Generational Games

There are those classics that are usually good no matter what system they are on (Mario, Zelda, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear, Halo...hopefully, Elder Scrolls, etc). Then there are those games that are the hotness in one generation, and then suddenly nobody cares (or cares much less than before).

It'sa me too!

If we start with the NES, when gaming was still in its infancy, there wasn't any title that stood out, but copying Mario was that generation's hotness. The original Nintendo had hundreds of 2D side scrolling platform games. Every game company wanted a piece of the pie Nintendo had with Super Mario Bros, but it did not last. Since most of the Mario clones were lackluster, and same with their sales, those developers did not make keep with their side-scrolling cloning when the SNES and Genesis arrived on the scene.

Fight!

Then we arrive in the 16-bit era when, for some reason, Street Fighter and Mortal Komat were all the rage. Even I was sucked in to the hype of the 2D fighting genre. Of course there were 2D fighting clones, but Capcom then decided to make slightly modified versions of Street Fighter with ever increasing title and subtitle length, and we ate them up. However, as quickly as fighting games became popular, they were pushed into a niche market when the next generation came along.

Polygons.

The PS1 and N64 consoles were powerful enough to make 3D games, but not powerful enough to put many textures on the 3D images. However, this didn't stop developers from making tons of games that were very polygonal and us gamers loved it. The normal mass market consumer thought it looked stupid, but we said 'But it's in 3D!' We ate those games up, but as the next generation came along with better textures, those polygon games rightfully died.

Can GTA fall?

It hasn't been that long since the last generation ended, so we probably won't know for a while what games won't make the jump from the PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube. I would wager a guess that it may possibly be Grand Theft Auto. You may think I'm crazy, but in the 16-bit days, we never though Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat would fall from grace. All us gamers loved polygonal games because they were in 3D.

What's next?

I'm not sure what will be the hotness this time around. I'd be willing to bet it may be something on the Wii. That may sound like a Nintendo fanboy statement, but if it ends up being true, it could also be true that Wii games will seem lame in the generation after this one. Just remember, games that were the 'Best Game Evar!' during their generation, will more than likely fade away.

Sources
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Posted by Bill

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