3 posts tagged “arcade”

Sega- once a word that would spark fierce emotions from gamers in the early 90's, today merely reminds us of a time in the 'classical' era of videogaming. Let's face it- Sega hasn't done their name justice in quite some time. They have had the occasional title that shows they've put some effort into them over the past several years- Crazy Taxi, Super Monkey Ball, hell, I'd even put Sonic & The Secret Rings in that pile, but none have ever recaptured the fun and 'cool' factor once held at the height of the 16-Bit wars. Many wonder whether the company will ever see such success ever again?

It has happened- and Nintendo themselves are proof of that. it wasn't too long ago many gamers expected Nintendo to throw in the hardware towel much like their 16-Bit-era counterpart did. I remember rumors of interest in buying Nintendo from the likes of Apple and Microsoft. But Nintendo has been able to reinvent themselves and are now (seemingly) back on top- leading the way, and redefining the industry as a whole. But how did they do it? They returned to their roots.

If you think about the DS and the Wii- these systems are effectively a perfect culmination of everything Nintendo has been in it's history- good or bad, and enhances it. The DS clearly takes a cue from Nintendo's old 'Game & Watch' games- and incorporates a SNES-like controller, N64-quality (perhaps better) visuals, and the innovation of a touch-screen. The Wii is a direct relative of the Gamecube hardware, the Wiimote itself looks inspired from the NES controllers with it's classic D-Pad, A & B buttons, yet includes a sort-of-reverse-lightgun technology and accelerometer to detect angular motion- first introduced in 2004 on 'WarioWare: Twisted' for the Gameboy Advance. And I don't need to mention the included Gamecube ports on the top of the system, the Virtual Console and of course, the Classic Controller.
And what about games? Nintendo finally gave us the first '2D' Mario platformer in 15 years (we're not including Yoshi's Island) with 'New Super Mario Bros' on DS. Mario Kart is as strong as ever on both the DS and Wii, Tetris DS and Tetris Worlds (WiiWare), and even some of the third-party developers are getting in on the 'return to your roots' movement (albeit, with mixed results) with offerings like Contra 4 and Mega Man 9.
And while I'm talking a lot about Nintendo on a post with Sega in the title- it's simply to offer proof that a company, or anyone for that matter, can find success by simply doing what they do best , not trying to play 'catch up' with the competition, and drawing from those things which have made them successful in the past.

Sounds obvious right? But then why do companies like Sega- struggle? Sega has been releasing Sonic titles like mad over the past few years and has yet to release anything that a retrogamer can sit down and satisfyingly say that "this IS Sonic"? Though I haven't played them- many consider the Sonic platformers on the DS to be some of the best since the Genesis days- and why? Because they don't try and completely reinvent itself- they are 2D games the way the Sonic games were intended to be from the beginning. That's a great first-step, but it's only a first step out of hundreds.
It seems to me that Sega, as well as other companies, put so much effort into producing something 'different' and 'unique'- that they forget what made them successful to begin with. Using Sonic as an example again, many Sonic titles today don't resemble anything like the original series. And not in just areas like gameplay- but the storyline, and the characters. Hell, today it's "Dr. Eggman", yet when Sega was in their prime it was "Dr. Robotnik" Why the change?? (Granted- Nintendo is guilty on this as well with the whole "Princess Peach" bullshit- what was wrong with "Princess Toadstool"? And why did the Koopa Kids from SMB3 get replaced by that 'Bowser Jr." brat?). Sega has tried to introduce so many characters to the Sonic series I've honestly lost track of them all- but why were they needed at all? Sometimes change just for the sake of change is more harmful than positive.

So how should Sega 'return to their roots'?
The first question to ask is- what are Sega's roots? Is Sega rooted in Sonic? No- though you wouldn't know it today. Sega's roots lie in coin-op / arcade games. In a way, early computer technology was a blessing to games in that it didn't allow developers to excessively complicate their creations. Games were played in short spurts- depending of course on one's skill and the number of quarters in their pockets. 'Beating' a game  was typically nothing more than a test of indurance and reflexes- certainly nothing like the 'epic' storylines of games today (I mean, please, F-Zero GX- a racing game, had a goddamn 'Story' mode!).which require the player to sit through endless dialogue, character building, and cinematics. To me, the best place for the 'story' of a game was the inside page of the instruction booklet. I prefer my games to be games- not stories.
Just today I was in a discussion with my brother- another veteran gamer -about all the games we've started recently, and just lost interest in. The common theme in our conversation was that many games today aren't something you can just pick up and get into for 20 minutes. They instead all required a long-term, seemingly ongoing commitment from us in order to get through them. We discussed FPS's, we discussed sports games, we even discussed Wii Fit!
This is what 'gaming' has become. Nintendo seems to have figured this out with the Wii and even the DS- and have begun catering to 'casual' gaming. But wasn't gaming meant to be 'casual' in the first place?? Wasn't going to an arcade to play some of your favorite games meant to be something fun to do- like riding your bike, or playing a game of street hockey with your friends? It was rare to go to an arcade with the intention of devoting all your time and energy into one game for the intention on 'getting further' on it? I'm not talking about spending hours huddled around a crowded Street Fighter 2 cabinet waiting for your turn to play- I'm talking about playing a game as if you were reading a book: 'I'll do another chapter tomorrow'.

Sega was a leader in the arcade game market. Hell, they built their own Sega-branded 'super arcade' in the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas! Sega was as synonymous with 'arcade' as Nintendo was with 'home console'. It was the advantage Sega had when they launched the Genesis against the NES in the late 80's. "Play arcade games at home!!!" was the pitch. Altered Beast, Space Harrier, Outrun, After Burner, Shinobi, Golden Axe. Later on- Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter, Daytona USA, Virtua Cop, House of the Dead., Crazy Taxi.
These are Sega's "roots"- and yet they have been completely abandoned in favor of the blue Hedgehog and a wad of licenced-property offerings. Why?

These are franchises Sega already has- and they all have a following. They are what gave Sega their image- and ultimately their success. Why not use them?

So what would I do if I was calling the shots at Sega?

- Put Virtua Racing and Daytona USA on WiiWare- taking advantage of the Wiimote and giving a second life to that nifty steering-wheel we all got when we picked up 'Mario Kart Wii' this past spring. Oh- and online play is a dealbreaker. These games were best played with several people playing in the arcade at the same time- and online play would replicate that perfectly.

- Get the Sega CD and the Saturn onto the Virtual Console. Hey, NEC can get the PC Engine CD-ROM games on the VC and Sega can't? Pathetic. Granted, the game libraries for both were relatively small- but I'd be very willing to put down $8-10 to be able to play games like "Ground Zero Texas", "Tomcat Alley", "Panzer Dragoon Zwei" and "Shining Force III" again.

- Less Thought- More Hack. I've found in the past that 'sequels' of an old classic series that try and breathe new life into a franchise (I'm looking at you Shinobi) do nothing more than over-complicate a game. Again- this is the 'epic' thing. Games that were once considered to be hack-and-slash (that is, just beat up as many people as you can without dying- typically through button-mashing) in the 16-Bit days, now have you running around 'looking' for things like a key- or collecting gems to make a door open- only so you can go into the next area and 'look' for something else. So re-do 'Shinobi', 'Altered Beast', and 'Golden Axe'- but without the story, and without the scavenger hunt. Put me in a cooridor and let me go at them. And when I get to the end of the cooridor- tally up my totals, and then dump me into the next cooridor. This isn't rocket science- yet these simple concepts I find are lost in many games today.

- Follow Capcom's lead- or Nintendo's. "Mega Man 9" or "New Super Mario Bros". Enough said. There's no rule that says new games have to take full advantage of the hardware it's running on. Sometimes a tried-and-true formula is the one that works. Ever wonder why "X's and O's" has never evolved to include squares or a multi-tiered board (yes I'm aware they exist for chess)? It was fun the way it was- so why change it just to make it different? Apply that same idea to Sega franchises.

In many ways it seems so obvious- yet Sega seems to be missing it for some reason. As the gaming public, it seems we often have a better eye for what should be done- after all, we're the ones who are prepared to open our wallets for it. Nintendo learned this the hard way by neglecting CD technology in the N64. While the system was still succesful- it allowed Sony to get it's foot in the door and change the landscape of gaming.
Sega doesn't need to change the landscape of gaming- they just need to do what made them successful: create games people want to play.

Can they do it? I sure hope so...

The people in the background. They are so calm and collected. As if seeing two people beat the shit out of each other and even throw fireballs from their hands (!!!) is a casual, everyday occurence.

"Ah yes, good form- but yesterday's brawl was much more uptempo. Oh what will tomorrow bring?" - the two dudes to the left.

SF4 is looking mighty tasty. Thought I reaffirm I would loooooove to be able to play a SF(2) title on my DS without having to resort to the use of a SNES emulator. *sigh*

There was definitely a lack of very much going on for us all weekend long- which is what made it so wonderful!

Friday night kicked off our 'lazy' weekend by going out with friends Greg & Ashly to the Calgary Flames hockey game. Normally this wouldn't be thought of as 'lazy', but it appeared as though most other people in attendance Friday were feeling largely the same way. I sensed a definitive lack of energy or excitement in the Saddledome Friday night- and not even the relentless rallying of the troops by Harvey the Hound, or even a goal in the first minute of the game by Dion Phaneuf was able to snap the crowd awake enough to get into it. I myself only really started getting into the game by mid second period- once I had some food and caffeine to perk me back up. In the end, the game was a lot of fun- Flames won, we had a wonderful time with Greg & Ashly (it was her first NHL game), but that was about the extend of anything we would really consider 'exerting ourselves'.

The rest of the weekend involved a lot of sitting around on the couch- playing games, watching the odd movie, making dinner, and maybe running out for a few odds and ends. I got through yet another level in Red Steel on Wii after about 2 hours of straight playing- bringing me ever more closer to finishing the game. I've unlocked even more extra tracks in Ridge Racer 6 on XBOX 360, and I've become hopelessly re-addicted to PacMan on the XBOX Live Arcade. In fact, I even downloaded the full version of the game and probably played more PacMan this weekend than any other game! My poor DS is beginning to feel neglected- it's been 2-3 weeks since I sat down to really play it. I'm just so involved with other games on the consoles right now that poor DS tends to get overlooked. But I do know what to do next in Final Fantasy 3 now, and Hotel Dusk is released today! I'm sure that once I get a few of these console games under my belt- I won't be able to put down my DS.

We also watched the movie 'The Producers' with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. Actually it was Ange that started watching it while I sat back and worked on computer-related things on SpitFire- but the movie lured me in and I ended up watching the whole thing with her. I'm usually not one for musicals- especially movie adaptations. I find I have to be in the cirrect mindset in order to actually want to watch them, much less enjoy them. But this one was entertaining right from the beginning. Quite enjoyable. We had talked about revisiting a few of our favorites as well- such as Over The Hedge, Grandmas Boy, Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle or even Kill Bill again- but we never got around to it. Maybe next weekend.

I did actually manage to be somewhat productive this weekend as well. I got deep into some programming projects once again and made some great strides in moving forward on a few projects. But I've decidedly taken the 'casual' approach to working on them. I have a very clear idea of what it is I want to accomplish and even have a plan for accomplishing them- but no timelines, no deadlines, no promises. Those only add pressure and stress- and I've done well in trying to keep stress and pressure to a minimum so far in 2007. When I have something to show or demonstrate- then I will make it available.
Quite honestly, I feel re-inspired, and actually quite excited about what I've accomplished in recent weeks on 'the project'. That's always a good sign- when you're excited to work on something you're working towards.

So all-in-all, it was nice to have a weekend of doing absolutely nothing at home. I expect there will be many more yet- though we have definitely enjoyed going out to the Flames games in recent weeks, and just being out in general is sometimes a nice chance of pace too. I expect we'll probably begin doing more of that as it begins to warm up as well.