I wanted to be surprised by games and open myself up to things. Instead of choosing games, I wanted the games to choose me. And so I developed a method. I numbered the list of games and pushed the button on an RNG. I told myself to play just ten minutes of three different drafts. Then, if one of them jumped out at me, I could play it for an thirty.
Here are the results of one cycle…
Tecmo Bowl is a fantastic little sports game. I don’t like football. I mean, I dislike football. However, if I can mentally remove the crust of jingoism and machismo* I find it’s a really interesting sport. Tecmo Bowl is incredibly easy to understand; the ease of early sports games invites my novice brain much more than the modern realism and complexity I’ve seen. It looks like there are only four plays: two passes and two runs. Maybe I missed extra sheets of plays. Maybe that’s all anyone needs to win at football. I love seeing these little guys fall. The teams are named after Tecmo games. I wish Washington had changed their name to the Rygars. There is no Green Bay.
*Sometimes these elements are really funny. Sometimes, players, fans and figures manage to exist outside of them.
BattleCity is a tankmaze game. Enemies always spawn in one of three places so it’s easy to just clear a row and camp. It might be more fun against another human, but really there are plenty* of** other***, more worthwhile options for tank games on our GAME BOY.
*Trax **Cosmo Tank ***Go! Go! Tank
Metroid II is one of the most purposefully and idiosyncratically designed games on the GAME BOY. When I first played this off an used cart 15 years ago, my mind was molded and prepared for this here forum. It diverges from the original in that Samus is a hunter, a killer of parasites that are enlarged to dog-like proportions. While the structure appears to be more linear and SNESified, there are many choices that tilt it towards an older design philosophy, most emblematic being the spider ball. The spider ball allows Samus to cling to the walls and ceilings so long as she is able to touch them while in a ball form. This opens up possibilities for the player and feel like looking beyond the veil, sick and disturbing. Paired with this ability are large, cavernous boxes, the contours of which bubble up and dig in like limestone in a cave. The creators of this world are expecting me to roll as far in the wrong direction as possible. They have laid sentries in my path but also trinkets and boons. The soundtrack, right from the title screen, is a masterpiece. It pierces, grates, gargles and screams. This game is a living creature that is terrified of me and wants me gone.
I’ve used this method once again already, but I’m holding off on that post. Suffice it to say, I think it’s a pretty good way to spend an hour with our BOY.