A Matter of Opinion...

     Recently, I've been making a lot of posts about retro games and consoles. A friend of mine suggested that I write something about my opinion of the old versus the new. Well, when I've got writer's block and someone drops a brilliant idea into my lap, I'm going to pick it up and run with it. RUN WITH IT! However, be warned: this is going to be a long one...

Ready? START!

     Before I say anything else, I'm going to tell you what I consider to be a retro game. I classify what is retro by which generation a game or console is from. For example: a third generation NES is retro, while a sixth generation Xbox is not. Right now, we're in the seventh generation of consoles (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii) with the eighth generation right around the corner. I consider something two generations ago as a retro game or console. For instance, anything in the fifth generation or older is retro. Moving on...

     First off, we can't deny the retro systems place in the history of gaming. Without the 8-bit generation, there would have been no 16-bit. Without 16-bit, there would have been no 64-bit, and so on and so forth. The old consoles were the stepping stones for the consoles of today. However, this "stepping stone" metaphor can be applied twofold: without the NES, home console gaming would be very different. As in, "non-existent"...

Fun fact: Look at how much extra plastic there is! All because of the way you have to load the cartridge in the system...

      History lesson! In North America, circa 1983, the video game industry suffered a "crash" of sorts. The consoles of the time had stiff competition from personal computers, which had better memory allowing games to have better graphics. They were also computers (duh), so they could do more than just play games. These "second generation" consoles also suffered several debacles in the way of terribly designed and produced, high-profile games. Games like E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial... E.T. is considered by many to be the "worst game ever created". Not only were there terrible high-profile games, there was a myriad of third-party games that were of horrendous quality. Back then, any programmer with the know-how to make a game could create and sell one. This led to a gaming market flooded with poorly tested and coded games. All of these contributed to the crash which crippled the American gaming market. The question was not "if" home consoles would fade into obscurity, it was the question of "when"...

Enter, the NES...

     In 1985, Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in America. The NES brought life into an ailing market, showing people that consoles were the future of gaming. The NES was the American version of the Nintendo Famicom (Family Computer), first sold in Japan in 1983. In it's 20 year production run (yes, 20 years, 1983 to 2003, the longest lifespan of a console to date) over 61 million consoles were sold all over the world. The next Nintendo system to surpass those sales was the Nintendo Wii, and the Xbox 360 and PS3 have yet to surpass it. Nintendo also brought about the standard inclusion of a lock-out chip in consoles; a chip that would only allow licensed Nintendo games to be played. This brought quality control back into video games, allowing only certain companies to produce games for the NES. Nintendo nearly single-handedly saved the video game console market, and I applaud them for that accomplishment.

     Now, something must be said about graphics. Today, it seems that a game's sales revolve (in at least some respect) around how good the graphics are. Game companies continuously fight to have the most stunning trailers at E3. I blame most of this on brainless gamers and "high def" aficionados who must have the very best graphics in their games. While I do share some of that sentiment, I also think graphics should come second to story. I don't want bad graphics either, but what good are amazing graphics when the story is akin to a bowl of regular flavor oatmeal?

Mhmm... Nothing like a bowl of Homefront in the morning to make me nauseous...

     I've heard it said that we, as gamers, still love retro games because we've accepted them as an art form. I know that in my own mind this is true, and it probably is for many gamers like me. The games of the past are truly works of art. Even by today's standards the older graphics are still quite solid, especially that of the 16-bit era. When I pop Mega Man X or A Link to the Past into the SNES, I marvel at the graphics. Even better are the graphics of the Donkey Kong games. Although graphically inferior to today's games, these 16-bit games can still be played quite easily.

     Up until now, retro games have taken the spotlight in this post. It's time to switch gears for a moment and look at a blight in retro gaming. When I look at the graphics of the N64, I can't help but wonder... How in the world did we ever think these graphics were beautiful? The entire world is made of polygons! Here I am, playing Goldeneye, waving around what they say is a gun, shooting what are barely noticeable as bullets, at polygons that, if I stretch my imagination, are supposed to be people. I don't care what era you're from, 64-bit graphics are horrible. Alas, such games as Starfox 64 and The Ocarina of Time are made of such bits...

Ugh! The polygons! And where are my textures?

      The N64 and it's competitors may have been the first to extensively use polygonal graphics, but they weren't the last. Up until the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii came out, consoles used these polygonal graphics as a standard. A while ago, my friend let me borrow Killzone, so I could catch up on the series and play the sequels. The graphics were so terrible and the controls so difficult that I could not finish the game. It is quite possibly the first and only game that I've played that has beaten me on the basis of "inability to assimilate the visual component". Even the first Halo looks a bit wonky, graphics wise. I can still play it, but it would look better with newer graphics. Then comes Windwaker. No, I'm not bashing the cell-shaded graphics, I'm actually praising them. Nintendo apparently knew that the graphics of the time were pretty bad, and so decided to take an artistic approach. I love the cell-shading in Windwaker, and it was a step in the right direction at the time.

      Recent modern games have really taken a leap forward in graphics. Even though I love the old 16-bit graphics, I can't help but be amazed by the graphics of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Halo: Reach, Portal 2, and many others. One series that astounds me continually is Final Fantasy. Now, I've never played any of them, but most experienced gamers know you can't say anything about graphics without saying something about Final Fantasy. Over the years, the Final Fantasy games have always been at the forefront of graphical sophistication. The cut scenes are commonly said to be the best video games have to offer. However, with some of the more recent games, the Final Fantasy series has been pushed from the spotlight. Insanely beautiful graphics for me are now defined by the new Assassin's Creed trailer, which is the most delicious piece of eye candy I've ever seen.



     Game developers are soon going to reach a point where they can't do any better. With trailers like these, I feel that day is rapidly approaching. We've already reached the point where in game graphics are just as good as cut scene graphics, which previously had been separated by an enormous gap. Very soon we will hit a roadblock, and your guess is as good as mine as to where we'll go from there...

     The quality of the games themselves also comes into play. A game's story and gameplay are a major factor in whether they are remembered or not. Out of all the Legend of Zelda games, Ocarina of Time is often considered the best. Some people consider it the best game ever created. I've never played it (it's on my "to do" list), but when millions of people say something, I'm inclined to believe it. It's not a cult classic, it's legitimately a good game. Ocarina of Time is now over ten years old. Windwaker and Twilight Princess are the most recent installments in the series, and yet many times they still take a back seat when talking about The Legend of Zelda. Ocarina of Time is a perfect example of "story over graphics".

      In the 8-bit genre, Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 3 are furiously defended by loyal fans as the best of the series. These are the second and third games in a series of ten, not to mention the several spin-off series made up of dozens of games for later consoles. I've only played Mega Man 2, but I can say that, yes, it is one of the best games I've ever played. The controls are solid, the bosses are difficult ("Nintendo Difficult"), the levels are well designed and varied. All across the board, Mega Man 2 is a good game, something it's later renditions fail to hang on to. I mean, Sheep Man? Come on...

Really? REALLY?

     Retro games do miss the mark occasionally when it comes to quality. Retro games didn't undergo nearly as much testing, if any at all, as games do now. Many games for the NES have issues with the controls or problems with glitches. A lot the games suffering from these glitches can be unplayable. Games created today are put through hours upon hours of beta testing, weeding out any major problems. Any problems found after release can normally be fixed with a software update via Xbox Live or through the PSN (assuming it hasn't been hacked, LOL!). Older games didn't have this, so a problem found after release was permanent. Sometimes developers would even go as far as to call such glitches, "features".

     Unfortunately, as we make these games more complex we run the risk of making mistakes. While the controls and graphics may be state-of-the-art, the story may be completely worthless. As I said before, what good are well done graphics when the story is like bland oatmeal? I'll reference Homefront here. I hated Homefront for its utterly generic gameplay and simple "foreign country invades America" storyline. Modern Warfare 2 did it with the Russians, but managed to pull a good story out of it. Homefront did not.

     One of the best stories I've seen recently is the story of Assassin's Creed. Although it steps on the toes of pretty much every major religion, the story is absolutely fantastic. The story is original, a Sci-Fi core with a tasty Middle Ages and Renaissance covering. Over the three games currently released, the story has slowly unfolded (too slowly!) and will continue to unfold through the next game, Revelations, coming out this fall. The story is complex and suspenseful, an exploit long lost in many of today's games.

You there! With the coat! TELL ME HOW IT ENDS OR ELSE!

     No matter how good a new game may be, it will never be a match for nostalgia. Nothing will ever replace the first time I played Mega Man X, or saw the amazing graphics of Starfox and Donkey Kong. Or the time I went over to a friends house for his birthday, saw him get a NES, then get homesick and had to go home before ever seeing it played. Then the time I went over to another friends house and playing Duck Hunt with a semi-operable light gun for the first time. Remembering the un-boxing of our SNES on Christmas day, and then watching my dad play for several hours before telling us to go to bed. Remembering the first time we shoved the rumble pak into the N64 controller and felt a controller rumble for the first time whilst playing Starfox 64. Ah, the memories. When you think about it, a few years from now modern games will be considered retro. I'm sure they'll have their fair share of nostalgia as well.

     I've said all this but I haven't really given a distinct answer on which one I like better. That's because I can't say. Recently I've been playing a lot of NES and SNES games that I never got the chance to play as a kid. I'm loving them, but at the same time I'm glad games have evolved. I miss 2D sidescrollers, but I also love modern 3D environments. Nowadays, I mostly play first-person shooters, or an occasional platformer now and then. The modern video game market is flooded with such FPS games: Call of Duty, Halo, Left 4 Dead, etc. Back in the day, side scrolling platformers dominated the market. It's hard to say which I like better, and so I'm content in saying that I like retro and modern games equally.

(Thanks for the pictures, Mr. Google!)