Are Neo-Retro Game Releases a Fad? 266
With modern console technology making it easy to develop and distribute small games, more and more companies are taking advantage of gamers' nostalgia to re-release decades-old hits, and to create entirely new titles in older styles. Gamasutra takes a look at what the retro game fad has become, and where it can go from here. What old games or series do you think would translate well onto today's consoles?
"Many gamers who bought Mega Man 9 did so because of the game's inherent nostalgia, or because they never had a chance to enjoy the older games on the Nintendo Entertainment System when they were younger. Mega Man 9 is very much a product of its context. Its gameplay is fantastic, but it too is a product of the time period in which it reigned supreme. It suggests the question: can neo-retro games stand the test of time? Will games that mimic or lampoon the 8-bit era remain relevant and interesting to the masses long after its original audience has disappeared?"
Real neo-retro games (Score:3, Interesting)
Making old-fashioned new games is nothing new.
In the '60s Star Trek gave us 3-D Chess.
In the '70s gave us Sudoku, similar to Magic Squares number puzzles.
The 21st century is giving us modern versions of Monopoly, which uses pre-real-estate-market-crash valuations.
Me? I like Pong.
not really (Score:1, Interesting)
The X-Wing series (Score:1, Interesting)
It was a fun simulator. I'd love a copy that would run on one of my current machines.
Re:Nope. (Score:3, Interesting)
There's nothing special about the NES era, as the article insinuates.
Not so. The NES was the first game console with a significant library of non-sucky titles. I tried playing my old Atari 2600 a few years ago and gave up, because it's all crap except for maybe a couple of games (Adventure, Outlaw, ... I can't think of a third title, and I had dozens and dozens of games). On the other hand, there are a ton of great NES game. Tetris had an NES version, and it's still gold. (OK, so the NES version was crap compared to the Game Boy version. But still...) Super Mario Bros. 3 is the best game of all time. MegaMan is still popular as are a number of different platformers from back then. BattleToads and Ninja Turtles were popular beat 'em ups. Bomberman introduced a formula that's still around. The RPGs from the NES were generally crappy, but they laid the groundwork for future games and are decent as the basis for a remake. Most of the game ideas that we like now were previewed in a basically decent form on the NES.
That said, the SNES is still a better console overall because it had the good play mechanics of the NES and combined it with non-ugly graphics. Zelda 3, for example, is great and will never go out of style. The RPGs of the SNES don't need to be remade to be playable.
Re:Wii Virtual Console is a disappointment (Score:5, Interesting)
Personally I can't say I miss some of the NES RPGs. A few years back I dusted off my NES console from a closet and fired up Dragon Warrior. Somehow my saved games were still intact from 1989, but first I started a new quest. After 20 minutes I was pretty well bored. These games were the ultimate grindfests; killing slime after slime to get enough gold to upgrade my bamboo stick to a sharpened bamboo stick or whatever comes next without even the social interaction or plot that makes WoW or modern RPGs interesting respectively. Sometimes nostalgia is well placed, in this case old is definitely not better.
I remember that some of the later titles in the Dragon Warrior series were more interesting. I did get a kick out of loading up one of my nearly 2 decade old games, saved right near the end, and killing the Dragonlord once more for good measure.
Re:Nah (Score:3, Interesting)
I still play Alpha Centauri, Birth of the Federation, and Ancient Domains of Mystery a couple months a year. Every year. And they can still trap me at 3 am with the obsessive "just one... more... turn..." mindset.
I really miss the Microprose classics like Airborne Ranger and F-19 Stealth fighter. Not to mention Star Control 2 and Stars!
Er. wait a mo... (Score:4, Interesting)
Andy
Different interfaces and priorities (Score:5, Interesting)
I think it's backlash against 3D gameplay. I'm not talking about 3D graphics, but rather 3D gameplay and interacting with things in a 3D world.
In 2D, you can do a lot of really cool things because you don't have to think about depth, like how far you have to jump to get to a platform. In 2D, it's obvious. You also don't have to worry about camera angles, which have gotten better in the last 10 years due to improved AI, but they still pretty much suck. I hate backing against a wall in a 3rd-person platform game and seeing the camera go berserk.
I also believe that 2D games, especially platformers, give you more freedom to goof around. If a game has a good "feel", you can go all kinds of cool chain-reaction moves which are pretty much impossible in 3D games. 3D games have usually been more procedural due to the interface complexity. I can jump off a platform, smush rows of goombas, and punch a brick to get a coin in one shot. With a typical 3D platformer, you pretty much do one thing at a time -- walk up to something, jump, move again, pick something up, shoot, walk, talk, then walk some more. That's my theory as to why the Wii's 3D controller is wasted on waggle games. Thinking in 3D is actually very difficult.
Of course, style matters, too. 3D graphics often lacks the color and graphic power of good 2D. I like remakes of old games, but they cannot either be exact replicas of the old games, or use too much technology. Geometry Wars is a real favorite of mind, as it brings back the old arcade feel, but still offers a pretty fireworks show. Games like Mega Man 9 really turn me off. I have fond memories of 8-bit gaming, not 8-bit limitations.
Re:Some games can't be 3d (Score:1, Interesting)
But they're still making 2d platformers!
New Super Mario Brothers [nintendo.com] for DS
Gish [chroniclogic.com] for PC
Mega Man 9 [capcom.com] for Wii
They aren't as common as they were, but there are still some cracking 2d platformers out there. While some are sequels from the big studios, titles like Gish (it's cheap and on Steam) show that indie developers can still produce innovative mechanics in one of the oldest genres.
Re:Neo-retro? (Score:3, Interesting)
How about...
neo-retro (adj) -- Deliberately creating a game for an older style, thus cutting development costs and allowing developers to concentrate on fun and gameplay instead of media presentation while still allowing developers to take advantage of modern technologies.
For example, "Braid" and rhythm games are neo-retro.
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Neo-retro? (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah, kind of like Dogme for films. From Wiki - "The goal of the Dogme collective is to purify filmmaking by refusing expensive and spectacular special effects, postproduction modifications and other gimmicks"
It would be an intriguing experiment to set down similar rules for video games.
Re:Nope. (Score:3, Interesting)
My 10 year old sister obsesses over Zelda and insisted on getting every version available on the Virtual Console. She did this on her own, playing the original Legend of Zelda and also Super Mario Bros. Even though she's growing up in an era when 3D graphics are nothing special, the old games still appealed to her and will be part of her childhood memories. Now she's getting into Majora's Mask, and that came out almost a decade ago. It's new to her.
I think these games, rather than being relics of the past, are really just contributions to established culture that stick around. We'll still have pick-up-and-play, 2D-styled games in the future. It'll be an artistic choice, and that's what makes these neo-retro games important. Mega Man 9's producer said as much--that it was an excuse to return to the old style of gaming using the nostalgia of the current generation.
The surprise success of the Wii, of several of the XBLA games like Braid and Geometry Wars, and of games like Portal prove that gamers are aching for how gaming used to be, which was easier and quicker to get into without having to be a goddamn cinematic production with ridiculous graphics requirements and a time commitment.
My mom played Galaga when it was in arcades, and my dad played NES racing games with me when I was growing up. I can't imagine either of them picking up a videogame today and playing it with my little sister. There's just too much nonsense involved with most today's games that only appeals to smaller, devoted markets. Think of how huge Mario used to be during his original series of games. Everyone identified with it and had fun with it, even people who usually never played games. Today, who cares about Halo 3 outside of Halo fans?