Timeline | 1987: Castlevania

Castlevania was an amazing experience when it first arrive on the NES (in NA) in 1987

Originally produced by Konami in Japan for the Famicom Disk System, Castlevania was ported and localized for the NES in Northa America and released in May 1987. In Castlevania you play as Simon Belmont, a vampire hunter (with an awesome whip!) as you set out to storm the demonic Castlevania, the fortress of Count Dracula. The game was a platformer with quite a few items, enemies, secrets, bosses and great stuff to explore. 1987 was one of the better years on the NES and Castlevania was a big reason why.

A screenshot from Castlevania, showing Simon Belmont utilizing his whip - there was a slight but noticeable delay between the button press and the whip action in the game (this was intentional and a subtle way of imitating the relative slow speed of using something like a whip - as opposed to a gun for example)

Castlevania had great graphics for the time (later NES games would surpass it, but in the early days it was right up there with the best) and the smooth controls, and challenging but rewarding gameplay made the game a hit. There would be another two Castlevania games on the NES (and another on the SNES along with many more moving forward) making it a big hit for Konami. Konami released quite a few games for the NES but Castlevania was one of the most popular (right up there with Contra, the TMNT games, and of course Metal Gear released under their Ultra Games shell corporation to name a few).

Further Reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlevania_(1986_video_game)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlevania

Timeline | 1986: Ghosts N' Goblins

Capcom continued to make a name for itself early in the NES lifecycle.

Capcom continued the success of 1942 (and a few other games like Commando) with Ghosts 'N Goblins. This game is widely regarded as one of the most difficult games, not only on the NES but of any medium. The game is a side-scrolling platformer (which you will see was VERY popular for the timeperiod) much like later games like Castlevania, Metroid, Mega Man, etc. The game allows the character, Sir Arthur, to fight against ghosts and goblins and other spawn of the main villain - Satan as he tries to save the princess! (See, it wasn't just Nintendo doing the whole 'save the princess' thing). What makes the game difficult (besides the tight controls and multitude of enemies) is that the player gets only 1 'free' hit before the next hit takes a life (the first hit removes Arthur's armor, he then is in his underwear until he gets hit again and dies or finds some more armor). Also each 'life' has a 3 minute time limit before you simply loose it automatically. Additionally, after fighting all the way through the game's size levels you will come upon the main villain and be (likely) informed that you didn't get the right weapon to fight him (unless you had played before and knew to find the right weapon in the 5th level) - you are then transported back to the 5th level to play it and the 6th level again. Then (assuming you picked the cross weapon this time) you face Satan. If you are able to beat him (it's not easy let me tell you) you are then sent back to the VERY BEGINNING OF THE GAME, the difficulty is turned up and you have to beat the ENTIRE GAME AGAIN to get the 'real' ending!

Sir Arthur has lost his armor here, not the best time!

Many of these technique's of artificially elongating a game (by having to replay levels, changing difficulty, etc.) would quickly become the norm in NES era (and even later - hell all the way to today even) - but rarely was it done so mercilessly as in Ghosts 'N Goblins.

Capcom had themselves another successful game with Ghosts 'N Goblins. The Arcade version would spawn several home PC and console ports including the NES version (actually ported by a company called Micronics, they did a lot of the Capcom NES ports but rarely got credit). Later a sequel, Ghouls 'N Ghosts would be released for the Sega Genesis (1989) and Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts would come out on the SNES (1991). Eventually Capcom would relaunch the series with Ultimate Ghosts 'N Goblins on the PSP (2006) and Ghosts 'N Goblins: Gold Knights (1 and 2) on iOS (2009/2010)

Further Reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghosts_'n_Goblins
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghosts_%27n_Goblins_(series)

Timeline | 1986: Balloon Fight

It may have taken a lot from Joust, but Balloon Fight was one of the fun things about the early NES days.

The basic premise of Balloon Fight is to stay airborne and keep flying while trying to pop the balloons of the other player (or computer players). The character has two balloons attached to his helmet and pressing A or B causes the Balloon Fighter to flap his arms and go up (doing nothing will cause him to slowly float down). If one balloon is popped your ability to rise is lessened and you drop faster. Loosing a life occurs when both balloons are popped, you fall in the water despite still having balloons, you allow the large fish to eat you (by straying too close to the water's surface for too long) or you get hit by lightning.

A screenshot from Balloon Fight showing Player 1 (center) Player 2 (left) and 4 enemies, one of which is temporarily defeated.

The two basic modes of the game are Balloon Fight and Balloon Trip. Fight can be played with one or two players and the goal is to clear the screen of enemies and be the last man still flying, you can play this mode cooperatively to reach higher scores. Balloon Trip is a single player only game where you try to dodge lighting sparks and obstacles to try to collect as many balloons as possible to get a high score.

Balloon Fight was loads of fun (on the NES, in the Arcade as 'Vs. Balloon Fight' or in the original Joust form :) ) but lacked depth. Other NES franchises would spawn many sequels and huge franchises, but besides a Game Boy sequel called Balloon Kid, the only thing that has come from Balloon Fight are cameos in other games (like Animal Crossing, Super Smash Bros., etc.) and re releases on the various Virtual Consoles (Wii, 3DS, WiiU). Still it is a fun game!

Further Reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balloon_Fight

Timeline | 1986: 1942

1942 was a hit in the Arcades but less than perfect on the NES

1942 was an arcade hit for Capcom released initially in 1984. The game is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up set in the Pacific in World War II. You pilot a plane called 'Super Ace' (a P-38) and you shoot down enemy planes, attempt to avoid their fire and collect power-ups, etc. The game was fun because of the great graphics (for the time), smooth gameplay and the different enemies and power-up.

Unfortunately the NES version (and most of the console ports of the time) were pretty bad. Micronics has a reputation of porting Arcade games poorly and this is definitely one of them. Terrible framerate, sluggish controls and horrible music make it less than a true conversion of the arcade game (although to be fair there wasn't much better for any home console at the time).

Despite its failings, the NES version of 1942 is still quite fun.

1942 was important for several reasons. First it was possibly the best game you could get for the NES in 1986 if you already played the initial released games if only because it was one of the few NEW games to come out on the NES in 1986. Many of the other titles released that year were simply conversions of older games (Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Donkey Kong 3, Mario Bros., Popeye, Gumshoe, etc. all released in 1986 were all games that had releases on previous consoles). Not to say there weren't any others (Balloon Fight and Ghosts 'n Goblins were released that year as I will detail in my next few posts) but the picking were slim when compared to the onslaught of amazing games that came later in the NES's lifetime.

The second reason that 1942 was so important was because it was the game that basically established Capcom's popularity. Later series (like Mega Man, Street Fighter, etc.) would grow that popularity by leaps and bounds but 1942 (in 1984 :) ) is where it began.

Further Reading:

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1942_(video_game)

Timeline | 1985: Duck Hunt

Duck Hunt was an awesome game for the NES

Released in America as a launch game for the NES, Duck Hunt utilized a 'Zapper' controller for the NES that allowed the player to 'shoot' digital ducks on the screen. This simple premise along with decent graphics (for the time) and smooth gameplay, two modes (one shooting ducks and another clay pigeons) and a teasing Dog that has since become a fan favorite all came together to make Duck Hunt a great experience.

A screenshot showing a freshly shot duck about to fall from the sky.

Duck Hunt was based on a 1976 toy/game made by Nintendo of the same name, the original was Japan only and as it came out before Nintendo got popular worldwide it did not sell to a very wide audience. Duck Hunt on the NES and the Zapper controller (which was used for a few other games, but none nearly as popular as Duck Hunt) helped to reinforce the marketing of the NES as a toy as opposed to a computer that happened to play games. The Zapper itself was actually a light detector in that when you pulled the trigger the screen would go black for a single frame, then the next frame most of the screen would stay black but the target would be drawn in all white, the gun would sense the change from low light to bright light and register a hit - otherwise you missed! This entire process is nearly imperceptible by the human eye, but you do get a nice 'flashing' effect on the screen which most take to be the visual effect of the gun shooting. An interesting side note of this process is that it is only compatible with CRT displays, newer LCDs' plasma or other flat panel display TVs will not work due to the display lag (the gun assumes you missed because it doesn't see what it thinks it should in time).

The Duck Hunt Dog would laugh if you missed. He has become very popular among fans and is rumored to be featured in the next Smash Bros. game (unverified as of Sept. 2014)

Duck Hunt's popularity was further increased by the fact that it was packaged in with Super Mario Bros. (on the same cartridge most of the time) and even further packaged with another game (World Class Track Meet) on a 3 Game Cartridge for the NES Power Set (Console bundle with the Power Pad). The Zapper would get an SNES equivalent (the Super Scope) but would not be nearly as popular as on the NES and Duck Hunt really never got a sequel (although there is a similar game in Wii Play for the Wii). Duck Hunt is one of the most memorable games on the NES (and with its pedigree that is really saying something) simply due to the amount of simple fun it could be!

Further Reading:

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_Hunt

The Original Duck Hunt Game Info (beforemario.com)
http://blog.beforemario.com/2012/10/nintendo-kousenjuu-duck-hunt-how-it.html

Timeline | 1985: Super Mario Bros.

Super Mario Bros. established what has become the most profitable franchise in gaming history.

Nintendo wanted to enter the North American video game market in 1985 with the NES, they were confident that they could respark at least some of the success that the Atari 2600 had been (and lost) by marketing differently and by utilizing strict quality control. However, they needed a 'Killer App' - the game that everyone would want to buy their system for - and thanks to Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka they got that game: Super Mario Bros.

A quasi sequel to Mario Bros. (itself a spin-off of Donkey Kong), Super Mario Bros. was a revelation in gaming at the time. The game was simple to approach, with the first portion (and especially the first level) designed to teach anyone how to play it. Super Mario Bros. was a jumping platformer with great level design, several power-ups, different enemies and many levels - all of which presented in very good graphics for the time. It was no wonder that kids of all ages snapped up Super Mario Bros. and couldn't quit playing.

Super Mario Bros. for the time was a graphical powerhouse.

Super Mario Bros. established the 'Mushroom Kingdom' setting that most other Mario games are set in, as well as the basic power-ups and characters in the Super Mario games. The game would become wildly popular thanks in part to combo packaging on Nintendo's part (packaged with both the system and the Duck Hunt game for large periods of time) and very smart marketing - Mario became and largely still is almost ubiquitous especially in video game circles.

Super Mario Bros. would have two (kinds 3 in Japan) sequels on the NES and many more sequels and spin-offs on later Nintendo consoles. The main game would go on to sell over 40 million copies and become the best selling video game console title until it was surpassed by Nintendo's own 'Wii Sports' over 20 years later.

Further Reading:

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_(series)

Timeline | 1985: Nintendo Entertainment System

The NES rocketed to popularity in the mid '80s marking a resurgence of the North American video game market and making Nintendo a household name.

Following the Video Game Crash of '83 and the sudden and abrupt end of the popularity of the Atari 2600 many where convinced that video games (or at least home video game consoles, as the Arcades were still doing relatively okay) was a fad that had passed. However, Nintendo entered the game in 1985 with a limited release of the Nintendo Entertainment System and quickly began to prove them all wrong.

Nintendo had previously released the NES in Japan under the name Famicom (short for Family Computer) and after an initial period of bugs and recalls the system had begun to get very popular there. Initially Nintendo had explored teaming with an american company to release their system and games, they had previous dealings with Coleco and Atari. Consumer confidence in established video game companies dropped so low during (and because of) the Crash of '83 that Nintendo decided it would be best to pursue their own brand.

Nintendo marketed the NES not as a 'computer than can play games' like most gaming systems had been marketed previous, but instead as a toy. The system itself wasn't called a Video Game Console but an Entertainment System or Control Deck. The games weren't called cartridges they were called GamePaks and the original system was packaged with a toy rob (ROB).

Nintendo also had the advantage of having already worked out the kinks of the system in the Japanese market and having a nice backlog of games to release. And so, in October 1985 the NES was released in a few markets within the US (mainly New York and the West Coast) with 18 launch titles - double the number the Atari 2600 had released with. These games were varied and relatively high quality for the time including several sports titles (Golf, Baseball, Tennis, etc.) some platformers and racers (Super Mario Bros., Wrecking Crew, Ice Climbers, Excitebike, Mach Rider) and several shooting games (Duck Hunt, Hogan's Alley and Wild Gunman) among others.

Nintendo followed up with the release of the console to the entire North American market in mid 1986 and several popular Nintendo arcade titles were released at the same time (Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Donkey Kong 3, Popeye, Mario Bros., and Balloon Fight). The shinning stars of the original launch titles - Duck Hunt and especially Super Mario Bros. were put on one Cartridge and packaged in with the gaming system. This 'Action Set' would prove very popular in the US especially and contribute to massive sales for the two titles.

These two titles, on one GamePak, were a huge incentive to purchase an early NES.

The list of franchises that were established on the NES is quite extensive, Nintendo's Super Mario Bros., Zelda, and Metroid along with other games like Castlevania, Metroid, Metal Gear, Ninja Gaiden, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy and dozens more came out for the system. The quality of the games for the systems was due, in part, to Nintendo's firm control of what went on the system. To avoid the glut of poor quality games that spelled the downfall of the Atari 2600, Nintendo instituted the 'Nintendo Seal of Quality' and only allowed games they had approved to be on the system. This system was enforced by the 10NES chip, this was a chip (that Nintendo patented) that prevented unauthorized games from playing on the NES. Using this power Nintendo was able to keep incredibly low quality games (or offensive, sexual, graphic, etc. games) from coming to the system. Unfortunately Nintendo also used this power to restrict the number of games even good third parties were allowed to release and soured their relationship with quite a few companies - this was fine when Nintendo was on top but they still feel the repercussions of it to this day.

The NES would go on to sell over 60 million consoles (about twice as much as the best estimates for the Atari 2600) and be on the market for over 10 years (actually was still on sale in Japan in limited quantities until the year 2000, a 17 year lifespan for that market). Nintendo would go on to make the GameBoy, the Super Nintendo and many other systems with countless games due to the success of the NES. That same success would attract other companies, most notably Sega and eventually Sony and Microsoft to break Nintendo's dominance of the market - but even today Nintendo is still a major player in the Video Game Market (although not nearly as much as they were in the 80's and 90's).

Further Reading:

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_Entertainment_System_games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_game_consoles_(third_generation)

Timeline | 1981-1983: Ultima: Age of Darkness (Ultima I-III)

The first three Ultima games, collectively known as the 'Age of Darkness' were some of the best gaming experiences around in the early '80s.

Most long-time RPG players are likely to know that series like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy and the majority of the older great RPG games are Japanese in origin. In fact it has only been relatively recently (ie the last decade or so) that great (and/or great selling) RPG games have again started to emerge from North America and Europe - but before the Video Gaming industry shifted to a decidedly Japanese focus, Ultima was a huge name in gaming.

The series would rise to popularity on early PCs (Apple II, Commodore 64, early IBM compatibles, etc.) and eventually spawn one of the earliest and longest running MMORPGs (Ultima Online, started in 1997 - still going!). But, it was in the early '80s that Lord British himself, Richard Garriott made Ultima: The First Age of Darkness (later known as Ultima I) and founded the franchise.

The Original Ultima was released on the Apple II computer in 1981

Ultima presented a fantastic world to the player likely unlike anything he/she had ever experienced before. It established a trope that would be in most RPGs moving forward, a topdown overworld with various dungeons. The dungeons in Ultima are displayed in first person, one-point perspective (much like the later Shin Megami Tensei series). The game starts with character creation not unlike table-top RPGs (like Dungeon's and Dragons) in which the player chooses a race (and class) and has a number of attribute points to customize their character with. Ultima was also unique in that it allowed the player to pick a gender (although it had little to no effect on the gameplay). The character had Hit Points (abbreviated HP, this would become standard in even modern RPGs) Food, Experience Points (or EXP) and Gold. Ultima had fairly rudimentary magic and combat systems but the combination of all of these things together involved in an overall story made the game incredibly deep and engaging for the time.

A screenshot of the overworld of Ultima I

A screenshot of Ultima's space sequence, the enemy fighter looks similar to a TIE fighter from Star Wars

Ultima II was originally released in mid 1982

Ultima II built upon the original, it was larger with more places to explore (even several planets, dungeons and towers that could be fully explored but were not required to complete the game). The game had the player traveling through several different time periods of Earth and out into the solar system. It is interesting to note that Ultima II took place on Earth when Ultima I (and all other games in the series) took place in the land of Sosaria/Britannia - this was later retconned as the lore of the Ultima universe grew.

Ultima II had a very similar visual style to Ultima but had a few enhancements.

Inside the dungeons in Ultima II there were actual pixelized monsters instead of just stick figures

Ultima III: Exodus was released for the Apple II in 1983 and further catapulted the franchise to popularity. For the time the game had amazing graphics, it was the first computer RPG to display animated characters. It introduced a character party, in which the player could control the actions and destinies of up to 4 characters (a feature influenced from the game Wizardry that would go on to be in most later major RPGs). The battle mechanics of the game were also upgraded to include rudimentary tactics and understanding of the weapon and magic system could now really effect the outcome of a battle.

Ultima III: Exodus was more widely ported than the first two games, specifically Exodus was the first to receive a home console port in the form of the upgraded NES version released in 1988. All three games of the original series were redone and released for DOS in 1986 shortly after the release of Ultima IV - this is the version that most played and is still most widely available today, besides graphical updates the games remained largely unchanged.

Ultima III's overworld continued to receive graphical upgrades along with the Character Party system.

Ultima III's dungeons were no longer wire-frame but 3D (albeit rudimentary)

Further Reading:

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_(series)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_I:_The_First_Age_of_Darkness
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_II:_The_Revenge_of_the_Enchantress
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_III:_Exodus

GoG.com
http://www.gog.com/game/ultima_1_2_3

Timeline | 1980-1983: Zork Trilogy

Zork I was probably one of the greatest Text-Adventure games ever released.

'Zork' was originally slang among members of the MIT community for an unfinished program (especially a game) and it was under this name that several programmers at MIT developed a game they would eventually name 'Dungeon'. They finished their program somewhere around 1977 but received a copyright violation notice from the publishers of 'Dungeons & Dragons' and so they renamed the game back to Zork and released it for PDP-10 mainframe computers (common in universities at the time).

Zork was an immediate cult classic among the university scene and so those same programmers decided to get together and form a company to publish and distribute Zork to the masses. As common computers of the time couldn't handle the entire game as it existed on the PDP-10, Infocom (the company they formed) split the game into three parts: Zork I, Zork II and Zork III. Each game was slightly altered and more content added so they could function as stand alone games and they began releasing the games, starting with Zork I on common computers of the day (Apple II, Commodore 64, IBM compatibles, etc.)

Zork I was released in 1980, the premise of the game was simple: you were an 'adventurer' presented with situations and questions and you entered commands into the game like 'open door' 'go to the right' and so on to navigate the story and find all the treasures to earn the title 'Master Adventurer' doing so give you a map to a 'stone barrow' which is where Zork I ends...

Zork II was released in 1981 and was a well received follow up to Zork I

...and Zork II begins! Zork II was very similar to Zork I in terms of gameplay (they are all three text-adventure games based on the same engine) but the storyline is a little different. In this game you are still looking for treasues, however collecting them is not the entire goal - in fact it will not win the game for you if you collect all 10, nor is collecting all 10 necessary to finish the storyline and advance the plot to win but some of them are.

The final game of the original Zork trilogy was released in 1983.

Zork III takes a slightly different path than I and II, in this game instead of looking for treasure to advance the plot you are trying to prove yourself worthy of becoming the 'Dungeon Master'. An interesting twist in this game is a time sensitive event, an earthquake that usually occurs somewhere around turn 130 that the player must have advanced for enough into the game to have gotten the key by that point or the game becomes unwinnable (also there are things you can't do until the earthquake alters the landscape).

The Zork games where very challenging, very engaging and tons of fun when they were released. Even as early Action-Adventure games were coming out Zork really defined the Text-Based Adventure game. Later Action-Adventure and RPG games were heavily influenced by the Zork Trilogy.


You can download all three of the original Zork games for free here:
http://www.infocom-if.org/downloads/downloads.html

GoG.com also has the Anthology and later Zork games available here (its about $10 for the entire series)
http://www.gog.com/game/the_zork_anthology