I still remember it so vividly: the day my mum took me to the store to pick up the Sega Master System II, my first ever console and a moment that inevitably influenced my gaming life for good, culminating in me. The console’s box design and game covers checkered in predominant white with black stripes and adorned with Times New Roman font. We sure have come a long way since then, but in the early 90s when Hypercolour t-shirts constituted taste, it was magic.

All my friends had NES’s – all of them – but there was something about Sega that struck me. Maybe it was the futuristic logo which has never aged, even now, or maybe it was the appeal of supporting the underdog. Perhaps it was even the built-in game, Alex Kidd in Miracle World. Regardless of what it was, there was certainly something special about it and I simply couldn’t wait to rush home to unbox it along with my first ever non-built-in game that accompanied it, Enduro Racer.

Glorious it was, curvaceously compact with a shiny charcoal finish and smelling like fresh plastic. Cables were connected and old CRT TV channels were manually configured, on it went and there it was, the most unforgettable theme song in my entire life. Enduro Racer and all its isometric angle cruelties which I would come to learn of later could wait its turn for now.

Photo from RetroJunk

Alex Kidd in Miracle World had several pivotal aspects. The awfully harsh difficulty scale. The skill required to swim against the flow while underwater, avoiding that Octopus boss’ tentacles in order to get close enough to punch him. The punishment and fear it conditioned into young impressional minds by morbidly offering special question-mark item boxes which were possessed – at random – by ghosts that would fly straight through every on-screen obstacle and kill you with a touch. The number of times I died and replayed straight away, watching that same title screen and hearing that same jingle. The shame I still feel in never finishing it, always losing the last Scissors-Paper-Rock boss fight without even a hint of the luxury afforded us today via modern-day FAQs or, dammit, even the internet. I must have played that game over 200 times and it always ended up (and immediately restarted) in frustration and that friggin’ theme song.

Now when I look back, 20 years later, the game wasn’t that great, even by 8-bit standards. It was always going to be remembered as a mediocre Mario rip-off, just with oversized-fists and big ears and a relentless level of difficulty. As for the Master System II itself, the console’s controller’s sharp edges used to give me blisters and you could only pause by pressing the big round white button located on the actual machine. And ever since then I’ve witnessed, as we all have, the rise and fall of Sega, with memorable characters and games coming and going and often fading into obscurity, with Alex making way to Sonic as Sega’s mascot and being promptly adandoned, but that bloody music, my God!

Still catchy and no longer rubbing in the fact that it was game over yet again, the theme song to Alex Kidd in Miracle World takes me back to a wonderful time of my youth and for that it’ll always hold a special place in my memory, bringing a smile to my face whenever my brain decides to turn back the clock, overlooking the trauma caused not only by the lack of save function with those old game cartridges, but also the painful injustice of predetermined Scissors-Paper-Rock contests resulting in two fingers stuck up at you followed swiftly – and memorably – by death.

What the hell? What’s a Spartan soldier doing in DOA 4? Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games? Battletoads vs Double Dragon??

Gaming crossovers have been around for ages now, with a variety of characters and franchises merging together to form some insane results. Robocop vs Terminator was one of the early crossover titles I remember from my youth, and this was pretty cool way back before Aliens vs Predator came along with rubbish movies and hardly a single decent game apart from the Jaguar FPS and the side-scrolling arcade game. These days it just gets crazy, with Super Smash Bros Brawl inviting everybody to the party, although as an MGS fan I must admit I don’t quite fancy the prospect of Snake getting his arse whipped by Kirby. *Sigh*, what would The Boss think of that?

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Fan-Service

The cynical may see it as a cheap and easy way for developers to cash in when they’re a bit short on ideas; just look at all those Street Fighter crossover titles that filled the long void between SF2 and 3 through several romances with third parties: SF vs X-Men, Marvel vs Capcom, Capcom vs SNK, and even an RPG in Namco x Capcom; whereas for fans these titles often turn out to be a full-blown realisation of fan-fiction fantasia. Speaking of fan-fiction and Fantasia, how about the combination of Final Fantasy and Disney characters in Kingdom Hearts?

No matter how loyal we are to a particular game or series, chances are we’re also in love with others as well, and who could possibly resist tag-teaming Wolverine + Ryu against Cyclops + Akuma? The permutations are near endless, as are the numbers of ‘quarter circle and all three punches’ super moves. Storylines don’t ever seem to matter in a crossover though: just check out Darth Vader and Yoda in Soul Calibur IV, not to mention ‘console specific characters’ in number II, in particular Link for the Gamecube version.

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Peace

One great thing about a crossover is that it promotes good will among game developers, and often rival ones at that. Capcom and SNK had been at each other’s throats over plagiarism claims for years with each company mocking the other with ‘joke’ characters, with the finest example being Dan in the SF Alpha/Zero games who was all bravado and quite simply, well, rubbish. When the two parties finally merged to bring us SNK vs Capcom, whilst not everyone may have liked the gameplay nor the concept, the art was just beautiful: Ken and Ryu drawn in realistic fashion by SNK artists…a dream come true.

Similarly, Mario and Sonic used to be the biggest rivals in gaming. Now they’re holding hands while both receive their medals on the podium. Nintendo had tried their own Nintendo-only crossover with the Mario Kart series to great success, whereas Sonic suffered as a result of Sega’s diminishing impact in the console market; NiGHTS and Sonic would surely have been a fantastic crossover game. The world’s most famous blue hedgehog probably doesn’t like sharing the limelight with his old enemy, but I’m sure he has to eat and pay the bills just like the rest of us. So he gets the Silver, then?

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The Biggest Crossover Ever

Probably the biggest gaming crossover EVER doesn’t even have to do with games: it’s all about the hardware here. Most of us would know about the (in)famous deal in the late 80s and early 90s between Nintendo and Sony where the former had enlisted in the latter to produce a CD-Rom based console which was touted to be the long-awaited follow up to the SNES. It all turned sour when Sony (and Ken Kuturagi) realised that the contracts drawn up didn’t obligate them to Nintendo, thereby allowing them to make their own system…the original Playstation. Nintendo then decided to stick with cartridges for the N64 despite the medium’s limitations but it was Sony’s entrance in the mid 90s that changed the game industry as we knew it forever.

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And Finally…

With pretty much every game character likely to get a gig anywhere on anybody’s home patch, I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say that we will NEVER see hybrid titles like:

- Star Wars vs Star Trek (Obi Wan Kenobi vs Spock…eww)

- Halo vs Call of Duty (Master Chief and Captain Price both come back [again] for another “final battle” over Xbox Live Unique User stats)

- God of War vs Gears of War (where Kratos and Marcus Fenix fight it out via a button-mashing and improved cover system interface to see who REALLY deserves to own those GOW initials)

- Final Fantasy Beach Volleyball (Sephiroth in a man-kini. No)

- Nintendo vs Sony vs Microsoft (it would spell an end to the fanboys, but as if that’s ever going to happen eh?)

So what other dodgy/good crossovers have there been? What combos would you like to see, and in particular, what WOULDN’T you want?

Originally posted here

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Here is a quick timeline of the gaming life of a former Sega “fanboy”. In writing this I discovered quite a bit about my own hypocrisies and double-standards…coming to the conclusion that we should all give up hating this console or that console, this company or that company, Sonic or Mario etc etc. They all have their value, so we should just enjoy it while we can. Respect each other’s bloody decisions!

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Born December 1982

Premature by 3 months, apparently offset by my mum walking past a Space Invaders arcade machine and having an urge to play.

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Age 2 Learning to walk (handy for future trips to EB games) and grasp items, making full use of all digits and the all-important imposable thumb: hence receiving early training for future analogue sticks and shoulder buttons.

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Age 3 Development of spacial, logic, and talking skills which will eventually be tested by Game Boy Tetris, Facebook Poker and Yahoo Chat.

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Primary School

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Age 6 Mum bought me my first console: the Sega Master System II. Hence the commencement of my Master Gamer Fourth Dan daily lessons and practice where only intense discipline and self-control could help me beat Enduro Racer, until I discovered the cheat code.

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Age 9 Learnt about self-consciousness and wanted to have Sonic’s spiky hair and red sneakers. Had to settle instead for mummy-parted bowlcut and Reebok Pumps, which at least helped me jump really high of course.

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Age 10 Game Boy craze hits school, with annoying kids shouting in my ear about where to place the blocks as I stare fixatedly at the wonderful muddy yellow and black screen. Learnt a valuable life lesson here about the virtues of solo gaming.

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Age 11 Hatred of Nintendo is firmly developed through Sega’s slogan propaganda and the coolness of Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker. Who wants to play rubbish like Super Metroid when I’ve got 16 bit ‘Smooth Criminal’ as background music? Eh?

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High School

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Age 14 My first computer, a Pentium 133 which is SO good for learning stuff with Encarta 95, getting angry at Word, and playing Sim City 2000 – the beginning of PC game addiction. Windows 3.11 is HOT. For some reason it keeps crashing on me for no good reason and I have to get it repaired (at least) 3 times. Crucial training for the world we now live in: to think school assignments were handwritten or even worse, typewritten(!) before this – crazy.

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Age 15 Learnt about the valour and integrity in taking sides in the early console wars: Sega Saturn vs Sony Gaystation. Developed thick skin and the ability to tell convincing stories about Sega’s prowess and world domination. Gameplay over graphics! And anyone who doesn’t agree isn’t a hardcore gamer: get out!

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Age 16 Felt loss, sadness, and turmoil through the defeat of the Saturn. Nintendo-hate intensifies because of the Nintendo 64 (Mario 64 “isn’t even that great”). Confusion arises because I really liked Metal Gear Solid, an exclusive game on THE ENEMY.

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Age 17 Feelings of redemption through the promise of the Dreamcast. Anti-Sony emotions intensify as the PS2 hijacks it a year later with a far more powerful system. How dare they! First kiss with a girl named Grace. Hard to afford games on a McDonald’s wage. Addicted to Champ Manager as I guide Arsenal to European Cup glory. Learnt to drive thanks to years of Daytona USA and Sega Rally at the arcades.

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Uni

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Age 20 Forced to swallow one’s pride through the intense and amazing gameplay experience of GTAIII on the PS2. I end up buying it as fierce memories of Sega’s demise start to slowly fade. Entered an experimental phase in life by trying out all sorts of new stuff, like cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, LAN gaming and Counterstrike. Learnt new jargon: ‘camper’, as well as the humiliation of being noob-knifed.

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Age 21 Becoming a local master in Pro Evolution Soccer. What the hell is Microsoft doing? The XBox is CRAP!!! Stay away! Stick with computers Bill Gates you nerd!

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Age 22 World comes crumbling down as I am beaten (comprehensively) for the first time ever by a mate’s Korean cousin who is a Pro Evo BEAST. Had to ask myself serious personal questions: Who am I? Where do I want to be in life? Do I choose a life of living my passion at the cost of financial security, or do I get a 9 to 5 job and climb the career ladder and sacrifice the things I love? Is there a balance? Started playing guitar: nothing at all like Guitar Hero.

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Adult Life

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Age 24 Working full time (ahem, 9 to 5) but feeling born again through the wonderful DS and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Lost countless battles of Pokemon to kids 10 years younger than I am. Soon to be a 360 owner through the beauty of BioShock and the sheer potential in playing Pro Evo on XBox Live – and climbing the career (360 achievements) ladder to be NUMBER ONE. If I keep training my brain every day with the DS, it’s only a matter of time.

Soccer. You either love it, hate it, or belong to the casual World Cup watching crowd. Yeah there is way too much cheating and diving involved, and these days with clubs having players on astronomically overpriced wages (just look at Beckham) it really is difficult for fans to feel at all connected to their team. Still, people from all over the world play it and at its core it is still a beautiful game. And it really should be called ‘football’.

So here is a brief rundown of the video game football genre. It’s not a comprehensive list and, certainly, if you are not a fan of the sport then you can stop reading and merely look at the screenshots I’ve put up. Plenty of pretty colours. Or just green really.

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International Soccer – Atari 2600 – 1982

Okay I wasn’t even born when this came out, but no wannabe blog about the history of any game genre is complete without a shot of a pixellated Atari title. The early football game was pretty rubbish with a significant list of elements that contributed to its unplayability: top-down view, buttons that didn’t work, complete randomness if you ever score a goal, and don’t even think about any difference in skill when playing as Brazil or American Samoa. Not that they were even in the game but you know what I mean.

Italia 90 – various – 1990

The first football game I played, which was on Mega Drive and part of some pirate 3 in 1 cartridge (the other 2 games were Columns and Rambo III) and had the same boring elements as above BUT was the first game with full licensing from FIFA such that the teams, players and match schedules mimicked its real life event. I vaguely recall being able to pick a team formation, pity though that all character models had the same black hair and the only graphical advances to speak of was that the ball would increase in size as it went up in the air and the inclusion of a totally useless radar. But what about being able to choose stadiums? You’re ‘avin a laugh! One pitch: take it or leave it. Most gamers left it.

Sensible Soccer – various – 1992-present

Despite having a terribly non-appealing title (released by the perhaps unsurprisingly named Sensible Software), this was a major hit in the UK and allowed thorough tactics to be used in addition to formations. Gameplay-wise Sensi was brilliant and club teams also made a long-awaited appearance albeit with modified team and player names to avoid legal issues. Sensible indeed. Later games also offered stadium choices, but when the series tried to go 3D relatively recently it flopped, leaving its undeniable influence in the many managerial titles that continue to steal innocent lives as we speak.

International Superstar Soccer – various – 1992-present

Konami’s ISS series was truly revolutionary, offering players an isometric view and, amazingly, controls that actually worked. The football video game would forever be changed as great players were clearly defined with better skill levels, and for the first time the controls utilised the handy shoulder buttons which were being introduced on consoles around that era. The addition of the now-mandatory ‘through ball’ pass was particularly crucial in moulding the modern-day footy video game. As a series, ISS remained strong until FIFA and Konami’s own Pro Evo/Winning Eleven monopolised the market, with ISS 64 being a memorable standout on the Nintendo 64 despite the regularity of 11-8 scorelines. Trust Konami to produce a good game, never mind what type.

FIFA Soccer – various – 1993-present

Enter one of the big players in the genre. With the sport’s governing body signed up and willing to hand over all the licences (players, teams, tournaments, stadiums etc) and ‘borrowing’ several elements from Konami’s contributions, the EA series has proved to be a huge winner. The same isometric view was used early on but the gameplay simply didn’t compare to ISS despite a decent inclusion of an indoor mode. However the biggest draw was of course having real teams and players…herein lying the same dilemma relevant to many of us football video game players of today: Do I pick FIFA for all its licensing, presentation and improving gameplay, or the less-licensed Pro Evo with better gameplay? (More on this below). FIFA 97 in particular was a real stinker yet sold more copies solely on its name than its more advanced competitors at the time, but to their credit EA are now doing a pretty good job.

Sega Worldwide Soccer – Saturn, Dreamcast – 1997-2000

It was only until the second instalment of the series, Sega WWS ‘97, was released that real progress was being made in the genre. With brilliant gameplay and incredible (at the time) animation this offering from Sega was head and shoulders above the rest. The graphics were a strange but impressive combination of 2D sprites and 3D and had multiple camera angles to choose from (including isometric for those who just couldn’t let go) and instant replays that offered a chance to use a fully rotatable camera – ever since emulated in every single football game. The 98 game was even better with licensed English Premiership teams, but unfortunately coincided with the death of the console and the release of the more groundbreaking WLS. A follow up game came out on the Dreamcast but instead of wowing us with innovative gameplay, it merely used the WLS game engine (below) and died a forgotten death alongside its console AGAIN. (My Saturn American import copy of WWS ‘97 is, as precious as it is to me, however tainted by its shocking cover featuring “Soccer Star” Coby Jones. He’s rubbish).

World League Soccer/UEFA Champions League – various – 1999-present

Licensing hit a new level with the first game based on the top European club tournament (FIFA is world footy, UEFA runs club and European team-only tournaments). Brilliant at the time, the game engine was based on that of WLS which employed a nifty new control scheme whereby when shooting or passing, players had to hold back on the controller to determine the trajectory and power. Tricky to get used to, but it offered a great deal of much-needed unpredictability to the genre. And with UEFA’s backing/willingness to cash in, the series continues to sell its own fair share of copies. Note: WLS was released on the Saturn in 98 as a direct competitor to the big kingpin at the time, WWS, and won. Its influence on the games of today should not be forgotten.

Pro Evolution Soccer/Winning Eleven – various – 2001-present

The Japanese Winning Eleven games had been popular for a while in its home country, with only the 5th game of the series to be released on western shores as ‘Pro Evolution’, or more affectionately, ‘Pro Evo’. Another Konami game with a clear ISS-based focus on killer gameplay, Pro Evo came out on PS2 in 2001 and quietly began to win over the footy gamers with its animation, control, and gameplay that was second to none. And finally, FINALLY, Dennis Bergkamp was completely captured in a game: player attributes were mapped scarily close to their real life equivalents which made playing the game almost just as close to watching it. Not even FIFA, with its comprehensive licensing, could hide behind its by-now faultering gameplay mechanics and seemingly same regurgitated yearly product, and after a slow start in producing a snazzy presentation Pro Evo eventually surpassed its big rival. In fact EA owes quite a debt to Konami in this respect: without the rightful kick up the backside it received when true football afficionado gamers swapped allegiances, the FIFA series would not have improved, happily lying in its own arrogance of mediocrity (but sadly still selling millions based on name alone). And with today’s FIFA vs Pro Evo debate, this means that the real winner is us with two quality titles to choose from each year. Personally, I love Pro Evo.

Honourable Mentions

Actua Soccer – various, 1995-1999

Remember those Actua sports sims? We all thought it was a typo back then eh? Coming out prior to the Euro 96 tournament, this game had beautiful and completely 3D graphics and fantastic commentary. But, as many developers found out, the FIFA juggernaut was too big a burden to its success and sadly the series is no more.

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So there we have it. For fans, we might take for granted how well-rounded our sports sims are nowadays but having sat disappointedly through Italia 90 as a crushed 8 year old, I certainly treasure every great piece of dribbling skill or screaming 30-yard goal I manage in Pro Evo. It sure beats bashing the A button on a Mega Drive boomerang controller that increasingly got more and more uncomfortable as time wore on. And wondering why all white players have brown hair. And why David Beckham is paid so much.