31 Most Important Japanese Games Ever Made (Kotaku)

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07-03-2016, 12:56 AM
Black_Tiger

Black Onyx is cool and a big deal, but it was made by a foreigner for Japan, so some people wouldn't count it.
07-03-2016, 02:25 AM
midnightrider

Quote:

Originally Posted by EclecticGroove

Way more than that. Most people that write anything about "old" games systems tend to have the following view:

1) Pre- NES. Dark ages. A couple games existed like Pong n shit. Plenty will likely have absolutely no idea of the rich history gaming had before the NES even existed.
2) NES. Nintendo created the home video game market according to them. Also there were some arcade games, but no one cares.
a) Nintendo invented platformers with SMB
b) Square invented RPG's with final fantasy, or DQ did if the person "knows what they are talking about".
3) SNES owned and Nintendo owned all sorts of stuff. Oh, also this company called Sega had like some Hedgehog or something... but that's pretty much it.

That pretty much sums up everything I see online, and even in person from people. Atari barely gets a mention, Sega doesn't exist until Sonic, and Nintendo single handedly either invented home videogames, saved it, or both.

Limiting this scope to Japanese only games, while not including a number of games that influenced them (and not even giving them a mention), is just further contributing to an already jumbled and inaccurate view of videogames and their history.

Which, sadly, is of no surprise to me. It's already this bad now... and we're within the lifetime of people who grew up with this stuff. In another 30+ years there's not going to be many people left to correct the bullshit out there.

Well, the truth is out there, so there's always hope the future will smarten up. If not, more than likely what will happen is that eventually even Nintendo(and possibly Sony and Microsoft) will be too ancient to give a damn about.
07-03-2016, 02:56 AM
Prince Talmit

Somehow I expected to see a few shmups in the list, Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga, 1942, idk Terra Cresta? something besides Ocarina of Time and Mario 64 for the umpteenth time.
07-03-2016, 03:43 AM
gamevet

Super Mario Bros. was not the first side scrolling platformer, for those that think it was.
07-03-2016, 07:41 AM
GriskaGyoran

Quote:

Originally Posted by gamevet

Super Mario Bros. was not the first side scrolling platformer, for those that think it was.

Close, but that was 83, this was 82. But I do enjoy Mountain King more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhXMYw1lXY0
07-03-2016, 08:29 AM
Gogogadget

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prince Talmit

Somehow I expected to see a few shmups in the list, Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga, 1942, idk Terra Cresta? something besides Ocarina of Time and Mario 64 for the umpteenth time.

Yeah but, SM64 and OOT are totally the best games of all time, along with the crossdressing romp that is FFVII.
07-03-2016, 09:12 AM
zetastrike

Quote:

Originally Posted by midnightrider

Well, the truth is out there, so there's always hope the future will smarten up. If not, more than likely what will happen is that eventually even Nintendo(and possibly Sony and Microsoft) will be too ancient to give a damn about.

There's still Atari Age. I can't tell you how valuable that place has been in teaching me about the good old days before nintendo created gaming. There's nothing stopping anyone else from discovering it and doing some reading.
07-03-2016, 10:31 AM
NeoZeedeater

Arcade Jump Bug (1981) might be the earliest scrolling platformer. Either way, there are a bunch of them that predate SMB, from Japanese and Western developers.
07-03-2016, 10:33 AM
Black_Tiger

Quote:

Originally Posted by zetastrike

There's still Atari Age. I can't tell you how valuable that place has been in teaching me about the good old days before nintendo created gaming. There's nothing stopping anyone else from discovering it and doing some reading.

It's also never been easier to get into early console gaming, as mods and flashcarts are now available for everything and there is so much more info now that is easy to find across the internet.

For years people in console forums would complain that they couldn't play an old console they found at a garage, because they couldn't figure out how to hook up the rf switch. Intellivision games can be unplayable without the manual and overlays, but now you can reference scans or guides.
07-03-2016, 11:25 AM
gamevet

Quote:

Originally Posted by GriskaGyoran

Close, but that was 83, this was 82. But I do enjoy Mountain King more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhXMYw1lXY0

You really don't jump onto platforms though, and the screen doesn't scroll.
07-03-2016, 02:06 PM
midnightrider

^Jumping across alligators heads is not that much different than jumping across small plaforms, and there are pits to jump over. Hell, Space Panic(1980) is considered the first platformer, and all it has are ladders.

However, if Pitfall and Mountain King don't count, the Atari 2600 still beats Super Mario Bros. to the punch in scrolling with Stargate/Defender 2(1984):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnlYsKExltU

Though if a strictly Japanese developed platformer is needed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sRiFoJMNTU
07-03-2016, 02:11 PM
Black_Tiger

Super Mario Bros is a Pac-Land clone. So Pac-Land might as well be on that list instead of SMB.
07-03-2016, 02:52 PM
Crom

There was definitely a progression in the sidescroller genre up to when SMB was released. Looking at all of these examples it's really hard to say that SMB created the genre or is somehow groundbreaking. It took the formula that was developing and gave it a nice polish. Of course, the reason SMB is remembered as it is is because of the huge success and popularity of the NES.

And on the topic, Metroid isn't exactly the most wholly original game, either:
07-03-2016, 03:51 PM
gamevet

Quote:

Originally Posted by midnightrider

^Jumping across alligators heads is not that much different than jumping across small plaforms, and there are pits to jump over. Hell, Space Panic(1980) is considered the first platformer, and all it has are ladders.

However, if Pitfall and Mountain King don't count, the Atari 2600 still beats Super Mario Bros. to the punch in scrolling with Stargate/Defender 2(1984):

I was talking about a side scrolling platformer, which Pitfall is not. Donkey Kong came out before Pitfall, and introduced the platforming style that would later be used in Super Mario Bros.
07-03-2016, 06:44 PM
goldenband

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crom

And on the topic, Metroid isn't exactly the most wholly original game, either:

Downland for the Tandy CoCo, released in 1983, was a very early example of non-linear platforming:

It's flipscreen vs. Metroid's scrolling, but still way ahead of its time.

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