The Golden Age of Games
It seems to me as though, for a while, there was a period of time for video games which I like to refer to as the Golden Age. Brilliant games were being released regularly, and game developers didn’t seem to be afraid of taking risks in order to realize their visions.
The Golden Age of games began in 1986 with the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System, and ended in 1999 with the discontinuation of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. This was the time when computer technology was beginning to explode, and with it, new innovations kept popping up. This is in stark contrast to the seventies or the early-eighties, when games were at their most basic, and even more so to the 2000s, when the only general improvements in games were graphics and physics.
In the Golden Age, it was about creating an experience using the tools given to you. It was about improvising with art, sound and gameplay. It was about creating new and fun concepts, and experimenting with old ideas. Compare this to the amount of copycat sandbox-style games have been released in the past few years or the plethora of first (and third)-person-shooters that have flooded the market that don’t do anything to enhance the genre.
On the NES, you had games like Super Mario Bros. 3, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Final Fantasy, Mega Man III, Castlevania II and Bionic Commando, just to name a few. On the Genesis, you had Sonic & Knuckles, Toe Jam & Earl, Street Fighter II: Champion Edition and Phantasy Star II among others. The Super Nintendo carried with it games like Super Mario World, Super Metroid, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy III/VI, Earthbound, Contra III: The Alien Wars and Uniracers. All of these games had limited resources in the way of technology, yet were still able to create for the player an experience that clearly demonstrated the developers’ abilities to put out a game without relying on technology as a crutch
Unfortunately, nowadays developers spend a large chunk of their time on graphics and realism, and rarely take risks. It’s only so often that we get titles like Little Big Planet or Wii Fit or Rock Band that really push the envelope of what a genre or even a game should be. If developers would work on their games as games instead of as revenue streams, we may yet see another golden age.
No love for N-64? As rigid as the platform was, by staying with cartridges instead of discs like Playstation, there were still some incredible games for that console. Personally, Goldeneye will always be my favorite shooter and it paved the way for so much in terms of Halo and others years later. Nintendo had a lot of potential, but they fell behind the curve for a few years with Virtual Boy and Game Cube. I try to explain to teenagers today how difficult those early games and consoles were, for the simple fact you couldn’t always save game progress and the dust factor would make your game skip.
I have an Xbox now, I do like it, but once in a while I’ll hook up my 64 and play Mario or Goldeneye for nostalgia. I had to throw away my original NES from 1989 years ago because of the dust accumulation.
Brings back memories.
Comment made by J Frazzetta on July 26, 2010 @ 12:32 pm
Oh, don’t get me wrong. I hold a lot of love for the N64 and the PSX (not so much for the Saturn and Dreamcast), but I suppose the point I was trying to make was about the kinds of games that were coming out at that time. The N64 had brilliant games like Super Mario 64 and Goldeneye which paved the way for the growth of their respective genres, yes. And and the PSX had great games like Soul Blade, Bushido Blade and Final Fantasy VII. I guess the point I’m trying to make in the article is that we’re seeing a good deal less innovation nowadays and a lot more game studios are sticking to old formulas.
Comment made by Jason Lightner on July 30, 2010 @ 11:16 am