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Still Alive on Game and Player

Still Alive

Gary Armstrong  //  July 13, 2009


Five reigning franchises.

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odern gaming is as much about preservation and reiteration of classic properties as it is new technologies and emerging IPs. Sometimes, the appearance of names from eras past can fall short of expectations, failing to make any impact on the masses, the magic ingredients that made previous incarnations so special is missing — perhaps tonally, stylistically, or simply failing to emulate the quality threshold set by its predecessor. Others appear to hold back the years, and successfully maintain relevancy, and most importantly, stave off apathy amongst their fan bases. Here are five of the best.


Become an Icon

Sometimes even the most basic of images can ignite interest if they have a resonance with our precious held childhood memories. Just ask Nintendo, masters of regeneration. The key to the enduring success of the company's A-list characters goes far beyond simple nostalgia, however, as many would attribute. While an undeniable part of many gamers' formative years, Nintendo's characters have ascended to another level of identity, and survive as true icons within the industry. Mario could possibly the most questionable character design in history, his strange look born from necessity, but its bond with millions of players has kept the mustached, overweight plumber at the forefront of the gamers' collective mind. The series' constantly changes directions, but always keeps enough of that childhood magic to keep players of all ages enamored — Super Mario Galaxy's inventive game design and masterful soundtrack providing a clear example.


Define the era

The Japanese development community may have been stunned by the growth of Western studios in recent years, but domestically, one company still has a hold on the world of video games like no other. The Japanese industry almost stops still in the months preceding a Final Fantasy game. Developers appear to watch and wait to see the new direction, and follow suit for years to come. Square Enix and its trendsetting ways mean the developer has a never-ending adoration from its fans, and while often lambasted by Western audiences, each release pushes the level of outlandishly fashion-conscious character design to new heights, zippers and belts intact, and sets the bar for production value with each increasingly epic adventure. At least children don't have to skip school for the release of a new Dragon Quest anymore.


Perfection

Amongst those who frequented arcades during the 1990s, one game will unite each individual's reminiscence. Once a sweeping phenomenon, Capcom's Street Fighter franchise never relinquished its grip on fight fans, holding on to its audience — now much smaller in number, but fierce appetite intact — by constantly perfecting and retuning the genre staples it defined so long ago. The visuals have changed from Western-styled pixel art to anime, to bombastic, caricatured 3D models, but one thing remained through the various (and numerous) incarnations of the game; its rock solid foundation of iconic characterization and deceptively simple combat mechanics continue to push the franchise to new heights, and as seen in Street Fighter IV, contains more than enough new ideas to maintain interest from the long-term fan.

Who really could have foreseen Street Fighter IV's back-to-basics stance concealing enough depth and trickery to please the competition circuit and successfully bring the series back to those who fell away in years following the madness surrounding Street Fighter II's arcade reign? The genre may be experiencing something of a renaissance of late, but the continuing success of Street Fighter is something that goes beyond trends, gimmicks and brand recognition, proven by the countless challengers that have fallen to the wayside.


Lessons in Brute Force

Microsoft's induction into the video game industry was loud, brash, and expensive. By the time its second console launched, the Xbox brand had been bludgeoned into the minds of the mainstream, and its lead franchise found a place in the people's hearts in similarly subtle fashion. Halo may not have the history and provenance of many of the greats, but Microsoft's single-minded ambition delivered a sledgehammer sized hole in the market for Bungie's skill and attention to community based gaming to create a unique mark for itself in the first person shooter genre — formerly derided by traditionalist PC gamers, Halo became a widely acceptable console FPS. The Master Chief, an almost inexplicably endearing character, may be in exile, but the world of Halo, and its potentially exhaustive fiction can now be explored and capitalized on by its creators. The name alone has power to carry the boldest of ideas and adaptations to a guaranteed audience.


An Auteurist Vision

Sometimes, it takes a long time to refine your work to meet the lofty heights of the initial creative vision. As technology advances, it gives the video game creators with the most persistent ideas a chance to express their vision, and sometimes achieve a level of creativity and technical brilliance that transcends traditional means of deconstruction of the video game we know and love. Beneath the gun fetish, beneath the thinly veiled and often misguided political lectures, Metal Gear Solid represents the pinnacle of video game storytelling.

Beginning its life as a game cruelly limited by technology, the series went on to redefine what gamers thought possible with its rebirth on PlayStation. Solid Snake, a protagonist borne of the classic Eighties action movie, became a hero with surprising depth, leading an ensemble of vibrant yet wonderfully identifiable archetypes in a fantastically paced and mind-bogglingly complicated story arc. Kojima's body of work may have borrowed heavily from Hollywood cinema, ranging from the subtle to the unashamed, but by the time Solid Snake's final curtain fell, the Kojima Productions team managed to create a seamless blend of thoughtful gameplay, narrative, and visual audacity, despite angering many with his reality bending red herrings and references. It truly was the work of an individual creator, Kojima's personality drenches the series and takes the action genre in to daring, occasionally infuriating, and exhilarating new grounds.


Where Do We Go?

As may be obvious from the choices of franchises and games listed here, there is no set recipe for longevity in the world of gaming. Series such as Tomb Raider, and even genuine icons like Sonic the Hedgehog, continue to look for a way to reestablish themselves in the mass market, but fail to reconcile the differences between past glory and a changing world. For those games, perhaps the will to stay alive is part of the problem. While it's always a pleasure to see the continuation of greatness, sometimes the desire to remain in such clear view can damage the fine legacy that could have been left. Let's not outstay our welcome.





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