Things always start off small and have
humble beginnings, until eventually they improve things get bigger. Before we
had high definition flat screen TVs, televisions were relatively small and had
roundish screens. Not to mention that TV networks didn’t even operate 24/7 like
nowadays and broadcasts were all in black and white too.
Much like the history of television, video
games also had a humble beginning. Before we had the fancy consoles graphics of
today, video games also started off small. Pong is usually recognised as the
first video game ever made and it was just two while lines and a white dot. It
was supposed to represent the game of tennis at the time.
In 1977, the first video game console was
born with the Atari 2600 which was developed by an American company by the name
of Atari. It was the first chance for people to actually play video games
inside of the comfort of their own home. Most games at the time were only
available at the arcades.
Speaking of arcades, one of the most famous
arcade games ever created was one called Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong was created
by one of the most creative minds in video game history. If it wasn’t for
Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, the video game landscape might have been different
if he never existed.
Because of the simplicity of the technology of arcade machines and the Atari 2600, most video games of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s were simple sports games. Also, most of those games were only played on one level or screen that hardly changed.
Miyamoto changed all of that when he
introduced Donkey Kong in 1981. Not only was Donkey Kong the first game that
featured Mario, but it is also credited as the first ever video game that
featured a storyline. The Guinness Book of World Records Gamer’s Edition in
2008 credited the game for two important accolades. These accolades are the “First Use of visual storytelling in video
game” plus “first example of the use
of cutscenes to tell a story”. A simple visual of Donkey Kong kidnapping
Mario’s girlfriend was a small step to more elaborate and technical storylines
that will feature in video games in the next 30 years or so.
By the time the year 1983 came around, the video game industry was in a bad shape. The market was flooded with too many bad video game releases and consoles and consumers didn’t have the time or money to spend it all. Unlike today where there are only three different game consoles out there, back in the early ‘80s, several companies wanted to copy Atari’s success with the Atari 2600. As a result of this, there were no less than ten different video game consoles out there. Atari itself wasn’t bullet proof too. The American company made some bonehead decisions that made them lose a lot of money during this time too. The company ordered 12 million copies of Pac-Man. Although demand for the game was high, 7 million copies were sold which left them with 5 million unsold copies. Another famous commercial failure was the ET video game too. Atari had big hopes for that game too but it turned out to be one of the worst video games ever made and Atari again was left with millions of unwanted copies and millions of lost dollars.
Many video game makers in America were struggling to makes ends meet and many assumed the video game industry would be dead forever. This is until Japanese company Nintendo released its first ever video game console in 1983 called “The Nintendo Entertainment Console”. It’s entry into the market pretty much saved the whole video game industry from disappearing forever. There were so many things that Nintendo did right with the console and it also introduced us to many famous video game characters and genres. It didn’t truly make an impact until it was released in North America and the rest of the world in 1985 and 1986 respectively. From that point onward, Nintendo became the only video game console that people needed to buy.
Although the Nintendo video game console launched with 18 titles, it was the release of Super Mario Bros that garnered the most interest. Although the game wasn’t the first ever 2D side-scrolling ever made, it became the model for many other game developers to copy its style in hopes to replicate its success. Mario became a pop cultural phenomenon from this point onward and is still recognized as the most famous video game character of all time. This is all thanks to the accessibility and fun factor that the original Super Mario Bros. game had. The game went on to sell over 40 million copies worldwide and became popular all over the world. Mario's success made a huge influence to the industry as a whole because Sega responded in kind to make its own Mario type video game. This was how Sonic the Hedgehog was born and from there, platform games gave birth to other iconic characters such as Crash Bandicooot.
Nintendo continued its dominance of the video game industry well into the early '90s. The company released the Super Nintendo in 1991 and everything was going great. That was until Sony came along and the PSOne was born. The PSOne was initially going to be a CD-add on for the Super Nintendo but both Nintendo and Sony had a fall-out. Because of the disagreement between the two companies, Sony went ahead and made the PSOne a stand-alone console instead.
The PSOne was the first stand alone video game console to use CD-based format in favour of blocky video game cartridges. Thanks to the upgraded technology, games on the PSOne had a more movie-like quality experience to them. For the first time ever, games could have actual orchestral music and full voice overs too. Final Fantasy VII is always heralded as one of the first games to actually have a movie-like quality to it. Another game that made full use of the PSOne's technology was Metal Gear Solid as well.
When it comes to character design, the differences in appearances in Japanese gaming and Western gaming is instantly noticeable With Japanese gaming, I've noticed that game developers and designers take more risks and are unafraid to be more creative with the characters that they decide to include in their games. This is especially true when it comes to certain fighting and RPG style games. Japanese game developers don't care if the characters are not human and can talk or have super powers or what not.
Here's a picture of Blanka who first appeared in Street Fighter II. As you can see, Blanka is a green skinned monster with wild orange hair. Not to mention he can generate electricity with his own body. Nobody really cared that it was "unrealistic" for a character of this kind to exist since it's a video game. Other examples include Kimahri from Final Fantasy X. He's a blue skinned furry tough dude that can talk in English sometimes. Then there is Mokujin who is a living breathing training dummy that exists in the Tekken universe.
Compare this to Western game developers and the diversity of character design is gone. Western game developers have lacked the ability to create diverse and wonderful characters that feature in Japanese video games. Most of them are male, bald and human. There is a saying among gamers and game journalists that this is the "Bald Space Marine" syndrome. Let's take a brief look at some of the characters from some well known Western developed games and see if you can spot any differences between them. I can assure you that no photoshop has been done to any of the characters whatsoever.
First up, here's a character called "Starkiller" from The Force Unleashed Star Wars games.
Secondly here is Cole McGrath from Sony's InFamous games.
And lastly, here is Captain Sheppard from the Mass Effect trilogy
As you can clearly see, the Western developed games are less creative when it comes to their character design. Not to mention that a lot of Western developed usually feature a Caucasian male as the main lead. There has been some controversy that some game developers are too shy to include a female main lead as they feel male gamers won't buy their game if a female is the main character. Considering Lara Croft is still popular and Final Fantasy XIII sold close to 6 million copies, I think that those game developers are just being sexist.
By the time the year 1983 came around, the video game industry was in a bad shape. The market was flooded with too many bad video game releases and consoles and consumers didn’t have the time or money to spend it all. Unlike today where there are only three different game consoles out there, back in the early ‘80s, several companies wanted to copy Atari’s success with the Atari 2600. As a result of this, there were no less than ten different video game consoles out there. Atari itself wasn’t bullet proof too. The American company made some bonehead decisions that made them lose a lot of money during this time too. The company ordered 12 million copies of Pac-Man. Although demand for the game was high, 7 million copies were sold which left them with 5 million unsold copies. Another famous commercial failure was the ET video game too. Atari had big hopes for that game too but it turned out to be one of the worst video games ever made and Atari again was left with millions of unwanted copies and millions of lost dollars.
Many video game makers in America were struggling to makes ends meet and many assumed the video game industry would be dead forever. This is until Japanese company Nintendo released its first ever video game console in 1983 called “The Nintendo Entertainment Console”. It’s entry into the market pretty much saved the whole video game industry from disappearing forever. There were so many things that Nintendo did right with the console and it also introduced us to many famous video game characters and genres. It didn’t truly make an impact until it was released in North America and the rest of the world in 1985 and 1986 respectively. From that point onward, Nintendo became the only video game console that people needed to buy.
Although the Nintendo video game console launched with 18 titles, it was the release of Super Mario Bros that garnered the most interest. Although the game wasn’t the first ever 2D side-scrolling ever made, it became the model for many other game developers to copy its style in hopes to replicate its success. Mario became a pop cultural phenomenon from this point onward and is still recognized as the most famous video game character of all time. This is all thanks to the accessibility and fun factor that the original Super Mario Bros. game had. The game went on to sell over 40 million copies worldwide and became popular all over the world. Mario's success made a huge influence to the industry as a whole because Sega responded in kind to make its own Mario type video game. This was how Sonic the Hedgehog was born and from there, platform games gave birth to other iconic characters such as Crash Bandicooot.
Nintendo continued its dominance of the video game industry well into the early '90s. The company released the Super Nintendo in 1991 and everything was going great. That was until Sony came along and the PSOne was born. The PSOne was initially going to be a CD-add on for the Super Nintendo but both Nintendo and Sony had a fall-out. Because of the disagreement between the two companies, Sony went ahead and made the PSOne a stand-alone console instead.
The PSOne was the first stand alone video game console to use CD-based format in favour of blocky video game cartridges. Thanks to the upgraded technology, games on the PSOne had a more movie-like quality experience to them. For the first time ever, games could have actual orchestral music and full voice overs too. Final Fantasy VII is always heralded as one of the first games to actually have a movie-like quality to it. Another game that made full use of the PSOne's technology was Metal Gear Solid as well.
When it comes to character design, the differences in appearances in Japanese gaming and Western gaming is instantly noticeable With Japanese gaming, I've noticed that game developers and designers take more risks and are unafraid to be more creative with the characters that they decide to include in their games. This is especially true when it comes to certain fighting and RPG style games. Japanese game developers don't care if the characters are not human and can talk or have super powers or what not.
Here's a picture of Blanka who first appeared in Street Fighter II. As you can see, Blanka is a green skinned monster with wild orange hair. Not to mention he can generate electricity with his own body. Nobody really cared that it was "unrealistic" for a character of this kind to exist since it's a video game. Other examples include Kimahri from Final Fantasy X. He's a blue skinned furry tough dude that can talk in English sometimes. Then there is Mokujin who is a living breathing training dummy that exists in the Tekken universe.
Compare this to Western game developers and the diversity of character design is gone. Western game developers have lacked the ability to create diverse and wonderful characters that feature in Japanese video games. Most of them are male, bald and human. There is a saying among gamers and game journalists that this is the "Bald Space Marine" syndrome. Let's take a brief look at some of the characters from some well known Western developed games and see if you can spot any differences between them. I can assure you that no photoshop has been done to any of the characters whatsoever.
First up, here's a character called "Starkiller" from The Force Unleashed Star Wars games.
Secondly here is Cole McGrath from Sony's InFamous games.
And lastly, here is Captain Sheppard from the Mass Effect trilogy
As you can clearly see, the Western developed games are less creative when it comes to their character design. Not to mention that a lot of Western developed usually feature a Caucasian male as the main lead. There has been some controversy that some game developers are too shy to include a female main lead as they feel male gamers won't buy their game if a female is the main character. Considering Lara Croft is still popular and Final Fantasy XIII sold close to 6 million copies, I think that those game developers are just being sexist.
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