Wii Warm Up: The new retro
by JC Fletcher 
{ Jan 24th 2009 at 10:30AM }
Mega Man 9 brought authentic 8-bit style to WiiWare. It was totally great, and totally a unique presentation for a modern game. Since then, two more faux-retro games have been announced for WiiWare: the currently Japan-only Eventful Journey! Pole's Big Adventure, which combines Famicom parody with Japanese TV-style comedy; and Bit.Trip: Beat, which takes its visual inspiration from even older games.Now that it's a genuine trend, how do you feel about the fake-retro thing? Do you like seeing direct references to the history of gaming like this? Do you like it more or less now that it's not just Mega Man (and Retro Game Challenge) doing it?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Danny @ Jan 24th 2009 10:49AM
Meh it's ok, but I prefer 3D style side scrollers like new super mario bros.
Bowser Rogozhin @ Jan 24th 2009 10:55AM
If I wasn't a gamer from way back, starting in the NES era, I would find the constant inside references as an obstruction tool, leaving me isolated without a genuine frame of reference. It's fun to give newcomers a dinghy and throw them into a ocean. Watch them swim, and flail, and drown, then disappear.
Without even needing to be a gamer, the whole indy record clerk 'I know a certain frame of history, therefore, I am a superior consumer' aura exudes pungently.
Bowser Rogozhin @ Jan 25th 2009 6:07AM
Addendum: I was talking mostly about Retro Gaming Challenge and the Sega Wiiware game, rather than the retro phenomena as a whole.
This retro trend feels like empty recycling. There's no attempt to champion culture, just a forever looking backwards to the 'good ol days.' As this economic slowdown bites harder I'm sure people people will keep harking back to the 'good ol days' of the 80s/90s. Publishers will catch onto this zeitgeist and commission more products of nostalgia.
austin @ Jan 24th 2009 11:23AM
http://help.sega.com/index.php?_m=tickets&_a=viewticket&ticketid=11301
go to that web site and some one screen grab it
when i heard about winter i sent a email to sega about it and they sent me one back saying this
Hi Austin,
Thanks for contacting Sega Customer Support regarding your recommendation. I have passed this recommendation on to the marketing and development teams for their consideration and should Sega choose to pick the game up, an announcement regarding this will be made at a later time.
Thanks again for your e-mail!
Rob
Sega Customer Support
it will ask for my email and password on the side when you go they my email is soupisgood08@aim.com and my password for sega is qwerty1 some one please screen grab it
Nathew @ Jan 24th 2009 11:45AM
look on your keyboard. see a key that says "prnt scrn"? press it. now open up ms paint, select the "edit" menu, and click "paste".
now you don't have to give out your password anymore.
Bowser Rogozhin @ Jan 24th 2009 11:58AM
The people who developed Winter also developed Geist. Geist is a terrible, I repeat, terrible game. Blandest of the bland. According to Wikipedia, their only other GC game was Mary-Kate and Ashley: Sweet 16. On Wiiware they've put out Target Toss; shovelware of the highest order.
Now ignore the Gonintendo/IGN manufactured propaganda, Ellul would have a field-day, and ask yourself a simple question: given N-Space atrocious track record what gives you hope that this will be anything other than a mediocre game?
If you're desperate for survival horror import Fatal Frame from the EU, or borrow a PS2.
Bowser Rogozhin @ Jan 24th 2009 12:01PM
That was meant to be a reply to Austin.
wutdaheckman @ Jan 24th 2009 12:06PM
retro style games are awesome if they are well done. else its just another bad game with horrible graphics
Evan @ Jan 24th 2009 1:12PM
Retro games remind us that video games are supposed to be games, not interactive movies or boring virtual life simulators.
Feba @ Jan 24th 2009 1:21PM
It's a style. Like cel-shading, brown and bloom, hand drawn 2D images (Muramasa, Paper Mario), or anything else. It depends entirely on application.
This is sort of like saying "are classical compositions out of place in modern games?". Well, I wouldn't put Beethoven's 3rd near Burnout Paradise or NBA Street Hoops Action XX Elite [or whatever the hell the title they're on], but Zelda or Lego Star Wars would feel WRONG without their accompanying music.
raindog @ Jan 24th 2009 1:41PM
I started playing video games in about 1973, so the sweet spot for me is about '80-83, the "classic" Nintendo/Namco/Williams 8-bit games and Atari vector games in the arcades, and the Atari 2600, Intellivision and Vectrex consoles. So retro stuff means a lot more to me than someone who thinks the NES was the first console, much less someone who started with a Playstation 2 or Wii. I don't know how many other people under 40 are like me in that regard, so I think games with a lot of pixel art and electronic sounds are going to be a pretty small niche.... though if they're stylish enough and accessible enough, they might appeal to casual game players just like the 8-bit games appealed to us 25-30 years ago.
I love retro-style games when they're done well, but it doesn't just have to mean the art style. I loved Robotron in 1982, and I loved Geometry Wars last year because it was like a vastly expanded version of the same game. NSMB had a lot in common with SMB1-3, though I often felt they would have done better with more stylized graphics to go with the gameplay. Cave Story is great in that regard, as well as many others. Space Invaders Extreme struck a pretty nice balance too. I wish whoever owns the old Atari arcade game properties like Tempest and Asteroids would figure out how to bring them into the modern age that well.... all praise to the Yak but I don't think Tempest 2K/3K were really it.
But again, just as not too many 16-year-old kids are into Frank Zappa or Led Zeppelin, not too many people who found video games in the last decade are going to be into games with either retro style or gameplay.
Josh @ Jan 24th 2009 2:38PM
Mega Man 9's the only one truly acting as a new retro game.
Retro Game Challenge and Pole's Big Adventure are parodies, and BIT.TRIP BEAT is more like a modern music game that just uses Atari sounds as one of the instruments. I think BIT.TRIP BEAT is somewhat comparable to Space Invaders Extreme in terms of its "retro-ness".
Josh @ Jan 24th 2009 2:38PM
Oh, and by the way, I love it all.
samfish @ Jan 24th 2009 2:53PM
So far I like it. It could easily start to suck, though, since 8-bit game mechanics generally don't hold up very well. Games like Mega Man and Mario are the exception to the rule.
All in all, I'm just glad to have more 2D games in general. WiiWare is slowly shaping up to be the best thing about the Wii lately, IMO.