Indulgence Reigns: Creativity and Limitations

I’m not much for nostalgia. If you know me or have read my writing in the past, you’ve probably figured that out. I value my memories, but I’m perfectly content with leaving them in my head and moving on. I accept change as a positive thing. The gaming landscape shifts, new techniques are discovered, and things, in general, improve. 

Memories are vital. They are to be cherished. Clinging onto them in the foolhardy hope that things stay the same so as to relive those memories instead of embracing the creation of new ones, however, does nothing but harm both the medium of gaming and your enjoyment of it on a personal level.

That said, as glad as I am that we have gotten past some of the unfortunate design trends from the early days of gaming, there was a benefit to the stifling technological limitations that created so many of that era’s annoying quirks. Most creative minds will tell you that restrictions are great for the imagination. They’re annoying, sure, but they force you to be your best and to think outside the box. 

Well, the technology of gaming’s past was nothing if not restrictive. There’s an almost magical simplicity to the best the retro generations have to offer that modern games just can’t match.

The culprit is indulgence.

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Best of the Decade: Super Meat Boy

Super Meat Boy

Platforms: Xbox 360; Windows

Release Date: October 20, 2010 (360)

Publisher: N/A

Developer: Team Meat

I will readily admit that I’m a modernist when it comes to gaming. As I hope to demonstrate with this list, the last decade has been a tremendous one for my favorite hobby. Nearly every aspect of game design has improved by leaps and bounds over the last few generations. 

This development has come at a cost, however. I often find that it is difficult for me to appreciate games that were once thrilling and cutting-edge. They simply seem dated to me because of how far games have come over the years and I have trouble enjoying these games in a modern context.

I have great love and appreciation for classic games. I spent many hours playing retro titles of all sorts back when they were the latest and greatest. When it comes time to set aside my 360 and fire up my SNES, however, I usually find myself more frustrated than enthralled.

I have no lack of respect for retro games or the gamers that play them; quite the opposite in fact. My personal predilections simply relegate my love for these titles to that of distant spectator, save for the rare glorious exception.

This tenuous relationship with older titles is precisely what makes Super Meat Boy so special to me.

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The Painful Truth Behind the Veil of Sonic Nostalgia

It is time that we, as a unified gaming community, tell Sonic to go the hell away. It is time we realized the madness and false assumptions and clouds of delicious nostalgia that have been screwing with our judgement for far too long. It’s time we came to our damn senses and admitted the truth.

The Sonic formula kind of sucks.

I know. It’s hard. But you have to let go. You know this to be the truth.

So many of us have deeply cherished memories of the Sonic games on the Genesis. So many of us have been clamoring for a return to those golden days ever since the blue hedgehog went 3D and multiplatform and started hanging out with that colorful group of annoying animal friends that just wouldn’t leave us alone no matter how many times we insulted their stupid spiky gloves or told them no one wanted to fish in a goddamned Sonic game you stupid fucking purple cat.

Look, before you go throwing things at the screen in blind rage, I’m not saying the Sonic games weren’t good… for their time. That’s the key isn’t it? What was once brilliant simply no longer works in a modern context.

The Sonic franchise represents a bygone era of design concepts that have become annoying, passe, outdated, and generally shunned by game developers with even the slightest bit of sense. It would be one thing if the Sonic games just made us deal with a few outdated concepts here and there. I think we could probably forgive that in the name of nostalgia and a good time. It’s not that simple, sadly. 

See, the Sonic formula is made up almost entirely of game design ideas that have no place on a modern console. The entire design process of these games is pretty much a bunch of developers sitting in a room coming up with as many ways to be complete fucking dicks as they possibly can.

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