Hi Sean,
Just read your endgame games post and started the 10 hours of mariokart intro. Love that game. Anyway, I’m playing RE: Revelations at the moment and I came to the realisation today that I’m only playing the campaign mode to unlock the Raid mode levels. Raid mode is essentially an arcade version of the game with the story / fluff taken out and can be played solo, 2 player local or 2 player online. Definitely endgame gaming. I’m having a blast with it but I’m pissed that it’s buried behind the campaign mode and will be missed by most people. Such a shame.
If I could ask a question in those interviews with a game developer about their new game, I would ask, “What’s the Endgame?”
I’d ask Tezuka with Super Mario Brothers U: “What’s the Endgame?”
“Well…” he starts out saying. “There are these special coins that are hidden throughout the levels. You must find them all!”
Yeah, no thanks.
Let me ask Aonuma about the latest Zelda: “What’s the Endgame?”
“If you do the game again, the Triforce pieces will be in a different location!”
Thanks but no thanks. I’ll pass.
Let me ask the director of Mario Kart: “What’s the Endgame?”
” Online Multiplayer,” he says. “You can race against your friends or compete with time trials.”
Sold!
3d Mario approaches. I ask the Miyamoto, “What’s the Endgame?”
“The Endgame…” he says, “is about you finding special coins and doing the hard bonus levels at the end.”
No thanks.
Through the spectacular generous spirit of my god, The Editor, I was granted a deLorean with a Flux Capacitor in this blog post. Reader, join me in a travel back in time.
“What is the Endgame with Legend of Zelda?”
“There is a Second Quest! It is much harder. And you can make the game even more challenging by not picking up the heart pieces. No matter how many times you play the game, the action always is intense.”
Sold!
“What is the Endgame with Dr. Mario?”
“There is the versus mode to it. You can play against friends. You can do cool moves like doubles and triples that interfere with your opponent.”
I’m not so sure…
“Hot babes love playing Dr. Mario.”
Sold!
I’m realizing every console game I purchase revolves around the Endgame or what I suspect the Endgame was going to be (many times have I been disappointed). In the NES era, I would rent STACKS of NES games and just go through them all. I only BOUGHT games that today we called classics. Today’s “classics” were ‘Malstrom’s Picks’ in this time period. And I’m sure the reader has a similar experience.
I really dislike the ‘Flavor of the Month’ games. “This game has horses.” So what? It has horses. What am I to do with the game after I play it? “No, no, the value of the game comes from you experiencing the horses.” I don’t give a crap about the horses after I’ve experienced them once. “But that’s the value.” No, it is not.
And when we purchase a game console, we don’t want to toss it into the trash just because the successor appears. We want to still enjoy that console.