Super Mario Bros. Single handedly saved and revived the gaming industry and re-popularized the public’s interest in home consoles as well as video games as a whole.

Looking back as to why this was the case is quite simple, and can easily be traced back to what’s known as the “Console Market Crash”, one of the most significant moments in the history of video games. The console market crash happened due to the oversaturation and mass production of low effort console games with popular IP’s to its name in order to capitalise on its commercial success. A great example of this would be the disaster of the E.T game.

Because of this over saturation, the general public quickly lost interest in home console games, which gave way to the much more powerful Personal Computers which were set to dominate the gaming industry for the foreseeable future. However, one company firmly believed in home gaming consoles. Nintendo carefully studied how to regain the lost joy from home consoles to the general public, they were certain that their games would be able to make an impact on the industry as a whole. Despite their beliefs, investors weren’t content with the idea of the Famicon, and advised Nintendo to market their home console as a “System for Entertainment” in order to deviate from relating their product to video games.

“The first shipment of NES systems arrived in a neat stack that barely took up half of the trailer on which it was transported. The boxes were stored in the warehouse, and the team began the arduous task of trying to get retailers to accept Nintendo’s products. Most store owners did not want to look at video games, let alone waste floor space selling them. In fact, team members were cautioned not to use the term video game. The NES was to be sold as an “entertainment system.”- (Kent, S.L. (2021) The ultimate history of video games. volume 1, from pong to Pokémon and beyond–the story behind the craze that touched our lives and changed the world. New York: Crown)

As a way to regain the consumer’s trust, Nintendo created their own “Nintendo Seal of Quality” which would ensure that the game was of a certain standard. Nintendo’s new approach allowed it to act as a publisher as well as a tester for third-party companies to ensure that these produced quality games. Because of this, as well as the technological innovations of the time, that the standards, development costs as well as the quality of games drastically improved or heightened. Not to our surprise, the company who knew how to best take advantage of these innovations was Nintendo, Kent explained it best in his book The Ultimate History of Games “Super Mario Bros. took Mario out of his single-screen setting and placed him in a huge, vivid world. Instead of simply climbing ladders and moving around on platforms, players now controlled him as he ran through a seemingly endless, brightly colored countryside filled with caverns, castles, and giant mushrooms.”, which gives us a good insight as to how Nintendo was able to create a vivid world despite the limitations of the NES.

O’Donnell (2014) also states, “The release of the NES would change the video game industry forever. Not just the quality of the video games, but the way the video games were developed, sold, and marketed”, the NES, as well as the release of Super Mario Bros. shifted the gaming industry as a whole, and set up a new standard, as previously mentioned, which changed both developers and consumers approached games.

With a brief look at the history of this title, as well as how important this game’s launch was for the industry, we can now make a deep dive into what made Super Mario Bros. such an important and revolutionary title.

One of the biggest factors into the success of this game, was Mario’s design, which as Shaw describes in her book Gaming at the Edge: Sexuality and Gender at the Margins of Gamer Culture, “in Nintendo’s famous Super Mario Bros. franchise, the title character, Mario, was not origi­nally conceived of as an Italian American plumber. Rather, the particularities of his design arose out of an assemblage of factors. His pudgy features, colorful costume, large nose, and bushy mustache— ­ characteristics subsequently read as signifying his Italianness— ­were all designed to make the most of the limited graphics of early arcade machines and Nintendo consoles” (Shaw, 2014, p.23).

Fig. 1, Image showing Super Mario’s design in Super Mario Bros.

Nintendo knew how to make a simple yet visually appealing character. His overalls, as well as his hat are excluded from Shaw’s description, but I believe its also important to mention since they add to the perspective of the Italian plumber. Additionally, adding a hat would remove the need of having to animate hair, which would’ve been a struggle to develop especially considering the limitations of the time. Because of this, Mario’s design was easy to develop and was a simple design that’s easy on the eye for all audiences.

Level 1-1 is the primary example of how to design a tutorial level without telling the player what to do. It started the trend of going to the right when you start a platforming level, which has become a staple across multiple 2D Platformers since the release of Super Mario Bros. The level starts off with Mario standing on a bricked ground with some bushes and mountains on the background which are coloured with different shades of green, and is accompanied by a nice blue sky, which’ll be a constant throughout the level. Just with this powerful first image, we can see how this game doesn’t use harsh or dark colours (yet) which would hinder how easy the objects on screen could be seen. This initial level is also visually pleasing for the younger audiences, allowing for them, as well as their parents, to easily get invested into this vast and magical world.

Accompanied by an upbeat music, the player quickly realises how there’s a mushroom shaped enemy walking towards them. If the player walks directly to them, they will lose a life, meaning that they’ll have to avoid this enemy by jumping over them, or jumping on them in order to defeat them. As the player progresses, they will see two different blocks, one shining with yellow with a question mark, and another standard brown block.

Fig 2, Mario jumping on Goomba and showing the blocks for the first time.

Fig 3, Mario jumping to hit the blocks revealing a power up mushroom that makes him bigger.

As seen on Figure 3, when Mario jumps on these blocks various different things happen. The first question mark block reveals to have a coin hidden in it, and the second one reveals a mushroom (different to the one we just jumped on) to the player. Which, upon interacting, will allow us to power up by making Mario bigger. This Power-Up allows Mario to move quicker, as well as jump further and higher. This also widens his hit-box however, which means that he’s more likely to get hit by enemies. When Mario has powered-up, the player can afford to get hit once without losing a life, which if they did they would have to restart the level from the beginning.

Figure 4, Super Mario Bros. teaching the player the maximum jump.

After this, the game teaches you the maximum height jump Mario can do, by cleverly spacing out some pipes so that Mario can jump from one all the way to the other, as shown in Figure 4. The game also puts enemies on the floor between the pipes so the player knows what’s at risk if they mess up the jump. The game immediately tells the player it’s most important mechanic, “jump”, which is a neat call-back to Mario’s origin in “Donkey Kong” where he was known simply as “Jump-Man”.

Figure 5, Video showing Mario using Fire Flower power up as well as the Super Star power up.

There’s also various power-ups scattered throughout the map of 1-1, for example the “Fire Flower” allows for Mario to launch projectiles in front of him that will bounce off and hit enemies. This allows for Mario to have other options apart from jumping on top of enemies as a means to defeating them.

There’s also another power-up, known as the “Super Star”, which allows for Mario’s sprite to blink and become invincible for a set period of time. This power-up changes the background music to a much more energetic and upbeat one, which immediately transmits to the player “run and go as fast as you can”, whilst being able to immediately defeat enemies, the “Super Star” really makes the player feel empowered for the short period of time they have it activated for.

As you can see in Figure 5, both power ups above can be stacked and be used together. Which allows for players who are reluctant to run into enemies to maintain the projectiles as well as the speed the Super Star gives you.

The level design of Super Mario Bros. is at a whole different level, especially given that it was the first side-scrolling platformer. This game was advanced for its time and is a perfect way of telling players how to play the game exclusively with gameplay and not by explicitly telling them with an in-game tutorial that holds the player’s hands until they’ve completed said tutorial. As Loguidice said in his book Vintage Games. “The gameplay was superb, which is why the formula continues to be popular today, as demonstrated by the release of 2006’s New Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo DS. The controls in Super Mario Bros are straightforward and intuitive.”, which is a statement that to this day still holds up. Super Mario Bros. is a simple, yet effective game that’s easy to pick up, and thanks to various re-releases as well as the game being on the Nintendo Switch Online’s NES catalogue of games means that its easily accessible by gamers around the globe to enjoy.

It’s understandable to make a deep dive into the first level and ask yourself “why?”, why would people make such a big commotion on the first level of a game that came out in the 1990’s?, as explained earlier, the console market crash arose out of the distrust of the consumers towards home console games, and “Super Mario Bros, played a decisive role not only in the revival of the console market, but in the expansion of the videogame industry as a whole.” (Loguidice, B. 2009. Vintage Games. Boston. Focal Press.) .The genius level design that went into each level so that the progression and adventure felt like you were actually traversing a world is what made Super Mario Bros. stand out and revolutionize the gaming industry for the foreseeable future, creating a cultural impact that has only been made possible because of the success of this game.

References and Sources:

Kent, S.L. (2021) The ultimate history of video games. volume 1, from pong to pokémon and beyond–the story behind the craze that touched our lives and changed the world. New York: Crown.

Gaming at the Edge: Sexuality and Gender at the Margins of Gamer Culture

Loguidice, B. 2009. Vintage Games. Boston. Focal Press.

 O’Donnell, 2014

*All videos used in this post have been taken by me on the Nintendo Switch Online’ NES service. This allows for a faithful emulation of the original NES release of the game on modern hardware, the only differences are the UI of the Nintendo Switch Online’s NES service appearing. However this does not hinder the experience nor the overall gameplay of Super Mario Bros. as this is merely used as a demonstration of the game.

Why is Super Mario a landmark game?

Ultimate History of Video Games:

“The first shipment of NES systems arrived in a neat stack that barely took up half of the trailer on which it was transported. The boxes were stored in the warehouse, and the team began the arduous task of trying to get retailers to accept Nintendo’s products. Most store owners did not want to look at video games, let alone waste floor space selling them. In fact, team members were cautioned not to use the term video game. The NES was to be sold as an “entertainment system.”-PG 296

“Even so, most of the 500 retailers who sold the NES that Christmas might not have taken the merchandise if it were not for a risky offer made by Arakawa himself—a money-back guarantee. Going against the wishes of Nintendo Co. Ltd. president Hiroshi Yamauchi, Arakawa authorized his sales force to say that Nintendo would buy back any merchandise that retailers wished to return. The only thing retailers provided was floor space. Nintendo lugged in the merchandise, set up the displays, and bought back any unsold product.”-PG 297

“Super Mario Bros. took Mario out of his single-screen setting and placed him in a huge, vivid world. Instead of simply climbing ladders and moving around on platforms, players now controlled him as he ran through a seemingly endless, brightly colored countryside filled with caverns, castles, and giant mushrooms.”-PG 299

“It also took Warren Robinett’s concept of hidden “easter eggs” to a new Level with entire hidden worlds. Most people continued playing Super Mario Bros. to find all of Miyamoto’s Easter Eggs long after they finished the game.”- PG 299

“Nintendo also had a stronger identity. In 1981, the biggest year of arcades, Donkey Kong was second only to Pac-Man in popularity.”-PG 305

POWER UP:

“The actual challenge of Donkey Kong was to get a high score by playing the same levels over and over again. Many other running/jumping/climbing games with a similar challenge followed Donkey Kong, but Super Mario Bros. was the first game in which simply completing the story was the actual goal of the player, and so the exhortations of this introductory text were to be taken seriously. Super Mario Bros. kept score, but nobody cared; the idea was to find out what happened when you saved the princess!” PG- 82

“At this point, a gamer accustomed to the brief Atari games of the era would assume that the game is nearly over and that he is moments away from rescuing the Princess. But this is far from true. In fact, there are seven more “worlds” of four levels each to traverse before the Princess is found.”-PG 86 

Takashi Murakami:

Quote from Takashi Murakami:

“But everyone who lives in Japan knows- something is wrong… Kawaii (cute) culture has become a living entity that pervades everything. With a population heedless of the coast of embracing immaturity, the nation is in the throes of a dilemma: a preoccupation with anti-aging may conquer not only the human heart, but also the body.

It is a utopian society as fully regulated as the science fiction world George Orwell envisioned in 1984: comfortable, happy, fashionable- a world nearly devoid of discriminatory impulses. A place for people unable to comprehend the moral coordinates of right and wrong as anything other than rebus for ‘I feel good’.”

(Meaning of the quote): People live mindless lives, where they return to being children. For Murakami the “cute” culture is a retreat to childhood because Japan cannot cope with thinking about Hiroshima and an aging society, trying to suppress the stress and anxiety they’ve had.

Takashi Murakami, Little Boy: The Arts of Japan’s Exploding Subculture, 2005

Pearson:

Designed by Shigeru Miyamoto, the intention of the Mario games was for the player to recreate the wonder of childhood exploration and the stumbling upon of unexpected treasures. -PG 828

The absurdity of a rather short and podgy New York plumber of Italian origin (complete with overalls, large nose and moustache) rescuing Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom from a race of magic wielding turtles certainly resonates with a child-like imagination and Super Mario Bros. soon became a sensation -PG 829

History of The Japanese Video Game Industry:

“On the other hand, as is typical of the Mario series, Nintendo emphasizes the importance of game content that can be enjoyed by the whole family and that parents can buy for their children with peace of mind.” -PG 12

References:

Pearson, A. and Tranter, K. (2015) ‘Code, Nintendo”s Super Mario and Digital Legality’, International journal for the semiotics of law, 28(4), pp. 828–830.

Kent, S.L. (2021) The ultimate history of video games. volume 1, from pong to pokémon and beyond–the story behind the craze that touched our lives and changed the world. New York: Crown. 

Kohler, C. (2004) Power-up: how Japanese video games gave the world an extra life. Indianapolis, Ind: BradyGames.

Takashi Murakami, Little Boy: The Arts of Japan’s Exploding Subculture, 2005

Koyama, Y. (2023). History of the Japanese Video Game Industry. Springer Nature.

Rise of Japan:

Some key pointers:

-Tristian Donavan “Replay” (book, gives more context than Tim can give in class)

-The unstoppable rise of Japan in the 1980’s in the videogame industry worldwide.

-1991 Sega launched Sonic that rivaled Mario, meaning that the game industry was held by two Japanese companies and designers.

-Nintendo became a pioneer company for Japan.

Two key perspectives:

-Drawing the Narrative from Tristian Donovan’s Replay. How the NES became such a wonderful console.

-We will look at Shigeru Miyamoto’s genius in creating landmark games which allowed Nintendo to shape culture.

What do JP RPG/Platform games tell us about the culture? And how does that reflect onto the wider culture of the world?

Reasons for the Console Market Crash:

Good reading for this would be “Replay” by Tristan Donovan.

The Console Market Crash was one of the most important moments in the history of videogames. It was a time where there was a mass production of games and home consoles of poor quality which broke the trust in consumers, making it so that the over produced cartridges that were not sold had to be disposed of (think of E.T’s commercial failure)

Because of this over saturation, the US market for video game consoles had plummeted by 97%, with the popular belief that “consoles are history” and that “Personal Computers would take over”

Another reason for the over saturation of games, which is pointed out by Bill Kunkel, who said in January 1983 that companies had “licensed everything that moves, walks, crawls, or tunnels beneath the earth. You have to wonder how tenuous the connection will be between the game and the movie Marathon Man. What are you going to do, present a video game root canal?”, which is a powerful statement and highlights the saturation of poor quality games that were used as a cash grab to capitalize on the success of the films. The best example of this was E.T, that was developed by one person in 5 weeks to meet the demands of the Christmas schedule release. The game was claimed to be of extremely poor quality and caused many parents to be enraged at retailers for selling such a horrible game.

Post War Era in Japan:

During the post war area in Japan there was a growth in the economic revival which lasted between 20-30 years. Because of the Hiroshima bombing, Japan was put back a couple of years when it came to technology, however it was thanks to hard work of the country, as well as some help from the US that they were able to re-build their civilization as well as their economy. Thanks to this companies were able to buy gadgets that were considered to be the latest of their time, allowing them to focus on getting consumer centered tech back in the market, and most importantly Consumer Electronics such as TV’s and Consoles.

Some of the companies were:

-Sony

-Sharp

-Toshiba

The Game and Watch:

A landmark success that occurred during the 1980’s was the “Game and Watch” handheld console. This relic of history was created when a young designer of Nintendo named Yokoi was on a bullet train and saw a business man playing on an LCD calculator and pressing buttons. The young designer pitched the idea to Nintendo’s president, Hiroshi Yamauchi. Yamauchi immediately wanted a business meeting with the CEO of Sharp Corporation, who at the time were the world’s biggest manufacturer of calculators. Within the week, Yokoi’s idea was given the “go ahead” by both Nintendo and Sharp to develop a calculator pocket sized game. This small yet effective handheld console put Nintendo ahead of the console market thanks to the leadership of Yamauchi.

Yokoi, and by extension Nintendo, believed that “Lateral thinking with withered technology” would be the best way to approach their consoles. By selling older hardware they can afford to sell it for cheaper, make more money, as well as explore the full potential with their software that the hardware was capable of. Which is why there were so many iterations of Game and Watch on the market. This business strategy is what allowed them to get ahead of the game, as well as a philosophy that they have followed and continue to follow to this day.

During 1980 and 1991 the Game and Watch sold over 44 Million units, which popularised the handheld console market.

The Nintendo Entertainment System:

The NES was a re-boxing of the Famicom, which was a seen as a home computer designed exclusively for games that could be enjoyed by everyone in the family. In 1984, just a year after it had released, it was the most popular console in Japan.

However, Nintendo of America struggled in bringing the console to the stores. Game journalists, investors and retailers were skeptical of putting a home console as well as the cartridges on shelves considering the market had plummeted. Nintendo tried their best to market the console as a “Entertainment System” rather than a “Home Console” because they believed that their console, as well as the games that they would bring to it, were much better than anything that had come before it. Before releasing the console, Nintendo invited kids to play their NES and gave them a selection of games, they did this because they knew that the primary way that they would be able to sell these consoles would be appealing to kids (which were still playing home console games in the US), and by doing so they could create games that would be enjoyed by the whole family.  They focused their primary selling in New York, since New York was such an important commercial area for the United States, if something sold there, it was guaranteed to sell everywhere else in the US.

I actually found this video on YouTube which is an interview with Gail Tilden who was working in the marketing department for Nintendo during the release of the NES in the 1980’s

Shigeru Miyamoto:

-Shigeru Miyamoto is considered to be the most important game designer in history.

Donkey Kong for the arcades was the first game he ever designed. Donkey Kong’s mechanics mechanics play on how much we like chance, if the player gets too comfortable you may lose from the element of chance presented in the game.

-Nintendo tasked Miyamoto to design a game for the NES. He recreated his popular character “Jump-Man” to become the beloved “Super Mario” character we know today in the NES launch title “Super Mario Bros.”, which was the first game that had a scrolling background.

The original Legend of Zelda for the NES is considered to be a pioneer for videogames. It offered a diverse map of 128 different screens that allow the player to move around and travel in any direction they want, which would challenge the player in remembering the map since there wasn’t an overworld map. You could consider Legend of Zelda to be the first open world title, which is something the series would continue to build up upon following this installment. Within its first year Legend of Zelda sold over a million units, which really shows how revolutionary Nintendo, and Shigeru Miyamoto were for the console market back in the 80’s. A powerful quote from Miyamoto is “The player must feel the cold air around him when they go into a dungeon”, which is very prominent in the first installment in the Zelda series, especially with all the different designs for the dungeons. The freedom given to the player is exceptional and a never before seen within the gaming industry, which was an inspiration for many games that came after it, proving to be a highly regarded “Landmark game.”

In 1991, Sega released Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis/Mega drive, which sparked the rivalry of popularity between Sega and Nintendo. This meant that the game industry was held by two Japanese companies and designers. Eventually, Sega fell behind to PlayStation and Nintendo, and now acts as a publisher and developing company for the consoles of both of these companies.

What do Japanese games tell us about the Japanese culture?

Quote from Takashi Murakami:

“But everyone who lives in Japan knows- something is wrong… Kawaii (cute) culture has become a living entity that pervades everything. With a population heedless of the coast of embracing immaturity, the nation is in the throes of a dilemma: a preoccupation with anti-aging may conquer not only the human heart, but also the body.

It is a utopian society as fully regulated as the science fiction world George Orwell envisioned in 1984: comfortable, happy, fashionable- a world nearly devoid of discriminatory impulses. A place for people unable to comprehend the moral coordinates of right and wrong as anything other than rebus for ‘I feel good’.”

Takashi Murakami, Little Boy: The Arts of Japan’s Exploding Subculture, 2005

(Meaning of the quote): People live mindless lives, where they return to being children. For Murakami the “cute” culture is a retreat to childhood because Japan cannot cope with thinking about Hiroshima and an aging society, trying to suppress the stress and anxiety they’ve had.

For additional context, read:

“Power Up”, (Chris Kolher)

“Japanese Culture through video games” (Rachel Hutchinson)

The First Generation (1972-1977)

Technological Innovations:

-This was the era of home dedicated consoles.

-These consoles could only play a limited number of games, which often lacked sound and colour. Most of the games were built into the console.

-Limited Power: discrete circuits with no microprocessors (Until the Nintendo Colour TV-Game 6 in 1977)

Consoles of the time were: Magnavox Odyssey (1972), Home Pong (1975), Nintendo Colour TV-Game 6 (1977)

Game Development:

-Developers were restricted by hardware limitations.

-Most games were often variations of sports games.

Player Experience:

Gameplay was confined to simple mechanics, and players interacted with games in a minimalistic way.

The Second Generation (1976-1983)

Technological Innovations:

-Around this time was when the ROM cartridges were being introduced.

-Hardware featured microprocessors and rudimentary graphical displays!

-Consoles could now run multiple games, assisting the concept of expandable game libraries.

Game Development:

-Cartridges allowed developers to store game data externally. Games also became more complex with better visuals and simple AI.

-This time also saw the rise of Third-Party developers. A great example of this being Activision, which rose from 4 developers who left Atari because they were displeased with the treatment they were receiving at Atari.

Player Experience:

-Players gained more choice, control, and variety in games, adding up to 500 total games to choose from.

-We also saw beloved arcade style games being developed for home consoles!

We could also see the first movement stick with a button as a controller for the Atari 2600

     

 

The Third Generation (1983-1990)

This was the start of the soft rivalry between Sega and Nintendo, which would later emerge into the console wars. International releases of the Famicon they had to change the console to be labelled as an “entertainment system” so that audiences didn’t link it to the bad fame of the Atari 2600. And thus, the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) was born!

Technological Innovations:

Game Development:

-Developers could now create larger, more detailed worlds. Scrolling, multi-level platformers.

-The Nintendo Seal of Quality ensured that Third Party game developers had produced quality games, to set it aside from the Atari 2600’s fame of having many lackluster and often copy pasted games.

-The development costs also started to rise during this time.

Player Experience:

-Games became more engaging and interactive, with more storytelling and adventure focused games releasing (Such as Mario Bros. Legend of Zelda, and Final Fantasy.)

-Home consoles started competing with arcades in terms of quality.

(This advertisement also shows that multiplayer and overall quality of their software was one of the main drivers for Nintendo to promote their console to their audiences.)

The User Interface (UI) That we see in the original Legend of Zelda (1986) was one of the first steps in the industry to display information to the player such as your Life and Items.

A good example of the technological advancements for this generation would be Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988) and Final Fantasy II (1988), with their scrolling background allowing the player to feel like they’re progressing through the level as well as the complexity of various numbers appearing on screen such as HP bars as well as the damage inflicted to the bosses.

Another game that I would like to mention is Mega Man 2 (1988), Specifically in this boss fight we see that the boss is significantly bigger than Mega Man. This is actually a genius play from Capcom since the hardware limitations wouldn’t allow for bosses to be much bigger than the player characters. So as a work around, they made the background pitch black and made the boss a part of the background, which would only work if the background was black. This “feature” was so beloved by fans, that games like Shovel Knight use this nowadays as a “call back” to this revolutionary feature.

The Fourth Generation (1987-1994)

Technological Advancements:

-Transition to the 16-bit microprocessors.

-Better graphics and audio, which allowed for more colours, sprites, and multi-layer scrolling backgrounds.

-Introduction to Mode 7 (Nintendo’s scaling and rotation graphics mode, creating many levels of depth with the scenery.)

-Introduction of handheld devices such as the Gameboy.

Game Development:

-Games featured richer, more immersive environments.

-Game design evolved with more intricate level designs, character development, and strategic gameplay.

-Mode 7 allowed developers to simulate 3D environments.

Player Experience:

-Players experienced more immersive worlds and sophisticated narratives.

-More complex control schemes added depth to the gameplay.

-This also started the “console wars”

   

The Fifth Generation (1994-2001)

Technological Innovations:

-Transition from 2D to 3D gaming. A huge emphasis on 3D polygons.

-Introduction of optical discs (CD-ROM) for greater storage, leading to longer, more detailed games.

-Analogue controls for smoother 3D movement (Super Mario 64)

-Consoles that were made more than just gaming consoles, such as the PlayStation 1.

Game Development:

-3D Environments and open-world design became a reality.

-The larger storage capacity of CDs allowed developers to add full-motion video (FMV), CD quality soundtracks and voice acting (a great example of this would be SquareSoft/SquareEnix with Final Fantasy 7)

-Larger development costs and teams.

Player Experience:

-Players Engaged with more immersive 3D worlds and experienced greater freedom in exploration.

-Optical Discs allowed more storage, paving the way for cinematic storytelling.

Controllers were also a hot topic. With Sony’s PlayStation 1 controller mimicking the simplicity of the SNES and NES controller but allowing for more user comfortability with handles for players with bigger hands allowed for hours of gameplay without your hands getting cramped (Thank you!). However, Nintendo’s N64 controller continues the trend of serving its purpose, but having a weird feel to it. Despite the analogue stick being amazing for games such as Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the controller does feel a bit off to use for long play sessions.

In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998), the developers thought of a genus and revolutionary idea for an action packed game with many enemies on the field. The Z button on the N64 controller was used to lock into specific targets to be able to focus your attention and direct your attacks to, or even guard with your shield at specific angles to avoid enemy attacks!

Half way through the fifth generation, Nintendo and Sony did a revision of their controllers, with Nintendo’s questionable Rumble Pack aiming to have even more of an immersive feel to the game, and Sony’s controller now having two joysticks (which will become a staple for years to come) which allowed users to move even more freely within the 3D environments.

Alien Resurrection (2001) was a game who’s developers knew how to take advantage of the revisited PS1 controller, with movement done with the left analogue stick and now being able to move the camera with the right analogue stick. This game was critised for being too complicated because of the controls. However, nowadays, this is also viewed as a staple in games which allow players to move the camera (Just because it’s criticized doesn’t mean it’s bad!)

Origins of Games:

Senet:

-Senet is a game that has been found to have originated around 2686-2613 BC in Egypt. Senet is a game that required both skill and chance.

It is speculated that Senet’s status changed overtime, from a pastime to an activity with potent symbolism and with great religious significance.

The Royal Game of “Ur”:

-Around the same time of Senet, in Mesopotamia, a game with dice elements known as Ur was also being played.

It’s clear that games, apart from serving ritual functions, they were also used to entertain in social interactions.

Go:

-Go has been played since 200 BC.

The Olympic Games (700 BC):

-The beginning of the Olympic Games were held around 776 BC, which were formed and compromised by carefully framed rules, assigning scores to participants.

The Olympic Games of then, like early known board games show us a basic human behavior-to create games, even if it means creating the most “noncreational thing” into a game.

-Dice has been used in games of chance from the seventh century BC.

-At the time of the first Olympic Games, there was a version of Chess called “Chaturanga”, which was a sanskrit term referring to a “battle formation”

Chaturanga is quite similar to contemporary Chess, a “King” of sorts being the all powerful piece, as well as different pieces having different “powers”, however, it wasn’t until the tenth century, where the game of Chaturanga that was present within some Arab luggage, that it had arrived to Europe and Africa. And it wasn’t until the fifteenth century that it started to undergo a standardization process.

Card games would undergo a similar experience around this time (They have only been in Europe for about 2 centuries at this point), which were now given “Standardized card suits”.

Mid Eighteenth Cen:

Similar to Senet, playing cards took on symbolic/mystical functions, as they were employed in the service of fortune telling.

1842/1843:

-In this year, the Idea of making a board game based on “actual real-world activities” flourished. Made by Prussian Lieutenant, George Von Reisswitz was the game known as “Kriegsspiel”, this strategy game which offered a wide range of situations, became popular with Prussian army personnel.

-In 1843, the game known as The Mansion of Happiness became the first commercially produced game in the US. This board game offered a simplistic vision of the world, where good deeds were rewarded and bad ones were punished.

1930’s, Monopoly:

-In the Mid 1930’s, the game of Monopoly, published by Parker Brothers would be released. This title was based on a previous board game called “The Landlord’s Game” as well as other so-called “descendants” however, these didn’t achieve the fame of Monopoly.

-Monopoly doesn’t attempt to put on an act about awarding in-game niceties, the game combines strategic thinking of the player’s drive for dominating a fictional real estate world with the factor of chance. The game rewards nothing better than bold capitalist perseverance, which directly challenges the cultural values and values of its players, which is why it became such a success with younger audiences of the time, allowing it to sell over 200 million copies worldwide. Thanks to its success, it allowed for board games to be established as a foundational family activity for all ages.

WW’s:

-During the aftermath of WWII, electronic games were struggling to flourish. In the 1950’s, we would see the publications of various strategic war games, including the games “Risk” and “Diplomacy”

The complexity of “Kriegsspiel” does bleed into many of these war games. However, Diplomacy barely relies on rule sets. Players battle for domination in a WW1 Europe, and Negotiations as well as Interpersonal Scheming are crucial for this goal, creating a Layered Machiavellian experience despite the simplicity of the rules.

Mid 20’ TH Century:

-Around the mid twentieth century, commercially produced games were an established part of cultures around the globe. We played games of chance, games of strategy and war, as well as games that simulate aspects of the real world/of real life.

-In 1954, J.R.R Tolkein published The Lord of The Rings, which would completely revolutionise the landscape of literature and introduce the world to the fantasy genre.The world wide success would cause more authors to recreate their own worlds such as mediaeval or mythical worlds which would be stacked with magic, dragons and heroes. Despite this spur of authors, none had reached the success of J.R.R Tolkein’s tale, which catered to many hungry readers and ultimately created the many fantasy fans which continue to thrive nowadays.

-The 1960’s saw the rapid increase of war games, strategic tabletop games where maps, dice, and figures (which would be used to simulate battles), which were used to recreate historical conflicts.

-Around the 1970’s, the “pen and paper RPGs” would be developed thanks to popular convergence as well as popular trends around the time.

-War games and Fantasy games found a primary audience of young/teenage males, so it was only a question of time for both genres to merge. The best example of these would be war games with a fantasy aesthetic/theme, which would usually star elves and orcs which replaced the armies formed by the European empires.

-The mother of all RPG games, Dungeons and Dragons (Created by Dave Arneson and Gary Gyax in 1974), is directly based on a fantasy war game called Chainmail. When it originally came out, D&D was selling around 7,000 copies a month. By 1979, it had “spawned” a multitude of sequels as well as numerous gamers to become game designers, this was because of the game’s complex rules which seemed to be a magnet for aspiring designers, who went on record to adapt D&D’s several rules into their own fantasy worlds.

-After the success of D&D, RPG games seemed to grow in popularity exponentially. Some of them aimed to simplify complicated rules whilst maintaining a fantasy setting. In 1976, Runequest was released, which was set in a fictional world during the bronze age; its rules have been praised as the beginning of modern RPG.

Other games introduced new universes and settings, such as 1977’s Traveller, a science fiction game.

-However, by the end of the 1970’s, the media news media spread a “concern” about the hobby of Role-playing, as they connected the fact that youth cases of suicide or criminal activity.behaviour were related to role-playing games. This was enhanced further with the general public not really appreciating the pastime of allowing young people sit in their living rooms, discussing mediaeval weapons or slaughtering monsters, as this struck some parents to be morbid or unhealthy for their children. (Page 65) Role-playing games were also labelled as “Blasphemous” by religious cycles. These controversies have also occurred to their video-game counterparts, which have eclipsed their table-top counterparts drastically in world wide sales.

MUD and History In VG’s:

-MUD is a Multi User Dungeon which is a system for virtual role playing (usually found in chat rooms)

-Video-games have removed the need for a “Dungeon Master”

-Tabletop games have inspired MUD and text adventures, which slowly turned into the MMO’s we know nowadays.

-The history of games doesn’t fall into categories that easily, so it’s easier to categorise it by decades.

-Regardless of the project, the importance of history is prominent as history does tend to repeat itself.

-Sometimes history is very important, games such as WoW have direct history with MUD such as copying the communication interface from MUD.

PG 67:

-It isn’t clear as to what the first videogame was.

-In 1949 Cambridge, UK, scientists managed to start operating a very early computer (EDSAC), however it wasn’t until 3 years later that a PHD student got a single player version of tic tac toe to run on it.

-In brookhaven laboratory, visitors were under-impressed by the massive mainframes on display. As an effort to impress the public, “tennis for two” was made. Despite being electronic, it ran on analogue equipment.

PG 68:

-In 1961, in MIT, three men developed “Spacewar!” on a friendly computer (of the time) to interest visitors of the lab since they were unimpressed by the tic tac toe

-Despite Spacewar! Probably being the first videogame, it was certainly not the first step in the process.

-Spacewar! Became an inspiration for game developers of the time, and because of its success, it was given a couple of updates with new features.

-The only other milestone in the 60’s, is that a TV engineer began the base development for the first “At home” game console, with the intention of being played on a Television.

-Despite many action games being developed, it wasn’t until “Magnavox” picked up the technology in a deal and included this technology in their TV sets.

PG 69:

-In 1970’s, video games grew extensively, marking the beginning of the gaming industry.

-Arcade games were played on dedicated coin operated machines.

-Atari was the most important game producer of the time, they created an unsuccessful copy of Spacewar!, which paved the way to create the game Pong, which was a commercial success and heavily impacted and created a new market in corporate America.

-The aforementioned Magnavox deal further developed into the Odyssey console.