Race to the end… (continued from part 1)
It was when I got introduced to the Nintendo NES that I really started to notice a style of game-play where the objective was to race to the end, rather then continuous playing until you lose. Super Mario Bros was a completely new form of game that I just was not used to, Its the kind of game that you must keep playing until you beat it. Every time I sat in front of the TV it became my mission to get further then my last time, and maybe this will be the time where I finally rescue the princess instead of another toadstool. I was hooked in a way that was different from playing my usual Donkey Kong and Pac-man.
I know that Super Mario Bros was not my first real experience with that style of game because the Commodore 64 had its fair share of those games. There was just something a little different going on there, sure Impossible mission had an end goal but there wasn’t much of a difference in game-play. The style of playing was mostly the same and it felt more like a puzzle game rather than a platform style. You didn’t explore different worlds or have a character which could perform a variety of moves, stunts and shoot fireballs. You also did not have the continue option , can you imagine if Super Mario Bros only gave you one chance to beat it?.
I know what you are thinking and that is that a lot of people today can beat Super Mario Bros really fast (I know I can now), but that is because I played the game almost endlessly when I first got it and was determined to beat it. Then other games came along that were tougher to beat and longer to play, games Castlevania, Super Mario 3 and Metroid all required hours of playing to find the right patterns to get to the end. When the Super Nintendo came out the games got even harder, I still to this day have never completed Super Mario World (I keep getting lost somehow).
The only issue I see with games like this are the fact that once you finally do complete them, you are done. There were times I had so much fun playing the game that I was kind of sad when I got to the end, sure I can start all over again but that sense of trying to complete was now gone. You now either put the game away for a while until you forget or you play with different goals in mind. You can try playing Super Mario Bros. with out ever using a mushroom, or try playing through with the run button always on. There are many different ways you can challenge yourself beyond that actual end goal.
I can’t really say which style of game I prefer, both styles of games have there good points and their bad. I kind of like how games like Donkey Kong require little time and commitment, you can just fire it up and start playing (even if you only have a few minutes to spare). But those games can be quite stale if you want to put in some good quality game time, so in those cases you need to have that end goal. Maybe its also a type of mood you need to be in, sometimes I want that sense of accomplishment. So If that’s the case, then I am sorry Donkey Kong but the princess is in another castle!
Brian Pudden