Among the Hate: Video Games

Ever since I was a kid, I loved Video Games, didn’t matter if they were good or bad. When I played, I never cared about how good the graphics were, how the story was or even how good the music was. I only cared about one thing, and one thing only, gameplay. Gameplay is what makes the game.

I remember a time when game had 8-bit graphics (i.e. The Atari 2600, The Intellevision, and the Calicovision) those were, in my opinion one the best times in gaming history for two major reasons, the lack of graphics, and probably the most fun gameplay. Just try and imagine… you’re about 10 years old and your parents are out for the night or they are asleep and you just got an Atari 2600. Now you shut off the lights, sit in front of the TV and the only light is that of the TV and you’re playing for hours upon hours, games that have little to no graphics, practically no music and just letting your imagination just wander. It’s just the about the most perfect atmosphere in the world.

I don’t want to be that guy, but a lot of the newer games don’t give off that same atmosphere then it did back then. Take for example, the new “Call of Duty”, if you were to use that game instead of a Atari 2600 game, you’d get a way different atmosphere then that of the Atari. Instead of the no music and little sound it would be loud & intense music with loud & intense sounds or the simple 8-bit graphics, now become the 256-bit graphics… of seizure-ary DOOM. I’m not saying these games are bad, I’m just saying it not the say feel as it was before.

I love any game that comes for the 8, 16, and 32 –bit eras, these in my opinion where the best of the best, of what video games had to offer.  Once the 64-bit era hit, that was it, it all downhill from there, don’t get me wrong, I loved those games to but they didn’t have the same feel as the others and only a nice handful really stood out. But after the 64-bit era, the technology increased, thus the games tech also increased, the games became more about how pretty the game looked, compared to how fun the games was, in a nutshell Graphics > Gameplay.

One of my friends, who I’ll call texmex, fought me about this, tooth and nail. He says that if pacman or tetris came out this year would it have done as good as it did back when game where first starting. I tell him maybe it would have because those games have an almost infinity replay value, where you could play for hours and not get totally bored with it, but he’s a douchebag and he won’t listen to reason.

Here’s a list of my top 10 Favorite games (One Game per Franchise)

10. Tomba

9. Super Castlevania

8. Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon

7. VectorMan

6. Kirby Super Star

5. Super Mario Bros.

4. Metal Gear Solid

3. Earthbound

2. Banjo Kazooie

1. Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past