Video games through time
Prensa staff playing Super Contra. (Photo: Ruby Costa, The Puma Prensa)
By Ruby Marie Costa-Thompson, staff writer, and Dylan Cooper, staff writer
It's 1958, and you're a middle class citizen in Long Island, New York. Pizza Hut was just founded, green bean casserole is all the rage, and bacon is only 75 cents a pound. As this beloved time came to a close, something new was born. The very first video game. Tennis for Two was a simple game where players use a single knob and button to control a bouncing ball. Video games have come a long way since then—they have transcended consoles, moving onto computers, phones, and even VR. While such advancements are incredibly impressive, it’s sometimes fun to go back to the basics.
The Atari 2600 was one of the first majorly-successful consoles, inviting into the world many genre-defining classics such as Centipede, which would eventually be featured in the movie Pixels, a movie that some of us are still probably trying to forget. Terrible Adam Sandler movie or not, Centipede’s renown could not be denied. Other Atari games include Asteroids, Adventure, and the beloved Frogger, which all shook the world with their popularity. Modern consoles offer a variety of buttons, but on the Atari, you had a blocky joystick and a big red button. Nothing else. Yet surprisingly, each Atari game felt truly unique. Gaming was a completely different feeling when the most awesome game was an absolute grainy mess.
“So often you see games that are trying to be more realistic with better and better graphics, and to see a low bit game like that, it’s kind of nice,” said Senior Heyman Luong, who spent time testing out older consoles. Junior Alexa Rios tested out the Atari and had critiques and compliments. “I didn't really like the minimal controls. It was kind of blocky, and you couldn't make any quick movements, so you had to be really careful. It wasn't bad though, and it being hard to control was what made it so addicting.” With older games, their flaws are more like quirks that add to the experience, making it more fun and giving you something to laugh about.
Junior Dalila Campos, a long time fan of video games, grew up primarily on older consoles such as the PlayStation 2, released in 2000. She prefers them to newer games because “there is more charm, heart, and effort put into them, and they have always been a very big passion of hers.” Many people would agree with her statement that older consoles hold up to newer ones, and are sometimes entirely better. While it's easy to only look at the clunky graphics, counterintuitive controls, and overused, simple mechanics, one should also look at the flaws of newer games, like overcomplicated user interfaces, or a million copy-and-paste spinoffs.
The nostalgic feeling of an old game console is great, but older consoles have become harder and harder to obtain as time goes on, which can make it a challenge. Rios recommends eBay to find old consoles, though warns that prices can be hundreds of more dollars than when the console first released. Regardless, Campos suggests, “if you have the time, money, and availability…look into the older versions of consoles. It's interesting to learn about the process of making older games, and what was popular back then.”
However, don't let nostalgia completely blind you to the future, or the present. Some great games have come out in recent years, and many aspects of gaming have widely improved. “As a relic of the past,” Senior Christian Bon explains, “[old] games should be played and preserved, but the consoles themselves have seen nothing but improvement.” There are plenty of modern-day games that either bring something new to the table, or renew the themes and graphics commonly found in older games. Games have become smoother, and almost every single video game you play nowadays has some sort of save feature, which is missing from the revered Atari and NES. Furthermore, many genres and styles are completely unique to modern gaming. Visual Novels, Battle Royale games, and Sandbox games are particularly popular, as well as any genre with an online aspect. There are also, of course, many popular reboots of older games such as Final Fantasy VII Remake. Though old games will always have a special charm, one cannot say that charm can’t be replicated.
Gaming is an age-old hobby, and even before it was adapted to video form, games have always brought people together through creativity and talent. Video gaming has moved past simply being a hobby anymore, and it's crazy to think that it all started with two men finding a way to play tennis on a screen. Video games will only continue to change into the future, and different generations of people will be nostalgic about different ones. Whether it's the Atari, or Solitaire on your Apple Vision Pro, video games have always, and will always, be a major part of our society, and there's just no telling what will come next.
It's 1958, and you're a middle class citizen in Long Island, New York. Pizza Hut was just founded, green bean casserole is all the rage, and bacon is only 75 cents a pound. The 50’s were a time of black and white photos, poodle skirts, and jukeboxes, and as this beloved time came to a close, something new was born. The very first video game. Tennis for Two was a simple game where the player turns a knob to adjust the angle of the ball, then pushes a button to hit it towards the other player. Video games have come a long way since then—the minimum expected from a new game being a lot more than just one control. They have transcended consoles, moving onto computers, phones, and sometimes even VR. The more time that passes, the more that video games are able to achieve. It's an incredibly impressive thing to watch, but sometimes it's fun to go back to the basics.
People play on old game consoles for a plethora of reasons, sometimes because that's all that's available, because older games are easier, or because their favorite game isn't available on newer devices. However, for a lot of people, it boils down to something really simple: nostalgia. The simple, retro nature of older consoles and games can't be mimicked by anything current, now matter how hard companies try, and no matter how imperfect or impractical a game can seem, if someone has nostalgia linked to it, it's easy to forgive those flaws. But, just how flawed are these games? After over 60 years, do old consoles really hold up, or does all the nostalgia change how we remember them?
To answer this question, it is important to go back to the roots of gaming, and look at all the games that have impacted the industry for decades to come. The Atari 2600 seemed like the perfect place to start, inviting into the world many genre defining classics that took the world by storm, such as Centipede. The game was pretty groundbreaking for its time, with people all over sitting down and taking the time to beat their high scores, shooting an 8-bit line of multiplying ovals with a pellet launcher. Apparently, the game was so popular that it would eventually be featured in the movie Pixels, a movie that some of us are still probably trying to forget. Terrible Adam Sandler movie or not, Centipede’s popularity could not be denied, but in comparison to the more modern format of games, it can’t help but feel a little clunky. Modern PCs or other consoles offer a variety of buttons or otherwise to do all kinds of things, but on the Atari, you had a blocky joystick and a big red button, nothing else. This was the same for every game like Asteroids, Adventure, and the beloved Frogger, but surprisingly, each game felt truly unique to go through, offering a new experience with each one. It allows for a whole new perspective, jumping back in time to a point when the most awesome game at the time was still an absolute grainy mess. “So often you see games that are trying to be more realistic with better and better graphics, and to see a low bit game like that, it’s kind of nice,” said Senior Heyman Luong, who spent time testing out the older consoles provided. Perhaps it is within the simplicity of these games that a certain charm can be found, a charm that is not as present in modern technology, however, some accessibility is still sacrificed to time. Junior Alexa Rios also got to test out some older consoles, like the Atari, and had both critiques and compliments. “I didn't really like the minimal controls. It was kind of blocky, and you couldn't make any quick movements, so you had to be really careful. It wasn't bad though, and it being hard to control was what made it so addicting.” While the Atari is iconic for its very simple controller, to someone who isnt used to it, it can be very hard to maneuver, which might make a game more challenging than it needs to be.
While the Atari was the epitome of gaming in its prime, there were many more consoles to come out between then, and the current, mostly online market for games. Rios remembers both the Nintendo 3DS, which was released in Japan in 2011, and the Wii, released in 2006, as some of her childhood favorites. Unlike the Atari, both of these consoles had a wide array of games with 3D graphics—very different from the colorful but blocky art style of Atari games. The consoles, or the controllers that went with them, in the Wii’s case, also had many more buttons with many more functions. Junior Dalila Campos, a long time fan of video games, also brings up the PlayStation 2, released in 2000. She grew up primarily playing on older consoles, and prefers them to newer games because “there is more charm, heart, and effort put into them, and they have always been a very big passion of hers.” Many people would agree with her in the statement that older consoles hold up to newer ones, and are sometimes just entirely better. While it's easy to only look at the clunky graphics, counterintuitive controls, and overused, simple mechanics, one should also look at the flaws of newer games, like overcomplicated user interfaces, or a million copy-and-paste spinoffs. With older games, the quirks and flaws usually just add to the experience, making it more fun and giving you something to laugh about. “If you have the time, money, and availability too, it's good to look into the older versions of consoles. It's interesting to learn about the process of making older games, and what was popular back then,” Campos suggests. The nostalgic feeling of playing on an old game console is great, but older consoles have become harder and harder to obtain as time goes on, which can make it a challenge. Rios recommends eBay to find old consoles, though warns that prices can be hundreds of more dollars than when the console first came out. You can also get your blast from the past by using a relatives console, like Senior Chrisitian Bon, who usually just plays on what his dad has.
While all the aforementioned games and consoles are great, don't let nostalgia completely blind you to the future, or the present. There are some great games that have come out in recent years, and there are many aspects of gaming that have been widely improved. ›as a relic of the past,” Bon explains, “the games should be played and preserved, but the consoles themselves have seen nothing but improvement.” There are plenty of modern day games that either bring something new to the table, or use the themes and graphics commonly found in older games in a more modern way. Games have been built to run smoother, and thought it might be overlooked, almost every single video game you play nowadays has some sort of save feature, which is missing from the Atari and NES, two very popular older consoles. While it's always great to revisit old games, it's also important to acknowledge newer ones, because some genres and styles are completely unique to modern gaming. Visual novels, battle royale games, and sandbox games are particularly popular in the modern day gaming scene, as well as any genre you could think of being combined with an online aspect. There are also, of course, many modern day reboots of older games, some widely successful, like the many variations of Super Mario, and some not so much. Though old games will always have a special charm to them, it's not to say that that charm cant be replicated anymore.
Gaming is an age-old hobby, and even before it was adapted to video form, games have always been a way to bring people together and show creativity, or talent. Video gaming has moved past simply being a hobby anymore, and it's crazy to think that it all started with two men finding a way to play tennis on a screen. The popularity that video games still have is in no-part unusual, with feelings of nostalgia strong enough to keep people coming back again and again, and new innovations bringing in new crowds time after time. Video games will only continue to change into the future, and different generations of people will be nostalgic about different ones. Whether it's the Atari, or solitaire on your Apple Vision Pro, video games have always, and will always, be a major part of our society, and there's just no telling what will come next.