Unoclay asked, “What does Retro Gaming mean to me?”
Honestly, nothing.
Not because I didn’t grow up with an NES (or a game console in the house at all until the Gameboy, or a home console until the freaking Gamecube- though I played the average kid’s amount of the N64), though I’m sure our residential retro fanatics would argue that’s precisely the reason. Not because I don’t appreciate the history of this industry.
But because, quite honestly, I don’t differentiate between gaming generations. When I think of Super Mario 64, I don’t think of the N64, or the gaming landscape it released in, or its innovations. I think about how much fun I had. Same as when I think about, say, Dragon Age: Inquisition. The PS4, 2014, Sony, EA, Bioware- none of that enters my mind when I play, or when I think about what I played. I don’t compare the two. I don’t think about how time has changed the types of games we can and do enjoy. I just freaking play.
Which is why it’s easy to go back and play games like The Legend of Zelda II and Super Metroid, without it feeling like I’m “going back” on some Bill and Ted adventure.
It’s like with books. I don’t pick up a book and think, “oh, this was written in 1920,” and suddenly that affects my enjoyment or experience in any way. I pick up a book and read it, and if it’s good, I keep reading. If it’s not, then I put it down. Year, generation, even author doesn’t come into the picture. I don’t give two hoots about what that author accomplished, or how they innovated, or how they influenced the authors following. I care about how good the book is. So I’ll put down Moby Dick- until class forces me to pick it up again. Just as I’ll put down, say, Superman 64. And then I’ll pick up Shakespeare, just as I’ll pick up the original R-Type. And I’d put down terrible modern games too, if I ever bought any, just as I’d put down a terrible modern book.
Time doesn’t affect the fun I have with entertainment. So Retro Gaming means nothing to me, just like Modern Gaming means nothing to me. I’m playing games either way, using my same dollar and time.
It just so happens that right now I’m using my time to play The Mysterious Murasame Castle, a Japanese NES game recently brought to the US via the 3DS’s eShop.
I’ve freshly come off of another play through, and I stick by my original statement that I made upon the game’s release earlier this year: it’s the Legend of Zelda mixed with a shoot-em-up.
The Mysterious Murasame Castle controls pretty much identically to The Legend of Zelda. You move at about the same pace. Your attack is about as reliable. Only you’re relying as much on projectiles as your melee in MMC. The game is separated into stages rather than having a single continuous over world, and dungeons are extensions of those stages rather than places you find.
That said, exploring each stage feels just like exploring in The Legend of Zelda. Even the pace of movement feels about the same. You scroll through screens and feel completely lost until you’ve gotten the whole thing down in your head. Just like The Legend of Zelda. Even the bosses feel like bosses out of The Legend of Zelda, though they’re less pathetic here.
So it’s pretty much The Legend of Zelda. Except crossed with a shoot-em-up.
The upgrade system works like shoot-em-ups, wherein you find pick-ups off of corpses or in bushes, and your “bullets” are changed accordingly. Collecting more of a single pick-up, or the catch-all upgrade items, improves that weapon, by shooting a spread, or in all four directions, and so on. Picking up a new weapon means changing your attack’s strengths and weaknesses, just like classic schmups. Arrows travel a long distance, while fireballs don’t go quite as far. I’m assuming there is a damage differential between the two, but honestly, the only enemies that have enough health for me to tell I just melee anyway.
The defensive game is very much like shoot-em-ups as well, as far as movement goes, in that you’re making tiny alterations to your path to avoid as many bullets per step as possible. At times, it feels like a bullet hell game, which is doubtlessly why I’ve enjoyed it so much. But your sword can also deflect many projectiles, giving you an extra edge when you feel overwhelmed. If you can keep your head in the game when the shurikens and tornadoes come at you, you can pretty easily avoid and defend against them. Or maybe that’s just my bullet hell experience talking.
The only thing that made The Legend of Zelda at all difficult- enemies moving sporadically and touching you- is featured in MMC as well, but when you’re throwing so many bullets, going invisible (and momentarily invincible), and blocking projectiles, their annoyingness is greatly diminished. Except for the kamikaze guys. Fuck the kamikaze guys.
Also just like The Legend of Zelda, the Mysterious Murasame Castle features fantastic music. No doubt you’ve heard the theme in Super Smash Bros Brawl. It was an interesting "in" to the game that I didn’t expect, and it made it feel all the more connected to the larger Nintendo landscape that I’ve become so engrossed in.
I’d love to see a new Mysterious Murasame Castle, more-so than most of the retro returns people clam for (like Balloon Fight and Ice Climbers, I guess). A 3D action game with bullet-hell trappings is a game I would love to play, especially if they increased the bullet-hell aspect even more. Mostly I want it just for the remixed, fully-orchestrated themes.
So there’s that. Next I get to go back to Dragon Age Inquisition, and pretend there’s a point to differentiating between time of release, when what really counts to me is whether or not a game is fun.
MMC is fun. And cheap. Do yourselves a favor a pick it up, especially if you’re a fan of the first Legend of Zelda. If you’re not, well, do yourself a favor and skip it, unless the only thing you think The Legend of Zelda was missing was more ninjas.