Pokemon Games Need an In-Game Day-Night System.

That’s not reality. You trample these trainers in record time. The solution is simple: have an in-game clock where the days change every hour or whatever but just have real time for promotions and events. I’d just like for these adventures in each Pokemon game to not feel like a brief career between when you get your first monster to when you defeat the Elite Four.

Retro Reflections: How 80s and 90s Game Design and Controls Shaped Difficulty in Gaming.

Also, it wouldn’t even matter since most of us played these games by ourselves. If you let someone borrow a game, it still didn’t matter because you just had the time record and that friend’s initials. I mean, it meant something if you really didn’t want to be ranked lower on the time records and were willing to play the game over again.

What features or design decisions from the 2D era of the 80s and 90s added difficulty to you? Let us know below!

Game Changers: Four Features That Revolutionized Gaming in the 80s and 90s.

The skip scene button was something I first noticed in Final Fantasy X-2 at a time when FF really needed them. From FFVII onwards, Square Enix really got more and more into its cut scene bag and those cut scenes became longer and longer as well as popping up more often. It could be frustrating when you’re really enjoying the action in the game and want to get back to building your character up and whatnot only to sit through three-or-four minute cut scene number three.

Where Does Bowser Come from and What’s His Deal?

Is this thinking to deeply into Super Mario lore? Sure, but we’re in a time where everything has a strong backstory and cartoonish evil or—in Bowser’s case—well-financed mischief isn’t as applauded across the board. At this point, only a handful of series can get away with a character who is evil just because.

Bowser is one of the last of a dying breed in that respect.

Let’s Check Out for Pirate Game Pioneers.

The perfect pirate game belongs to Pirates! Gold. I’m certain I touched on this game before in passing but it’s definitely the greatest pioneer on this micro genre. You start as a citizen of France, England, the Netherlands, or Spain but as in all mentioned games—besides Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag—you can turn against your country, align with another, and either get a letter of marque to operate as a privateer or go full pirate.

You’re also able to assault town and forts, claim them for a country, attack treasure ships and big merchant hauls, and improve your ships—or get new ones. Of course, you’ve got to split the loot after lengthy voyages and you’re able to move up in society in the colonies.

There was a lot going on in a game made in 1987. I play the 1993 remake on the Sega Genesis as I was really into games like this and Aerobiz early on. They were just different from the more action-oriented titles I normally played.

If You’re Unfamiliar with Roleplay: It’s Basically Pro Wrestling.

I’d been roleplaying in some sense since 1996. I started in play-by-email, message boards, and on wrestling e-federations. All had an application process and actually, the early days of text roleplay encouraged my love of writing and creativity. Whether it was making a vampire, a ninja, or a psychopathic wrestler, it was fun to sit, come up with a backstory to fit into this new setting and do the sample roleplay.

Battletoads/Double Dragon is a Classic Beat ‘Em Up Worth Diving Into.

Also of note is that the game’s multiplayer mode makes the game less miserable at times when dealing with the difficulty. I tend to play solo in most games and Battletoads difficulty can be bother at times since these were the days when saves weren’t a standard feature like today. Multiplayer’s difficulty isn’t easy but it makes things tolerable—especially if you have a teammate who knows what they’re doing.

Vampyr is the Spiritual Successor to Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines.

I’d say that the biggest pro for this game is the setting. It’s not late 19th century and early 20th century England are uncharted territory in gaming but for a tale with vampires and hunters, kicking it Victorian or turn-of-the-century is a good starting point. Especially if there are plans for sequels—yes, that was a bit of shade at Sony and The Order 1886.

Do You Remember When Video Games Came with Manuals and Short Tutorials?

Looking at it now, game manuals have been replaced by the tutorial and let me tell you: they’re too damn long. Tutorials on mobile, console, and PC can run for a bit before you can actually play the game. It actually makes me miss the old manuals since it wasn’t a mix of “learn this mechanic” and story cut scenes which can also be pretty lengthy.

GoldenEye 007 is Amazing but Don’t Sleep on Duke Nukem 64.

Of course, it was the 1990s and very little was actually explained in detail when it came to video games. A lot of this stuff was left to our imaginations even with the game art featuring a brief introduction. With that said, there was still more effort put into the creative side of Duke than GoldenEye although GoldenEye didn’t need to do anything extra.

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