Nostalgic For 2d Video Games?

Tired of 3D first person shooter games? Bored of the next game to clone "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare"? Disgusted at repetitive 3D action games with no originality whatsoever? Frustrated at 3D "beat 'em up" brawler games that try to take pieces of the old and incorporate new pieces but fail miserably (*cough* Final Fight Streetwise)?

If you have shouted a resounding "YES!" to any or all of the aforementioned questions, then you are just like me and are wondering what happened to the good old days of video gaming. Where have the times gone? Please give me a few minutes of your time and come with me down memory lane to relive the glory days of video games, even just for a few moments.

Today, feast your eyes as we pause to pay homage to a few 2D classic video games from my era such as Super Mario World, Final Fantasy I, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and Final Fight 1.

**(NOTE: I was born at the time that the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) first came out, so my game selections are biased to SNES games. If you have a different set of games you want to pay homage to, just let me know your game list in the comments below.)**

Enter the "Golden Age", the age of 2D classic video games!

Super Mario World

When I was a kid, I fell in love with Super Mario riding on the back of Yoshi, traveling across many different worlds in the search for Princess Toadstool. Remember the feather which gave Mario a cape for flight?

Feel accomplished when you completed all connections to the Star Road to reach the "Secret World"? Felt like a treasure hunter when you discovered keys and opened the keyholes to unlock secret levels?

Do you miss searching for every stage (even the secret stages) in order to get a 100% game completion rating (including the Mondo, Tubular, Radical levels, etc.)?

If you said "YES" to the above questions, then you love Super Mario World as much as (or even more) than I have and that is a beautiful thing.

Lastly, I vividly remember how difficult the final battle with Bowser (as a kid) and was and how I was crying for a mushroom just to stay alive as big black metal balls came rolling towards me.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

There are not enough words to describe how magical and engrossing this game has been in my childhood years. It is the first action-adventure game I have ever played that even included puzzle solving in its dungeons and I was hooked the moment I first played it.

Did you enjoy the side-quests where you can win Heart Pieces as rewards? Were you like me and scoured the world map for new empty bottles to complete your collection?

What about the wide variety of tools you can use, from the Pegasus Boots to the Hero Bow and the Hookshot? It was amazing to use the tools you acquire in dungeons to brave the challenges and defeat the dungeon boss in order to proceed to the next area.

Final Fantasy I

I loved the first Final Fantasy when I was a kid and was the first RPG I ever played. I was immediately drawn to the battle system, the catchy music and also the structure of powering up your characters and acquiring new weapons, armor and spells. Another part that drew me in was the boss battles; they were hard but not impossible. They were challenging yet reasonable.

When I found out that you can upgrade your current player classes to a higher level, I was over the moon! Whoa, my Fighter is a Knight, my Monk is a Master! My Thief became a Ninja! It felt like they graduated and gained more power and newer abilities than ever before!

The music was spectacular too. From the serene boat ride music, to the majestic world map theme, to the high-flying airship theme, the mystical Chaos Shrine music and the Four Fiends boss battle music, there was never a second where I would mute my TV, just the thought of it was blasphemy!

Final Fantasy I was the game that started me on RPGs and more than warmed me up to the Final Fantasy games to come in the series. However, FF1 will always be my favorite RPG.

Final Fight 1

Ah, Final Fight 1. My first beat 'em up game. I always played as Cody and loved tapping the attack button to punch my way through through hordes of enemies.

The music was groovy and it got you in the mood to kick some butt! The bosses had a lot of energy and were challenging if you didn't know how to dodge the attacks. Remember Damnd, Edi E., Sodom and Rolento? Ah those names bring back fond memories.

It was a good thing that you had plenty of lives also so you were able to keep on fighting. Collecting food from barrels and the like was another thing I loved about the game as it encouraged you to destroy all objects visible; in addition, sometimes new weapons were waiting for you inside! I don't know about you, but it also made me feel like a burglar at times because sometimes, hidden inside breakeable objects, were expensive watches and other expensive jewelry (that you would convert into points) that were mine for the taking! The collectibles were also fun to find too.

As fun as playing Final Fight 1 by myself was, what made Final Fight stand out to me was the 2-player Co-Op mode in which I could include my brother in the action. No words can accurately describe how much fun it was to work together to clear the game, stage-by-stage, it really felt like a real party and I never wanted it to stop! Even the fact that "friendly fire" was on didn't deter me from having hours of fun turning Metro City upside down to find Jessica. You can never outgrow Final Fight 1; the memories stay with you.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my short trip down memory lane and talked about 4 of my favorite 2D classic video games from my era. You might be able to identify with my experiences too, which is great! Stay tuned for the next article and take care!

 

"Double the size, double the fun!"