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 So I guess you’ve all read my previous articles: Throwback Thursdays, where I discussed different old school titles that set the standard for gaming back-in-the-day. What’s Up With That: where anything went, well almost anything. These articles were mainly used for venting purposes, and very therapeutic, to say the least. Also I’ve even been known to throw in some tidbits about gaming news, throw in some cool trailers and funny videos I’ve stumbled upon around the web. Well today I am going to take a long hard look at how gaming has progressed through the years. I’m thirty-two years old; I’ve seen a lot of changes in gaming. In my old age I really look at how far the gaming industry has come and appreciate what we call the next-gen era that is before us.

 My life started, obviously, as a small lad, I grew up outside of Pennsylvania’s most notorious cities: Philadelphia. Anyway, I was about five when my father brought home my first gaming rig. It was the Atari 2600, and it was an awesome machine for the time. I believe the very first game I was introduced to on this particular console was Pong. This was the first tabletop tennis game you could actually play from the comfort of your own sofa. Using the awkward Atari Paddles I spent hours on end bashing that little white spec of ball from one side of the virtual court to the other. This was cutting edge to me: seeing as the only other time I played games was at the local pizza joint, and it usually involved a limited amount of quarters. While it was exciting to me to play on these huge wooden cabinets while standing on a milk crate, I was slowly putting my parents in the poorhouse, or at least decreasing the chance of next Friday’s pizza night. The purchase of an Atari system was a win-win situation for my parents and me. They no longer had to shell out an obscene amount of change, and I didn’t have to ask them for it. The system was everything I could have ever asked for. It was an escape to a far off world filled with make-believe characters and lands as far as the eye could see. Not to mention it served to fill those countless hours of boredom when there was nothing to do.

  Another title I also fell instantaneously in love with on the Atari was Pitfall. This was a kind of Indiana Jones-like game where I swung over obstacles by way of vine. I made my way through the game hopping on the eyeballs of various alligators, avoiding giant insects, and jumping the occasional log. These obstacles kept me on my toes on a daily basis. And my relentless quest for gold kept me coming back for more. I must have literally played this game for five months straight before moving on to the next game in line. To this very day I can’t recall any game that has been released in the last couple of years that held my attention for that long. Well, other than Goldeneye that is, but I’ll get to that later.

 Another earlier title that kept me glued to the set in olden days of the screw-in RF modulator was Space Invaders. It was you against the evil attacking alien horde that kept relentlessly dropping in from above. The only hope for the Earth’s survival was to dart back and forth across the TV Screen blasting those so-called intellectual beings back to whatever planet they came from. I took heed, though, because one false move or wasted shot just might have been my last: if an alien craft landed it was Game Over and back to the drawing board (that was the slang back then).

 A multitude of other classic games also made their way slowly onto my Atari home console. Bezerk, Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong: where a little character known as Mario made his first appearance. These were all titles I still have fond memories of from the Atari’s first giant leap into the home gaming market. Although the Atari 2600 sold extremely well for the time, its days were numbered when it began shipping. A little plumber named Mario would soon be knocking at our doors, and the Nintendo Corporation would change the way we would perceive the gaming market forever!

 The next obvious step-up for me as a gamer was to acquire one of Nintendo’s state-of-the-art consoles: the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES for short. Coming from a household that predominately played games in a limited color scheme: the NES would show us that games didn’t have to be the drab dull colorless games I had become accustomed to. These 80’s generation games were jam-packed with color, a multitude of well-detailed backgrounds, and semi-realistic looking characters. The times were good. I blasted countless ducks from the air with my Zapper as my laughing dog scooped them up. Those were the days. I think it was about at this particular point and time that gaming was at its peak of childhood. Nintendo had the infamous seal of approval, this meant all of us gamers could rest assure we weren’t receiving crap-in-a-box wrapped neatly in plastic. Games were reasonably priced, and most of them were actually pretty good. You had Duck Hunt where you relentlessly blasted your choice of clay pigeons or ducks from the sky. The dirt bike racing sensation Excitebike; this was the first game that I can remember where you could design your own track. I can clearly remember building tracks that my cohorts and me would race on for hours at a time. This small, seemingly insignificant feature added hours of enjoyment onto what could have been an easily forgettable game. But Nintendo was about more than ripping through the mud, or shooting things that passed through the air. Nintendo was about to get deep, real deep.

 One of the most infamous titles that none of us can forget no matter how much brainwashing we endure is Super Mario Brothers. This headache-inducing classic took us to a magical mushroom kingdom where we maneuvered through sewer pipes on our way to rescue some princess we hardly knew. We met the Koopas, flying Koopas, and a infamous turtle/dragon looking creature named Bowser who we would later find out would become out arch nemesis for the next twenty plus years. We set forth on our adventure and found that we could jump, grow twice our size, shoot fireballs, and even become invincible for a short time. Super Mario Brothers showed us that games were about to get a lot more intense, and a hell of a lot longer.

 My second favorite NES title would have to be Metroid. Taking the role of Samus (who I thought was a man for the longest time) you are sent to a far off planet in one of the coolest spacesuits imaginable. Your mission was to roll around, blast things, and get really lost while trying to eradicate an alien life force the government had a problem with. This was pretty much the classic side-scroller with a twist. New exciting weapons and abilities were given to you as you progressed further into the game. And the simple ability to morph yourself into a ball to access different locations within the world set this game apart from any other in Nintendo’s line up. This was the era of the quest; every game was sending you off to do this or that. And my educated guess would be that Nintendo believed a game without a quest was a game without purpose, and that would just be boring.

 Nintendo gave us games with purpose, they stuck you in the role of the hero who was presented a task to free the surrounding lands from the (insert evil here). Games like The Legend Of Zelda made us acquire magical powers, hunt for hidden items, and draw our own makeshift maps so we could find our way around. We battled skeletons with our sword while blocking fireball attacks with our shield, found hidden keys that opened up new areas to explore, and unleashed magical spells to defeat our foes. Zelda was the first true open world adventure game, and once again Nintendo changed our perception of gaming.

 The 80’s were a time filled with world conflict. Everyone was spying on everyone else and their mothers. The Cold War was at its peak, and Arnold Schwarzenegger was just an overgrown movie star. This was the era of Red Dawn: it was the M16 versus the AK47, the red versus the red white and blue. Covert operation games flooded the market at this time, and Games like Rush N’ Attack put you in the somewhat awkward position of being the only red-blooded American that could save the world from the communist. As usual, the military fucked up and sent you in with only a knife and a sandwich, it was the bare minimum that you needed to make it through the game.

 Commando was released in 1987 and became an instant classic in the NES lineup. This memorable top-down shooter dropped you in by way of helicopter and left the rest up to you. Battling your way through numerous adversaries with a machinegun and a few grenades you pushed forward in the hopes of completing the level, and coming that much closer to saving the world. The graphics weren’t the most exceptional for the time, but the change in camera angle added a whole new dimension to the shooters we had become accustomed to. With the camera now affixed above our heads we felt like the world had just opened up. But there were also some drawbacks, now instead of watching out for the bad guy who was running at you head-on. You now had to worry about attacks coming in from multiple enemies from every angle. The Ai wasn’t the most intelligent; they shot their guns in a predetermined direction, so in most cases you could sneak on by them. Overall, Commando was one of the best run-and-gun shooters on the market at the time, and paved the way for future installment in the genre known as “the shooter”.

 One of the most cutting-edge games to arrive on the NES was Mega Man, or RockMan, depending on which hemisphere you resided in at the time. You played as the main character, Mega Man: a futuristic robot built by Dr. Light. And as usual it is up to you to save the world from the clutches of the evil Dr. Wily. Many obstacles including a horde of well-constructed robots waited around every turn of your journey. Some boss battles were even thrown your way and pitted you against some of the toughest of Dr. Wily’s creations. Cut Man, Ice Man, and Electric Man were just a few of the enemies you had to defeat using the dodge and shoot method. After each of the bosses was defeated, Mega Man would gain a power-up that would assist him through his journey. This Japanese-style run-and-gun set to early techno kept me on the edge of my seat the entire game. If you have no idea what or who is Mega Man you should first be ashamed of yourself, and then try your hardest to find a copy. If I was stuck on an island and I could only bring one game that game would have to be Mega Man.

 Though my short list of NES games is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the quality titles that Nintendo gave us. Honorable mentions are as follows: Metal Gear: what else can I say the beginning to one of the most acclaimed series ever to be made. Blaster Master: a game where the camera angle would switch from the normal side-scroller to a top down view when you entered different areas. Double Dragon: was the street brawler that started it all for the punch you in the face genre.  Bubble Bobble: where we learned that dinosaurs really enjoyed eating bubbles. Castlevania: An eerie look into the dark side of gaming and the first memorable installment into the genre we call horror games.

 I know I left out a few titles, but if I didn’t I would be sitting here writing for a year. These were some of the most memorable games to hit the two consoles that started it all. The next generation to come would push consoles to their limits and show us that gaming was going to be an ever-expanding medium for years to come.

 This is the first installment of “The History of Gaming”. Be sure to watch for parts two through six of my ongoing look into the evolution of gaming. Good Night, and Good Gaming. PeAcE. 

 Related Throwback Thursday Articles:

Pitfall 

Duck Hunt 

Commando 

Metroid 

Rush N' Attack 

Contra 

Paperboy 

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