(AfroGamers.com) Let’s get into a few classic video game series that I was never fully onboard with over the decades. This could be down to me not finishing the entire series or most of the games while others are just games I never rocked with but they have long-lived fanbases and still see recent games being made.
Pac-Man
Now, the 3D Pac-Man games added some story here and there later on but I was never a big Pac-Man fan. Even when I played my first game in 1989, Pac-Man never got play and my cousins had the console version. I would play it years later when I had my own console and my dad picked it up from the video store.
It was a fun play through but it seemed endless and these stages were all same-y. This was the early 1990s and it was one of those ports from arcade to console with nothing extra added, so it wasn’t the most exciting experience but I had become invested.
I find that now, the game is more enjoyable if you can find a cabinet or an arcade. It was just one of those arcade games that didn’t equal the same fun at home.
Bomber Man
This is similar to Pac-Man in that there was no story here and the game seemed endless as a kid. The main difference is that I had a blast with Bomber Man and still enjoy a game of Bomber Man now. It eventually got a storyline via the Nintendo 64 games but I’ve forgotten it and it wasn’t expanded upon much.
What keeps Bomber Man from being one of my favorites and merely a game I can enjoy is that after a short period I’m good on the game for a long time. I mainly play solo and Bomber Man is donezo after two hours and back then, didn’t know too many people who wanted to slam in Bomber Man.
It’s a game that really benefits from online multiplayer because there is a fun factor and replay value to be had but on console that fun factor was fleeting in the 1990s.
F-Zero
I admit my indifference towards F-Zero comes from two places: I don’t care for racing games and there were racing games I found more fun and interesting. For those who don’t know, F-Zero is a sci-fi racing series that made its debut in 1990 on the Super Nintendo. There was a brief stretch where it was Ninty’s only racing offering among multiplatform racing titles.
Then Mario Kart came along. The two co-existed well for roughly a decade but during the Super Nintendo final years and the early years of the Nintendo 64, there was less F-Zero until there was sparse FZ. A major factor in this is the increased popularity of Mario Kart and addition of Diddy Kong Racing and something like Wave Race.
It might seem like 3D racing killed enthusiasm in F-Zero but FZ could’ve easily taken the 3D jump. Also, Nintendo’s turnaround on releases tends to be a little slower than other companies. They rarely have logjams where too many titles are in the works and nothing comes through but also some series just end up on ice for a long time.
Almost to the point that they become dated while similar series advance with new titles. In F-Zero’s case it sucks because the series actually had a story that could’ve only been expanded on in modern gaming. I will say that F-Zero 99 is a fun play but it wasn’t something that kept my attention or something I revisit.
Samurai Shodown
An odd entry because I dig SNK fighters over Capcom and I love Fatal Fury. King of Fighters is better as a series but I will jump in on a few rounds of Fatal Fury and bring some Terry Bogard action. Samurai Shodown is similar to the LG Soul series starting with Soul Edge when compared to Tekken in that it’s Fatal Fatal with swords.
Diehard fans will say it’s more than that but it’s pretty much FF in feudal Japan. That’s not why I’m indifference towards the game, it was actually my first arcade fighter (along with X-Men: Children of the Atom). Similar to F-Zero, there just got to a point where the games stopped coming out, other more exciting fighting games dropped and Samurai Shodown was a memory for years.
And that sucks because I find the character design and animation to be awesome. Then again, I always preferred SNK’s character art to Capcom’s until the Street Fighter Alpha-Night Warriors period. The backstory for the fighters were also done in a way that I would’ve played the game to see how some stories advanced but some titles weren’t released stateside until years after their release.
I’m working my way around to the 2019 reboot but there’s a lot of back catalog stuff to chop through. Who knows, it might pique my interest in returning to the older, later-released titles.
Let us know what gaming franchises that get love that you find meh for whatever reason.
Staff Writer; M. Swift
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.