The last article in my ‘I AM LEGEND’ sage is below. Please don’t feel too sad as I’m sure this is the one you’ve really be waiting for. Video Games are obviously my passion and I’ve actually been looking forward to writing this since I started this article.
Defined Legends
Every gamer has their favourite franchises, platforms, developers or games but we all know who the real Legends in video games are. I suppose right off the bat we could mention companies like Nintendo, Saga, Sony and even Microsoft but I am looking more towards to games themselves. We could always class these as the people behind them like Hideo Kojima and his Metal Gear Solid games or Shigeru Miyamoto who created the brilliant Mario universe.
The first game on most people’s tongues when they think about video games would of course be Mario himself; obviously this little guy is a legend as a Character but also for the whole universe he has created. Mario’s debut came in 1981 as ‘Jumpman’ in the arcade game Donkey Kong. He was renamed ‘Mario’ in 1982 in the follow up Donkey Kong Junior and in the present day even has a brother. He has now stared in more the 200 different videogames over several diverse genres and is probably the most well known video game character in the world. The video game world would be something very different if it hadn’t been for this Italian Plumber. I personally still believe that Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario 64 as some of the greatest platforming of all time. He is my first choice character on Super Smash Bros and has even got a TV series and movie under his belt where he was played by Bob Hoskins.
Another legend of the video game world is Sonic the Hedgehog, probably second only to Mario in the most recognisable character category. This blue garden creature has also had a vast array of spin offs over the years and his stories have included many other brilliant characters from the evil scientist Dr. Eggman to the two tailed fox ironically called Tails. His first game was released in 1991 in order to provide Sega with a mascot to compete with Nintendo’s dominance of the market. As such his series has spun off several different incarnations and will be a staple in many homes in the future. There has been several TV series based on the Sonic Universe and episodes continue to be shown today. I even remember picking up the Sonic comic each week when I went for the food shopping with my Mum when I was a young boy. Unfortunately it seems that the Sonic Franchise has died off a bit of late but the fantastic Sonic 4 is looking to rectify this.
If you look back a bit further you could think of Pacman as another of the most recognised and successful video game characters and franchises of all time. In fact I think my score on the XBLA Championship Edition might be unbeatable.
Others:
Mega Man
Pokemon
Tetris
Tomb Raider
Grand Theft Auto
Circle Legends
There are many popular video games that never quite made it into the upper atmosphere like those listed above. Obviously there have been a number of successful games for us to play through but for all they are worth they might never been the global dominance of the Italian Plumbers or the cute Electric Yellow Mouse.
The first one that springs to mind for me is the Elder Scrolls series. This has always had a large following but is not loved by everyone in the same way and is obviously not nearly as recognisable. The 5th instalment in the sage comes out in November this year and promises to be top of a lot of peoples Christmas wish lists. I’m sure I am not the only one who will rack up the hours playing this epic. I put in over 200 hours on one playthrough of Oblivion and I plan the same for this. The Elder Scrolls series has been very well respected over the course of the last decade but it has no ‘Mascot’ for which to push forward. Yes these are fantastic game but a non-gamer will never know what it is without the name being displayed or an explanation being given. A true legend is recognisable outside of the users of a genre – everyone knows that the Giant Gorilla on the Empire State Building
Some other greats fall into the same category with Metal Gear Solid, Deux Ex and Guitar Hero being placed here too. Don’t get me wrong all of these are absolutely brilliant creations but they may never be as instantly recognisable to the next generation as Mario is today. I can’t see there being a ‘Metal Gear Solid 6 – Space Snake’ anytime in the future which is a bit of a shame. The original outing of the stealth game was one of the greats of the last console cycle and is still played by many today. I remember climbing out of the water for the first time and finding that the guards were exceptionally unobservant for such a high level security contingent. Still you can’t have everything.
Others:
Deux Ex
Earthworm Jim
Harvest Moon
Gears of War
Resistance
Possible Future Legends
There is such a vast array of games being produced at the moment that it is quite difficult to pick out a couple of different series that will still be remembered and playable in 10 years time. The main thing keeping a franchise at the forefront of people’s minds is a recognisable, individual character or a gameplay mechanic that completely reinvents a genre.
The main issue is that a lot of the great games out today are already cult classics and should be remembered for generations anyway. Rockstar for example hit the jackpot when they released GTA III a few years ago and the new 3D world captured everyone’s attention. Even Niko Belic is fairly recognisable from their most recent outing and I can’t see this franchise pulling up anytime soon. Following on from this they have also had hits in the last couple of years with the likes of LA Noire and Red Dead Redemption which have both gathered a large following. If these both took off with sequels in the future then we might be saying the same thing about them as we do Grand Theft Auto itself.
Another franchise in a similar position is Pokemon. Don’t get me wrong I know this is produced more towards children but the actually gameplay can involve the whole family. This years Pokemon World Championships proved this point as siblings and parents alike battled it out for the top crown. That is the issue really. Pokemon has now been around for more then a decade and many people have grown up with the Pikachu and Co as a household name. In fact he is probably just a recognised now as Mario. They have had planes painted with their cartoon faces as well as trains, buses and advertising boards. It has even been a regular occurrence for Pikachu to turn up at fancy dress parties too. The whole critter capturing world is still being shown in the ever popular anime and many people call for even more games from Game Freak in the future. In fact the series has been so popular that apart from a few gameplay tweaks and new monsters added the games themselves still reflect the first instalment in more ways then one.
As easy as it is to become obsessed with games, World of Warcraft really takes this to a whole new level with over 11 million members across the world still playing on a regular basis. To put that in perspective it is more then the total population of Cuba and in fact the GDP per year for WOW is now well over the £330 million annually produced by Samoa . Even Celebrities have been playing the like of Dave Chappelle, Mila Kunis and Elijah Wood to name but a few. World of Warcraft has literally taken the whole gaming world by storm and claimed the MMORPG genre as it’s own. Blizzard have always been brilliant with all their developments but this has got to be classed as the most legendary now, almost 7 years since release later. In fact it has been speculated that the forth expansion will be released around Q2 2012 but what this involves no-one knows for sure. World of Warcraft is even more accessible now with the inclusion of a free to play game capped at level 20. This will give people a worthwhile chance to try the game out and also practice with different character builds before purchasing the full product. I would say World of Warcraft will be respected for many years to come and should still have a good player size even in 10 or so years from now.
Another current favourite that could well follow suit into the Legendary Category is Runescape. You either love or hate this fantastic game. With nearly 10 million active accounts each month this has a very large online player list too but never seemed to reach the dizzying heights of WOW.
Getting away from the online PC Role Playing we have a lot of console greats too. The Uncharted series for example is in my opinion the best PS3 game available to date with brilliant graphics, gameplay and likeable characters. The storyline is rice with depth and details to completely immerse the player. I can’t see Naughty Dog stopping with the third instalment over the horizon and expect many more adventures with Nathan Drake in the future.
We could also outline Halo as another one of the great games of the present console generation. I love the original on the first Xbox and all the follow ups that have been released since. The implementation of forge world has opened this up to a much large audience with a longer replay value too. I think it would be difficult to imagine my world now without the Master Chief in it and I’m really excited by 343 Industries incarnation that will be Halo 4 next year. Hopefully this can sustain the same deep story as the universe deserves. I can’t see this series of game stopping anytime soon especially now it’s only just been picked up by a new developer.
Others:
Resistance
Mass Effect
Call of Duty
Battlefield
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