How Classic Games Have Changed the Video Game World
By Jenny Beaumont
Video games have been around for decades, with millions of people playing different games. But how did classic games set the bar for the games in today's generations?
Video games began in the 1950s and 60s, as computer scientists designed simple games. The first-ever video game was Tennis for Two, made in 1958 by William Higinbotham. The game featured a side-view tennis match with a ball that bounces back and forth.
Classic games recognised the fundamental design principles, mechanics, and user experiences that modern games still build on today. The use of simple and addictive designs, such as Space Invaders and Super Mario 64, showed that players enjoy challenging gameplay.
A 2022 data report from Medium shows us that games have grown more complex, with games in the 2000s featuring 2.5 mechanics, and those in 2019 averaging 4. Showing that the average for newer games uses more advanced mechanics.
Super Mario 64
Super Mario 64 (1996) became the blueprint for 3D movement, making it feel fluid and expanding Mario's abilities to include jumping, swimming, and climbing. Super Mario introduced the first free-floating camera, introducing a third-person view that, for the first time, allowed players to control the camera as they wished. This was a groundbreaking feature as it made other fixed cameras in games seem super slow. It became a main feature for 3D platformer games.
Super Mario created a whole new gaming genre. Collecting things in 3D platformers became a staple of the 90s and early 2000s. Many gamers enjoyed collecting game items. Super Mario refined gaming as many players now wanted to collect shiny items.
GTA 3
On October 22, 2001, Rockstar released Grand Theft Auto 3 (GTA 3), and the gaming industry is still feeling the impact. Many gamers give kudos to GTA 3 for opening a new door to open-world games by creating a 3D sandbox city. This shifted the gaming industry to more adult-centred content as Rockstar proved that violent and mature material could be used in mainstream games. The use of adult content showed that video games weren’t just made for kids, which forced the industry to start catering to a mature audience. Players could control the main protagonist, Claude, a silent, vengeful criminal who was betrayed by his girlfriend. In GTA 3, you can explore freely with interactive pedestrians and active traffic. The game introduced side activities such as running from the police, taxi missions, and vigilante missions.
GTA 3 set the bar for recent open-world sandbox games such as Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Elden Ring. GTA 3 demonstrated that open-world models were possible by incorporating a variety of activities.
Christopher Grey, a classic game collector, said: “Sonic the Hedgehog holds the most memories for me because I played it so much as a kid. I used to complete the game in one life. That’s how often I played the game. I didn’t really like it when the new Star Wars game came out because I bought a PS4 with a Darth Vader decal on it. I was really bad at it because it was an online game, and I kept getting killed.
“I was really young when I started playing video games, like they basically weren’t even a thing, so the first system I had was a ZX Spectrum, 128 bits, and the games were literally cassette tapes. It was literally a keyboard with a tape deck attached, which sounds mental now. But yeah, that was my first gaming system when I was around ten.
“When you’re talking about preserving classic games, you always see funny memes, and right now, museums are having things that I had when I was a kid. I think the whole online thing was really important because we went from the industrial age to the digital age. So, this whole digitalisation of things is a pure turning point for humanity”
Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda was created in 1986, developed and published by Nintendo, and made for the Family Computer Disk System. Zelda is a fantasy game where you have to collect the eight fragments of the Triforce of Wisdom to save the princess and fight the prince of darkness. This game was designed to prioritise exploration over a deep narrative. The story is primarily explained in the instruction manual.
The Legend of Zelda revolutionised gaming as it was the first game on the NES to introduce battery-backed save data, allowing users to save their progress. The game shifted the focus from getting high scores to making it about exploration. Players could collect items to overcome obstacles, helping unlock new sections of the map. This became the “item gating “method. Item gating refers to a design technique where access to new areas or abilities is locked behind acquiring a specific item or ability. This forces the player to explore the game possibly harder than they would’ve. Zelda changed RPGs and action-based games by popularising non-linear exploration, action-based combat, and persistent saves. Legend of Zelda continues to lead inspirations in the industry. Many consider it to be the best game franchise in history.
Arcade Games
During the late 70s and mid-80s, it was recognised as the “golden age” due to Space Invaders (1978), a game that brought in a wide audience and sparked the arcade craze. Arcades became part of pop culture, bringing games to shopping malls and public spaces and making them easily accessible to a wider audience. New titles were arriving constantly, with some iconic games such as Street Fighter II (1991) and Mortal Kombat (1992). Mortal Kombat shook the gaming world with its realistic and gory fight scenes. Arcade games were designed with addictive loops that encouraged players to spend multiple pennies to beat high scores. This created a competitive nature. But sadly, the arcade era had to end by the late 90s. Home software was becoming more popular and a more accessible option for gamers.
Systems such as the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis let people play arcade games at home instead of going out. Then came the PlayStation in 1994 and the N64 in 1996. These consoles let gamers play 3D games, offering a new experience they can enjoy on the couch. Arcade games weren’t as popular as they used to be, and then they died out. But arcades set the standard for games, with tons of gamers living and continuing to love them. Arcade games were a turning point in the gaming industry. Newer games still use mechanics that were from arcade consoles, while adapting them to suit the newer platforms.
One Redditor on r/retrogames said: “I met my partner through the shared love of games. It has been, and continues to be, a point of interest between us, 25+ years later. The games were crude by today’s standards, but I found them immensely enjoyable as a child. When it came to NES games, I would ask my grandmother to read the text to me. But she couldn’t keep up. This likely contributed to me actively wanting to learn to read, which in turn led me to start writing creative fiction and, ultimately, working in independent comics as a script writer. “
Another Redditor said:” I’ve been gaming as long as I can remember, born in 1976. I got to enjoy pretty much every generation of video games so far. As a young adult, I moved away from gaming because I was more interested in partying, girls, and making fast money. Fast forward to today, and gaming is one of my most important hobbies. It was instrumental to my recovery. Learning how to have fun again without alcohol and investing my time in an enjoyable hobby were paramount to my success. It will be seven years on Christmas Day since I last had a drink, and having a fun hobby with a community full of different people to talk to has been amazing. It reminds me of simpler times that were just as fun as the wild and dangerous ones, but with far fewer consequences.”
A redditor on r/arcade said: “I believe gaming changed the outcome of my life. I was a pretty good kid; I’m pushing up to my 50s now. But when I was younger, I’d play puzzle games all the time. And I was really good at them. Tetris, Klax, Columns, games like that. I won several tournaments and advanced to regional tournaments. I won a state tournament against adults at 13.
“Eventually, I got older and started my career. I learned that I was Fast at data entry. I can't prove that my addiction to video games as a youngster made me faster at 10 keys, though I suspect it did.”
Without classic games, gaming wouldn’t exist. These classic games have made a massive impact on the industry, with many collecting old consoles and the games that go with them. The fact that developers are still using mechanics from decades-old games shows how intricate game development can be. Classic games are an iconic piece of media, and many titles will not be forgotten. These games are so popular because they evoke nostalgia, and the games made decades ago were ahead of their time. So, classic games will never die and will continue to be reused in modern gaming.