All of you hooligans out there playing your Modern Warfare 2 may naysay, but rest assured, this thread is full of win.
The holidays always end up revolving around video games for me: No matter how great the turkey or seeing my family again is, I end up plopped down on the couch in front of the HDTV trying not to pass out with a console game and whoever I can connive into playing with me.
Indeed, every holiday break I can remember, dating back to the days of monochrome bliss, has been spent in front of a new video game: The years of my youth are marked off in video game releases such as Crash Bandicoot, Grand Theft Auto, Spyro, Gran Turismo, Sonic and (Super) Mario Brothers. Perhaps I’m casting a golden light on these games, but even to this day, when I replay these classics, I see such beauty and magnificence that hasn’t been achieved in recent years.
Most games today are just too forgettable and lacking in humor or personality. They rage in gaming magazines and sell well for a month or two, but in a year most don’t even remember them, and another 20 have been released to take their place.
This year amidst the chaos of two Thanksgivings and the buzz of Black Friday (and the early sales and the two-day sales), I whipped out my Dreamcast and hooked it up to my new TV. At first people seemed curious. “What is this white little box that makes a lot of noise when it loads?” they seemed to be mouthing as I connected it to the TV. Within minutes, though, we were all enjoying “Chu Chu Rocket,” “Soul Calibur,” “Space Channel 5” and “Worms World Party.”
In today’s title-burdened and console-flooded market, sometimes it’s hard to
remember Sega. Sega used to be a major contender in the industry, which lately seems content to make titles for only the Wii. One player had never even heard of the Dreamcast before, almost as if the gaming world began in 2001 with the advent of the Xbox (as the Dreamcast was singing its own death dirge). I took a great pleasure in showing people the unique qualities of the many Dreamcast games that I own.
It got me thinking: In this fancy world of BluRay players that also happen to be PlayStation 3s, completely circular in form Xboxs, and Wiimotes that have led to the destruction of many a screen or window, people could have fun without any of it.
Take any group of people, gamers or not, and put them down in front of unforgettable titles like “Diablo,” “Crazy Taxi,” “Command & Conquer,” “Metal Slug” or “Super Mario World” being displayed on an aging screen and they’ll have fun. Pure, genuine, unfettered fun. No fancy graphics; overpriced, yet somehow awful-waffle voice acting; or overworked full-motion videos interspersed with terrible-looking cut scenes that just don’t do anything justice: When the developers focused only on the graphics. Just fun: when games were games, and consoles were full of win.
We’re all excited for the upcoming month off, and as many of you retire to the great American indoors, my advice for you would be to crack open the cases of the old classics you have stashed in your closet (or perhaps your mom’s closet), and relive your childhood gaming memories. Cast off the shackles of “pretty games” and look beneath the surface for real quality. And if possible, share your experiences with the younglings and the uninitiated.
They will resist at first, but you can only stay away from fun for so long. Though perhaps, after playing games that only focused on their fun-factor, you will have spoiled them forever when they return to the current gaming doldrums with melancholy. See? Win.
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