Nothing New
Pay attention to the gaming industry for any length of time, and you’ll begin to notice a pattern. When a game is successful, it inevitably spawns a sequel.
Heckler: “Duh. Money talks!”
Good sequels pay their respects to what the first game did as well as adding their own new twists on the old formula. Still, no matter how much of the “new” there is, nothing can change the fact that the old is what’s really driving the bandwagon.
Yeah, Twilight Princess had nice graphics and interesting new characters and the Wii Remote and all that good stuff, but it’s still the same puzzle-solving, dungeon-crawling, world-exploring, Ganon-slaying formula we’ve been familiar with since the original Legend of Zelda came out in 1987 (I’m speaking for those of us who are old enough to have grown up with this series).
Just look at some of the games that are coming out over the holidays, and you’ll see that this pattern of unoriginality is alive and well. Tomorrow, Donkey Kong Country Returns will be unleashed on US shores. This $50 Wii epic is little more than a massive homage to the three Donkey Kong Country games that came out on the Super Nintendo in the mid 90’s. Yes, the controls are fresh, and the graphics are all spiffy, but at heart it’s still the same 2D side-scrolling, banana-grabbing platformer we know and love (I’m still speaking to the senior citizens in the audience…you know, those of us over twenty).
Here’s another good example. On Nov. 2, Activision released Goldeneye 007, a first-person shooter based on the James Bond film of the same name. The thing is…there’s already been a game based on that film. It came out in 1997 on the Nintendo 64. Most gamers consider it a huge classic. The new Goldeneye is a remake of the N64 game; among the changes that have been made are the replacement of Pierce Brosnan’s Bond with Daniel Craig, and the game’s levels have been tweaked and redesigned and generally improved. But it’s still a remake, one that clearly relies on its predecessor’s reputation even as it attempts to create a fresh experience.
Oh, and then there’s Super Mario All-Stars: Limited Edition, coming out on Dec. 12 (also for Wii). This is literally a copy of Super Mario All-Stars, an anthology of the first four Mario games (Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, Super Mario Bros. 2, and Super Mario Bros. 3) that we first saw as a Super Nintendo cartridge more than a decade ago. There are no tweaks here. No new levels. No new characters. Aside from a soundtrack disc and a booklet and a couple of other frills, this is the exact same Super Mario All-Stars.
You know what I say to all these sequels and remakes and thinly-disguised cash-ins on the popularity of well established franchises? I say bring it on!
Cranky gamers may complain about the lack of originality in games these days, but companies are churning out unoriginality for a reason. People like these games. No, they LOVE THESE GAMES!
Almost three thousand years ago, Solomon began what would become the book of Ecclesiastes with these words: “History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new” (1:9, NLT). Even what appears to be new, deep down, is just a well-disguised copy or spin-off of something old.
Some people find this disturbing. I find it comforting. It means that good will remain good, and evil—as much it tries to come up with new evil—will fail and someday be destroyed forever.
The ultimate endorsement of unoriginality is found in Hebrews: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (13:8, italics mine). Does this mean God is boring and stagnant? No, it means He’s reliable. Since He’s good, it means good will never go away.
Unoriginality done right isn’t a bad thing. It’s a glorious thing. Besides the comfort factor, it means a whole new generation of gamers (or believers) will be introduced to something that’s good with a long record of being good.
So yes, I plan on buying (or at least playing) all of the remakes and copies and sequels I can get my hands on.
Who’s with me?