You wrote,
“This is the ad for the Shovel Knight amiibos. I’ve always considered Shovel Knight to be 8-bit jank, highly overated, and not as interesting as something such as, say, Rogue Legacy (i.e. the 2d Dark Souls).”
Sean, I wish I understood where you were coming from when you knock games like this, Mega Man 9, and Cave Story.
I remember you complained about the cheap deaths in MM9 (e.g. disappearing blocks) and the fact that they just repeated the formula of past games. That’s fair, though I’d disagree that that made it a bad game.
Then, if I remember your complaint about Cave Story, it was that the NPCs were boring. But there’s really not that much interrupting dialogue after the first 10 minutes of gameplay, and it quickly becomes a fun shooter/platformer with RPG elements (i.e. you can level up all of your weapons and gain cool new abilities). Not the best game ever, and probably way overrated, but still fun. And–this should appeal to you–you can get it on cartridge. It even comes with a full-color NES-style instruction booklet.
Now Shovel Knight is overrated ‘8-bit jank’, and I just don’t get it. I mean, I’m younger than you (since you’re old enough to remember 80’s arcades and I’m not), but my family was lower-class and I grew up with all the old Nintendo consoles before I was able to buy brand new ones. Super Mario Bros. 1, 2, 3, and Metroid are what made a gamer in the first place. So when Shovel Knight comes along, and at the very least feels like one of Capcom’s old NES platformers, I’m happy to play it. Clearly it doesn’t connect with you in the same way, but I wonder why.
Are there any modern 8-bit style games you DO like, Malstrom?
My issue with Shovel Knight is that they refuse to put out a cartridge version but are happy to unload amiibos which is hypocritical. Amiibos require manufacturing (perhaps more so) and even more precious retail space. I’m tired of game companies talking out of their ass.
But your email isn’t about the physical copy versus digital copy issue. You are talking about the games themselves. OK, let’s go there.
I keep NES, SNES, Genesis, and Turbografx 16 hooked up to my MAIN TV in my living room at all times. I have all games for these systems including rare ones such as Magical Chase (US version) for Turbografx 16.
When a video game comes out, it has to compete against the rest of the games on that system along with other console games. But what many game makers do not realize, especially indie game makers, is that these games have to compete against the classics too. Vintage 8-bit and 16-bit games are STILL being played today. “But that is only due to you weird collectors.” Wrong. Nintendo is putting out Classic Mini versions, and they have a 100% sell out rate. We see flashback versions of these games. There is emulation. They are being sold as digital distribution on all systems including PC. The games are still being played and still on the market.
A game today still has to compete with Super Mario Brothers, Tetris, Pac-Man, Metroid, etc. If you cannot compete against a 30 year old game, you shouldn’t be making video games in the first place.
The AAA game industry’s way of competition is to stuff the game with marketing hype and modern production techniques. Clearly, 8-bit and 16-bit games cannot compete against modern production. After all, they were made on hardware thirty years ago. And they do not have marketing hype since they are old games. In addition, they are selling to younger people who are unaware of better games. So it makes since why AAA games sell (and yet, AAA games never become classics. Have you noticed that?).
Now let’s look at the 8-bit type retro games. Why the fuck would I want to play these when I have legitimate vintage 8-bit games to play? These 8-bit indie games do not have the astonishing talent or game design skill these 30 year old games do. When I complain about the ‘too much dialogue’, this is what I am pointing to. Putting the two games aside is like putting up Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mono Lisa to an oil painting made by an amateur. The amateur will say, “I am retro! Buy my stuff!” But the amateur lacks the talent and craftsmanship and doesn’t seem interested in learning it.
I can think of three 8-bit type games that I have played (I haven’t played them all) that do show craftsmanship and talent: Terraria, FTL, and Rogue Legacy. It’s not a coincidence that they sold like crazy. Let’s add another one: Stardew Valley. The 8-bit and 16-bit games cannot compete with them because they are truly different from those games.
The reason why the 8-bit formula of video games is because of the hardware they were on. Terraria cannot be on the NES because the NES hardware cannot handle it. The graphics, it may handle, but it cannot handle the rest of the game.
I despise laziness selling itself for money. “I like Ninja Gaiden. Therefore, I will make a Ninja Gaiden type game.” For Christ’s sake, believe in yourself. You will never be successful in life copying someone else’s vision.
I am not happy or content with NSMB games. Nintendo can do so much more with them, but they are lazy and have no interest in the exploration of 2d gameplay. Games like Terraria explored the 2d gameplay further and did things Minecraft could not.
I go to the Switch E-Shop, and I see all these 8-bit games. “WTF?” Why do they even exist? What do these games do that my 8-bit games, played via NES or Master System, cannot do? If you cannot give me an answer, then I know you’re lazy and aren’t truly interested in making video games. You just want to sell rom-hacks for money. Lazy!
About Mega Man 9, my problem with it is it isn’t retro at all. There is a giant historical revision that 8-bit games were ‘hard’. To get that ‘retro feel’, Mega Man 9 would do things like forced gauntlets on disappearing blocks. But if you actually examine the actual games such as Mega Man 1, 2, and 3, you do not find forced gauntlets. You have OPTIONS. You don’t have to jump on the blocks in Heat Man’s stage in Mega Man 2, for example. You can just use Number 2 adaptor and fly over them. Classic games gave you options. In a game like Super Mario Brothers, you can enter pipes and skip half the stage! You can use warp zones and skip to the last level! Would any game do this today? No!
What Mega Man 9 did was allow you to get ‘money’ so you could buy upgrades and things that would help ease the difficulty of these situations. This is very lazy game design. It would be like a Mario game where Mario could buy upgrades with his coins so he can take multiple hits before he becomes small instead of the default one hit.
The talent isn’t there for the game design. This is what I’m saying.
I think it is insulting that these games adopt an 8-bit ‘style’ to make-believe they are in the same league as these classic games. If I start writing in iambic pentameter, does that mean I am at the same level of talent and craftsmanship as Shakespeare? NO!