VGC | John – Page 11 – Video Game Canon

Bite-Sized Game History: Long Lost Footage of Sega’s Heavyweight Champ, Playing GoldenEye 007 on Four TVs, and the Nintendo Seal of Quality

“Not all who wander are lost.”

You don’t see it much anymore, but this quote, from JRR Tolkien, was a popular sentiment to plaster on your bumper from the 1970s all the way up to the 2000s. While they may not be lost, like any art form, the video game world has its share of wandering artifacts that are certainly hard to find.

We’ll look at some of them (including Sega’s Heavyweight Champ, GoldenEye 007‘s legacy of screencheating, and the Nintendo Seal of Quality) in this edition of Bite-Sized Game History.

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Aidan Moher’s “Fight, Magic, Items” Will Tell the Story of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Other JRPGs in October 2022

The global recognition of the Japanese RPG can be placed squarely at the feet of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, which launched outside of Japan within 12 months of each other in 1989-1990. But interestingly, the genre itself goes back much further than you might realize, and you’d need to take a detour that goes through Sir-Tech’s Wizardry, Koei’s Dragon and Princess, and Tetris to get the full picture.

I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that Aidan Moher, a freelance writer with bylines across the Internet, is quite familiar with how the latter three add spice to the story, but we know for sure that The Big Two will be a major focus of Fight, Magic, Items: The History of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the Rise of Japanese RPGs in the West, his upcoming history of the genre.

In addition to behind-the-scenes details about the development of those two franchises (as well as Phantasy Star, Chrono Trigger, and Kingdom Hearts), Moher has also conducted new interviews with some of the biggest players in the JRPG space:

The Japanese roleplaying game (JRPG) genre is one that is known for bold, unforgettable characters; rich stories, and some of the most iconic and beloved games in the industry. Inspired by early western RPGs and introducing technology and artistic styles that pushed the boundaries of what video games could be, this genre is responsible for creating some of the most complex, bold, and beloved games in history—and it has the fanbase to prove it. In Fight, Magic, Items, Aidan Moher guides readers through the fascinating history of JRPGs, exploring the technical challenges, distinct narrative and artistic visions, and creative rivalries that fueled the creation of countless iconic games and their quest to become the best, not only in Japan, but in North America, too.

Moher starts with the origin stories of two classic Nintendo titles, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, and immerses readers in the world of JRPGs, following the interconnected history from through the lens of their creators and their stories full of hope, risk, and pixels, from the tiny teams and almost impossible schedules that built the foundations of the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest franchises; Reiko Kodama pushing the narrative and genre boundaries with Phantasy Star; the unexpected team up between Horii and Sakaguchi to create Chrono Trigger; or the unique mashup of classic Disney with Final Fantasy coolness in Kingdom Hearts. Filled with firsthand interviews and behind-the-scenes looks into the development, reception, and influence of JRPGs, Fight, Magic, Items captures the evolution of the genre and why it continues to grab us, decades after those first iconic pixelated games released.

Fight, Magic, Items: The History of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the Rise of Japanese RPGs in the West will be released by Running Press on October 4.

UPDATE (9/10/22): An excerpt from Fight, Magic, Items all about the shadow that Final Fantasy VII continues to cast across the entire gaming landscape can be found at Gizmodo.

UPDATE (11/9/22): Just ahead of the launch of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, a new excerpt from Fight, Magic, Items about the rise of “Pokemania” was recently published by Engadget.

Daniel Dockery’s “Monster Kids” Could be the Definitive History of Pokemon When its Released in October 2022

Even though the franchise has flourished for more than 20 years, there’s never been a definitive history written about Pokemon. Daniel Dockery, an entertainment writer who got his start at Cracked, is hoping to change that this October with the release of Monster Kids: How Pokemon Taught a Generation to Catch Them All.

In addition to delivering an electrifying portrait of Pikachu, Dockery will examine the developers behind Pokemon, the fans who grew up playing it, and the slew of imitators (including Digimon, Cardcaptors, and Yu-Gi-Oh!) that popped up in its wake:

More than just a simple journey through the history of Pokémon, Daniel Dockery offers an in-depth look at the franchise’s many branches of impact and influence. With dozens of firsthand interviews, Monster Kids covers its beginnings as a Japanese video game created to recapture one man’s love of bug-collecting as a child before diving into the decisions and conditions that would ultimately lead to that game’s global domination. With its continued growth as television shows, spin-off video games, blockbuster movies, trading cards, and toys, Pokémon is a unique and special brand that manages to continue to capture the attention and adoration of its eager fanbase 25 years after its initial release.

Monster Kids: How Pokemon Taught a Generation to Catch Them All will be released by Running Press on October 4.

UPDATE (10/22/22): Monster Kids is now available in stores, and Dockery recently shared an excerpt with Polygon about Pokemon‘s American debut to celebrate.

Bite-Sized Game History: Tracking Down the Origin of Miyamoto’s Most Famous Quote and Kirby’s Very First Appearance in a Game

“A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad.”

This well-worn saying is trotted out every single time a major game is delayed and has long been attributed to Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, supposedly said as a response to the protracted development of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. But with the recent delay of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, fans began to wonder, did Miyamoto ever actually share that famous bit of wisdom with an interviewer?

The answer might surprise you…

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John Romero Will Tell His Life Story in 2023 in “Doom Guy: Life in First Person”

John Romero’s about to make you… listen to his life story.

One of gaming’s most flamboyant personalities emerged in the early 1990s as one of the first “rock star” game developers after co-creating Doom with John Carmack and id Software. He’ll explore those early adventures in a new autobiography, which will be published in 2023 by Abrams Books.

Doom Guy: Life in First Person will trace the course of Romero’s entire life, starting with his childhood in Colorado through his partnership with Carmark to his days after id Software:

Doom Guy: Life in First Person is the long-awaited autobiography of John Romero, gaming’s original rock star and the cocreator of Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein—some of the most recognizable and important titles in video game history. Credited with the invention of the first-person shooter, a genre that continues to dominate the market today, he is gaming royalty.

Told in remarkable detail, a byproduct of his hyperthymesia, Romero recounts his storied career—from his early days submitting Apple II code to computer magazines and sneaking computers out of the back door of his day job to do programming projects at night in his garage to a high-profile falling out with his id Software cofounder John Carmack, as well as his continued role in the gaming industry today as the managing director of Romero Games.

His story is truly one of a self-made man, founding multiple companies after a childhood filled with violence and abuse drove him to video game design, where he could create new worlds and places to escape to. An alcoholic father, a racist grandfather who did not approve of Romero’s parents’ mixed-race coupling, and a grandmother who once ran a brothel in Mexico combine for an illuminating story of his youth—a story that has never before been revealed.

After years in the gaming spotlight, Romero is now telling his story—THE WHOLE STORY—in his own words.

John Romero has always had a way with words, so it’ll be interesting to see how his autobiography expands upon David Kushner’s excellent Masters of Doom

Doom Guy: Life in First Person will be available on January 10, 2023.

UPDATE (7/20/23): After a short delay, Doom Guy: A Life in First Person is now available on stores shelves. John Romero has marked the occasion by sharing an excerpt of his book with The Verge, all about the first time he played John Carmack and Tom Hall’s unauthorized PC conversion of Super Mario Bros. 3.

World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022 Includes Civilization, Dance Dance Revolution, Ms. Pac-Man, and Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Put on your dancing shoes, the Strong Museum has announced the four inductees for the World Video Game Hall of Fame‘s Class of 2022.

After coming up empty in two previous years (2018 and 2019), Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution finally boogied its way into the Hall of Fame. It was joined on the virtual stage by Sid Meier’s Civilization (2016) and Bandai Namco’s Ms. Pac-Man (2018), two other titles that fell short in previous years.

For the fourth inductee, the Hall of Fame’s International Selection Advisory Committee chose Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in its first year as a finalist.

Historians and curators from the World Video Game Hall of Fame put together a short presentation video highlighting this year’s inductees, as well as shared some of their thoughts.

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The Hosts of The MinnMax Show Talk About “The Greatest Games of All Time (That Nobody Talks About)”

A quick perusal of the Video Game Canon’s Top 1000 will give you a good idea about the games that are always in the discussion for the Best Games of All Time. There’s Tetris and Resident Evil 4 and Half-Life 2 and Mario, but also your Zeldas and your Marios, and a handful of other familiar titles.

But what if you wanted to go beyond that list? What if you wanted to talk about the greatest games of all time that nobody talks about? That’s where The MinnMaxx Show comes in.

The hosts of the popular podcast recently uploaded an episode all about “The Greatest Games of All Time (That Nobody Talks About).” Each host was given the chance to pick three games that go unmentioned whenever a publication puts together a Best Games list. And at the end of the segment, they also each added a few rapid fire picks to the discussion, bringing the total to 26 titles. How’d they do? Well…

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2021 GOTY Scoreboard: It Takes Two, Returnal, and More

There have been years where the “Game of the Year” honors were spread far and wide amongst several big titles… but 2021 went even further than that.

Four games shared in the five major year-end awards, a nearly unprecedented outcome that last occurred during the 2007-2008 awards season. This time around, Square Enix’s resurgent MMO (Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker), Daniel Mullins’s visually-impressive card battler (Inscryption), and Housemarque’s action-packed roguelike (Returnal) all collected a single award. But that’s only three, and the tie was broken by Hazelight’s It Takes Two, which managed to capture a second statuette.

Moving beyond the major awards, many publications were equally split on their “Game of the Year” choice, though a few titles stood out from the pack. That list includes Bethesda’s Deathloop, Playground’s Forza Horizon 5, Nintendo’s Metroid Dread, Insomniac’s Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Capcom’s Resident Evil Village.

And it didn’t stop there. You can see more of last year’s most-acclaimed titles in the 2021 GOTY Scoreboard after the break.

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Bite-Sized Game History: Revisiting Journey’s Development Journey, the Origins of Scorpion’s Spear, and Making Mario’s Red Hat

When you’re developing a video game, you have to be ready for inspiration to strike at any time.

For this edition of Bite-Sized Game History, let’s look back at how some of the most iconic moments from Journey, Mortal Kombat, and Super Mario 64 went from the drawing board to the screen…

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Returnal Breaks the Loop and Wins “Best Game” at the 2021-2022 BAFTA Games Awards

Housemarque has been caught in a familiar loop throughout their attendance at The Game Awards, the DICE Awards, the SXSW Gaming Awards, and the GDC Awards. Their acclaimed third-person shooter, Returnal, was nominated in multiple categories at each show, but the developers came away emptyhanded almost every time.

That pattern certainly changed at the 2021-2022 BAFTA Games Awards, as Returnal was honored with the “Best Game” award and three other statuettes (“Audio Achievement,” “Music,” and “Performer in a Leading Role” for Jane Perry).

A handful of other games also took home multiple awards during the ceremony, including Hazelight’s It Takes Two (“Multiplayer” and “Original Property”), Insomniac’s Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (“Technical Achievement” and “Animation”), and Witch Beam’s Unpacking (“Narrative” and the fan-voted “EE Game of the Year”).

The BAFTA Games Awards are headquartered in London, and the organizers also annually hand out an award for “Best British Game.” This year, that honor went to Playground’s Forza Horizon 5.

You can find the complete list of nominees and all the other winners (including Chicory: A Colorful Tale, Inscryption, Psychonauts 2, and more), as well as a replay of the ceremony (which was hosted by Elle Osili-Wood), after the break.

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