I have enjoyed playing Left 4 Dead, and when Joe McMahon sent me the following video, it was amazing to see how fans have re-engineered the game for the classic Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It’s pretty brilliant, particularly if you have played L4D, and I am increasingly fascinated to see how the old school platforms and games continue to hold some real imaginative power over the the video game community. I’m dying to play the NES L4D, which is odd given how our idea of “progress” in video games (and also in movies) has been erroneously dictated by increasingly realistic graphics and CGI. Verisimilitude should not be an end in itself.
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While I’m digging the idea that progress and quality in games isn’t and shouldn’t be determined by their graphic verisimilitude, I’m not sure this is the best example. Don’t get me wrong – seeing L4D on nintendo is hella cool – but this is a relatively simple game that focuses on verisimilitude. You walk around, you shoot stuff. I think what makes this game in particular cool IS the verisimilitude. I want to walk around, and shoot zombies. And when I’m doing that, I want to see gore, and I want stuff to jump out at me when I’m not paying attention. The NES version takes all that fun out of it.
The NES version also loses (presumably) another important facet – I can’t play this game with other people who aren’t in the same room. Playing with/against strangers and friends has for me been the big shift in gaming in recent years. The unpredictability and challenge in that is a beautiful thing.
Maybe you could take it the other way, and develop a graphically immersive version of Oregon Trail?