Recently, Alon posted an article about playing old games and peoples’ apparent inability to refrain from buying shitty games like Golden Axe, Streets of Rage 2, (none of which I think suck BTW) and TMNT: Turtles in Time. Now, I am sure we all know that the TMNT:TIT remake is not out yet. Assuming the game is trash despite the fact that the game play has changed a bit, and considering it’s based on arguably one of the better arcade brawlers I have ever played, is a little short-sighted. (notice how I didn’t just say it IS IN FACT one of the best….) I would venture to say it is perfectly acceptable for people to be excited about this release. If you are a lover of brawlers and arcade style game-play, and the absolute train wreck of a franchise that is TMNT, (yes I really do think that TMNT is one of the most poorly handled IP’s of the last couple decades. With as much available plots and characters Laird and Eastman put into the universe. What we got in the form of the cartoon and games was a slap in the face. Red bandanas for life!) then you have a free pass to be giddy about this upcoming release and even do a little happy dance.

Now I want to say that I do agree with SOME of Alon’s article, but I also think that Alon kind generalizes a bit much. Every genre had standout games that are still fun to this day. Whether or not Alon, or like-minded folks, enjoyed those games is beside the point. For example, just because Alon (and Ara apparently) think(s) Megaman sucks doesn’t exactly make it so. First of all, let me get this out of the way. Turtles in Time is a bad game to use for this idea, as Alon is in the minority when it comes to opinions on TMNT: TIT. I would go as far as to say that he may need to sit down and play some more brawlers/beat em’ ups before he makes such outlandish claims. Very few brawlers were meant to be played over and over, much less to be examples of great interactive media. People have to keep in mind that a lot of these games were designed first and foremost to get a coin drop from us. Fun and innovation were lures to get us to spend money. Now despite that somewhat nasty barrier, there were still a couple companies that could both make fun games and satisfy the arcade era’s somewhat cutthroat requirements for success. It is hard to be successful AND have artistic integrity. Konami found a way to satisfy both by having fun, fast paced 4-player beat-em ups accentuated with pattern memorization. This satisfied the drop rate, @ 4 credits a pop (you and 3 friends because TMNT is not TMNT if you are not playing 4 players) and of course the 4 player brawling nature of the game coupled with assist attacks made the game innovative and fun. (although Bucky O’Hare/Simpsons was also four players, Bucky was not as widely available and Simpsons was easier to play. That double wide X-Men game was 6 players and that was hot shit.) Limited item placement, enemy types, and unit grouping coupled with boss pattern memorization made it so that skilled players could in fact 1cc this fucker. Turtles in Time was both a great arcade game and a great beat’em up for it’s time. We can look at any selection of brawlers and aside from Technos/Sega/Capcom/SNK/ and some Data East stuff, nobody really did it better. See Alon, Brawlers can be fun! (If you don’t like beat em ups, that is fine, you simply don’t like fun.)

At one point, Alon had mentioned that puzzle games are really the only genre of games he thought would stand the test of time. Really, besides Tetris, Puy-puyo and Puzzle de Pon what other puzzle games are you still playing? Almost nobody plays competitive or marathon Dr. Mario, at least nowhere near the amount of folks who play Tetris. Bust a Move? I’ll be the first to admit BAM2 rocked my lame ass and continues to rock my ass to this day, but I can’t find a single person to play that with me. Twinkle Star Sprites? The game was awesome, but where’s the love? Not only that, how often do you go back and play Tengen Tetris or the original NES Tetris? I can tell you as an actual puzzle game player, playing old Tetris games as opposed to the newer, more balanced, faster Tetris stuff… (Arika Yes that Arika does the best Tetris at this point in my humble opinion) it is a little hard to swallow. Is it bad? Absolutely not, it’s still good. Newer versions of classic stuff are welcome as long as they add something that makes them better. This goes for all newer versions of puzzle games: Puzzle De Pon, Pokemon Puzzle League, Planet Puzzle League, (although this one is certainly arguable.) Puyo-Puyo, Kirbys Avalanche, Puyo Pop Fever etc… They got better but the original games, and even though they’re somewhat sluggish they are still quite good.

Annnnd on to fighting games. Fighting games are another example of really old games that stand the test of time. Companies like Capcom, SNK, Namco, Sega, and to some degree Tecmo and Data East, did well for themselves in the arcade industry while also making good games. Stuff like SSF2T, KOF98, and SF3:3rd Strike are now well over ten years old and are still being played quite a bit because they are intensely deep and well designed games. ST is still played competitively for over a decade after its release. New things are still discovered, there are more ST players now than there were in recent years BECAUSE of a “nostalgic re-release”. HD Remix is a PERFECT example of how sometimes, SOMETIMES old games just do it better, and to assume this only happens with Street Fighter or Zelda or Mario or Final Fantasy or any other strong franchise is just silly.

Ultimately, games are for entertainment, and trying to tell people what should and shouldn’t entertain them makes you sound like a prick. Especially when you don’t have any idea what you are talking about.

I for one will say there are lots of great older games out there to play. they were good back then, and they are still good now. If you enjoy interactive media, you should go back and give them a shot. You might find something you like.