It's a Retro Revolution!

If I were slacking off, I'd open this entry with "2-D gaming isn't dead!!!!!1" That's what everyone likes to open with when discussing things like yesterday's gaming releases. But, really, has 2-D gaming EVER been dead? The closest it's come was the late '90s, when we had the Saturn, PlayStation, 64 and Dreamcast showing off this spiffy "3-D" stuff. But the Saturn and PSX in particular were known for some highly popular 2-D titles: Castlevania Symphony of the Night, the Mega Man X series, Capcom's various fighters, Treasure's shooters. Then with the move into the 21st century, the Game Boy Advance brought handhelds out of 8-bit stagnation and sold like hotcakes with a predominantly 2-D lineup. The DS and PSP certainly took on more 3-D projects, but still have large 2-D (or 2.5-D) libraries.

And now, each of the main gaming systems has a retro gaming download service. So 2-D gaming has never, ever been "dead." But it HAS been a while since it has swung with the impact it did yesterday.

September 22 saw (in America) the release of Wario Land: Shake It! (Wii), Kirby Super Star Ultra (DS) and Mega Man 9 (WiiWare/PlayStation Network). Individually, each would be a decisive blow for 2-D gaming's influence. But released on the same day?? This is big.

Kirby Super Star Ultra- Probably the least dramatic of the three. It is basically a remake of the Super NES Kirby game: Kirby Super Star. A SNES classic repackaged on a Nintendo handheld with a bit of new content is nothing THAT new or special. So why my giddiness? First: Super Star was and is an incredible game. Most Kirby games revolve around the titular hero sucking up enemies and taking on their abilities. But most games before and after Super Star present each ability as a single attack. Super Star carved out an entire moveset (or at least a single move that required an entire strategy) for each of its 20-odd abilities, and Kirby could both deal and receive damage with more variety than the series has ever seen before or since. (Amazing Mirror and Squeak Squad, the series' respective GBA and DS titles, have been steps in the right direction, but still do not echo Super Star's level of depth).

This game honestly deserves to stand among the pantheon of nigh-perfect sidescrolling platformers (Super Metroid, Super Mario Bros 3, Sonic 2...), and while it does have its fans around the Internet, it doesn't get nearly the amount of recognition it deserves. And the fact it's only the second game in a series that has been around since '92 to get a remake is pretty significant, methinks.

Mega Man 9- This has me (and most of the gaming population) quite conflicted: It is deliberately restricting itself to NES hardware limitations. And not even the pinnacle of the NES; eschewing later series developments, 9 bears most resemblance to Mega Man 2. This move does seem a bit too "by-the-book" for my liking ("hey, it's general consensus that Mega Man 2 is the best in the series! Let's pattern a game around it!"), but hey, there are some series that I think could seriously benefit from this line of thinking (Mario, Metroid, Sonic, Donkey Kong, Contra's already been there).

Beyond its method of presentation, this is the first new entry in the original Mega Man series in ten years. That alone is pretty awesome, and sounds weird to say, considering it was ran into the ground back in the '90s. The X series made a nice substitution that provided a much-needed shot in the arm to gameplay that had grown stale, until it grew stale itself (not to mention started taking itself far more seriously than a series that began with an anime robot boy fighting a mad scientist and his robotic legions should ever do). The other spin-offs, regardless of their quality, are simply too far removed from the source (in both gameplay and presentation). The time is just RIGHT for an angst-free Mega Man to have a sidescrolling adventure as Dr. Wily comes up with an intelligence-insulting plot explaining that he's DEFINITELY not the bad guy.

This truly demonstrates the possibilities of online gaming services. While I don't necessarily think series entries should confine themselves to particular specifications, I do believe this is a brilliant opportunity for many of them to showcase the type of games that made them so beloved to begin with. Word of mouth is a powerful thing for a fandom that is so attached to the Internet, and if games like Mega Man 9 succeed, this type of gaming can see a return to the main consoles, even if people won't buy them at retail price.

Wario Land: Shake It- Or...maybe they WILL buy them at retail price. Like Mega Man 9, this excites me both due to my personal interest in the franchise and my general love of 2-D gaming. In a time where Balance Boards and music and all this crap I honestly couldn't care less about is crowding the Wii, we get a Wario game. A 2-D Wario game...with platforming. Don't get me wrong, WarioWare is absolutely brilliant. One of the most creative and entertaining concepts to come out of 21st-century gaming. But playing Smash Bros. Brawl, and hearing Col. Campbell tell Snake "(Wario) really made his name in the WarioWare games," the ten-year-old in me looked up from the pea-soup screen of the brick Game Boy he clutched in his hand and obnoxiously shouted his defiance.

If you'll excuse me, Colonel, I was there, and anyone who had the GOOD handheld of the '90s was playing Wario Land long before you and Snake "really made your names" in the Metal Gear SOLID games.

But then I realized: Wario's last two forays into platforming were thoroughly dismissed by...everyone (I have played neither, so I can't judge). It's not the Colonel's (or Brawl's writers') fault; Wario hasn't asserted himself as one of platforming's finest sons since the turn of the century.

For some reason, I have a sobering feeling that Nintendo is not going to pull out all the stops with this game. But I DO have reason to believe it will be at least above-average. For one, the game both looks fun and is fun to look at. It moves so smoothly and fluidly...demonstrating a very obvious fact: consoles are a lot more powerful than when 2-D games were the dominant breed.

Secondly: This game has Captain Syrup. For those who don't know, she was the villainess of Wario Land and Wario Land 2. She vanished after that, and seeing her back is one of those assuring signs that the devlopers have done a bit of homework. And if you're creating a retro-style game, that's an especially good sign. Furthermore, she just represents a significant part of Wario's history: his only foe not from the main Mario series to appear more than once and one of the first (human) female villains in the medium.

I have faith that all of these games will be, at the very least, great experiences. But I'm truly excited for the long-term impact they can have on the industry. If the barriers preventing original 2-D games from being made for modern consoles could be removed...there's some pretty awesome potential. I mean, Symphony of the Night was considered a 2-dimensional marvel, and all of the current systems positively dwarf the PSX, let alone the consoles from 2-D's heyday.

So if you're on the fence about these titles, pick a couple up for the principle of seeing 2-D games harness the power of the PS3. A couple years down the line, you may be able to think to yourself: I contributed to a retro revolution.

Introduction

Perhaps I should make an actual post here to ward off the Google hounds with their barks of "Spam! Spam!"

I really made a blog account because to be part-time writer for the other blog in my profile, it was kinda required. But now that I have one, I'll make use of it on what will probably be an infrequent basis.

One of my biggest hobbies (both playing and writing) is video gaming, so that will probably cover the majority of future posts here. I'll try to mix things up by talking about movies or perhaps a cool place I've camped/hiked at (my other big hobby).

What's with the name? Well, the games (and really, movies too) I've been playing the past few years have mostly come from the 20th century, typically the mid-90s and earlier. I experienced a lot of them for the first time in post-2003, so I hope to offer the perspective of how these classics feel without a decade-plus of watery-eyed memories built up.

Well, I can't promise an actual time for a first real post, but then I have no sign of any real readers, so all's fair.