Wireless! I played with IR attempts as far back as the NES, but when the Wavebird hit the GameCube? That felt like a game changer. Sit (nearly) anywhere! Don’t trip your family and pets! Just set the controller down when you’re done! And now that they power on/off your console? Keeps getting better.
Platforms that allow independent publishing. The growth of video games as an art, community, and viable medium will thrive on the allowance of independent creators to have a way to distribute their art.
I'm going to say it's on line message boards. Having a place where people from around the globe can share strategies and their enjoyment for games still to this day creates communities and friendships we wouldn't have if we were stuck to only talking to local people about games.
You know this didn't even occur to me but I think it's a great point, definitely changed how I engaged with the hobby a lot, being able to get into the real nerd shit with my fellow internet nerds lmao
Games with a story. RPGs are my favorite games, and taking games from activities to stories was huge for me. Kings Quest and Zork were the first two I knew of. Even today, Prince of Persia takes another favorite genre, metroidvanias, and adds an interesting story.
Shoulder buttons on controllers is one of the most impactful innovations in gaming history, which started with the SNES; they opened up the door to increasingly complex controls schemes and in-game mechanics, and impact all controller designs and in-game experiences to this day.
My personal one is a mix of both portability and wireless/online connection. A core memory of mine was my brother and I freaking out when we got the first Pokémon games on the DS and found out we could trade wirelessly. We were the ones who never had a link cable so this was world shattering.
Great topic & conversation on the show today, folks! Really enjoyed this one! I think you covered a lot of the really big and critical stuff on the show but I was just talking about a related thing earlier today.
Very much related to digital distribution, but the component of it that I appreciate the most is the way games are continually improved. Sometimes this has obvious downsides with bad releases like cyberpunk, but it also results in games getting a ton of updates (like cyberpunk AGAIN or no man's sky)
I was just chatting about this in regards to Star Wars: Outlaws, where in addition to improvements and bug fixes they also made a significant change to the stealth missions and got rid of the "auto fail" state when you got caught.
You never used to see this kind of shit in games! It is cool that devs can respond in real time to gameplay complaints like this, and some of the devs who are more proactive in this space do really incredible work. It's so cool how games continue to evolve after release now
haha ok sorry folks I got really excited to reply while I was listening but now chris has basically brought up this same point on the show. Next time I will try to listen to the full episode before I reply!
QotW: in the last few console generations, being able to suspend games and start back up immediately. No longer have to rush to find a save spot/quick save and immediate opening the game has been a life saver and has allowed me to finish more RPGs/VNs than before.
I’m going to go with a relatively recent development: SBC’s. Single Board Computers from the likes of Miyoo, Anbernic and Ayn have revolutionized how people emulate games. Prior to these you had to buy high cost custom modded systems or evercarts, which some had built in expiration dates.
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I know there were Game and Watch and Tiger Electronics before, but Gameboy specifically was the 1st time NES style games were accessible on the go.