Retro Gaming

Super Mario Bros. 3 was quite possibly the best game made for the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It most certainly makes my top five list. In fact, it is my opinion that Super Mario Bros. 3 was quite possibly one of the best games on any system from any time period. Mario 3 was also a pioneer of sorts. It introduced (or at least made popular) a number of concepts that are still used in the modern Mario games such as level maps, flying, and special suits that allow Mario (or Luigi) to have additional powers. (Remember the Tanooki suit anyone?) What really made this game, as well as many others from the old school special was the simple, yet difficult game play that relied mainly on precise timing. Often I also feel a nostalgic preference for the older games, whether they were in the arcade or on the console at home.

Game Play…

There was a time when the majority of gaming was done in the arcade, and during this time, the arcade business was, of course, thriving. Many games were first released in the arcade, after which they were ported to the console (often with lower quality graphics than their arcade counterparts due to technical reasons). A significant number of these games were difficult. Why the difficulty one might ask? Well, the games were basically designed to take one’s quarter(s). One great example of this is the arcade version of Super Mario Bros. This version was much more difficult than its NES counterpart. The levels were different (note harder), and there were far fewer items such as 1-ups to be found. An example of this is that the NES version rewarded Mario an extra life after one collected 100 coins. The arcade version upped the number of coins required for an extra life to 200.

These games, while difficult, were also extremely fun. The game designers, after all, had to keep one coming back for more. But difficult games were not always relegated only to the arcade. One paradigm was the version of Ninja Gaiden that was released for the NES. While the first few stages of this game were pretty easy, the last stage was impossibly hard. (It was impossibly hard to me at least.)

Please do not misunderstand. I am not making the generalization that the games of today are not as difficult as the ones of yesteryear. A statement like that would almost certainly be misleading. There is something to be said, however, about a game that requires a certain skill level, practice, and/or a significant time commitment (and a lot of quarters in some cases) in order to be truly great at the game (or even complete the game). One issue that made the completion of older games on the console more difficult was that only a select few allowed the ability to save one’s progress. This brings me to my next point. A majority of the games of my childhood were more simplistic. There were fewer buttons, fewer crazy combos, and they were generally less complex. One couldn’t do as much I guess, but then again, maybe less is more. I’m thinking about games like Ms. Pacman, the arcade version of 1942, Guerilla War, Galaga 3 and Kung Fu. I wonder, aside from the sheer availability and the portability factor, if this is not one of the reasons that the iOS games are so popular. In general, the learning curve for the majority of the good iOS games is not very steep.

Nostalgia…

During my formative years, I spent a lot of time in arcades. My sister was a figure skater, and when I was a kid, I was dragged along to the ice rink for her practices. Fortunately I had two arcades to choose from, in which to pass the time. There was an arcade in the ice rink itself, in which I would play when my sister’s practices were before mall hours (5AM before school in some cases), and sometimes I would play in the arcade in the mall upstairs, during mall hours, when she had practices after school. I have many fond memories in both of these arcades. Unfortunately, due to the proliferation of home consoles with better graphics and lower prices, along with a number of other economic reasons, the arcades that I knew and loved as a youth are mostly a thing of the past.

Thankfully, for those of us who love retro games, there are a number of solutions available that will allow one to enjoy these games of the past. Obviously one cannot beat an original arcade machine. Unfortunately, space and spare cash make this an inviable solution, at least for me, since multiple arcade machines take up a large amount of room and are pricey to say the least. For the console, one simply cannot surpass the rush of nostalgia that comes with playing on an original system. I still have my original NES from 20-some years ago. After some TLC, it still works perfectly. If you don’t have an original system, the standard places like eBay, Craigslist, and yard sales may turn up some gems. Depending on the system that one is looking for, as well as the scarcity thereof, an original system may not be economically feasible. For example, Neo Geo systems still fetch a pretty hefty price, and/or a Sega Master System may be hard to find.

Another great option is emulation. It is my opinion that there is no better emulator out there than the Virtual Console, which one can access through the Wii’s Shop Channel. Through the Virtual Console one can download NES, SNES, N64, Arcade, Commodore 64, NEOGEO, Sega Genesis, Sega Master System and TurboGrafx 16 games to play on the Wii. The games are relatively inexpensive (in the neighborhood of $5-15, depending on the system and/or game), and it is probably the easiest way to play the widest variety of retro games, provided that one already owns a Wii. Other avenues exist for Xbox 360 owners as well, as Microsoft also offers on-line games for download through Xbox Live. I don’t have an XBox and have thus not tried this, but I hear through the grapevine that it is great.

~ fin ~

This article is one of a series related to video game nostalgia.