Hey there, everyone~. We don't have anyone for November this year, and I already had my topics for next year written, so I figured why not move them up a couple months x3
Digital Retro
Digital distribution has been a wave sweeping over the medium for well over a decade now, which means a lot of games that have only existed digitally are now retro! (At least according to our 10 year rule :b). PSN nearly going away on older platforms earlier this year made me think about just how much is on these services that's under appreciated. This is a category dedicated to playing games that were at least originally only released digitally (a really well-performing digital-only game that got a physical release later is fine, so something like Tokyo Jungle would be perfectly fine to do~).
Let's have fun examining what devs tried to do in the early days of digital distribution, and exploring what features often defined games from back then. Sure, they were often simple, but like with one of my favorite games of this category, Tokyo Jungle, the clever design that could come from this enforced simplicity often made for some very cool and interesting experiences ^w^
Tragically Impossible Games:
- Tokyo Jungle (It came out in 2012 TwT)
Possible games:
- Dead Nation
- 'Splosion Man
- Konami WiiWare Rebirth titles (and most WiiWare games, really)
The Progenitors
Every popular series has its first entries, sure, but what about before that? Games don't just pop up out of the ground with no rhyme or reason. Sure, sometimes a great new hit is the first thing out of a new studio, but so much more often that isn't the case. Before every great-yet-flawed first entry, there's (often) an even more flawed previous work that isn't technically a part of the series for whatever reason. This topic is about playing games like that. Games that were very mechanically similar to a game/series that that studio/team/director/etc. made after it that for whatever reason just wasn't included as being a part of that series. Games that start helping to work out all the kinks in the design process before the series has even begun.
Let's have fun looking at the clever but flawed experiments that helped give rise to what would come after. Sometimes they may've even made better series by themselves, and the successor series is the undeserving pretender! . And let's not be afraid to be creative~. Just because the successor series was short-lived or even only one game doesn't mean it can't be an interesting entry for this topic ^w^
Possible games
- Shin Megami Tensei if... (a progenitor to the Persona series)
- Akalabeth (a progenitor to the Ultima series)
- Lunar (a progenitor to the Grandia series)
How the Other Half Lives
Tons of series are great and popular on consoles, and tons of series have always been more at home on consoles. But what about when one becomes *so* successful that they cross over into the territory of the other? This topic is about playing games in series that started on console and then crossed over onto handhelds, or playing games in series that started on handhelds and crossed over onto consoles.
How does a series scale down the experience from a big console experience onto a smaller, portable package? How does a series scale up the experience from a more bite-sized portable adventure into something that makes sense to sit down in front of a console and enjoy? Let's have fun examining the nature of this translation between mediums~
Possible games:
- Super Mario Land
- Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
- Pokemon Stadium
First Out the Gate
We've had some really cool categories over the past couple years looking at launch games for several consoles, but I've recently become very interested in what comes after the launch. Once a console gets its energy really going but doesn't quite have its metaphorical sea legs yet. This topic is about playing games that came out in the first and second year of a console's lifespan.
Let's have fun exploring the early experiments that devs tried on new machines, and looking at the wonderful and weird results that came with the ambition found when creating for new hardware~
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The poll will run for a week from when I post it, so sometime Saturday evening for most of us, Sunday morning for me~