a hidden pearl of wisdom
games in which we can take lessons from despite a lack of critical acclaim or a perceived lack of recognition
alternative description: here's some games that do neat things, such as cool bits of game design. list will be updated in real time as i play more and more weird stuff
alternative description: here's some games that do neat things, such as cool bits of game design. list will be updated in real time as i play more and more weird stuff
5 Games
Armadillo's thoughtful approach to the evolution of world map interactivity was not picked up on by the greater gaming landscape, but it's idea lingers in my mind as an interesting spectacle of game design.
mitsume ga tooru's coin system is already interesting, sacrificing points (a system commonly used in nes games despite a lack of real value that can be extracted from it) for coins. you can spend these coins in a shop and power yourself up etc etc. The real genius comes from interacting with the coins themselves. As the coins bounce on the ground, you can shoot them with your attack button to keep them bouncing, the longer you keep them bouncing, the higher the value of the coins are!
i don't even like this game in the slightest, but it's proof that if no one can say something bad about your soundtrack (even when there are very little tracks!), you're doing SOMETHING right
Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa looks at enemy design and how we interact with enemies outside of them being an obstacle. BMBU turns enemies into a platform upon death and the player can then push the enemies to use as a weapon. A lot of games use "items/weapons that turn into platforms" on the NES and BMBU understands the perfect speed these platforms must go in order for the player to actually jump on them in time. A lot of neat tricks here!
Comes across as a standard platformer with passable level design but secretly has some cool ideas hiding under the surface. What if Mario's fireball was on a timer? What if the only way to keep that timer running was to pick up a coin-equivalent?
Also really like it's linear power-up structure. If you get hit in Felix's tank form, you don't just become standard, boring old Felix, you instead become the car power up one tier below. It's real neat
Also really like it's linear power-up structure. If you get hit in Felix's tank form, you don't just become standard, boring old Felix, you instead become the car power up one tier below. It's real neat