Be careful of the eel, Mario!!
Recently, I found myself in an interesting situation. It felt familiar, yet distant, a hazy memory- perhaps even from a past life. I was playing Goldeneye for Nintendo 64, on a seventeen inch TV. There was no online play or HD to be found. At times, I was confused. I found myself asking, did I leave the country? Is it 1998? But ultimately, the experience was a rewarding one.
It is easy, at this point, to take video games for granted. Most of us grew up with them. Maybe you can remember a time before Mario, but I can’t. And sometimes, we lose track of just how far they have come. We complain when the characters don’t look completely, 100% life-like (even though they’re not alive.) We get upset when online play isn’t available, because if I can’t play my new game with a stranger from Serbia, then what’s the point? We like playing through massive levels and epic stories, but we always want more. And that’s fine: this constant drive for perfection has been the root of innovation for years, the cause of much of this progress.
The graphics in Mario Kart 64 may not be clean, but they are beautiful. The gameplay in Goldeneye may not be realistic, but it’s fun. Hopefully, you haven’t traded in all your old systems, and you get the chance to dust one of them off and plug it in sometime . It won’t be anything new, but it might blow your mind anyway. Although they didn’t have the tools at their disposal that they do now, programmers were just as creative and ingenious.
Too often, staying on the cutting edge can mean constant disappointment. Playing on an old system will remind you of everything you like about gaming. It’s easier to accept that a fifteen year old Sega game has flaws than the brand new, $70 one you just bought. And there’s a good chance those flaws will be good for a few laughs.
Here’s a good test: pick your desert island top 5 video games. If you haven’t played one of them in over a year, then get to it! And enjoy reconnecting with an old friend.
Related posts
- Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited; A Tale of Two Halflings
- The Path to Video Game Enlightenment: Step One: Discovery
- Boss Fights, a Level Just in Themselves
- It's a Bird! It's a Plane! No, it's Super...Mario!
- Super Mario Galaxy 2 & Metroid: Other M....THIS SUMMER?
- Nintendo Media Summit = Summer Madness!
- 5 Awesome Get-Ready Game Songs
- It's a Wii, Mario! Preview the new Mario Bros. for Wii
- Super Mario Galaxy 2 Multiplayer Mostly Confirmed
- Wii Love Negativity-Can The Wii ever be defended?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I recently picked up Metroid on the NES (though I was playing the Gameboy Advance version) for this exact reason. I’ve been playing through Modern Warfare 2 and am kind of baffled at where games have reached in such a short amount of time, that I wanted to remind myself of how much fun I used to have just trying to figure out what exactly the creature was that was attacking me… is it a moth? A bat? Is Mother Brain shooting spaghetti-o’s at me? It really welled me up with a sense of nostalgia.
@LANDENC – I always thought those were mothbats, but maybe you are right. Games I can always go back and play: Original Mario, Mario II, Double Dragons, X-Men on SNES, Sonic, and Donkey Kongs.