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We Need More Ninjas In Games!!!
I Want More Ninjas to Rap About!!!
I stand by my comment at all times. Why so? Because we have not seen that many great games that have ninjas in them! Of course, there are great games that have ninjas like Ninja Gaiden the PS3 and Xbox 360 and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the Super Nintendo, but don't you think that the whole thing with futuristic characters and war soldiers can get a bit tiring after a while? I do when I look at American-developed games. How many American developers have made games based on ninjas? None. However, Gamecock Media made a mini-game crossover where Pirates and Ninjas fought each other in a series of games, but that proved to be unsuccessful to a fault. Another game I think where there were characters that had ninjas was the Mortal Kombat franchise with Scorpion and Sub-Zero being the prime examples of where they stand. Think about the games that are made here in the U.S. that are 'AAA' titles like no other. There is the Halo franchise, Call of Duty, God of War, Burnout, and many others, but nowhere is there a game that has the tendency of adding ninjas. Look at some other franchises that have ninjas with most of them including Ninja Gaiden, Tenchu, Dead or Alive, TMNT, Ninja Blade, Metal Gear Solid, Onimusha, and Okami. They are great, but the problem is that they were made in Japan. Why was TMNT handled better with Konami than an American Developer? I have nothing against that since Konami made some pretty decent Ninja Turtles games in the past, but when is it that we'll develop it under our wing? Maybe the first time was with the TMNT movie-based game in 2007 when the CGI movie hit theatres. Oh, wait! It was developed by Ubisoft Montreal in Canada. So, that does not count for a game that is made in the United States for where the franchise originated from. Why do you suppose that I care? Let me tell you with a little history.
When I was a kid, my folks managed to hook me up with a retro generation of pop culture for me and my sister. It was great timing because the franchise that I was introduced to was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the 1980s. From 1987 to 1996, the Ninja Turtles left so many great memories in my childhood that I would never take those away. I had a selection of action figures, movies, cartoon VHS tapes, and at least one video game from the franchise. That video game just happened to be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time on the Super Nintendo, and that game had to be the best Ninja Turtles game as well as the best Beat 'em-Up that I ever played. Yes, my childhood was extremely well played when the concept of ninja entered my memories for the rest of my life. Probably the next person where a ninja was introduced was Yuffie Kisaragi from Final Fantasy VII. While this character was great to most people, I found her performance to a be a bit exaggerated with her whole philosophy of stealing all the pieces of the magical, life force, Materia. Throughout the game, her character becomes more well-defined as she changes from being a thief to a great ally. In the CGI movie, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Yuffie becomes more mature than ever. Although she still clings on to Materia like they are her babies, but she knows what is right and wrong. It's great stuff. Probably the next contestant in the world of ninja is Rikimaru from the Tenchu series. Tenchu is considered to be one of the best franchises ever made because it is the first franchise to give a gamer the sense of being a ninja with what they normally do. The first game was great to some standards besides the confusing camera movement (which should have been implemented with the right thumbstick on the Dualshock controller!). The second improved upon the predecessor because the story told you about the previous life of two great ninjas and how they had to change from being carefree to very serious. The third game, Wrath of Heaven, is by far the best one in the series with getting the controls right, the story being progressed further, and the gameplay better and more easier to utilize. As we have seen in Rikimaru, he was someone who was optimistic and carefree as he idolizes his master and fellow student for being honorable and strong fighters, but when they entered death, his former personality was lost forever. Good stuff. My next guest for being incredibly wicked in the art of ninjutsu is Grey Fox from Metal Gear Solid. While I never even knew this character from the old days of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake on the MSX2 in Japan, his appearance in Metal Gear Solid made me curious about his character and where it came from. By the time when the two MSX2 games came out in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence on the Playstation 2, I played those games to get a full understanding of his whole backstory. The first game introduced Grey Fox as this P.O.W. that was being held in an enemy fortress called Outer Heaven. He assisted Solid Snake in destroying Metal Gear and defeating Big Boss. In the second game, we can see that Grey Fox was Big Boss's trusted Lieutenant in secrecy, and he fought against Snake in one, final battle in a mine field. After his death, Grey Fox was carried by a scientist named Dr. Clark (Paramedic in Metal Gear Solid 3) for experimentation on robotic exoskeletons for combat. Grey Fox was eventually revived in the process, but his resurrection caused temporary, psychological breakdowns in his mental health and he killed Dr. Clark when trying to get away. The whole accident brought Grey Fox in Metal Gear Solid in his cyborg exoskeleton and his abilities and agility were that of a ninja. He fought against Snake in one battle where his fighting skills were shown to be extremely agile and something that no human can ever pull off. Maybe it was something in his nanomachines that caused his physical health to be quicker and more dexteritous because genetics played a huge role in the whole story of Solid Snake. The legacy of having ninjas did not die down because other characters started to adapt to the whole concept of being fitted in exoskeletons and fighting with incredible haste. Raiden had to be a really great example as his character, in the recent Metal Gear Solid 4 on the Playstation 3, showed him to have an exoskeleton where his memories and his body were still alive by maintaining his spine and his brain. Not only that, but his body's movement was being supplied with artificial, white blood. Pretty crazy if you ask me, but very interesting. The next and last entry in the academy of ninjas that really caught my eye was Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden and the Dead or Alive franchises. Ryu Hayabusa is considered by fans and critics as being the best ninja that ever existed in the video game world. I can personally agree to that, but the Ninja Gaiden games can be a tad bit difficult with gameplay mechanics that are fun and frustrating at times. In the old days on the NES, Ninja Gaiden was a typical sidescroller where Ryu Hayabusa would run through a linear stage, fight a boss, and advance to the next level. While the gameplay was difficult, it was charming to see how a franchise could be ressurected over a decade later. Thus, we received Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox that would later be ported to the Playstation 3. The second series departs from the whole sidescrolling aspect and it plays in the process of hack 'n' slash action like Devil May Cry. Devil May Cry is one of my all-time favorite franchises as well, but the quick agility in Ninja Gaiden was just as crazy as it could possibly be. While the game relies more on slashing your enemies with melee weapons like Ryu's Dragon Sword, it also incorporates projectile weapons and ninjutsu scrolls to cast ninja magic called 'ninpo'. It was so addicted to that gameplay, but there were certain things in it that kept it from being as great as God of War. The camera angles were confusing, you could not double-jump, and you could not auto-aim at your opponents like you can with your projectiles. The magic was great, but there should be a mode where Ryu is so strong that he can take down his enemies with monstrous attacks. It works in God of War and Devil May Cry, but why not Ninja Gaiden. Maybe it was because there are certain things in it that make the game seem realistic and un-realistic at the same time, but it would have been nice to have that feature and the franchise could have received better reviews. Ninja Gaiden II on the Xbox 360 suffered the same problems and the scores were lower than the first. That is a perfect example of a sequel not receiving updates that are different from the game before. Overall, Ryu Hayabuse showed off some incredible talents as a ninja with signature moves that no other ninja pulled off like the 'Izuna Drop' or the 'Flying Swallow' technique. Even the Dead or Alive franchise made Ryu Hayabusa look badass with his skills. He won the second tournament in DOA2, and he has been treated with respect much as the game's main protagonist, Kasumi.
I bet most of you can probably see where I am coming from, and there has to come a point in the game development process where people must think outside of the box more than just futuristic people, aliens, robots, and army grunts. We have seen so many of those, but we can't think of anything else beyond them? That is another reason why I see the video game industry not doing so well with characters is because people cannot think outside of the box and have one character to define a company. Mario symbolizes Nintendo, Sonic symbolizes Sega, Aero the Acrobat symbolizes Sunsoft, Sparkster and Solid Snake symbolize Konami, Captain Commando symbolizes Capcom, Sackboy symbolizes Sony, Ryu Hayabusa symbolizes Tecmo, and Pac-Man symbolizes Namco. I know that America is supposed to be the main basis of world entertainment, but how come must games be about something or someone that is generic that I do not care about? I do believe that video games have the potential to make you care about characters and a story instead of just the gameplay. It is another one of those charms that can win well for both children, teenagers, and adults alike. I have so many ideas to pitch in for a video game character and he is in the form of a ninja where he shows that he can idolize the video game industry for what it is. However, a character like my own should not be taken for granted and not make various spin-offs to milk a franchise. Ever since the TMNT pushed the phenomenon for people to enjoy ninjas, I think the concept needs to make a return for American audiences. And remember...'Go Ninja! Go Ninja! Go!'
I stand by my comment at all times. Why so? Because we have not seen that many great games that have ninjas in them! Of course, there are great games that have ninjas like Ninja Gaiden the PS3 and Xbox 360 and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the Super Nintendo, but don't you think that the whole thing with futuristic characters and war soldiers can get a bit tiring after a while? I do when I look at American-developed games. How many American developers have made games based on ninjas? None. However, Gamecock Media made a mini-game crossover where Pirates and Ninjas fought each other in a series of games, but that proved to be unsuccessful to a fault. Another game I think where there were characters that had ninjas was the Mortal Kombat franchise with Scorpion and Sub-Zero being the prime examples of where they stand. Think about the games that are made here in the U.S. that are 'AAA' titles like no other. There is the Halo franchise, Call of Duty, God of War, Burnout, and many others, but nowhere is there a game that has the tendency of adding ninjas. Look at some other franchises that have ninjas with most of them including Ninja Gaiden, Tenchu, Dead or Alive, TMNT, Ninja Blade, Metal Gear Solid, Onimusha, and Okami. They are great, but the problem is that they were made in Japan. Why was TMNT handled better with Konami than an American Developer? I have nothing against that since Konami made some pretty decent Ninja Turtles games in the past, but when is it that we'll develop it under our wing? Maybe the first time was with the TMNT movie-based game in 2007 when the CGI movie hit theatres. Oh, wait! It was developed by Ubisoft Montreal in Canada. So, that does not count for a game that is made in the United States for where the franchise originated from. Why do you suppose that I care? Let me tell you with a little history.
When I was a kid, my folks managed to hook me up with a retro generation of pop culture for me and my sister. It was great timing because the franchise that I was introduced to was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the 1980s. From 1987 to 1996, the Ninja Turtles left so many great memories in my childhood that I would never take those away. I had a selection of action figures, movies, cartoon VHS tapes, and at least one video game from the franchise. That video game just happened to be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time on the Super Nintendo, and that game had to be the best Ninja Turtles game as well as the best Beat 'em-Up that I ever played. Yes, my childhood was extremely well played when the concept of ninja entered my memories for the rest of my life. Probably the next person where a ninja was introduced was Yuffie Kisaragi from Final Fantasy VII. While this character was great to most people, I found her performance to a be a bit exaggerated with her whole philosophy of stealing all the pieces of the magical, life force, Materia. Throughout the game, her character becomes more well-defined as she changes from being a thief to a great ally. In the CGI movie, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Yuffie becomes more mature than ever. Although she still clings on to Materia like they are her babies, but she knows what is right and wrong. It's great stuff. Probably the next contestant in the world of ninja is Rikimaru from the Tenchu series. Tenchu is considered to be one of the best franchises ever made because it is the first franchise to give a gamer the sense of being a ninja with what they normally do. The first game was great to some standards besides the confusing camera movement (which should have been implemented with the right thumbstick on the Dualshock controller!). The second improved upon the predecessor because the story told you about the previous life of two great ninjas and how they had to change from being carefree to very serious. The third game, Wrath of Heaven, is by far the best one in the series with getting the controls right, the story being progressed further, and the gameplay better and more easier to utilize. As we have seen in Rikimaru, he was someone who was optimistic and carefree as he idolizes his master and fellow student for being honorable and strong fighters, but when they entered death, his former personality was lost forever. Good stuff. My next guest for being incredibly wicked in the art of ninjutsu is Grey Fox from Metal Gear Solid. While I never even knew this character from the old days of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake on the MSX2 in Japan, his appearance in Metal Gear Solid made me curious about his character and where it came from. By the time when the two MSX2 games came out in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence on the Playstation 2, I played those games to get a full understanding of his whole backstory. The first game introduced Grey Fox as this P.O.W. that was being held in an enemy fortress called Outer Heaven. He assisted Solid Snake in destroying Metal Gear and defeating Big Boss. In the second game, we can see that Grey Fox was Big Boss's trusted Lieutenant in secrecy, and he fought against Snake in one, final battle in a mine field. After his death, Grey Fox was carried by a scientist named Dr. Clark (Paramedic in Metal Gear Solid 3) for experimentation on robotic exoskeletons for combat. Grey Fox was eventually revived in the process, but his resurrection caused temporary, psychological breakdowns in his mental health and he killed Dr. Clark when trying to get away. The whole accident brought Grey Fox in Metal Gear Solid in his cyborg exoskeleton and his abilities and agility were that of a ninja. He fought against Snake in one battle where his fighting skills were shown to be extremely agile and something that no human can ever pull off. Maybe it was something in his nanomachines that caused his physical health to be quicker and more dexteritous because genetics played a huge role in the whole story of Solid Snake. The legacy of having ninjas did not die down because other characters started to adapt to the whole concept of being fitted in exoskeletons and fighting with incredible haste. Raiden had to be a really great example as his character, in the recent Metal Gear Solid 4 on the Playstation 3, showed him to have an exoskeleton where his memories and his body were still alive by maintaining his spine and his brain. Not only that, but his body's movement was being supplied with artificial, white blood. Pretty crazy if you ask me, but very interesting. The next and last entry in the academy of ninjas that really caught my eye was Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden and the Dead or Alive franchises. Ryu Hayabusa is considered by fans and critics as being the best ninja that ever existed in the video game world. I can personally agree to that, but the Ninja Gaiden games can be a tad bit difficult with gameplay mechanics that are fun and frustrating at times. In the old days on the NES, Ninja Gaiden was a typical sidescroller where Ryu Hayabusa would run through a linear stage, fight a boss, and advance to the next level. While the gameplay was difficult, it was charming to see how a franchise could be ressurected over a decade later. Thus, we received Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox that would later be ported to the Playstation 3. The second series departs from the whole sidescrolling aspect and it plays in the process of hack 'n' slash action like Devil May Cry. Devil May Cry is one of my all-time favorite franchises as well, but the quick agility in Ninja Gaiden was just as crazy as it could possibly be. While the game relies more on slashing your enemies with melee weapons like Ryu's Dragon Sword, it also incorporates projectile weapons and ninjutsu scrolls to cast ninja magic called 'ninpo'. It was so addicted to that gameplay, but there were certain things in it that kept it from being as great as God of War. The camera angles were confusing, you could not double-jump, and you could not auto-aim at your opponents like you can with your projectiles. The magic was great, but there should be a mode where Ryu is so strong that he can take down his enemies with monstrous attacks. It works in God of War and Devil May Cry, but why not Ninja Gaiden. Maybe it was because there are certain things in it that make the game seem realistic and un-realistic at the same time, but it would have been nice to have that feature and the franchise could have received better reviews. Ninja Gaiden II on the Xbox 360 suffered the same problems and the scores were lower than the first. That is a perfect example of a sequel not receiving updates that are different from the game before. Overall, Ryu Hayabuse showed off some incredible talents as a ninja with signature moves that no other ninja pulled off like the 'Izuna Drop' or the 'Flying Swallow' technique. Even the Dead or Alive franchise made Ryu Hayabusa look badass with his skills. He won the second tournament in DOA2, and he has been treated with respect much as the game's main protagonist, Kasumi.
I bet most of you can probably see where I am coming from, and there has to come a point in the game development process where people must think outside of the box more than just futuristic people, aliens, robots, and army grunts. We have seen so many of those, but we can't think of anything else beyond them? That is another reason why I see the video game industry not doing so well with characters is because people cannot think outside of the box and have one character to define a company. Mario symbolizes Nintendo, Sonic symbolizes Sega, Aero the Acrobat symbolizes Sunsoft, Sparkster and Solid Snake symbolize Konami, Captain Commando symbolizes Capcom, Sackboy symbolizes Sony, Ryu Hayabusa symbolizes Tecmo, and Pac-Man symbolizes Namco. I know that America is supposed to be the main basis of world entertainment, but how come must games be about something or someone that is generic that I do not care about? I do believe that video games have the potential to make you care about characters and a story instead of just the gameplay. It is another one of those charms that can win well for both children, teenagers, and adults alike. I have so many ideas to pitch in for a video game character and he is in the form of a ninja where he shows that he can idolize the video game industry for what it is. However, a character like my own should not be taken for granted and not make various spin-offs to milk a franchise. Ever since the TMNT pushed the phenomenon for people to enjoy ninjas, I think the concept needs to make a return for American audiences. And remember...'Go Ninja! Go Ninja! Go!'
What happened to Video Game Mascots?
What happened to Video Game Mascots?
In 1985, after the video game crash of 1983 and 1984, Nintendo would rise from the ashes of the video game disaster from one year back when they created a new console that had an icon that would lead it to resurrecting the video game phenomena. His name was Mario and he starred in Super Mario Bros. where the game made his popularity grow even more to this day. This started a little trend with other game franchises with companies creating their own characters to define themselves and to lead them strong in the gaming industry. These special characters would be recognized as company and video game mascots. Let me go on record by saying that I really enjoy mascots in video games because most of their games are very powerful in their own respective styles in gameplay, game design, and popularity. Some are unique, underrated, overrated, or top dog in the gaming world. When I see a mascot, I can see a potential winner for publishers and developers alike. Mario, Sonic, Link, Samus, and so many others had so many details about them that made them strong for society and the gaming community, but it seems like it has become more of a long, lost gem in the past. The reason is that most games nowadays are created with characters that are generic and just boring. I'm not saying that all games with generic characters are bad, but how many of them do you see that have such a huge cult following now? None. Why is that? Back in 1980s and 1990s, video game mascots were very special as they each of them have their own strengths and weaknesses. Let us take a look at a few.
Mario (Super Mario Bros.)
This character would have to be considered the very first mascot in the early days of gaming. Mario is mostly considered as a Nintendo character because of his position of where he stands and his creator being one of the key people in the company. Mario creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, revolutionized video game mascots for the first time when he designed Mario as a typical plumber with a cartoony look. While Mario looks nowhere big as your common human these days, his short and robust body made him so popular that it is nearly impossible for anyone not knowing who this guy is. When people look at Mario, they may ask themselves, "Where did he start?" Mario made his debut in the 1981 arcade game; Donkey Kong. The simple basis for Mario is that he would have to jump on many platforms to reach where Donkey is for kidnapping his love interest named Pauline. The concept was very simple. You had to go through four levels to stop Donkey Kong and to reunite with Pauline as the end. What many people realized right away was that the game was all about getting a high score by the multiple number of playthroughs that a game player must endure. Mario's next entry in the franchise was the 1983 arcade game, Mario Bros. Playing this game was different than just playing Donkey Kong, but the premise of reaching a high score stuck out like a sore thumb. For the first time in a Mario game, we are introduced to Mario's brother, Luigi. Luigi has never been described who he really is based on his appearance. Many people started to believe that he was a clone of Mario, but his character become more recognizable in the 2001 Gamecube classic, Luigi's Mansion. From what we can see, Luigi is the polar opposite of Mario where the famous plumber is more heroic and courageous while Luigi is more considered to be a coward as he is afraid to fight. Back to Mario Bros. the game was more about competition rather than just getting a high score and most of the enemies were crabs, flys, and koopa troopas, and you had to be careful with watching your enemies come through pipes. Surprisingly, the whole idea with the pipes and the koopa troopas became mainstream when the next entry took a different approach from anything else. In 1985, we were introduced to Nintendo's highest-selling title for the NES; Super Mario Bros. For the first time in this game, Mario and Luigi are in a world filled with mushrooms, pipes, fire flowers, goombas, and koopa troopas and the object was to rescue another damsel-in-distress. However, the damsel-in-distress was Princess Peach/Toadstool and her character was better received than Pauline for being generic in every way. We are also introduced to the game's main antagonist named Bowser. He is a reptile king who kidnaps the Princess in order to rule the Mushroom Kingdom and the whole thing with Mario saving the princess from Bowser would become an ongoing tradition for the rest of the series. With many sequels being successful and spin-offs being either good or bad, Mario has been a legend for five video game generations from the old days of the NES up to Nintendo's current console; the Wii. The main entries take a lot of time and planning to please the every gamer and they continue to get better because of the constant grasp of the overall impression of what made Mario for what he is now.
Sonic (Sonic the Hedgehog)
Probably considered the most overrated character in the number of video game mascots, Sonic was one of those examples as to where "Genesis Does what Nintendon't". Sonic The Hedgehog started his glory days with the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive console in 1991. With Nintendo's constant success of releasing Mario titles for the past decade, Sega needed to capitalize themselves with a mascot to compete against the Italian plumber. While Alex Kidd started to go downhill, Sega introduced us to Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic was the first video game mascot to be introduced as a blue hedgehog with only one word to define his character: Speed. Yes; you heard me right. Sonic was all about speed where he must finish a level from beginning to finish with quick movement. Whether it was collecting rings or the chaos emeralds from the evil Dr. Robotnik/Eggman, Sonic had to face the evils of the mad scientist with his army of robots and rescuing the forest animals. The first Sonic game on the Genesis was the start of a new idea for platforming games and it was so much different than the Mario franchise. Only one year passed when the gaming community received a sequel called Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The overall impression of Sonic the Hedgehog was present in the sequel, but what made it more unique was the debut of Sonic's new partner; Miles "Tails" Prower. Tails was always behind Sonic, but he could fly and create machines based on his own intelligence. While Sonic was a character who has a flamboyant attitude, Tails always made calculations as to what should or shouldn't be done. In 1993, Sonic made another return, but with a new game that was considered to be the best game in the franchise. Sega was experimenting with CD-based games for the Sega Genesis and Sonic would lead them with Sonic CD. Sonic CD took everything you liked about Sonic the Hedgehog and made so many improvements in the gameplay. We are also introduced to Sonic's biggest fan named Amy Rose and Sonic's dark and robotic counterpart named Mecha Sonic. Another quality gem for the game is the soundtrack as the Sega CD showed off some unique sound capabilities that tried to surpass the Super Nintendo but bit the dust after about a year. With the failure of the Sega CD, Sega decided that Sonic should return back to the Genesis with the next installments called Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and its direct sequel, Sonic & Knuckles. Sega showed that Sonic was the best way to keep up with Mario by all means, but his brief appearances in the Sega Saturn made many fans believe that Sonic was dead. That was not the case when in 1999, Sega made another Sonic game to take place after Sonic & Knuckles, and it was the first Sonic game to include the basis of adventure and variety with many different characters to play as. Of course what I am talking about is Sonic Adventure for the Sega's 6th Generation Console; the Dreamcast. Sonic Adventure was a universal success and it showed that Sonic had potential to work really well as a 3D franchise. For the next ten years, other Sonic games started to come in with a few being very decent and most others that are currently just horrendous as they could possibly be. At this point, I have been wondering what is up with Sega as they just milk the Sonic franchise for money and not show proper respect for their mascot. Some believe that Sonic is long dead and some believe that he just needs to take a rest so that he can make a comeback in the future. Overall, Sonic is a great character, but his praise and negative bashing is just out of this world and the fanbase is scattered as to where everyone cannot come as a whole again. Probably where the fanbase started to go haywire is when Sonic's original voice actor, Ryan Drummond, was unofficially replaced by the 4kids Corporation with their own voice actor, Jason Griffith. Sega grasping the idea of placing product continuity between their games and the Sonic X TV series. If you ask me, that was a really poor choice from either Sega or Sonic's development group, Sonic Team. They need to go back to where the fans enjoy Sonic more in either his classic roots or to bringing back the original voice cast.
Solid Snake (Metal Gear)
While not an official mascot for Konami, per se, but Solid Snake is one of those generic characters where his appearance is referenced from many characters and actors from so many feature films like Kyle Reese from The Terminator and Snake Plissken from John Carpenter's Escape from New York. Snake's popularity started out with Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear on the MSX2 in Japan in 1987. Three years later, Snake appeared once more in the sequel, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Probably the best place where Snake's popularity skyrocketed was in the 1998 Playstation classic, Metal Gear Solid. For the first time in a Metal Gear game, we see what Snake's personality is like through the use of cinematic cutscenes that look identical to a major, motion picture. Snake is portrayed as an ex-military grunt who worked for a covert ops group named Fox-Hound. During the events of the first two games, Snake infiltrated an enemy fortress called "Outer Heaven" and a fictional country called Zanzibar Land (not to be confused with the real country of Zanzibar). After fighting his former commander and losing his best friend from the game before, Snake retires to Alaska to live the rest of his days a dog-musher and an alcoholic. The year is 2005 when Snake is brought in a US Submarine by his commanding officer, Roy Campbell who informs him that Fox-Hound has become a resistance force who seek to start war all over the world with one man leading them as Snake's twin brother, Liquid Snake. Snake's character is so unique because you see him as he is trying to free himself from having to fight, but he cannot because of every Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force possessing their own Metal Gear. His life is being revolved from a man who lives in peace to a rogue who fights back to make the use of Metal Gears go away. Wherever you see Snake in a Metal Gear game, you know that his character will face many foes and demons that will make him understand that the only way for him to live is to fight in battle. It is very enjoyable and I always come to the fact that maybe Snake should end up as Konami's own mascot to define the company. It is not my place to say it as the character is created and owned by Hideo Kojima himself.
As we have seen in this blog, mascots are really big successes in the gaming industry, but they seem to have faded away from existence. My own guess is that no one can come up with a character that is creative. What company has a ninja to become a mascot? Maybe Ryu Hayabusa from the Ninja Gaiden games, but he should deserve more games to make him worthy of a mascot. I know that Namco's I-Ninja is not a mascot because Namco already has Pac-Man to back them up with their victories. Why aren't there anymore out there, today? Is it because people are starting to become somewhat more comfortable with being generic? Let us think about this for one minute. Why do you think people dress up as their favorite video game mascot? It is because the character has a huge cult following that is out of this world and there are hardly any that are not present at this time. Whatever happened to Captain Commando or Mega Man? Where is the next entry for the Rocket Knight Adventures series? Where's the newest mascot? Probably the newest mascot would have to be Sack Boy from LittleBigPlanet on the Playstation 3, but why have we not seen more to make companies more popular? It seems like it left many people for a long time and they do not seem to enjoy the process of creating something new to gain more recognition.
In conclusion, mascots need to make a comeback with those being old or new and it may be the reason why most games are starting to go downhill and become obscure with how they deliver in games. I truly miss the old days where I play as some of the classic mascots but I would like to see some new ones that can become successful as those like Mario or Sonic. I do not want to see another company make another FPS game as they continue to become somewhat the same. I want to see a Platforming, RPG, Racing, Fighting, or Action game that has a character to represent a company in all their rights in any possible way. The joy of games can be revived if we have those that can stand strong for many companies alike and many games yet to come. It is a big step to bring back innovation, and I stand by my word to the very end.
In 1985, after the video game crash of 1983 and 1984, Nintendo would rise from the ashes of the video game disaster from one year back when they created a new console that had an icon that would lead it to resurrecting the video game phenomena. His name was Mario and he starred in Super Mario Bros. where the game made his popularity grow even more to this day. This started a little trend with other game franchises with companies creating their own characters to define themselves and to lead them strong in the gaming industry. These special characters would be recognized as company and video game mascots. Let me go on record by saying that I really enjoy mascots in video games because most of their games are very powerful in their own respective styles in gameplay, game design, and popularity. Some are unique, underrated, overrated, or top dog in the gaming world. When I see a mascot, I can see a potential winner for publishers and developers alike. Mario, Sonic, Link, Samus, and so many others had so many details about them that made them strong for society and the gaming community, but it seems like it has become more of a long, lost gem in the past. The reason is that most games nowadays are created with characters that are generic and just boring. I'm not saying that all games with generic characters are bad, but how many of them do you see that have such a huge cult following now? None. Why is that? Back in 1980s and 1990s, video game mascots were very special as they each of them have their own strengths and weaknesses. Let us take a look at a few.
Mario (Super Mario Bros.)
This character would have to be considered the very first mascot in the early days of gaming. Mario is mostly considered as a Nintendo character because of his position of where he stands and his creator being one of the key people in the company. Mario creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, revolutionized video game mascots for the first time when he designed Mario as a typical plumber with a cartoony look. While Mario looks nowhere big as your common human these days, his short and robust body made him so popular that it is nearly impossible for anyone not knowing who this guy is. When people look at Mario, they may ask themselves, "Where did he start?" Mario made his debut in the 1981 arcade game; Donkey Kong. The simple basis for Mario is that he would have to jump on many platforms to reach where Donkey is for kidnapping his love interest named Pauline. The concept was very simple. You had to go through four levels to stop Donkey Kong and to reunite with Pauline as the end. What many people realized right away was that the game was all about getting a high score by the multiple number of playthroughs that a game player must endure. Mario's next entry in the franchise was the 1983 arcade game, Mario Bros. Playing this game was different than just playing Donkey Kong, but the premise of reaching a high score stuck out like a sore thumb. For the first time in a Mario game, we are introduced to Mario's brother, Luigi. Luigi has never been described who he really is based on his appearance. Many people started to believe that he was a clone of Mario, but his character become more recognizable in the 2001 Gamecube classic, Luigi's Mansion. From what we can see, Luigi is the polar opposite of Mario where the famous plumber is more heroic and courageous while Luigi is more considered to be a coward as he is afraid to fight. Back to Mario Bros. the game was more about competition rather than just getting a high score and most of the enemies were crabs, flys, and koopa troopas, and you had to be careful with watching your enemies come through pipes. Surprisingly, the whole idea with the pipes and the koopa troopas became mainstream when the next entry took a different approach from anything else. In 1985, we were introduced to Nintendo's highest-selling title for the NES; Super Mario Bros. For the first time in this game, Mario and Luigi are in a world filled with mushrooms, pipes, fire flowers, goombas, and koopa troopas and the object was to rescue another damsel-in-distress. However, the damsel-in-distress was Princess Peach/Toadstool and her character was better received than Pauline for being generic in every way. We are also introduced to the game's main antagonist named Bowser. He is a reptile king who kidnaps the Princess in order to rule the Mushroom Kingdom and the whole thing with Mario saving the princess from Bowser would become an ongoing tradition for the rest of the series. With many sequels being successful and spin-offs being either good or bad, Mario has been a legend for five video game generations from the old days of the NES up to Nintendo's current console; the Wii. The main entries take a lot of time and planning to please the every gamer and they continue to get better because of the constant grasp of the overall impression of what made Mario for what he is now.
Sonic (Sonic the Hedgehog)
Probably considered the most overrated character in the number of video game mascots, Sonic was one of those examples as to where "Genesis Does what Nintendon't". Sonic The Hedgehog started his glory days with the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive console in 1991. With Nintendo's constant success of releasing Mario titles for the past decade, Sega needed to capitalize themselves with a mascot to compete against the Italian plumber. While Alex Kidd started to go downhill, Sega introduced us to Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic was the first video game mascot to be introduced as a blue hedgehog with only one word to define his character: Speed. Yes; you heard me right. Sonic was all about speed where he must finish a level from beginning to finish with quick movement. Whether it was collecting rings or the chaos emeralds from the evil Dr. Robotnik/Eggman, Sonic had to face the evils of the mad scientist with his army of robots and rescuing the forest animals. The first Sonic game on the Genesis was the start of a new idea for platforming games and it was so much different than the Mario franchise. Only one year passed when the gaming community received a sequel called Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The overall impression of Sonic the Hedgehog was present in the sequel, but what made it more unique was the debut of Sonic's new partner; Miles "Tails" Prower. Tails was always behind Sonic, but he could fly and create machines based on his own intelligence. While Sonic was a character who has a flamboyant attitude, Tails always made calculations as to what should or shouldn't be done. In 1993, Sonic made another return, but with a new game that was considered to be the best game in the franchise. Sega was experimenting with CD-based games for the Sega Genesis and Sonic would lead them with Sonic CD. Sonic CD took everything you liked about Sonic the Hedgehog and made so many improvements in the gameplay. We are also introduced to Sonic's biggest fan named Amy Rose and Sonic's dark and robotic counterpart named Mecha Sonic. Another quality gem for the game is the soundtrack as the Sega CD showed off some unique sound capabilities that tried to surpass the Super Nintendo but bit the dust after about a year. With the failure of the Sega CD, Sega decided that Sonic should return back to the Genesis with the next installments called Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and its direct sequel, Sonic & Knuckles. Sega showed that Sonic was the best way to keep up with Mario by all means, but his brief appearances in the Sega Saturn made many fans believe that Sonic was dead. That was not the case when in 1999, Sega made another Sonic game to take place after Sonic & Knuckles, and it was the first Sonic game to include the basis of adventure and variety with many different characters to play as. Of course what I am talking about is Sonic Adventure for the Sega's 6th Generation Console; the Dreamcast. Sonic Adventure was a universal success and it showed that Sonic had potential to work really well as a 3D franchise. For the next ten years, other Sonic games started to come in with a few being very decent and most others that are currently just horrendous as they could possibly be. At this point, I have been wondering what is up with Sega as they just milk the Sonic franchise for money and not show proper respect for their mascot. Some believe that Sonic is long dead and some believe that he just needs to take a rest so that he can make a comeback in the future. Overall, Sonic is a great character, but his praise and negative bashing is just out of this world and the fanbase is scattered as to where everyone cannot come as a whole again. Probably where the fanbase started to go haywire is when Sonic's original voice actor, Ryan Drummond, was unofficially replaced by the 4kids Corporation with their own voice actor, Jason Griffith. Sega grasping the idea of placing product continuity between their games and the Sonic X TV series. If you ask me, that was a really poor choice from either Sega or Sonic's development group, Sonic Team. They need to go back to where the fans enjoy Sonic more in either his classic roots or to bringing back the original voice cast.
Solid Snake (Metal Gear)
While not an official mascot for Konami, per se, but Solid Snake is one of those generic characters where his appearance is referenced from many characters and actors from so many feature films like Kyle Reese from The Terminator and Snake Plissken from John Carpenter's Escape from New York. Snake's popularity started out with Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear on the MSX2 in Japan in 1987. Three years later, Snake appeared once more in the sequel, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Probably the best place where Snake's popularity skyrocketed was in the 1998 Playstation classic, Metal Gear Solid. For the first time in a Metal Gear game, we see what Snake's personality is like through the use of cinematic cutscenes that look identical to a major, motion picture. Snake is portrayed as an ex-military grunt who worked for a covert ops group named Fox-Hound. During the events of the first two games, Snake infiltrated an enemy fortress called "Outer Heaven" and a fictional country called Zanzibar Land (not to be confused with the real country of Zanzibar). After fighting his former commander and losing his best friend from the game before, Snake retires to Alaska to live the rest of his days a dog-musher and an alcoholic. The year is 2005 when Snake is brought in a US Submarine by his commanding officer, Roy Campbell who informs him that Fox-Hound has become a resistance force who seek to start war all over the world with one man leading them as Snake's twin brother, Liquid Snake. Snake's character is so unique because you see him as he is trying to free himself from having to fight, but he cannot because of every Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force possessing their own Metal Gear. His life is being revolved from a man who lives in peace to a rogue who fights back to make the use of Metal Gears go away. Wherever you see Snake in a Metal Gear game, you know that his character will face many foes and demons that will make him understand that the only way for him to live is to fight in battle. It is very enjoyable and I always come to the fact that maybe Snake should end up as Konami's own mascot to define the company. It is not my place to say it as the character is created and owned by Hideo Kojima himself.
As we have seen in this blog, mascots are really big successes in the gaming industry, but they seem to have faded away from existence. My own guess is that no one can come up with a character that is creative. What company has a ninja to become a mascot? Maybe Ryu Hayabusa from the Ninja Gaiden games, but he should deserve more games to make him worthy of a mascot. I know that Namco's I-Ninja is not a mascot because Namco already has Pac-Man to back them up with their victories. Why aren't there anymore out there, today? Is it because people are starting to become somewhat more comfortable with being generic? Let us think about this for one minute. Why do you think people dress up as their favorite video game mascot? It is because the character has a huge cult following that is out of this world and there are hardly any that are not present at this time. Whatever happened to Captain Commando or Mega Man? Where is the next entry for the Rocket Knight Adventures series? Where's the newest mascot? Probably the newest mascot would have to be Sack Boy from LittleBigPlanet on the Playstation 3, but why have we not seen more to make companies more popular? It seems like it left many people for a long time and they do not seem to enjoy the process of creating something new to gain more recognition.
In conclusion, mascots need to make a comeback with those being old or new and it may be the reason why most games are starting to go downhill and become obscure with how they deliver in games. I truly miss the old days where I play as some of the classic mascots but I would like to see some new ones that can become successful as those like Mario or Sonic. I do not want to see another company make another FPS game as they continue to become somewhat the same. I want to see a Platforming, RPG, Racing, Fighting, or Action game that has a character to represent a company in all their rights in any possible way. The joy of games can be revived if we have those that can stand strong for many companies alike and many games yet to come. It is a big step to bring back innovation, and I stand by my word to the very end.
Video Game Stories? Forget Hollywood!
Video Game Stories? Forget Hollywood!
Ah ... Nothing like watching a DVD movie on your TV or a Blu-Ray movie with your High Definition TV set. Back in the days of the Roaring '20s, movies have started to become very popular with delivering great characters, a unique plot, and lessons to learn in life. If we take a trip back to the past, we can see many movies that have shown that they are capable to pushing the boundaries of storytelling every moment of the feature presentation. Whether if it was the rise and fall of Tony Montana in Scarface or the quest to destroy evil in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, every story had a meaning on where it counts and how many of us can relate with our own stories to tell. While I'm not much of a film buff, I have to admit that most of the feature films back in the old days were very well done because of the many chapters that it delivered in their tales like saving the world or sacrificing yourself for the one you love. Nowadays, most movies are becoming somewhat mediocre while it may seem obvious that film makers are more interested in going over the top with special effects and hardly any plot or character developments whatsoever. Probably the most beneficial stories that I know of in these modern times are James Cameron's highest grossing film of all time, Titanic, and Christopher Nolan's greatest superhero movie, The Dark Knight. Let us take a minute and look at where they struck gold.
Titanic
This movie had shown that a story between two people where they are torn apart by their social status in society manage to fall in love on a ship where it become one of God's greatest disasters in history. Jack Dawson is played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Rose Dawson Calvert is played by Kate Winslet. These two are from different worlds where Rose is of the upper class and Jack is in the lower class of citizenship. Rose is becoming more and more torn by the fact that she has to abide by the rules of the upper class with being fancy and beautiful, all the time. Rose meets Jack and they begin to become more acquainted with each other. Rose thought that this would be spectacular to try an learn about the social life of the lower class. She enjoys the feeling and she spends most of her time with Jack and they eventually fall in love with each other. As soon as the Titanic crashes into the iceberg and sinks into the ocean, Jack enters death and leaves Rose to live her life to the fullest. She even adopts Jack's surname as her very own in making everyone believe that she died in the ocean. As we can see, Jack was the key to change Rose's life and to become free from her upper class rank. It is very engaging to see how a girl's love for a man can lead her to a happy life. It certainly did for me when I saw it for the first time in 1997.
The Dark Knight
Now let us dive deeper into the number one superhero movie and my most personal favorite of all time; The Dark Knight. As many of you know, this movie is a direct sequel of Christopher Nolan's 2005 hit; Batman Begins. The story of Batman revolves around a rich and powerful businessman named Bruce Wayne, played by Christian Bale, who secretly works as a night watcher who fights against crime in Gotham City. When learning the ways to fight against his own fear and subjecting fear onto the fearful, Bruce's double life takes him in with the help of his butler, Alfred Pennyworth played by Michael Caine, Rachel Dawes played by Katie Holmes and Maggie Glyennhaal in the sequel, Lucius Fox played by Morgan Freeman, and James Gordon played by Gary Oldman. The Dark Knight tells the plot about a violet, clothed vigilante who is rising up to power with bringing Gotham City to his knees and a District Attorney who stands up against corruption which leads him to the path of evil. Of course I am talking about Heath Ledger as the Joker and Aaron Eckhart as Harvey "Two-Face" Dent. Bruce Wayne continues his task with fighting against corruption when mobs are using money to secure drugs and weaponry, but he is interrupted when the Joker starts to get the best of him. Dealing with both the loss of Rachel Dawes and Harvey Dent's good reputation to the city, Batman must fight back against both of them to ensure that the morale of Gotham City is never low. Of course this was done in secrecy and at the end, he vowed to have himself be placed as the main criminal behind some of the deaths of Gotham's people. As you can see, the themes of the movie were based on two simple terms: Escalation and Chance. For escalation, the Joker used all means to go one step ahead of everybody and kill as many people as he wanted to. For Chance, Harvey always had a coin that determines the fate of himself or his enemies.The morals and ethical dilemmas in the plot make the story more interesting.
As you can see, I believe that movies are more of a work in visualization because many movie makers have to use their imagination with what they want to have in the story and to make it strong. It is quite a challenge, but working on a story to make it succeed than others is where it really counts. Now, let us look at some games that have good stories for themselves.
Final Fantasy VII
While this game is considered to be favored and overrated by many, this game has one of the most unique stories with characters that you can care for and plot twists that will devour you in more as time passes. The story is about a Mercenary named Cloud Strife who works with anti-terrorist unit named AVALANCHE. The goal is about stopping a huge, electric-power corporation from destroying the world with taking away its main life force, the Lifestream. The company is called Shin-Ra and their main focus is to rise in power and rule over all in their own dystopia society of Midgar. As the game goes on, people can begin to wonder if Cloud says who he really is based on his actions and the story becomes more radical when they learn that a legendary warrior who defected from Shin-Ra, many years ago, comes back to take revenge on the company and the whole planet. The warrior's name is Sephiroth, and he shows no mercy to those who stand in his way and he continues to harass Cloud with helping him come to terms that he is not the type of person who he considers himself to be. As it is shown, your main objective is about saving the planet from a catastrophe about to done by one man and finishing off a company that has become even more corrupted than ever. From what is mentioned about this game, the main theme surrounds the term 'life'. Life is something that is precious to all of us where we live to our fullest. With many opportunities in life, it is about how much we can grow as a species and bring it to times of greater good. Not only that, players will learn that Cloud comes to terms of who he really is and why he lies to himself to never mention that he was weak, in the past. With the story as a whole, you can see how much his character grows to make him utilize his own strength and personality without the use of another.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater/Subsistence
From 1987 to this day forth, the Metal Gear franchise is an ever-going phenomenon about a man who fights to escape the chains of his fate. In Metal Gear Solid 3, the main protagonist fights with all of his will to bring peace between two countries who have been manipulated by a legendary hero and a rebel unit in the Soviet Union. This was around the 1960s when the Cold War tension were beginning between the US and the Soviet Union, so the game ties in with a little history lesson and cinematic elements that make it original. Defection has been an tradition that happened in the Cold War and people leave their own countries in order to escape their control. In the game, Naked Snake is sent from the CIA to the Soviet Union on a covert assignment to rescue a Soviet scientist wanting to flee to America, but Snake is stopped by his mentor, The Boss, and a Spetsnaz Colonel named Volgin. The defeat left Snake with a dislocated arm and a full retreat and recovery back in America. One week later after tensions started to grow more between the US and the Soviets, the United States sent Snake back into the Soviet Union to rescue the scientist, stop a nuclear tank called the Shagohad, and assassinate The Boss for her defection. Snake and The Boss meet on different occasions where Snake is always left defeated with The Boss telling him to go back to the United States. Snake was confused on whether The Boss is an enemy to him or not because of their relationship explained further on in the game. The relationship is more like a mother-and-son type of family, and that is where the game's main theme comes into play; maternity.With the troubling past of The Boss and her guidance for Snake, the players can really feel sympathy for her character and sadness for her when she is killed by Snake. It makes a great story about how one boy must surpass his parents into fighting against the chains of fate with many more battles to come. Even in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Solid Snake played that same role but it was the fight against two brothers where Liquid Snake tries to unleash an insurrection against the ones who control everything in the whole world. The areas of where the Patriots control are the Economy, Military, Society, War, Liberty, etc. With MGS3 taking place as the first chronological game in the franchise, we can start seeing how the whole story comes to make sense.
Tales of Symphonia
Okay. I'm not one to brag, but there are some animes that I really enjoy watching, nowadays. Whether if it is Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Death Note, or Code Geass, I just need to find another way to escape from reality than just playing video games. What if those two forms of media combine and create a game series that is original in every way? You get Namco Bandai's Tales of franchise. Probably the one that got me the most interested in was the 2004 Gamecube classic, Tales of Symphonia. The story is about two worlds that compete with one another to save the life force in their own world. It's like a game of capture the flag or Halo 3's own gameplay mode, Grifball. One world has to maintain the powerful presence of Mana to keep their world from extinction and the other goes for it in a game of 'World Regeneration'. How it works is that both worlds worship a goddess who watches over them by the name of Martel. Each world has a main church or temple and they chose who is the one to carry out the task of regenerating their own world. In the main plot, an 18-year old village outsider named Lloyd Irving is an ordinary citizen who comes and visits a small village called Iselia, and the village guards Martel's Temple to the north. One day at school, Lloyd learns about the World Regeneration journey where one of his classmates, Colette Brunel, is clarified as The Chosen for the world of Sylvarant to save it from decline. Some of the opposing forces that stands in Lloyd's way are the enemy, half-elf organization known as the Desians and an assassin who comes from a different world called Tethe'alla. When you thought that the World Regeneration was complete, you begin to suspect that there is something fishy about the Church of Martel where another organization named 'Cruxis' takes The Chosen's body as a sacrifice for Martel without mercy. Lloyd does save Colette in the process and he travels to Tethe'alla with his friends to find a cure and learn about what they will do next. Throughout the rest of the game, you watch and learn the actions about how Lloyd Irving wants to reunite Sylvarant and Tethe'alla as one, unified planet where everyone will live a happy life without competition. There is a strong theme of idealism and paternity where you learn that one of the main characters is Lloyd's long, lost father. Miraculously, the game was very well received for having a great story that made you understand that there are those who are dedicated to an idea. It requires going through hardships, but the dedication must always remain present.
As you can see, those are some of the examples of where games have great stories to tell. Most of them, like the Metal Gear franchise, can push the boundaries of how Hollywood works their movies and give it a sense of adventure through video games. It seems like a great opportunity for gamers to learn about the concepts of literature as an alternative instead of just reading their way through a book.The 2007 Xbox 360/PC hit, Mass Effect, was a prime example of how Bioware managed to make a game where the player controls the protagonist's actions through storytelling. Through the player's actions will give you different results based on the direction of the story and where it ends. That is a great example of how a game can push the boundaries over Hollywood in every right. However, that many not be the case with many people because most of them are focused on wanting to get into the actual gameplay instead of watching through a story; which is alright, but it leaves you wondering what is going on throughout the game. Ironically, its a great way of finding yourself to be lost in the whole thing. I even find myself watch the cutscenes of every Metal Gear game because of its usage of cinematic storytelling, and the cinematic storytelling is what gets me so excited to sit down and relax from the course of action. The Halo franchise is another prime example about a race of aliens known as the Covenant and the humans fight each other because of the Covenant's mission to rule the entire universe. Whether the game is more about gameplay than the plot of a game, the truth must be told that almost each game has a story to be told.
Overall, video games have the potential to surpass Hollywood in every shape or form of their respective tales to tell. From this day, many more people are pushing themselves to the limit to become well-known supporters of the gaming industry and they try so well to come up with their own stories. As the years progress down the road, more games will have cult following that are based off a story where people will cosplay or wear merchandise that will honor many franchises. It is a rewarding experience. Video game stories should not be taken lightly and they should be taken more seriously with not only the developers but for the general public as well. Like I said, no matter if a game is all out with gameplay or graphics, each game will have a story to be told.
Ah ... Nothing like watching a DVD movie on your TV or a Blu-Ray movie with your High Definition TV set. Back in the days of the Roaring '20s, movies have started to become very popular with delivering great characters, a unique plot, and lessons to learn in life. If we take a trip back to the past, we can see many movies that have shown that they are capable to pushing the boundaries of storytelling every moment of the feature presentation. Whether if it was the rise and fall of Tony Montana in Scarface or the quest to destroy evil in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, every story had a meaning on where it counts and how many of us can relate with our own stories to tell. While I'm not much of a film buff, I have to admit that most of the feature films back in the old days were very well done because of the many chapters that it delivered in their tales like saving the world or sacrificing yourself for the one you love. Nowadays, most movies are becoming somewhat mediocre while it may seem obvious that film makers are more interested in going over the top with special effects and hardly any plot or character developments whatsoever. Probably the most beneficial stories that I know of in these modern times are James Cameron's highest grossing film of all time, Titanic, and Christopher Nolan's greatest superhero movie, The Dark Knight. Let us take a minute and look at where they struck gold.
Titanic
This movie had shown that a story between two people where they are torn apart by their social status in society manage to fall in love on a ship where it become one of God's greatest disasters in history. Jack Dawson is played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Rose Dawson Calvert is played by Kate Winslet. These two are from different worlds where Rose is of the upper class and Jack is in the lower class of citizenship. Rose is becoming more and more torn by the fact that she has to abide by the rules of the upper class with being fancy and beautiful, all the time. Rose meets Jack and they begin to become more acquainted with each other. Rose thought that this would be spectacular to try an learn about the social life of the lower class. She enjoys the feeling and she spends most of her time with Jack and they eventually fall in love with each other. As soon as the Titanic crashes into the iceberg and sinks into the ocean, Jack enters death and leaves Rose to live her life to the fullest. She even adopts Jack's surname as her very own in making everyone believe that she died in the ocean. As we can see, Jack was the key to change Rose's life and to become free from her upper class rank. It is very engaging to see how a girl's love for a man can lead her to a happy life. It certainly did for me when I saw it for the first time in 1997.
The Dark Knight
Now let us dive deeper into the number one superhero movie and my most personal favorite of all time; The Dark Knight. As many of you know, this movie is a direct sequel of Christopher Nolan's 2005 hit; Batman Begins. The story of Batman revolves around a rich and powerful businessman named Bruce Wayne, played by Christian Bale, who secretly works as a night watcher who fights against crime in Gotham City. When learning the ways to fight against his own fear and subjecting fear onto the fearful, Bruce's double life takes him in with the help of his butler, Alfred Pennyworth played by Michael Caine, Rachel Dawes played by Katie Holmes and Maggie Glyennhaal in the sequel, Lucius Fox played by Morgan Freeman, and James Gordon played by Gary Oldman. The Dark Knight tells the plot about a violet, clothed vigilante who is rising up to power with bringing Gotham City to his knees and a District Attorney who stands up against corruption which leads him to the path of evil. Of course I am talking about Heath Ledger as the Joker and Aaron Eckhart as Harvey "Two-Face" Dent. Bruce Wayne continues his task with fighting against corruption when mobs are using money to secure drugs and weaponry, but he is interrupted when the Joker starts to get the best of him. Dealing with both the loss of Rachel Dawes and Harvey Dent's good reputation to the city, Batman must fight back against both of them to ensure that the morale of Gotham City is never low. Of course this was done in secrecy and at the end, he vowed to have himself be placed as the main criminal behind some of the deaths of Gotham's people. As you can see, the themes of the movie were based on two simple terms: Escalation and Chance. For escalation, the Joker used all means to go one step ahead of everybody and kill as many people as he wanted to. For Chance, Harvey always had a coin that determines the fate of himself or his enemies.The morals and ethical dilemmas in the plot make the story more interesting.
As you can see, I believe that movies are more of a work in visualization because many movie makers have to use their imagination with what they want to have in the story and to make it strong. It is quite a challenge, but working on a story to make it succeed than others is where it really counts. Now, let us look at some games that have good stories for themselves.
Final Fantasy VII
While this game is considered to be favored and overrated by many, this game has one of the most unique stories with characters that you can care for and plot twists that will devour you in more as time passes. The story is about a Mercenary named Cloud Strife who works with anti-terrorist unit named AVALANCHE. The goal is about stopping a huge, electric-power corporation from destroying the world with taking away its main life force, the Lifestream. The company is called Shin-Ra and their main focus is to rise in power and rule over all in their own dystopia society of Midgar. As the game goes on, people can begin to wonder if Cloud says who he really is based on his actions and the story becomes more radical when they learn that a legendary warrior who defected from Shin-Ra, many years ago, comes back to take revenge on the company and the whole planet. The warrior's name is Sephiroth, and he shows no mercy to those who stand in his way and he continues to harass Cloud with helping him come to terms that he is not the type of person who he considers himself to be. As it is shown, your main objective is about saving the planet from a catastrophe about to done by one man and finishing off a company that has become even more corrupted than ever. From what is mentioned about this game, the main theme surrounds the term 'life'. Life is something that is precious to all of us where we live to our fullest. With many opportunities in life, it is about how much we can grow as a species and bring it to times of greater good. Not only that, players will learn that Cloud comes to terms of who he really is and why he lies to himself to never mention that he was weak, in the past. With the story as a whole, you can see how much his character grows to make him utilize his own strength and personality without the use of another.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater/Subsistence
From 1987 to this day forth, the Metal Gear franchise is an ever-going phenomenon about a man who fights to escape the chains of his fate. In Metal Gear Solid 3, the main protagonist fights with all of his will to bring peace between two countries who have been manipulated by a legendary hero and a rebel unit in the Soviet Union. This was around the 1960s when the Cold War tension were beginning between the US and the Soviet Union, so the game ties in with a little history lesson and cinematic elements that make it original. Defection has been an tradition that happened in the Cold War and people leave their own countries in order to escape their control. In the game, Naked Snake is sent from the CIA to the Soviet Union on a covert assignment to rescue a Soviet scientist wanting to flee to America, but Snake is stopped by his mentor, The Boss, and a Spetsnaz Colonel named Volgin. The defeat left Snake with a dislocated arm and a full retreat and recovery back in America. One week later after tensions started to grow more between the US and the Soviets, the United States sent Snake back into the Soviet Union to rescue the scientist, stop a nuclear tank called the Shagohad, and assassinate The Boss for her defection. Snake and The Boss meet on different occasions where Snake is always left defeated with The Boss telling him to go back to the United States. Snake was confused on whether The Boss is an enemy to him or not because of their relationship explained further on in the game. The relationship is more like a mother-and-son type of family, and that is where the game's main theme comes into play; maternity.With the troubling past of The Boss and her guidance for Snake, the players can really feel sympathy for her character and sadness for her when she is killed by Snake. It makes a great story about how one boy must surpass his parents into fighting against the chains of fate with many more battles to come. Even in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Solid Snake played that same role but it was the fight against two brothers where Liquid Snake tries to unleash an insurrection against the ones who control everything in the whole world. The areas of where the Patriots control are the Economy, Military, Society, War, Liberty, etc. With MGS3 taking place as the first chronological game in the franchise, we can start seeing how the whole story comes to make sense.
Tales of Symphonia
Okay. I'm not one to brag, but there are some animes that I really enjoy watching, nowadays. Whether if it is Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Death Note, or Code Geass, I just need to find another way to escape from reality than just playing video games. What if those two forms of media combine and create a game series that is original in every way? You get Namco Bandai's Tales of franchise. Probably the one that got me the most interested in was the 2004 Gamecube classic, Tales of Symphonia. The story is about two worlds that compete with one another to save the life force in their own world. It's like a game of capture the flag or Halo 3's own gameplay mode, Grifball. One world has to maintain the powerful presence of Mana to keep their world from extinction and the other goes for it in a game of 'World Regeneration'. How it works is that both worlds worship a goddess who watches over them by the name of Martel. Each world has a main church or temple and they chose who is the one to carry out the task of regenerating their own world. In the main plot, an 18-year old village outsider named Lloyd Irving is an ordinary citizen who comes and visits a small village called Iselia, and the village guards Martel's Temple to the north. One day at school, Lloyd learns about the World Regeneration journey where one of his classmates, Colette Brunel, is clarified as The Chosen for the world of Sylvarant to save it from decline. Some of the opposing forces that stands in Lloyd's way are the enemy, half-elf organization known as the Desians and an assassin who comes from a different world called Tethe'alla. When you thought that the World Regeneration was complete, you begin to suspect that there is something fishy about the Church of Martel where another organization named 'Cruxis' takes The Chosen's body as a sacrifice for Martel without mercy. Lloyd does save Colette in the process and he travels to Tethe'alla with his friends to find a cure and learn about what they will do next. Throughout the rest of the game, you watch and learn the actions about how Lloyd Irving wants to reunite Sylvarant and Tethe'alla as one, unified planet where everyone will live a happy life without competition. There is a strong theme of idealism and paternity where you learn that one of the main characters is Lloyd's long, lost father. Miraculously, the game was very well received for having a great story that made you understand that there are those who are dedicated to an idea. It requires going through hardships, but the dedication must always remain present.
As you can see, those are some of the examples of where games have great stories to tell. Most of them, like the Metal Gear franchise, can push the boundaries of how Hollywood works their movies and give it a sense of adventure through video games. It seems like a great opportunity for gamers to learn about the concepts of literature as an alternative instead of just reading their way through a book.The 2007 Xbox 360/PC hit, Mass Effect, was a prime example of how Bioware managed to make a game where the player controls the protagonist's actions through storytelling. Through the player's actions will give you different results based on the direction of the story and where it ends. That is a great example of how a game can push the boundaries over Hollywood in every right. However, that many not be the case with many people because most of them are focused on wanting to get into the actual gameplay instead of watching through a story; which is alright, but it leaves you wondering what is going on throughout the game. Ironically, its a great way of finding yourself to be lost in the whole thing. I even find myself watch the cutscenes of every Metal Gear game because of its usage of cinematic storytelling, and the cinematic storytelling is what gets me so excited to sit down and relax from the course of action. The Halo franchise is another prime example about a race of aliens known as the Covenant and the humans fight each other because of the Covenant's mission to rule the entire universe. Whether the game is more about gameplay than the plot of a game, the truth must be told that almost each game has a story to be told.
Overall, video games have the potential to surpass Hollywood in every shape or form of their respective tales to tell. From this day, many more people are pushing themselves to the limit to become well-known supporters of the gaming industry and they try so well to come up with their own stories. As the years progress down the road, more games will have cult following that are based off a story where people will cosplay or wear merchandise that will honor many franchises. It is a rewarding experience. Video game stories should not be taken lightly and they should be taken more seriously with not only the developers but for the general public as well. Like I said, no matter if a game is all out with gameplay or graphics, each game will have a story to be told.
My First Post
My First Post
Well, this is the first time where I get out there in the real world and to show people what I am made of! Just so you know, my name is Kyle Ryan Smith and my main focus is video games. I am 22-years old and I am about to graduate Collins College with a BA Visual Arts Degree in Game Art. Ever since I was in the game art program, my main focus has always been 3D Character Modeling or just a Character Artist in general. I have been thoroughly thinking about where I want to go in the industry and one of the focus points is on writing stories for video games. I will post a blog soon about my thoughts on how it works and how people can relate to it.
This is all that I have to post and I should be updating every day with a new idea to discuss. Thank you so much for reading and I will catch you next time!
Well, this is the first time where I get out there in the real world and to show people what I am made of! Just so you know, my name is Kyle Ryan Smith and my main focus is video games. I am 22-years old and I am about to graduate Collins College with a BA Visual Arts Degree in Game Art. Ever since I was in the game art program, my main focus has always been 3D Character Modeling or just a Character Artist in general. I have been thoroughly thinking about where I want to go in the industry and one of the focus points is on writing stories for video games. I will post a blog soon about my thoughts on how it works and how people can relate to it.
This is all that I have to post and I should be updating every day with a new idea to discuss. Thank you so much for reading and I will catch you next time!
Welcome
Welcome to my blog. Please check back soon for new entries.
