2D Games Should Takeover Again!

[Logan Frederick]

2D Games Should Takeover Again!

Game site Old-Wizard wants two-dimensional gameplay to replace the realistic and overly complex three-dimensional design of typical products.

If GameBoys had one major success it's that the handhelds brought millions of young gamers the simple joys of 2D puzzle-solving and platforming games at a time when Crash Bandicoot was still hot and manufacturers were switching to CDs.

Now the staff of Old-Wizard [http://old-wizard.com/?p=1303], gamers from an age long-gone, is taking a step back to recognize why software like Super Mario Bros. struck a chord with gamers in ways newer releases don't.

Their list of "Top Ten Reasons All Video Games Should Be 2D" includes:
[ol]
[li]Simpler games meant every game was for "casual" fans, unlike today's game show games and Nintendo's elderly Wii army.[/li]
[li]The limited space in two-dimensional games forced designers to become more creative with their tools and game space.[/li]
[li]The technology wars that started in the early 1990s as hardware manufacturers began billing systems as stronger than competitors created an era focused on graphics, unlike the days when people spent less attention to graphics and more on quarters for machines.[/li]
[li]They also say people don't want to play in the same dimensions you live in. They're right; I'm still waiting for that first truly time-traveling title where I can really ride a horse and shoot cowboys better than TimeSplitters.[/li]
[/ol]

Despite the Fallout 3 and Grand Theft Auto IV love, there is sure to be someone who still appreciates a classic Castlevania experience. If you're that person, share the rest of your reasons why you still game in the age of arcades.

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[huntedannoyed]

I am not sure about all games, but I do enjoy it when 2D games come out. Mega Man 9 is a great example of how well 2D platforms can work today. Here's hoping that more developers grasp this concept, I am looking at you Castlevania!

 

[Aardvark Soup]

They forget that 95% of the older two dimensional games where crap but that now we only remember the true classics.

 

[Bluntknife]

2d games are more a niche imo
alot of the revolutionary concepts are being done in 2d and I personaly build games in 2d, mainly for ghits and siggles.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Symphony of the Night.

Win.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

I thought this was called Kongregate. And a lot of the games are really fun.

 

[shMerker]

I think it's misleading to imply that hardware wars started around the time that 3D was getting big. There was plenty of competition over the sharpness, resolution, and color depth of machines before the playstation that had little or no connection with 3D games. That's what gave us games like Dragon's Lair.

Also, 2D games required a lot of technology to get as far as they did before 1990. Take a look at Pac Man, a game that was ported to the 2600 despite the systems inability to display 5 sprites. That game by itself was largely responsible for Atari's demise. On the other end of spectrum their's Super Mario Bros. 3, a game that actually contained a hardware add-on for the NES to facilitate diagonal scrolling. It's one of the most successful games of all time and one of the key features that made it stand out was Mario's ability to fly high into the air, something that just wouldn't display without that diagonal scrolling add-on.

Furthermore 2D games have benefited from the introduction of 3D rendering. Look at Odin Sphere which uses high-res textures painted onto polygon meshes to display characters that look like living paintings. Something like that would be simply impossible without the advances that have been happening in 3D graphics cards.

The rhetoric being used here scapegoats 3D without looking at the bigger picture. People would be selling tripe with bullet-points and flashy screenshots with or without generation 7 hardware. They did back in the '80s.

 

[SunoffaBeach]

Why 2D vs. 3D?
I like both.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I don't think 2d games should "take over" but discounting something because it's 2d is folly. I would prefer a shift away from this intense "Tech Pushing Realism" that pervades graphics these days, we need more creatively designed games with clever graphics instead of all of this tech pushing realism with no personality.

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

FF7 Should Be Remade
Fanboys of Final Fantasy 7 want Square Enix to get off their asses and remake their favorite game.

For a healthy percentage of gamers, particularly of the younger generation, their first exposure to the popular Final Fantasy franchise was Vee Eye Eye. While others were simply amazed at the sight of their favorite series into the realm of 3D.

Now FF7 fanboys everywhere are taking a step back to recognize why the PlayStation titles deserves an upgrade over new IP's.

1. Final Fantasy 8 and beyond were utter crap compared to the God-sent 7.
2. The graphics in FF7 were crap, even compared to Final Fantasy 6, and deserve to be redone.
3. Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children, Crisis Core, and the Playstation 3 E3'06 demo all proved that the game would be beautiful with the use of today's technology.
4. Mistranslations and other minor details that could improve the overall experience if they were fixed in the remake abound in the original.

Despite somewhat being tired of Square Enix milking the Final Fantasy 7 name, there is sure to be someone who still appreciates a good KOTR summon. If you're that person, share the rest of your reasons you still equip your materia.
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I mock for fun, not out of disagreement of newsworthy-ness.

 

[shMerker]

I have a sneaking suspicion that the article on Old-Wizard is tongue in cheek satire and not serious at all. It's hard to tell. If it is serious it's very poorly reasoned. Anyway I like to think assertions like "Mario 64 was boring" and "3D games are dated and lack substance" are the product of someone trying to be funny.