Video Game Homework
I read (lbr, skimmed) a blog post about video games and remakes and while I think that there’s something there, I guess. Like, I’ve written about how I want to experience games I haven’t played before and pocket emulators have really helped me delve into that a bit more and it sincerely rules, imo. I think there’s a level at which it’s important to do so, particularly if you want to consider video games as a serious medium and not a series of complex toys (which it is but that’s another argument).
In any discipline, there are works that are sort of essential to consume; if you’re intent on being a film student, whether as a critic or a creator, you’re going to be expected to watch and analyze certain movies—Citizen Kane might not be the best movie ever, but its place as a landmark movie because of its approach to movies was a legitimate game changer for cinema. To ignore that is both ahistorical and short-sighted. I don't like Uncle Tom's Cabin, but if I'm going to specialize in Early American Literature, it's necessary to fucking read it. If you're going to treat video games like a serious discipline, this must be considered.
Are there video games that really change the game for the whole medium? Maybe. I couldn’t tell you what they might be, honestly. I’d argue that the odd approach that Yoko Taro takes to things and the things he wants to explore should be held sort of in that regard, even if he’s just working in the gacha mines now. I think there’s something really interesting in the way the dungeons of Nier Replicant are made; the forest dungeon as a text-based adventure, hailing back to old ass RPGs is really cool! On the one hand, I’m sure that’s a budgetary thing, but on the other, to assume designers don’t make decisions with intention is kind of wild! There’s been plenty of articles written on this particular topic post Dragon's Dogma 2, but it’s relevant here.
I think that there are video games which are key to maybe a genre or a series if you’re interested in that. While A Link to the Past is probably the first Zelda with a coherent story, Ocarina of Time is much more prevalent and influential for the series, imo. Metroidvanias are now almost dime-a-dozen, but if you go back to the original Castlevania, it’s nothing like the shit they’ve put out for the past few decades—that doesn’t start until what, Symphony of the Night? You could do the same for horror games and jrpgs, I am sure (obligatory earthbound/undertale mention).
My point is depending on how seriously you take the entire medium, or even a specific genre, there is something worthwhile in considering something like video game homework. And at the end of the day, I’m not saying anyone should think of it like that, but I do wanna push back on part of that article which was “if you wanna play the game, you MUST play it on the original system on the original tv type.” That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s not far off and like, holy shit, the number of reasons why that’s buckwild. Idk, that part really nagged me. You can play Twilight Princess on an emulator (like I am) and still get the experience. I‘m not getting right-handed Link because I’m emulating the gamecube version and I think world-flipped right-handed Link is weird, generally. But I’m still playing the game, just as I’m still playing Yoshi’s Island and Earthbound, even if I’m not playing them on an SNES.
And I will say in sort of final defense of remakes and seeing them as a good way to play a game you never got around to playing before: video game preservation is notoriously shitty. Many people have written about it. So, idk, if someone wants to play the remake because the companies that own the game have made it fucking impossible to play the game anymore, maybe don't be a cock about it?