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4 Retro Greats Still Impacting Modern Gaming

4 Retro Greats Still Impacting Modern Gaming

Super Mario has been around for 30 years now. Link from Legend of Zelda has been around for 29. Mega Man is now 28 years old and the characters of Final Fantasy VII have been fueling cosplayers and fanfiction for 18 years. When I read this opening aloud, the numbers feel weird in my mouth. Impossible, even. How have we preserved these legacies so well, despite aging technology and an onslaught of fresh, new properties and ideas?

My first impulse is to blame nostalgia, but it has to be more than that. These franchises managed to gain popularity among younger audiences and permeates our culture across generations. Popular Youtubers keep the kids informed on older titles and pique their curiosity. Charity events and speed runners feature retro games on a regular basis. But the single, most important way gamers manage to keep these old spirits alive is through actual video games.

Nintendo is notoriously adept at this. Their games innovate and build atop classic ideas without losing the spirit of the games; Mario is still very much about platforming, and Zelda remains inseparable from puzzle-solving and exploration. With the recent release of Super Mario Maker for the Wii U, Nintendo demonstrated its prowess once again, effectively repackaging classic games with a brand new mechanic: the ability to further customize and build Mario stages using recycled assets. The result is something that feels virtually identical to the games we grew up with, but with a creative community supporting it by providing interesting or challenging new content on a daily basis.

Sometimes what the consumers want isn’t a title merely inspired by a classic; they want the classic remade, only shinier. This is the case with Final Fantasy VII , a game that was huge for its time, and its continuing legacy has introduced many gamers to the world of JRPGs. An early tech demo for the PS3 depicted the opening cutscene of Final Fantasy VII remade in HD and, since then, gamers have been begging for an actual remake. This year, Square Enix officially revealed that a remake is in the works, and the internet hasn’t been quiet about it since. Some worry that the game will change too much, while others are just excited to have an excuse to replay it on their current generation of hardware.

Of course, the ways retro games influence contemporary gaming aren’t always so transparent. The Binding of Isaac is an example that has made its way from a humble Steam release to an updated release on the PS4 entitled The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth . Finally, despite Nintendo’s original opposition to the game’s content, the title was made available on the Nintendo 3DS. The popularity of The Binding of Isaac is, in part, attributed to the game’s retro aesthetic. The graphics are drawn in a 16-bit style and the gameplay is reminiscent of older Legend of Zelda games. The influences are clear once you start investing some time into the game; the references to nerd culture that are strewn throughout it cement its connection to nerd history and culture.

4 Retro Greats Still Impacting Modern Gaming

Other times, a beloved franchise dies for business reasons and can’t be revitalized due to licensing reasons. Mega Man is a title that has disappeared from Capcom’s lineup. Gamers have protested and begged Capcom to reconsider the seeming retirement of a once great franchise. Unfortunately, their efforts didn’t seem to impact Capcom all that much. This doesn’t, however, mean that Mega Man fans are totally left out in the rain. Fans have worked on a variety of unofficial Mega Man titles in the meanwhile. One fan effort, called Street Fighter x Mega Man even went on to gain Capcom’s official support. But the best opportunity for Mega Man fans to re-experience the gameplay they’ve been longing for may be through the upcoming release of Mighty No. 9 .

Mighty No. 9 will be the first creation of the studio Comcept, headed by original Mega Man producer, Keiji Inafune. The game, which was funded in 2 days via Kickstarter and has since gone on to reach over 400% of its original funding goal, will be a Mega Man game in every manner except name itself. This is because the market undeniably exists and both the development team and fans seem passionate about this project. If it’s successful, maybe Capcom will even consider bringing back the old icon for a new original game.

There are many ways that old games continue to influence us today. People continue to talk about them, and people continue to be inspired by them. Consumers request them, and indie developers embrace them. When you step back and look at the history of gaming, the industry almost seems keen on proving, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that great games never really die. Great games live on in spirit.

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