A Few Chrontendo Observations
I've noticed a few things, while watching Chrontendo, an attempt to play and discuss every video game released on the NES, in chonological order. I'm up to episode 36 currently. I really ought to write down my thoughts as I have them, because I'm having difficulty recalling them now, however, a few observations:
It's been said that each generation of consoles tries to perfect the ideas presented by the previous generation, and ends up presenting new ideas. The second generation of consoles largely focused on single-screen games (or games where you'd move between fully-loaded screens). The early NES titles seemed very similar to those titles, but what it became known for was scrolling screens (something which, I understand, the older generation had difficulty doing smoothly). With scrolling, games like Super Mario Bros. became possible.
This trend also introduces story into games. Games also seem to move from score-based play (where you try to get a high score, but eventually lose, think PacMan or Tetris) to more plot based play, like Dragon Quest III or Bionic Commando. Plots are usually rudimentary, there only to give you goals to achieve (arguably, things aren't that different now for most mainstream titles, except there was more emphasis on kidnapped girlfriends back then), but it gives you an idea of what would come afterwards. Also, since American titles are almost always localizations of Japanese titles, the plots are also poorly told.
I've noticed a few occasions where the developers are clearly straining to do something that isn't possible yet. Games that are mimicking twin-stick shooters awkwardly against the controller, or where they're trying to play with camera angles or mimic 3D. You see some early examples of games that try to mix up play modes for variety (say, having driving and action levels in the same game) but they have a lot of difficulty doing both of those things well in the limited space on the cartridge. You even start to see some titles that seem deliberately retro, like Bubble Bobble, which seems like it would be more comfortable in the previous generation.
You can see how some game design ideas become fixed into place. For example, after Dragon Quest, RPGs seem to move away from the first-person Deep Dungeon-type experience, and towards only having first person view in combat. RPG elements have become extremely common where I am now in the series, put into everything from driving games to Metroid-clones. This is still common today, enough so that we don’t normally think of getting a new power, obtaining health increases, or getting money as being an RPG element anymore.
You also see trends as things become popular, both themes and playstyles. Arcade ports are popular at first. Japanese adventure games (at least, in Japan). Veritical or horizontal hooters. Side-scrolling platformers. Run-and-gun. Alien invader themes. Murder mystery themes. Military themes. Fantasy themes - fantasy is huge at this time, actually. You could pretty easily find examples of games that combine any two of these elements. For example, Dragon Spirit combines the vertical shooter with the fantasy theme. You play a flying dragon that "shoots" fire.
Click to viewThis is a pretty neat concept, really, unlike this next game, which is the benchmark bad game that most really terrible games are compared against. Super Monkey Daibouken is based on Journey to the West, and combines the boredom of long walks with incredibly frantic and difficult action sequences. It's probably the worst game I've seen in the series.
Perhaps not surprisingly, part of the fun of the series is seeing really terrible games... and not being forced to play them yourself.
Anyway, the series, and it's sister series ChronSega and ChronTurbo, are pretty interesting if you're into this stuff. I recommend you check it out.