the Old Gods be much stronger than the New Gods. This is notable in Ending [[spoiler:A, where you bring the Young Girl to the location where she ascends to become the God of Fear and Hunger. She's notable in that despite being a New God who was only just born, she has power to rival the Old Gods.]]

* Strangely enough, this is true for the Wright brothers' prototype plane. The original version of their plane worked fine and the flight times could be improved with enough practice. On one of the anniversaries of the first flight, a replica was made of the plane and turned out to be completely unable to take to the sky. No one is quite sure why, but it probably means that the brothers left some important bit out of the blueprints.

* Even in cases where the new is near universally considered better, sometimes there are a few advantages that the older technology possessed. For example, digital TV is runs circles around analog tv in most regards. Digital is more compact, has an order of magnitude better resolution[[note]] though its obligatory to mention that analog sets practically unlimited horizontal detail but a very much fixed number of lines along the vertical axis[[/note]], less artifacts in the picture, and are inherently easier to use with digital devices than analog. However, in two ways digital has worse viewing angle. Analog [=TVs=] inherently have to have a convex curve in order to work, which makes them easier to clearly watch from more areas of the room. Digital has a relatively narrow band of optimal viewing angle before glare gets nasty and it’s hard to see anything. Furthermore, it was common to mount analog [=TVs=] on lazy suzans and orient them as needed. This hasn't been as common on digital [=TVs=] since, counterintuitively, the lighter nature of the devices makes them easy to fall over and break. Nearly nobody who has a digital TV would trade theirs for an analog one for this advantage, but there was some questioning why convex digital [=TVs=] aren't made when manufacturers released digital ''concave'' screens.

The idea, especially in Fantasy settings, that older things generally are better. The swords left behind by an old civilization are better than those made by their modern descendants. Same goes for armor, magic, or whatever. Anything that can be described as "ancient" is better than its modern counterpart, as if people are regressing rather than inventing new technologies and improving on old ideas. In fact, this technology is so superior that it continues to outperform modern ones [[RagnarokProofing despite spending a dozen centuries half buried in dirt in a cave]]. This can be explained by a setting with MedievalStasis: if technology is not advancing, then older items made by legendary craftsmen will be better than modern gear made by run-of-the-mill craftsmen. Sometimes this can also be explained by the source of the items being the {{Precursors}}, with the "modern" civilization having simply not caught up to them yet. Sometimes Science Fiction has LostTechnology after a dark age. In fantasy, it is often explained in the idea that [[StrongerWithAge magical beings and artifacts become more powerful with time]].

This idea has been popularly applied to at least one RealLife scenario: the story goes that Europe and Arabia emerged from TheDarkAges and into UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance by rediscovering the works of UsefulNotes/AncientGreece and AncientRome, re-learning technology that had been widely forgotten and disused for centuries. The romance of regaining superior wisdom of a bygone age has been a powerful driver behind this idea, even though there is much less truth in it than commonly thought. Especially in the late medieval age many areas of technology were ahead of anything the Romans ever did.

Today, it's definitely not a JustifiedTrope in RealLife, at least in terms of science. Modern science has surpassed the science of the ancients, meaning newly adopted technology has important advantages over older technologies. It does not have to be an improvement in all areas, but there is generally an overall improvement, which is why the technology could replace older versions. However, in pseudosciences like astrology and some alternative medicines (un-touched by the scientific method), the idea persists: this ancient knowledge and traditions have been around for so long, unchanged, so that must mean that they are better than modern science! It's the same logic as with the OldMaster: if a tool has lasted for centuries and is still usable, then it must be damn good. Compare with AppealToTradition, the logical fallacy that believes Older is Better just by virtue of being older. [[http://web.archive.org/web/20130727103912/http://www.badmartialarts.com/myths/ancient_knowledge.php Bad Martial Arts]] has a page debunking the idea.

This trope follows a standard fantasy motif that everything has been grander and more perfect back in ancient times: gods roamed the Earth, heroes battled huge monsters with legendary weapons and armors that can survive centuries to be used again. If our modern heroes are doing the same thing, then it feels logical that in the older times, there were bigger heroes fighting bigger monsters with even more legendary weapons.

Do not confuse with the RealLife nostalgia due to TheyDontMakeThemLikeTheyUsedTo and, its extreme form, TrueArtIsAncient. Compare StrongerWithAge when this applies to creatures. Also compare with RockBeatsLaser and ArchaicWeaponForAnAdvancedAge. See also WhatAPieceOfJunk in which an old, rusted technology turns out to be a superior item. Contrast with TheWorkhorse, which is a piece of equipment so solid it's still in use ''despite'' its age.

* ''Advertising/HealthHotline'': After getting her knee brace, Grandma is much older than Ellie, but she's much faster.

* ''Manga/FairyTail'': TheHero Natsu happens to be a first-generation Dragon Slayer, but still manages to be just as powerful, if not more so, than successive generations.
** Then compared them to Achnologia, a former Dragon Slayer who is now a Dragon and an anciently powerful being.

* ''VideoGames/PokemonScarletAndViolet'': Either played straight or inverted, depending on which version you play. ''Scarlet'' features ancient ancestors of present day Pokemon, while ''Violet'' features futuristic descendants of modern day Pokemon. In either case, they're massively stronger than their modern day counterparts.

** The Enclanve avetr it by making substantial use of technology that wasn't in production as of the great war including certain Plasma weapons and their X-01 power armour. Even in the timframe of the series they'e making improvements, including the X-02 Tesla and X-03 Hellfire power armours.

** {{Exaggerated}} in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' where despite the presence of plasma weapons, miniguns, laser rifles and mini-nuke launchers one of the best [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter Small Guns]] is a [[CoolGuns/{{Rifles}} Henry lever-action rifle]] from the 1860's that belonged to Abraham Lincoln. It has high damage and is one of the few weapons in the game to have zero spread, though the relative rarity of the .44 Magnum ammo it fires makes it slightly impractical in the early game. Honorable mention goes to [[BoringButPractical Ol' Painless]], the unique hunting rifle, which similarly has zero spread despite being an old bolt-action rifle with no sights and rusty metal parts that would fall apart if it wasn't for duct-tape and prayers.

* The Franchise/{{Nasuverse}} tradition of magic using this trope is the reason why [[VideoGame/FateGrandOrder Kirchtaria Wodime]] is [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter far strong]] than our protagonist {{Literature/Percy Jackson|AndTheOlympians}}. While Percy might have gifts and powers from the ancient Olympian Gods, Wodime's astrology magic utilizes the stars themselves, which inspired humans long before the Olympians arrived on Earth.

** This is actually a {{Franchise/Nasuverse}} rule of magic in general. Creatures and magical artifacts also get stronger with age. A sufficiently aged magic sword can tear apart a modern mage's barrier simply by being drawn. A creature from the Age of the Gods, is so powerful they are consider on par with the Five True Magics.