Why Certain Video Games Will Never Die
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Brian McIver, GoLocalWorcester Contributor
Good games never die. Obviously this is true for games like dominoes and chess, but the same can be said for video games. Some of the best video games can be played over and over again regardless of when they were created because of a couple things; good gameplay, good storytelling, or a combination of both.
Some of the oldest examples of this are strictly replayable because of gameplay. Games such as Pong, Space Invaders, Combat, and Frogger are all simple yet challenging games that anyone can pick up and play and have fun doing it.
This is a trend that has continues to this day. Farm Heroes Saga, Candy Crush, Bejeweled, Flappy Bird, these are all in the exact same wheelhouse as those old games. The games use basic control schemes that can be accomplished with one or two inputs from the player, they have enough challenge to keep the game from getting boring and they are in some way visually appealing.
This visual appeal steps up the pleasure we get from any given game. Angry Birds and Candy Crush have great visuals that trigger those endorphins we get when something goes well. Not only are we getting the gratification of being successful, but we also get flashing lights and stars for that success.
Now add a loveable character to the mix. You’re now introducing some story to the gameplay. Granted Angry Birds and Candy Crush have a “story,” but do you really pay any attention to them? In this case we are talking about those challenging score based games that hook you, not just with the desire to get the highest score, but give you someone/thing to root for. Some of the earliest include Donkey Kong, Q-Bert, and Pitfall!. These games gave you now iconic characters to root for as the heroes of the game, and some times a goal that usually involved a princess or treasure of some kind, but really the goal was your score the entire time.
The “story” such as it is means little in these games, but they are still very playable today even in a world filled with amazing graphics, gameplay, and stories that rival some of best in Hollywood. Donkey Kong is just as challenging and fun to play today as it was back in 1982 even though you still probably can’t make it past the second or third screen.
The third of these classics that never die are the ones that combine that addicting gameplay with great stories and characters. Now there is no shortage of these in todays video game obsessed world. Grand Theft Auto, The Last of Us, The Elder Scrolls series, these games are the gold standard for game design today with deep compelling stories and well thought out and engaging gameplay. However these fantastic series would be nothing without the classics that came before them, classics that still hold there own against the heavyweights of today.
In 1985 Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System in America. This would change the landscape of gaming for everyone. Three big games stood out during that time Super Mario Brothers, The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid. These three games established deep rich worlds, a compelling all-be-it simple story, and addictive easy to handle gameplay. Many a parent played their fair share of Mario back in the day, and many more still do today. Why, because it’s fun. It’s a blast to run through those levels rescuing the Princess who was inevitably in another castle.
The Legend of Zelda gave us one of our first real tastes of what a role playing game could be. No more text adventures or tabletop games. You were Link and you were going to defeat Gannon and save Princess Zelda. This was epic adventure on an epic scale, and guess what? It still is. Many newer games can’t say that.
Try going back and playing Grand Theft Auto III on the PlayStation 2. The game can still be fun, but the game feels dated not just in the graphics, but especially in the gameplay. The reason for this has a lot to do with the complexity of the game and its controls, and that’s a big key. The older games had simpler controls and those controls hold up over time regardless of the initial quality or enjoyment of the game.
Of course older games suffer from this as well. Going back and playing something like Xenophobia is like reliving a nightmare that never ends. Of course the idea here isn’t that newer games are bad, or that old games are better. This isn’t an old mans rant about the good old days, it’s about the good old days still being here and still being fun.
It’s similar to going back and watching old films or reading old books. The good ones never die and they never grow old. So get in that closet and dust off that old NES or Sega Genesis and relive some of those great experiences, and share them with the next generation.
