- Joined
- May 6, 2009
- Messages
- 18,148
- Solutions
- 5
- Reaction score
- 10,514
- Trophies
- 3
- Age
- 33
- Location
- The Danger Zone
- XP
- 10,409
- Country
Yay, my first editorial. While this isn't some big opinion piece or anything controversial, it was just a subject easy to collect my thoughts on, compared to what Square Enix is bad or ranking 25 of the best DS/Wii games. More on those soon (not in this thread, though). Anyway, on with the article!
Gaming is entering a new age. No longer is it a collective of mostly hardcore gamers, but it's now a past time for families. Consoles are experiencing new innovations we never would've thought of 10 or 15 years ago. Motion control, highly realistic graphics, online gaming, downloadable content and games, all are coming of age. With all these new advancements in games, it's surprising to see one thing coming back: retro.
This generation of consoles has seen more in the ways of retro gaming then ever, and what do we have to thank for it? Some of the innovations listed above. Ironic, isn't it? Leaps into the future are bringing back steps from the past.
The big thing to thank for this is downloadable games and content. With a new age of gaming, newer gamers aren't going to buy games that are fifteen, ten, or even five years old. Still, at the same time, a crucial group of aged gamers who still love the olden days want them. There's an audience for these games, just not one large enough to make a reasonable profit out of releasing games like this. However, if I company snips the costs of production (aka making the physical game media as well as capping how much game can be made), there's a profit to be made. Downloadable content and games are a match made in heaven here. First off, it's cheaper. Buying a long dead console and decade old games are expensive, since they're going the way of collectors items. But when you can pay $5 for a game and play it bit by bit like in the olden days, what's not to love? Nintendo and Sony have capitalized on this aspect with the Virtual Console and Playstation Network. Millions of games have been sold through both these services. It's a win-win situation. Nintendo and Sony make tons of money from games that were made decades ago and gamers of age can still take a walk down Nostalgia Lane and play their favorite games. It's a new revolution in gaming that I'm sure we'll see for the future consoles everywhere.
Still, purchasing older games isn't just the only thing fueling the revival of retro. It's the downloadable stuff. Many franchises that have been long dead are making a comeback through download services. Look at Mega Man 9, for instance. Mega Man has been a franchise long lost. Ever since it ended it's original series of games, it's been a lot of fanservice. Some games are still good, but it's just not Mega Man. It's now flashy anime and "shoop da whoop" lasers. Why? New gamers don't want to buy the older, corny looking Mega Man games. Would your stereotypical otaku gamer buy games that looked like this or that looked like this? However, as I said before, classic Mega Man fans are still out there. With the download service, companies can now cater to those older gamers. Mega Man 9 is practically a reboot of the Mega Man franchise. The true Mega Man, not flashy Mega Man. It's been successful enough to spawn a sequel now, Mega Man 10 (coming in March). Many other franchises have been popping up now, providing new games or remakes of older games. Blaster Master, Gradius, Contra, Castlevania, all have new games or expansions on older games now up and about.
One of the biggest marks retro revival has done is bring a franchise overseas. I'm talking of course about Sin and Punishment. The original N64 game was considered a classic, but only released in Japan. It seemed like this game was a one-off deal, and the only thing we could settle with were some fan translations. However, Nintendo took the effort of translating the game and releasing it on the Virtual Console. The game finally made it overseas, and became popular enough to make a sequel. A sequel to an almost decade-old game that we'd never expect. Sin and Punishment 2 knocked it out of the park (read my full review here), and it let a franchise breath fresh air. Hopefully other games will follow suit.
Retro revival can be seen elsewhere. Nintendo has brought back long gone Mario platforming with New Super Mario Bros. Whether those are a truly great successor to the classic Mario platformers is debatable, but they're still a throwback to a series lost. Point and click adventures are making a comeback with thanks to the Wii and the DS. Popular point and click games such as Zack and Wiki, Ace Attorney, Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, Sam and Max, and Tales of Monkey Island are all popular titles made from the ground-up for this generation. Games are now including older games as unlockables as well. For lack of a better example, Dragon Ball Origins 2 contains the Dragon Ball NES game as an unlockable. There are probably more examples, but they're not coming to mind now. No More Heroes 2 used retro, 8-bit style mini-games that were actually pretty pleasing. Dark Void boasted to be a nice throwback (although according to reviewers, it was not). There's just so many small things that give us throwbacks to a lost age of gaming that together show that age is not dead.
So, as we enter a new age of gaming, we shouldn't fret about losing what was good about the older ones. We'll still have a vast library of older classics to choose from, as well as continuations of older games in the same gaming vein. It's new technology bringing use old technology, and it's something I love and appreciate, even as a younger gamer.
Gaming is entering a new age. No longer is it a collective of mostly hardcore gamers, but it's now a past time for families. Consoles are experiencing new innovations we never would've thought of 10 or 15 years ago. Motion control, highly realistic graphics, online gaming, downloadable content and games, all are coming of age. With all these new advancements in games, it's surprising to see one thing coming back: retro.
This generation of consoles has seen more in the ways of retro gaming then ever, and what do we have to thank for it? Some of the innovations listed above. Ironic, isn't it? Leaps into the future are bringing back steps from the past.
The big thing to thank for this is downloadable games and content. With a new age of gaming, newer gamers aren't going to buy games that are fifteen, ten, or even five years old. Still, at the same time, a crucial group of aged gamers who still love the olden days want them. There's an audience for these games, just not one large enough to make a reasonable profit out of releasing games like this. However, if I company snips the costs of production (aka making the physical game media as well as capping how much game can be made), there's a profit to be made. Downloadable content and games are a match made in heaven here. First off, it's cheaper. Buying a long dead console and decade old games are expensive, since they're going the way of collectors items. But when you can pay $5 for a game and play it bit by bit like in the olden days, what's not to love? Nintendo and Sony have capitalized on this aspect with the Virtual Console and Playstation Network. Millions of games have been sold through both these services. It's a win-win situation. Nintendo and Sony make tons of money from games that were made decades ago and gamers of age can still take a walk down Nostalgia Lane and play their favorite games. It's a new revolution in gaming that I'm sure we'll see for the future consoles everywhere.
Still, purchasing older games isn't just the only thing fueling the revival of retro. It's the downloadable stuff. Many franchises that have been long dead are making a comeback through download services. Look at Mega Man 9, for instance. Mega Man has been a franchise long lost. Ever since it ended it's original series of games, it's been a lot of fanservice. Some games are still good, but it's just not Mega Man. It's now flashy anime and "shoop da whoop" lasers. Why? New gamers don't want to buy the older, corny looking Mega Man games. Would your stereotypical otaku gamer buy games that looked like this or that looked like this? However, as I said before, classic Mega Man fans are still out there. With the download service, companies can now cater to those older gamers. Mega Man 9 is practically a reboot of the Mega Man franchise. The true Mega Man, not flashy Mega Man. It's been successful enough to spawn a sequel now, Mega Man 10 (coming in March). Many other franchises have been popping up now, providing new games or remakes of older games. Blaster Master, Gradius, Contra, Castlevania, all have new games or expansions on older games now up and about.
One of the biggest marks retro revival has done is bring a franchise overseas. I'm talking of course about Sin and Punishment. The original N64 game was considered a classic, but only released in Japan. It seemed like this game was a one-off deal, and the only thing we could settle with were some fan translations. However, Nintendo took the effort of translating the game and releasing it on the Virtual Console. The game finally made it overseas, and became popular enough to make a sequel. A sequel to an almost decade-old game that we'd never expect. Sin and Punishment 2 knocked it out of the park (read my full review here), and it let a franchise breath fresh air. Hopefully other games will follow suit.
Retro revival can be seen elsewhere. Nintendo has brought back long gone Mario platforming with New Super Mario Bros. Whether those are a truly great successor to the classic Mario platformers is debatable, but they're still a throwback to a series lost. Point and click adventures are making a comeback with thanks to the Wii and the DS. Popular point and click games such as Zack and Wiki, Ace Attorney, Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, Sam and Max, and Tales of Monkey Island are all popular titles made from the ground-up for this generation. Games are now including older games as unlockables as well. For lack of a better example, Dragon Ball Origins 2 contains the Dragon Ball NES game as an unlockable. There are probably more examples, but they're not coming to mind now. No More Heroes 2 used retro, 8-bit style mini-games that were actually pretty pleasing. Dark Void boasted to be a nice throwback (although according to reviewers, it was not). There's just so many small things that give us throwbacks to a lost age of gaming that together show that age is not dead.
So, as we enter a new age of gaming, we shouldn't fret about losing what was good about the older ones. We'll still have a vast library of older classics to choose from, as well as continuations of older games in the same gaming vein. It's new technology bringing use old technology, and it's something I love and appreciate, even as a younger gamer.
