Andrew: Beat R&C3 last night. I have to say, despite all my bitching and moaning, that was totally a fair, very satisfying final boss fight. Just took some patience…and MAD SKILLZ.
Steve: I so love that franchise.
I’m, curious as to what it is that prevented R&C from being the latest Mario or Sonic. Sure, the series definitely has it’s fans, but it never seemed to reach the status it really should have. Could it be because there are too many platforms now that the Xbox is out there, plus the handhelds? Or are games like Halo and GTA just too prevalent, pushing more traditional platformers to the side?
Andrew: Yeah, I think it’s a combination of things. What you said — plus the games aren’t really classic platformers; they aren’t really for little kids (i.e., no licensing); there are tons more games for them to fight for shelf space with; bigger audience is more fractured; etc.
That said, I think they’re the closest thing this generation had to a Mario or Sonic in terms of, like, pure entertainment value, creativity, imagination, and innovation. The thing is I don’t think the last generation had a real Mario or Sonic, either. Mario 64 was the biggest, I guess…? Crash Bandicoot, although innovative (most non-Nintendo platform-ish games now use that technology, right?), didn’t blow up into cultural icon status.
Steve: This is all very true. Crash almost attained that level of fame, what with the cartoon and toys and all, but somehow fell off before really cementing his status. It’s like he – and Ratchet, Jak, etc – are all victims of the audience actually having too much choice. I like choice – choice is great, but sometimes you can stare at the wall at the video game store and just feel overwhelmed, you know? And with games going for 40-50 bucks a pop, you have to really trust your friends’ judgement or research the hell out of them before you buy anything!
Not that I wish we’d end up back in the days where the choice was between Pitfall and E.T., but I think you see what I’m saying.
Andrew:This is actually my theory about all pop culture these days. It’s like an epidemic, and I honestly think causes people a weird, new kind of anxiety/depression that wasn’t around when stuff wasn’t so immediately available.
I think if you’re born into this world or old enough to not worry about it (our parents), you can deal. But for people in our generation — maybe the last to remember a time when you could make a decent attempt to really keep up with everything; before the internet, DVDs, 500+ TV channels, 60+-hour video games, downloadable music, etc. — even though we helped the culture make the transition, it’s been a tough one on our collective psyche in some respects.
Steve: I can totally see this. I don’t have as much trouble keeping up with info as some people, but even then, I’m kind of overloaded by the amount of pop culture out there. Really, for kids growing up now, pop culture is simpley Culture, I think. I’m not really sure if this is as awesome as I like to believe it is or not. I guess I’ll find out first hand as I watch the kid grow up over the next couple of decades, though.
No matter what, though, this one thing will remain true – Ratchet & Clank kicks ass.
Andrew: Yep, I’m totally getting the new R&C — maybe this weekend.
Um I don’t even know where to begin, you guys talked about so much different shit. I guess all I’ll say is that the last generation definitely had it’s Mario — Super Mario 64. By far, one of the greatest games ever made. To play it now, if you’ve never played it, would diminish the experience of what it was like to play that when it came out in 1996. Controlling a character in a 3D world? Swimming in a lake and seeing fish swim around you? Throwing Bowser by his tail? It was something totally new; for those of us who see games as art, it was something on the scale of Sgt. Pepper’s or Citizen Kane. The R&C games are great, but the leap wasn’t as exponential as Mario 64. That’s also why Mario Sunshine on Gamecube didn’t exactly light the world on fire. I really think we’ll have to wait until Mario for Revolution comes out until we get the real next step in platform gaming.
I thought it would be fun to add this to the discussion. In the new EGM, they rank the top 200 games of all time. Super Mario 64 came in at number 6, with a testimonial written by a certain someone:
“Super Mario 64 had no guns, no vehicles, no additional playable characters — and it still managed to offer something fresh in every level [through] clever use of Mario’s moves and brilliant level design. I mean, I can distinctly remember almost every one of those levels and its stages — I can’t say that for any other game I’ve ever played, including games we’ve made here at Insomniac…and I’ve played our games far more times. Mario 64 not only set the standard for modern platformers at the time, but it demonstrated a level of excellence and innovation in design that I think few games today have achieved.”
– Ted Price, designer of the Ratchet & Clank series (PS2)