An Interesting Conversation About Retro Games.
/There is an interesting conversation on the subreddit r/askreddit today about which games provide the best introduction to classic gaming. The top comments so far mention the following games:
- Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic
- Star Fox 64
- Super Mario 64
- Super Mario Bros.
- Super Mario Bros. 2
- Super Mario Bros. 3
- Mario Kart 64
- The Oregon Trail
- Portal 1
- Portal 2
- Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
- Chrono Trigger
- Ages of Empires 2
- Roller Coaster Tycoon
- Runescape 2
- Twisted Metal
- Need for Speed Underground 2
- Diablo 2
- StarCraft
- The Curse of Monkey Island
- Maniac Mansion
- Day of the Tentacle
- Sam and Max
- Metal Gear Solid
- Ocarina of Time
- Goldeneye
- Spyro the Dragon
- Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2
It is obvious that many commenters are speaking from a place of pure nostalgia and no real thought has been given to the meaning of the term "classic games." So many of the games in the list are relatively new games that for someone like me who has been gaming since the days of the Atari VCS haven't stood the test of time long enough to qualify as a "classic." But what does that even mean? In "Debugging Game History: A Critical Lexicon" edited by Henry Lowood, Melanie Swalwell offers an entire chapter dedicated to unpacking the term classic gaming/games, suggesting that the term is often offered without any critical intent. She writes that claiming a game a classic is "ultimately to make a judgment about its cultural status, value, or meanings." She further problematizes the definition by asking, "who gets to decide what constitutes an authentic and sanctioned canon of classic games and, by implication, the classic gaming experience?" Is it as J.C. Herz argues that gaming firsts should be privileged? Or is it some sense of timelessness that ranks a game in the pantheon? Can, as these redditors suggest, a game like Portal (2007) or Portal 2 (2011) be considered a classic? There is no simple answer and I'm not sure there will ever be a common canon of classic games. What is classic to an American audience won't translate well to other areas around the world. What is classic to someone who grew up in the 70s or 80s will be different from those who grew up in the 90s or 00s. Where do we draw that line? What constitutes a classic game?