Simple Isn't Always Bad

In the Begining

It has been a long time since I've had a handheld gaming device. Way back in the day, through a fluke of chance, I ended up with two first generation Gameboys (one of which I think is still in use although on its last leg) and I remember how much I loved squinting over the games on that atmospherically lit (read “hard to see”) screen, which I ended up getting a cool Gameboy light with a magnifying glass to enhance my gaming experience and use twice as many double-A batteries.

Despite stiff competition from arguably better handheld systems, the Gameboy managed to last for almost twenty years with very few changes to its core system. Over time it became slimmer, got a color screen and a backlight but the core system was the same and it could always run older games. Even its successor, the Gameboy Advance platform, can (with some exceptions) run the older Gameboy games. I see this fact as less of a testament to the greatness of the Gameboy itself and more as verification that the games that come out for handheld systems are fun.

It seems to me, as a new Nintendo DS owner, that Nintendo, has at the same time, remembered how to make fun games in some cases while turning a blind eye to the aspects of some classic series that made them fun in the first place in other cases. I see a lot of potential in the DS (and in the PSP but I don't have one so I invite PSP owners out there to speak on Sony's behalf) but at the same time I worry that developers for the system will forget some of the “funness factors” that in games that gave the Gameboy such a long shelf-life.

It's all about the Games

Enough about the system (for now), the real meat and potatoes of handheld gaming is the games. Why are they so damn fun now and why where they so damn fun then? I think the short answer is: simplicity and portability. A lot of classic handheld games were sidescrollers, RPGs, and puzzle games. Each of these genres tends to offer up the right dose of simple fun and addictiveness without necessarily sacrificing deeper game play. For instance (and jumping away from handhelds for a second), I know very few people that disliked Mario 3 when it was new and I know very few that don't like it now just the same. Furthermore, I know several people who have only recently, in the big scheme of all things gaming, played Mario 3 and, despite the antiquated graphics and simple two button game play, they really liked it. Now I assume Nintendo is fully aware of the phenomenon since they keep pumping out classic side scrolling Mario titles with striking similarity to each other. What I find shocking and sad is that the last of these super fun sidescollers to be release on a non-handheld platform was Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo back in 1990.

Technology Outgrew My Fun (Maybe)

As most people know, since the N64, Mario has gone 3-D not only in character design but also in his ability to run wild in a fully 3-D world. I will admit that the new 3-D Mario was fun the first time out and the 3-D world seems to work for Mario fairly well. Zelda also went 3-D on the N64 and again seems to have worked out well. During the new 3-D era of Mario and Zelda we still saw the classic style of each game pop up on the handheld system, largely because that is what the technology on the handheld supported, but now we are seeing closer matching of handheld games to their console cousins and I am concerned that this will be another step toward the elimination of those “simple fun” sidescrollers games that I love.

I think my strongest case study for this is the Metroid Prime series that brought Metroid from an action packed sidescroller to a somewhat action packed first person shooter. Many hold the move of Metroid to the FPS world as a great and wonderful thing but I do not. I may have understood if the move was to a third person platformer a la Mario and Zelda but as an FPS Metroid has lost its fun factor for me because it just feel like more of the same. I know many sidescollers are very similar but for some reason first person shooters, unless they do something very stand out, often feel lacking. At the same time Metroid went 3-D shoot it also released one of its last sidescroller incarnations with Metroid: Fusion for the Gameboy Advance. Metroid: Fusion was a hell of a lot of fun and I played through it several times. I expected to see a similar release format (sidescroller on DS and FPS on Wii) but much to my disappointment the DS got Metroid: Hunters. I think Metroid: Hunters has some cool ideas like wireless multiplayer between DSes but I would have much rather seen a sidescroller.

I think with the current gaming systems out there, especially the Wii in this case, we could, if a company is willing to give it a try, see a great sidescoller for a fully powered console platform. With nostalgia gaming in full swing, one would thing it is only a matter of time before someone decides to take a step back and make another fully 3-D rendered sidescroller with some innovation that sells buckets loads of copies because of word of mouth on how damn fun it is (see New Super Mario Brothers). So, here is my free suggestion to any developer out there who may be listening because lord knows I don't have the resources to pull this off: I like how the Wii handles the aiming in Metroid: Prime Corruption so I would love to see a game (another Metroid would work perfectly) take that aiming concept and tack it on to a sidescroller where the movement is handed by the nunchuk. What you would end up with is a control system similar to PC sidescroller Abuse, which was a great game that came out at the exact wrong time to be a sidescroller but it featured a cool mouse based aiming system and multiplayer sidescolling death-match that was a hell of a lot of fun and innovative for its time and genre, and, if whoever owns the rights to Abuse is listening, for the love of god port it to the Wii and see what happens.