This fake retro trend

ElvisChrist6

There's been a lot of games doing the whole retro graphics schtick in the last few years, even moreso recently. I haven't gotten to play many of the big ones, like Shovel Knight very recently, Castle Crashers or the AVGN game, any good ones going around? Is it, most of the time, just a gimmick that they don't make up for with decent original gameplay? There's a Free-To-Play Steam game I played recently called You Have To Win the Game, though it was originally released 2 years ago. It's made in the style of an 8-bit home computer, but it's sort of a Metroidvania style game, in which you travel from room to room, unlocking some rooms once you obtain skills or activate the coloured boxes, like in certain Mario games. Although it's actually quite enjoyable once you get into it and tricky too, it's the kind of game I wouldn't have really bothered playing had I not downloaded it - if it was a flash game on a website, I would have started it and promptly said "**** it, not that good". It's something to pass the time, exactly what you'd expect with free to play games, but some other of these retro aesthetic new games felt the same way to me and weren't necessarily free. So, what ones are actually worth it? Is it just a gimmick?

Star Lord

There are loads that are actually worth it. Ones that I have played that immediately jump to my mind are:

VVVVVV
Swords and Sorcery
Steamworld Dig
Lone Survivor

I've heard nothing but good things about Shovel Knight too.

Ron DMC

Um. Flappy Bird.

Star Lord

Ron DMC wrote: »

Um. Flappy Bird.

:(:mad:

o1s1n

Hotline Miami is definitely one to check out. Absolutely crazy fun game. (emphasis on crazy!)

Retr0gamer

There's some really god awful games with terrible art that say they are retro style. Games like the upcoming citizens of earth and castle crashers have really plain ugly looking Flash art that looks nothing like any retrogame ever developed and is really lazy as well. Some games do it well like VVVVVV and Shovel Knight even if they break the limitations of the hardware they are trying to emulate.

o1s1n

Retr0gamer wrote: »

There's some really god awful games with terrible art that say they are retro style. Games like the upcoming citizens of earth and castle crashers have really plain ugly looking Flash art that looks nothing like any retrogame ever developed and is really lazy as well. Some games do it well like VVVVVV and Shovel Knight even if they break the limitations of the hardware they are trying to emulate.

There are many god awful games with terrible art full stop :pac:

How are you guys playing Shovel Knight? I'm still waiting for it to come out on the EU 3DS Eshop

Must be on Steam or something?

megaten

I think castle crashers looks nice, but I also grew up playing newgrounds games.

CiDeRmAn

Sword and Sworcery is probably an early one, and a damn fine one.
The point is, not always that you have a game aping a particular console, like the newer Megaman games are supposed to look like they are on a NES, but the likes of the one mentioned above that says, thanks very much, I'll have that characteristic art style, but I'll also rob from where ever I like elsewhere.
Truth be told, it probably all began with the almighty Castlevania Symphony of the Night, a game that looked to the untrained eye like a 16bit title running on a Snes but was doing all sorts of effects along the way it Snes/Megadrive couldn't do, along with a great soundtrack and a massive play area.
The follow ups, on the GBA and DS maintained the 2d art style but incorporated a deeper palette, beautiful games indeed.
Same thing went for the GBA Metroid Zero and Fusion titles, taking the gorgeous Super Metroid and updating it with a stunning pair of games that could just have been running on a Snes, but were actually released some 8 years later.

johnny_ultimate

There's a lot of **** out there for sure, but on the flips side a retro aesthetic can be a familiar, efficient and marketable way to release a game. It's a way to communicate mechanics and feedback in a way many players will be instantly familiar with. In a game like Nidhogg it's bold, brash and colourful. It's cheaper than having to develop a completely modern artstyle (although I wish there were more completely unique looking games out there). And yes: it sells.

Towerfall is a great example of a game that employs it well - the basic, retro art style is a perfect way to transmit everything on screen in a clear, distinctive and understandable way, allowing everyone to focus on the split-second gameplay. A more interesting example again would be Papers Please - the pixelated art there creates this unusually potent mood. There's a lot of character in the art and those pixelated faces that allows you to buy into the dystopia it presents, but it also greatly serves the oddly dehumanising effect playing the game has. It's a stranger and ultimately more rewarding way to communicate the game's theme than a realistic approach to the art would have been.

Also, I definitely don't think a developer should limit themselves to old hardware specs unless there's a damn good reason for it (like Mega Man sequels being true continuations of the NES series). It could potentially be very limiting and restrict design. Embrace the best of both worlds - the iconic and effective retro tools, and the increased freedom offered by modern ones

Retr0gamer

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Truth be told, it probably all began with the almighty Castlevania Symphony of the Night, a game that looked to the untrained eye like a 16bit title running on a Snes but was doing all sorts of effects along the way it Snes/Megadrive couldn't do, along with a great soundtrack and a massive play area.

That game felt pure 32 bit to me. There wasn't a hope the SNES or MEgadrive could pull that game off (although a lot of sprites were robbed from Rondo of Blood). There was way too much colour and use of transparancies and scaling/rotation effects.

CiDeRmAn

Retr0gamer wrote: »

That game felt pure 32 bit to me. There wasn't a hope the SNES or MEgadrive could pull that game off (although a lot of sprites were robbed from Rondo of Blood). There was way too much colour and use of transparancies and scaling/rotation effects.

Yes, but you know what I mean.
When the push on the PS was for 3D this and polygons that, with Sony actively pressing developers to stay away from 2d game, Konami went their own way and produced an easily recognisable evolution of the 2D adventure franchise so celebrated on the previous 2 generations of console.
And the addition of transparencies and some subtle but key uses of 3D visuals made the game clear to be a "next gen" game,just like the demakes of today push through the faux-emu curtain when the gameplay and story requires it.

Sadly, it took the move of the series to the N64 for the true horror of early 3D to envelope the series, at least on that format, and create things that no human mind is prepared to accept.

Apart from Steve, because he's desensitised due to prolonged Rise of the Robots exposure.

Retr0gamer

The N64 Castlevanias aren't that bad to be fair to them.

There were plenty of 2D games on Playstation just the western arms were refusing to publish them. Thankfully Bernie Stolar went to Sega and decided to ruin them with that idiotic policy. SotN very nearly didn't get a Western release.

CiDeRmAn

Retr0gamer wrote: »

The N64 Castlevanias aren't that bad to be fair to them.

There were plenty of 2D games on Playstation just the western arms were refusing to publish them. Thankfully Bernie Stolar went to Sega and decided to ruin them with that idiotic policy. SotN very nearly didn't get a Western release.

I still cuddle my copy.
Haven't seen the inverted castle yet though *shame*

Retr0gamer

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I still cuddle my copy.
Haven't seen the inverted castle yet though *shame*

That's a more heinous crime than o1s1n not beating ario world with 96 exits.

o1s1n

Retr0gamer wrote: »

That's a more heinous crime than o1s1n not beating ario world with 96 exits.

I could always do a Richiemcdermott and blame it on Super Mario World being crap? :pac:

I'm up to 60 exits now... believe it or not, after all these years, I only recently realized the red dots meant multiple exits!

In my defense, I have completed the inverted castle :pac:

CiDeRmAn

o1s1n wrote: »

I could always do a Richiemcdermott and blame it on Super Mario World being crap? :pac:

I'm up to 60 exits now... believe it or not, after all these years, I only recently realized the red dots meant multiple exits!

In my defense, I have completed the inverted castle :pac:

He says it was all a ruse to create debate, or something
I think one too many nightmare containing Big the Cat and he had an epiphany!

o1s1n

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

He says it was all a ruse to create debate, or something
I think one too many nightmare containing Big the Cat and he had an epiphany!

He rescinded his comments about Mario games? :eek:

There's hope for you yet...



On the topic at hand, it's actually one that's always interested me and I've been trying to figure out a point in which videogames started becoming self referential in a nostalgic sense.

There were 'classics' compilations in the 16 bit era looking at things like old arcade games as being historical.



Does anyone know anything earlier than this? I guess it's not really possible as 8 bit home hardware was struggling to even just port over games, let alone get nostalgic about them via compilations.

Retr0gamer

I'm not sure but retronauts did a recent episode about retro compilations.

CiDeRmAn

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'm not sure but retronauts did a recent episode about retro compilations.

But now aren't they retro retro compilations?
Isn't it all going to go a bit meta?

Before you know it we'll be mentioning those clowns Digital Eclipse.... Damn it! Just did!

Myrddin

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

But now aren't they retro retro compilations?

Retroception?

CiDeRmAn

Myrddin wrote: »

Retroception?

And with that someone will post the spinning top gif.....

Star Lord

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

And with that someone will post the spinning top gif.....