Retro Games As a Way of Avoiding Quality Standards

IGN's video review of the game, Shovel Knight calls it [the reviewer's] favorite game of 2014 so far.  How can that be, with games like Titanfall and Watch Dogs coming out this year?  And if someone really likes retro games, what about Strider HD or Trials Fusion?

Now, I haven't played Shovel Knight and don't want to.  It looks fun enough, but I played so many games like that in the 8-bit and 16-bit era, and I've moved on.  If I'm going to play a game with old school controls, it's going to be a game that at least attempts to meet modern presentation standards.

Shovel Knight does not look good to me.  It wouldn't have looked to me in the 16-bit era.  Okay, fine, it's supposed to represent an 8-bit game and not a 16-bit game.  But back then I always wanted games to look better than they did.  The developers were always trying to make their games look better.  That's what I don't understand about the more recent Megaman games.  They released better-looking Megaman games on the SNES than Megaman 10 looks on PS3 and Xbox.  Why go backwards?

Is Shovel Knight really better than Strider HD?  I wonder how many people who are exited about Shovel Knight gave Strider HD a chance.  Strider HD (like the amazing Bionic Commando: Rearmed), shows that you can take an old game, preserve everything that was good about it, improve on its weaknesses, and make it look great by today's standards.

Shovel Knight doesn't try to meet today's standards, of course.  I'm guessing that retro-looking games sell better than retro-style games that don't look retro.  So I can excuse the developers. But gamers should demand better.  I understand wanting the retro experience.  I understand wanted a change of pace with simpler controls.  But you can get those things without dated graphics and sound.

I'm open to the arguments of retro gamers who prefer games that look and sound old.  Why do you prefer that?  Have you played Bionic Command:  Rearmed, Strider HD, Contra Hard Corps, the remake of Castle of Illusion, etc.?  If you have, and you still prefer Shovel Knight, tell me why.

Too Much Old-School Appeal

Pac-Man Championship Edition has been praised by some as the best version of Pac-Man ever.  I played the demo and it does seems like a very good version of the game.  But, there are a couple of major sub-optimal things about it that I noticed immediately.

Take a look at this screen from the game:

The graphics are like the original Pac-Man with lightning effects.  Namco obviously did this to appeal to the nostalgia of gamers who played the original.  I can appreciate that, but I think what gamers are nostalgic for is the mechanics of the original. 

The graphics in Pac-Man CE are intentionally blocky and retro-looking.  I like old school games more than most people, but blocky sprites are not what I like about them.

You can create a version of the game with the feel of the original, that looks modern visually, but still looks like Pac-Man.

Namco did exactly that with 1996’s Pac-Man Arrangement, part of Namco Arcade Classics Volume 2 machines in arcades.

Pac-Man Arrangement had colorful graphics that were attractive.  They weren’t state-of-the-art for 1996, but they were acceptable for that time. That game plays very much like the original Pac-Man, but with some additional power-ups for both Pac-Man and the ghosts.  For the purists, there was a version without that stuff that could be selected when starting the game.

One of the best things about Pac-Man Arrangement was that it supported 2 players simultaneously, something that Pac-Man Championship Edition does not.

When Namco decided to make Pac-Man CE, did they look at the other versions of Pac-Man they’ve released in that past?  If so, why didn’t they incorporate the good ideas from those versions? 

Another example of this is the just-released Space Invaders Infinity.

Like Pac-Man CE, this Space Invaders has blocky sprites and no multiplayer support.  There have been versions of Space Invaders with nice-looking graphics and simultaneous 2 player support, such as Majestic Twelve - The Space Invaders Part IV.  A new version of Space Invaders or Pac-Man could easily have simultaneous 4-player support.  1 player only?  I don’t understand.

Developers – when bringing out new versions of old-school games, preserve the good things about them.  Preserve the atmosphere of the original.  Preserve the overall look at feel.  Don’t preserve the limitations.  Don’t neglect to incorporate improvements made by remakes that came out earlier.

When deciding to buy a game on XBox Live Arcade, gamers like me look at these qualities and features.  I’d love to buy a definitive version of Pac-Man or Space Invaders for $10.  Unfortunately the remakes of these games released in the 90’s are more definitive the ones just released.

Konami is Learning

First they announced Rush'N Attack: Ex-Patriot, now a new Contra game called Hard Corps: Uprising.  Konami seems to be following my advice.  Here’s a quick review:

The Wrong Way to Bring a Classic Game to a Modern Console:

Example 1 (Super Contra for XBox Live Arcade)

Example 2 (Contra:Rebirth For Nintendo Wii)

(If you look at the screen shot above and think, “those graphics aren’t too bad”, you need to realize that those are 16-bit caliber graphics.  The 16-bit era end 15 years ago).

The Right Way:

Example 1

Example 2

Keep it up, Konami!

Sega Gets It Right With After Burner:Climax

After Burner was a staple in arcades in the late 80’s and early 90’s.  It was almost impossible to go to an arcade and not see an After Burner machine.  In Terminator 2, John Conner plays After Burner in the mall arcade.  It’s an iconic game from that era.

Part of its draw was its attractive cabinet.  You wanted to play this game for the experience.  This was not something that could be replicated on home consoles.  You also wanted to play the game for its exciting visuals.  The screen was always full of enemy planes, explosions, and machine gun fire.  When you flew low the ground, you could see individual trees and hills.  When planes flew near you, you could see their camouflage paint jobs. The movie Top Gun, which came out around the same time, made jet fighter games particularly popular at that time.  But for kids who only owned an NES, the main option was the atrocious officially-licensed Top Gun game.

<Nelson Voice>Ha ha.</Nelson Voice>  If you were one of the minority of kids who owned a Sega Master System and could play After Burner at home rather than Top Gun, that was one of the few times when you’d be the envy of NES-owners, regardless of the quality of the SMS version (it was eventually released on the NES, but it was was a late, bad, low-profile release).

I bring this up because After Burner:Climax was just released for XBox Live Arcade, and it’s a great example of releasing a classic game the right way.  They didn’t just give us an emulated version of the original arcade game, or the Sega Genesis sequel, or the Playstation 2 sequel.  They gave us the most recent version of the game and enhanced it for our modern consoles, and it’s great:

After Burner:Climax is ideal for anyone who wants to play an After Burner game on a modern console.  HD, widescreen, achievements, and downloadable for $10.  That’s how it’s done.  I have a long list of Sega arcade classics that should get the same treatment.

Just Give Us the Best Version You Have

The Sega Genesis had many games that were ported from the arcade, most of which ran on the System 16 board.  The Genesis was pretty powerful for its time and its games were close to their arcade counterparts as a whole.  But, it wasn't quite as powerful as the System 16, so Sega couldn't just run the exact arcade games on the Genesis that ran on System 16.  When you compare them, it seems like Sega copied the sound and graphics from the arcade versions as closely as possible, but didn't and/or couldn't use any of the source files/code from the arcade versions, resulting in the Genesis versions looking and sounding slightly worse. Here's a comparison between the arcade and Genesis versions of Golden Axe:

Arcade	Genesis

Now, kids who spent years playing NES and SMS games, were quite happy with the arcade adaptions on the Genesis.  We were used to game companies taking the names of arcade games and giving us completely different, usually bad versions of those games on the 8-bit consoles.  Here are some examples:

Double Dragon:

Arcade	NES

Ninja Gaiden:

Arcade	NES

Shinobi:

Arcade	SMS

Given the fact that cells phones -- let along modern gaming console -- are powerful enough to run the arcade versions these games, if they're going to release them on XBox Live Arcade or the Playstation Network, there's no reason to not release the better, arcade versions, right?  That is what they did, thankfully, with Shinobi.  I'm sure they didn't even consider releasing the Sega Master system version.

For some reason, however, for the Sega 16-bit classics like Altered Beast and Golden Axe, they chose the Genesis versions over the arcade versions.  Now, even if they did release the arcade versions I wouldn't buy them (they're good games that are still fun to play, but I'd like more enhancements to make them worth re-purchasing), but still, why not use the best versions available?

The story with Phantasy Star 2 is slightly different.   That game, being an RPG, never came out in the arcade and was a Genesis original.  That is the version on XBox live arcade.  However, an enhanced remake was released for the Playstation 2 in 2005 called Phantasy Star Generation 2.  It looks like it was only released in Japan.  Now that would be something I'd be willing to buy for XBox Live Arcade.  I have very fond memories of playing the original on the Genesis.  I'm not interested in playing that version today, but a version with enhanced graphics and sound would be quite attractive.  Give us that version!

Original	Generation 2

This should be obvious, but people interested in buying remakes/re-releases of games on XBox Live want the best version of the games to date.  Anything less = guaranteed no sale (from me, at least).

Mega Man Franchise Moving Backwards

I was never a big fan of Mega Man games.  They always seemed frustratingly difficult.  Mega Man's standard weapon is underpowered.  You often need to fire at an advancing opponent and retreat since you can't stop it in time.  I realize that there needs to be a challenge, and that you shouldn't be able to simply overwhelm enemies with firepower.  But I like it when games give you a character that feels powerful, even when enemies are more powerful.  Mega Man has always felt weak.  The weapons you get from bosses all have limited ammunition, so you generally can't use them much since they need to be conserved for boss fights.  Many of them are fairly useless except for against specific bosses.  I like powerful weapons with plentiful ammo.  The limits of Mega Man's weapons take most of the enjoyment away from them.

Still, it's a classic game franchise that I would like to see remade properly on modern consoles.  A modern day 2D Mega Man that's HD, widescreen, has cool lightning effects, 3D backgrounds, and all the bells and whistles that come with modern games could be very compelling.  They could just take Mega Man 1 or 2, enhance it in those ways, and that would be fine with me.  But Capcom found it easier to release this:

That's a screen from Mega Man 10, recently released for XBox and PS3.  Now, it's obvious that Capcom is trying (and succeeding, for some) to appeal to gamers who enjoy old school games.  I'm glad they're trying, because those games are a lot of fun.  But, why not give us the same 2D, 8-bit action done with all of the advantages and power of modern consoles?  They did it with Bionic Commando, why can't Mega Man get the same treatment?

Am I the only one that thinks it's absurd that a Mega Man game released today doesn't look at good as Mega Man games released over 10 years ago?:

The screens above are from the games Mega Man & Bass and  Mega Man: The Power Battle.  Shouldn't the graphics of Mega Man 10 be at least as good as the graphics of those games?  If you think the old school gamers would be upset that it doesn't look like the Mega Man that they remember, read the glowing reviews of Bionic Commando:Rearmed.  Fans of the original, like myself, consider it the best possible way of paying homage to and re-creating the experience of playing the NES game.

Yes, the reviewers at IGN gave Mega Man 10 a good score, and I'm sure that Mega Man fans will enjoy it.  I'm sure it's a good game.  But come on, we didn't buy our XBox 360s and Playstation 3s to emulate NES games.  Let's have higher standards for our remakes, and maybe we'll get a Mega Man that looks like this:

Bringing a Classic Game to Modern Consoles The Right Way

I was not a fan of the 8-bit NES / arcade game Rush'n Attack. But the planned remake looks cool.

It looks like Konami saw the awesome Bionic Command:Rearmed and decided to try with one of their old games.  I'll definitely check it out when it's released, but I'm wondering why Konami opted for Rush'n Attack over something like Contra.  Contra is one of the most fondly-remembered 8-bit games.  The Contra code is famous.  Rush'n Attack, on the other hand, was the kind of game people bought because they thought the name was clever, and because it sounded like fun to run around killing commies with knives and machine guns.  In the days before downloadable demos, that kind of thing is all we had to go on.  Unfortunately it was a pretty bad game.  Repetitive, slow-paced, and fairly difficult if I remember correctly.  I'm sure the remake will be good, but I still don't understand that choice given the alternatives.

In any case, I'm glad to see Konami realizing that gamers appreciate some effort going into bringing classic games to modern consoles. As opposed to this:

Ughhh...that image alone makes me sick to my stomach. You know what's better than that? 1) Contra on MAME. 2) Contra III on a Super NES Emulator. 3) ANYTHING.

Konami and everyone else -- we will gladly pay $15+ for classic games on our modern consoles if you put some effort into optimizing them. Widescreen and high definition are the main things I want. Achievements, enhancements, different modes of play are also nice. But I won't pay one penny to play a non-optimized, emulated version that runs in a letterboxed window, so don't waste your time.

Edit: I just discovered that Konami did release a new Contra game for the Wii last year called Contra ReBirth. IGN gave the game a decent score, but those graphics -- yikes!  Contra III for the SNES looks much better.  That is not rebirth, Konami, that's more like a zombified Contra, dug up and reanimated in a grotesque, vile form through evil magic, a.k.a. a half-assed development effort.  Those graphics can't be considered acceptable by today's standards on any console.  Thankfully, the new Rush'n Attack screens show that Konami is putting a little more effort into their next 8-bit remake.