Still, the reason the system remains so beloved is because of the experiences it delivered. It brought big budget, AAA gaming on the move – something you’ll see reflected in our ranking of the best PS Vita games, many of which were developed by  the biggest developers in the world. This Vita might have been a commercial failure, but those who invested know just how awesome this handheld truly was. 

Let’s explore why, with our definitive breakdown of the 25 best PS Vita games of all-time.

For more definitive rankings of Sony PlayStation games throughout the years: 

| Best PS1 Games |Best PS2 Games | Best PS3 Games | Best PS4 Games | Best PS5 Games | Best PSP Games |

Best PS Vita Games, Ranked

25. Killzone: Mercenary

Developer: Guerrilla Cambridge
Released: 2013

Considering its capabilities, the Vita was decidedly short-served when it came to excellent first-person shooters. Fortunately, Guerilla Cambridge was able to fill the void with a superb effort that made its peers look laughable in comparison. While the frame rate can take a hit at times and it’s a little on the short side, it looks tremendous, has great shooting mechanics, and offers you the opportunity to play as both sides of the conflict. Sadly, its excellent online multiplayer is no longer up and running, so you’ll have to make do with the single-player campaign which clocks in at a brief but action-packed five hours.

24. Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition

Developer: Mojang
Released: 2014

The accessibility of Mojang’s world builder means it’s perfect for gaming on the go. While some will be disappointed with its lack of story or instruction, the real beauty of Minecraft is the sheer freedom that it offers. Pretty much anything you can think of can be built (providing you have the right resources or are playing in Creation mode) and you’re only really limited by your own imagination. While it lacks the huge playing areas of the PC original, the Vita version still manages to impress on its own terms and looks fantastic too.

23. Soul Sacrifice Delta

Developer: Marvelous AQL
Released: 2014

With Nintendo locking up Monster Hunter for the 3DS, numerous other developers rushed to plug the gaping hole on Vita. Soul Sacrifice Delta is easily the most ambitious of these clones, and it’s the brainchild of Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune. Sacrifice plays a big part in Delta’s mechanics as you’ll have to not only sacrifice fallen enemies to boost your stats but using certain powers will directly debilitate you, meaning there’s a little strategy to go alongside the combat. Delta is an enhanced update of Soul Sacrifice, rather than a proper sequel, and didn’t get a physical release in the west, although an expensive Asian English language version is available.

22. WipEout 2048

Developer: Studio Liverpool
Released: 2012

There was no shortage of great games for the PS Vita’s launch and WipEout remains one of the best racing experiences you can have on the console. Yes, it’s hampered by some slow loading times and the weight and speed of the craft take a little while to get used to, but once the new handling does click you’ll discover the racing and combat to be just as satisfying as earlier games in the series (which are actually set many years after this prequel). While its online multiplayer is a thing of the past, there remains plenty of cart-based content to keep you busy.

21. Dariusburst: Chronicle Saviours

Developer: Pyramid
Released: 2015

Few Vita shoot-’em-ups are as ambitious as this gargantuan game. While many balked at its high digital asking price, it makes perfect sense when you realize just how much content Taito’s magnificent shooter actually contains. In addition to featuring all the extras from the numerous arcade versions, including the 3,000 stage variations of Chronicles mode, Saviours also adds the brand-new Chronicle Saviours mode which gives you over 180 more stages to tackle and all sorts of delicious goodies to unlock, from new ships to bosses and audio tracks. Just be mindful that the nature of the arcade games means Arcade and EX mode are severely letterboxed, which can make it tough to tackle the water-themed bosses.

20. Mortal Kombat

Developer: NetherRealm Studios
Released: 2012

The PS Vita is blessed with a wealth of great fighters, but few can compete with the insane amount of content that Mortal Kombat offers. While its online servers have long since shut it features virtually all the content from the PS3’s Komplete Edition, meaning there’s a genuinely excellent story mode to battle through, sickening X-Ray Moves to enjoy and a gargantuan Challenge Tower to climb. Amazingly, the PS Vita version improves on this by retaining all the excellent gameplay and adding new costumes, touch-based finishing moves, and a brand-new Challenge Tower with 150 new missions to complete.

19. Lumines Electronic Symphony

Developer: Q Entertainment
Released: 2012

Q Entertainment’s sound-based puzzle game made its debut on the PSP and this new Vita iteration keeps the same base mechanics while adding in a few clever wrinkles of its own. Touch-based controls are usable as well as a more traditional set-up, while musical skins are now unlocked via a new experience system. Two brand-new blocks are introduced allowing you to shuffle on-screen blocks or chain together blocks and there’s a new Voyage mode where you must continually create colored squares, which is easier said than done. Coupled with a stunning soundtrack and the PS Vita’s OLED display it makes for a beautiful fusion of sight and sound.

18. Dragon Quest Builders

Developer: Square Enix
Released: 2016

As great as Minecraft is, its freeform gameplay certainly isn’t for everyone. If you’re like us and need a little more structure with your digging and building, you’ll find Dragon Quest Builders to be the perfect tonic. It takes the core concept of Mojang’s phenomenally successful game, but marries it to the popular Dragon Quest universe and fills it with likable characters, lite RPG mechanics, and an engaging story. It’s clever with its structure too, slowly giving you simple tasks to complete that rarely tax you, but as the game reaches its conclusion you’ll be overseeing objectives that will be beyond your wildest dreams.

17. The Walking Dead: Season One

Developer: Telltale Games
Released: 2013

It’s possible to purchase several TellTale Games titles on PS Vita, but its first entry in the popular Walking Dead series remains its strongest. While the game doesn’t give anywhere near as much agency over events as it would like you to believe, there’s no denying the weight of each choice you make as every decision seemingly dictates the future of protagonist Lee Everett and his young charge, Clementine. Yes, it’s built on a flimsy game engine that would become ever more problematic with later games, but the distinctive-looking visuals, magnificently written episodes, and numerous tense situations mean your Vita will rarely leave your hands.

16. Rogue Legacy

Developer: Cellar Door Games
Released: 2014

This charming roguelike is one of several PS Vita games that didn’t receive a physical release, meaning you should pick it up sooner rather than later. The clever mechanics at the base of Cellar Door Games’ adventure is that dying lets you carry on playing with a direct descendant of your character and they’ll often have abilities that can enhance or hinder your progress, from shortsightedness to smashing anything they blunder through. You soon realize that every trait can be exploited in some way meaning there are always new ways to explore the procedurally generated castle. It’s certainly not an easy game, but an excellent skill tree and perfectly balanced combat mechanics make each new run that little bit easier.

15. Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward

Developer: Chunsoft
Released: 2012

While the Zero Escape series started on Nintendo’s DS, its two concluding parts can be played on Vita and both of them are cracking yarns. Like 999, Virtue’s Last Reward is split between narrative-based story sections that allow you to interact with the eight other characters who are trapped with you in an unknown location and Escape sections that require you to solve numerous tricky puzzles so you can progress the engaging story. The masterstroke here though is the addition of a new Flowchart that allows you to instantly jump to key points of the story rather than playing through the entire game again.

14. Ys: Memories Of Celceta

Developer: Nihon Falcom
Released: 2012

The Ys series has been knocking around since the late 80s and Memories is actually a remake of the fourth game in the series which itself has two versions by two different developers. Despite its confusing lineage Celceta is a cracking update that features dynamic combat mechanics, a wealth of interesting characters to meet, and a genuine sense of exploration as the amnesia-stricken Adol attempts to piece his memories together while mapping a gigantic forest. It’s a great example of modernizing a 16-bit game for a new audience and is filled with great story beats and some fantastic boss fights. Adol’s Vita adventures would continue with Ys VIII: Lacrimosa Of Dana in 2016.

13. Velocity 2X

Developer: FuturLab
Released: 2014

While its physical release is rapidly escalating in price there’s always the digital version (while the store remains open). Regardless of which option you do plump for it’s unlikely you’ll be disappointed with FuturLabs’ slick shooter/run-and-gun hybrid. As with the original Velocity most levels take part in your Quarp Jet which has the handy ability to teleport, but you can also now dock at various points and it’s here that the game introduces new run-and-gun stages as Kai Tana tears around cleverly constructed levels. She’s as nimble as her jet and can also warp, meaning you’ll have plenty of clever puzzles to solve as you race through each stage. Exceptionally fast-paced and blessed with an astonishing soundtrack, Velocity 2X has some of the most frenetic blasting you can experience on Sony’s console.

12. Odin Sphere Leifthrasir

Developer: Vanillaware
Released: 2013

Although Vanillaware’s game started off on PS2, the PS Vita revision has gone through so many changes it can be considered a standalone (and much better) release. Combat has been dramatically overhauled compared to the PS2 original, numerous new enemies and bosses have been added and clunky elements like the inventory, POW gauge, and Psypher systems have been completely overhauled. The numerous new tweaks, greatly improved framerate, and additional quality of life touches that Vanillaware has added really allow you to enjoy Odin Sphere’s delightful story as it unfolds and intertwines via the five distinct characters you get to control.

11. Guacamelee!

Developer: DrinkBox Studios
Released: 2013

There are a number of entertaining Metroidvanias on Sony’s handheld, but our favorite remains this larger-than-life effort from DrinkBox Studios. As you’d expect from its name, combat plays an important role in Guacamelee! with luchador Juan receiving many combat-based moves that allow him to effortlessly navigate the village of Santa Luchita and best its many inhabitants. Filled with delightful characters, a drop-in and out two-player mode, a sharp script and plenty of memorable boss encounters, Juan’s adventure spans both the land of the living and the dead and never fails to impress. What a pity PS Vita owners never received the sequel.

10. Uncharted: Golden Abyss

Developer: Bend Studio
Released: 2011

Even today we still can’t work out how Bend Studio managed to cram a full-fat Uncharted experience into a 7.2-inch console. Granted it’s hampered by some rather naff touchscreen-based controls (many of which can thankfully be turned off) but that’s the only criticism we really have. The action is relentless, there are some spectacular set-pieces to gape at and Nolan North and Richard McGonagle return as Drake and Sully. Filled with inventive touches from using the PS Vita’s motion controls to aim your gun, or holding your Vita up to a light source, or rubbing its screen to solve puzzles, there’s always a lovely new flourish to discover. Sadly, the Vita never received another adventure quite like it.

9. Spelunky

Developer: Mossmouth
Released: 2013

The original Limited Run Games release of Derek Yu’s masterful platformer sold out in a couple of minutes, making it quite a pricey purchase nowadays. There’s a reason for the high demand though, it’s quite simply the best platformer you can play on Vita, and considering the competition that’s high praise indeed. Spelunky’s brutal difficulty will no doubt put many off, but if you stick with it you’ll find one of the most rewarding experiences around. While stages are procedurally generated, the enemies and traps that inhabit them obey certain laws and you’ll need to understand those in order to make progress. Just make sure to chain your Vita to your wrist as you may want to throw it at times.

8. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

Developer: Spike
Released: 2013

This excellent visual novel and murder mystery game is cleverly split into two distinctive parts. The School Life sections feature dating sim elements and have you chatting to your peers as you try and work out who is knocking off other students and the identity of a creepy talking bear called Monokuma. You also get the opportunity to investigate rooms and pick up clues similar to the Phoenix Wright games. Class Trials on the other hand crop up whenever a murder victim is found and you then have to work out who the killer is using multiple choice answers or literal “Truth Bullets” to hopefully catch someone in a lie and save your own skin in the process. Sharply written and expertly paced it’s one of the finest examples of the genre on Vita. Its two Vita sequels also come highly recommended.

7. Dragon’s Crown

Developer: Vanillaware
Released: 2013

Vanillaware’s vibrant brawler is also available on PS3 and PS4 but the Vita’s stunning OLED screen punches up the action no end. Dragon’s Crown is essentially a modern-day evolution of the scrolling fighters of old but ramps things up considerably thanks to its rich combat system, some solid RPG mechanics, six distinctive character classes that all play differently from each other, and some truly huge dungeons to navigate. While it lacks the multiplayer of its bigger brothers, the enemy AI is balanced enough that you don’t mind battling the game’s often stunning bosses on your own. The studio’s earlier release, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, is equally worthy of your time, but quite pricey now.

6. Severed

Developer: DrinkBox Studios
Released: 2016

DrinkBox Studios pushed out some wonderfully creative stuff on Vita and this epic slash-’em-up from the Toronto-based studio is as challenging as it is beautiful. Blessed with a surprisingly rich story, Severed casts you as Sasha, a plucky young girl on a quest to find her missing family. With a demonic blade in hand, you swipe at the PS Vita’s screen to deliver quick slashes, slow swipes, and clever counters as you’re constantly assaulted by grotesque nightmares that are vividly brought to life with the studio’s distinctive art style. Each monstrosity in the game has its own weaknesses and it becomes a mad juggling act as you switch between multiple targets to exploit the chinks in their defenses. Severed is one of those rare Viva titles where its touched-based controls improve the action rather than detract from it, so download it now and prepare to give your fingers a proper workout.

5. TxK

Developer: Llamasoft
Released: 2014

Jeff Minter has been tweaking and evolving Tempest for years now and with TxK he comes pretty close to perfecting it. At its heart, TxK is a tube shooter meaning you zip around the edges of elaborate shapes shooting at anything in your path, before proceeding to the next level. It’s simple enough in its execution, but TxK works so well because Minter is a master at creating twitch reaction-based shooters and TxK is one of his finest ever creations. Each level not only looks incredible thanks to the trippy psychedelic visuals and the Vita’s OLED screen, but they also sound incredible too and it’s this masterful blend of shooting and aesthetics that makes TxK so hard to put down. It has an alluring pull that’s impossible to ignore and it’s a crying shame that it never received a physical release.

4. Hotline Miami

Developer: Dennaton Games
Released: 2013

Dennaton Games’ viciously violent top-down shooter is as much a puzzle game as it is an all-out blaster. Each meticulously structured level requires you to navigate rooms filled with goons and achieve your goals as violently as possible. Doors can be slammed into enemies, weapons can be thrown at them and dogs can be violently stabbed. No deed is too dirty for your protagonist Jacket and you’ll have to do a lot of nasty stuff and don several animal masks (all of which grant you distinct powers) before you reach the game’s conclusion. Hotline Miami is as stylish as it is vibrant, thanks to its neon-soaked pixel art and solid writing, and shouldn’t be missed. Its equally violent sequel, Wrong Number, is also available on Sony’s console.

3. Tearaway

Developer: Media Molecule
Released: 2013

While an enhanced version would make its way to PS4, we feel Media Molecule’s inventive platformer fares best on Vita. Like many early Vita games, Tearaway makes heavy use of the PS Vita’s features, but here they enhance the on-screen action and never feel like forced-in gimmicks. You can touch the back screen to poke your fingers into the world and interact with it, create various things for the world’s inhabitants via the touchscreen and even appear in the game as a Teletubbies-styled sun. Outside of its many innovative flourishes Tearaway takes place in a beautifully constructed paper world full of folds, creases, and wrinkles and has a charming story at its center that’s every bit as memorable as Tearaway’s ever-evolving game mechanics.

2. Persona 4 Golden

Developer: Atlus
Released: 2011

This tremendous remake of the PS2 game was originally planned for PSP, but Atlas moved development to Sony’s new console and the end result is one of the system’s most engrossing games. Persona 4 was already a staggeringly deep experience on PS2, but this new Vita revision expands things dramatically with plenty of new content, including a brand-new character called Marie, as well as expanded storylines and social links and the introduction of new Personas, brand-new story elements and greatly enhanced visuals. Even without all these delicious extras Persona 4 is elevated to greatness thanks to its deep combat mechanics, wonderfully flexible gameplay, its unique dungeons, and exceptionally written characters who are as interesting as they are varied. Indeed, there’s so much going on in Atlus’ game that it’s easy to forget you’re supposed to be tracking down a serial killer.

1. Gravity Rush

Developer: Japan Studio
Released: 2012

Few videogame superheroes express their available powers as well as the main protagonist of Japan Studio’s sensational action-adventure game. Kat has the power to manipulate gravity and while it takes a little while to master, you’ll soon feel invincible as you run along the sides of buildings, propel yourself at enemies and even master the power of flight. It creates a wonderful sense of freedom as you explore the breathtaking city of Hekseville and complete quests for its memorable NPCs while looking for the tucked-away gems that will expand Kat’s health and grant her new abilities. Not since Crackdown has the feeling of exploring presented so many rewards and it’s easy to lose focus from the main adventure as you explore Hekseville’s many nooks and crannies.

Japan Studio’s game is everything you want from a killer app: it offers stunning visuals, does a spectacular job of showcasing the PS Vita’s unique attributes, and is mechanically excellent. It’s quite simply the best experience you can have on Sony’s handheld.

If you’re passionate about retro gaming or just want to learn more about it, then you should check out Retro Gamer. Retro Gamer is the world’s longest-running magazine dedicated to classic games, and you can find out more about it at at Magazines Direct (opens in new tab)

The post The Best PS Vita Games of All-Time appeared first on Game News.

Whether you were playing classic SNES games like Zelda: A Link to the Past, enjoying modern updates to legacy franchises such as a The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap and Metroid Fusion, or diving into legendary RPGs such as Golden Sun and Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, this handheld really did have something for everybody. So keep on reading to find our pick of the 25 best GBA games of all-time.

For more definitive rankings of Nintendo games throughout the years: 

| Best NES games | Best SNES games | Best N64 games | Best GameCube games | Best Wii games | Best Wii U games | Best DS games | Best 3DS games | Best Switch games |

Best GBA games, ranked

25. Double Dragon Advance

Developer: Million
Released: 2003

Million’s remake of the classic arcade game is not only one of the best games in the series, but the best brawler on Nintendo’s handheld. While it includes overhauled versions of the original four stages of the arcade hit, it adds four more, greatly expanding the fun in the process. Combat mechanics are also expanded, with Million looking to later games in the series for inspiration and introducing new weapons to spice up the already robust gameplay. As with many scrolling fighters, Double Dragon Advance really comes alive with a second player, but considering the high price of the game nowadays that may be a little difficult to achieve.

24. Gunstar Future Heroes

Developer: Treasure
Released: 2005

Treasure’s marvelous run-and-gun is as much a homage to classic Sega games of old as it is a revisit of the Mega Drive original. While its combat mechanics have been pared back somewhat, it still manages to offer plenty of tactical action as you switch between your available weapons and shoot your way through numerous levels, taking apart gigantic, often spectacular-looking bosses as you do so. Many of the levels will be instantly familiar to fans of the original game, but you’ll find plenty of new sections that reference a number of classic Sega hits, from After Burner to Thunder Blade. The only real criticism is that it’s painfully short with just six levels.

23. Kirby And The Amazing Mirror

Developer: HAL Laboratory
Released: 2004

While Kirby’s original outing on the GBA was an enhanced remake of his first NES adventure, his second was a far more ambitious affair. Traveling through Mirror World is essentially like traversing a gigantic maze and Kirby will often have to call on three other Kirbies (via a cute mobile phone) in order to solve certain puzzles and continue his quest. It’s a neat idea, but it does admittedly work better when you team up with three other human opponents. Mechanically, it’s otherwise just like any other Kirby game, but it’s bolstered by its nods to the Metroidvania genre and some very entertaining mini-games.

22. Sonic Advance

Developer: Dimps
Released: 2001

Sega’s hedgehog may have performed heresy by moving over to Nintendo’s handheld in the eyes of certain fans, but everyone else discovered that Sonic had lost none of his trademark speed or flair in the once unthought-of move. Dimps and Sonic Team’s platformer effortlessly recaptures the fast pace and clever level layouts of the earlier Mega Drive games, and there’s a tightness to the stages that aren’t found in the two sequels. Best of all, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy Rose all play differently to each other, so you have plenty of reasons to return once you’ve completed its six zones.

21. Rhythm Tengoku

Developer: Nintendo
Released: 2006

Nintendo’s last first-party GBA game never reached the west, but it’s an absolute blast to play that requires little knowledge of Japanese to enjoy. Like WarioWare it’s a collection of quirky mini-games with a unique visual style, but the focus of each crazy task is based on keeping your rhythm as much as possible. Mini-games range from punching objects to plucking whiskers from hairy vegetables and using sea animals to jump all the way to the moon. It’s utterly bonkers, but the tightly crafted controls and excellent tunes will cause your feet to tap as much as your fingers.

20. Harvest Moon: Friends Of Mineral Town

Developer: Marvelous Interactive
Released: 2003

While they’re typically classed as RPGs, the Harvest Moon games are more about resource management and none will test your abilities as much as this one. It’s essentially a portable remake of the PlayStation game, Back To Nature and it’s a ruddy good one too. You quickly realize that the biggest challenge you face is time itself and it becomes a real task to tend your crops, feed your livestock and still find time to woo the girl of your dreams. A later release called Harvest Moon: More Friends Of Mineral Town also exists, but swaps the lead character for a female one.

19. F-Zero: Maximum Velocity

Developer: Nintendo
Released: 2001

Although Nintendo’s console had a number of polygon-based racers in its later years, the games that attempted to replicate the Mode 7 stylings of the SNES fared best. Maximum Velocity is perfect proof of this, wowing gamers on launch with its slick racing and snazzy-looking tracks. While it’s set many years after the original game (meaning no regulars like Captain Falcon and Samurai Goroh) it retains the same mechanics, including progress-based speed boosts and F-Zero’s elimination-based format. It works perfectly and the end result is one of the best racers on the system. Two sequels followed, but both are prohibitively expensive, particularly the Japanese exclusive F-Zero: Climax.

18. Kuru Kuru Kururin

Developer: Eighting
Released: 2001

Nintendo’s handheld was a great haven for puzzlers, but few will boil your blood like this maddeningly tricky gem from Eighting. Kururin’s brothers and sisters have gone missing and it’s down to the intrepid duck to leap into his helicopter and navigate some incredibly tricky levels in order to find his missing siblings. Unfortunately, many of the areas Kururin must enter leave little room for his helicopter blades so you need careful timing and deft manipulation of your speed to ensure Kururin doesn’t blunder into nearby walls. Sequels headed to both the GBA and GameCube, but unlike the original, they never left Japan.

17. Golden Sun 

Developer: Camelot
Released: 2001

Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age Camelot’s stunning RPGs are so intertwined that they’re essentially two sides of the same coin, and both are truly fantastic RPGs. While the choices you make in your journey aren’t as impactful as Camelot would have you believe, there’s no denying the richness of the story or the many entertaining characters that you meet. Mechanically it’s excellent too, with combat revolving around the securing of the Pokémon-like Djinn, which you can find via exploration or besting them in battle and then use to enhance the combat prowess of your party. It’s all topped off by some of the finest pixel art to feature in any GBA game.

16. Drill Dozer

Developer: Game Freak
Released: 2005

During the 2000s, Game Freak focused almost exclusively on Pokémon games, but it did find time to turn out this gem of a platformer. Coming across like a stylized manga, Drill Dozer works thanks to a sharp localization, challenging and exotic bosses, and inventive mechanics that revolve around the use of the titular drill that protagonist Jill uses. The GBA’s often forgotten rumble capabilities are cleverly used to highlight the intensity of your drill’s power, while the inventive level design and well-thought-out puzzles ensure you’ll always be finding new ways to get the most out of your hydraulic tool.

15. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2

Developer: Neversoft
Released: 2001

It’s two decades on now and we’re still working out how Vicarious Visions pulled this off on Nintendo’s diminutive handheld. Yes there are obvious concessions (the licensed soundtracks are short instrumental renditions) and yes the dinky visuals can strain the eyes at times, but that doesn’t detract at all from the excellent pickup and play gameplay which is just as addictive here as it was on the bigger home console versions. Despite a new isometric viewpoint, all the original levels are perfectly captured and instantly recognizable. Mechanically it’s excellent too and while the move set has been dialed back a little, it remains just as enjoyable racking up insane scores.

14. Mario Vs Donkey Kong

Developer: Nintendo
Released: 2004

This charming 2004 release is effectively a spiritual successor of the earlier 1994 Game Boy game, Donkey Kong. Many stages typically consist of Mario trying to retrieve a key to open a checkpoint and then rescue a stolen toy Mario against a strict time limit, but the plucky plumber also needs to guide the retrieved toy Marios to safety in a separate stage and then face an inventive battle against Donkey Kong. It’s a neat concept with a tremendous presentation that will test both your platforming skills as well as your old grey matter. Several sequels followed on later systems, but the original remains our favorite.

13. Metroid: Zero Mission

Developer: Nintendo
Released: 2004

Alongside Capcom’s magnificent GameCube remake of Resident Evil, this remains one of the best remasters of the generation. Rather than simply remake the original NES classic (which is included as an unlockable extra), Nintendo R&D1 took the core of the pioneering 8-bit game and subtly retooled it. Samus’ journey is retold with brand-new cutscenes, while enhanced aesthetics greatly improve what was already a very atmospheric adventure. Best of all is that even when you get to the game’s end, Nintendo has one final trick up its sleeve, which allows you to experience Samus’ battle against the space pirates like never before.

12. Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World

Developer: Nintendo
Released: 2001

While we like to keep lists like this to system exclusives, we’d be remiss if we didn’t celebrate a portable version of the greatest 2d platformer of all time. This is essentially the same slice of exceptional platforming excellence that appeared on the SNES but various tweaks have been made from brightening characters up to make them easier to see, to adding new Dragon Coins in stages that didn’t feature them originally. Oh, and Luigi is now a playable character as well. It’s not the most ambitious of updates, but as the recent Super Mario 3D All-Stars Switch collection proved, it’s very, very hard to improve on platform perfection.

11. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

Developer: Square
Released: 2003

It’s no word of a lie to admit we’ve put nearly 300 hours into Square’s superb strategy hit. Rather than acting as a straight sequel to the PlayStation original, Square’s portable isometric epic is a standalone story set in the world of Ivalice and features a bunch of young kids trying to find their way home. A gargantuan adventure resides within Square’s tiny cartridge and you’ll discover many enhancements over the original PlayStation hit, including a far bigger roster of jobs and enhanced mechanics for learning new abilities. The biggest (and many would say best) change is the introduction of Judges who make players follow strict new laws which can instantly turn the tide of battle.

10. Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire

Developer: Game Freak
Released: 2002

While Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen are excellent Pokemon games in their own rights, we’ve somehow managed to clock up even more hours on this trilogy of RPGs. Many Pokemon aficionados weren’t happy with Game Freak’s decision to not import your earlier Pokemon (meaning this was the first time where you couldn’t actually catch ‘em all) but a new engine and not having to lean on the earlier games meant that the series could move in new directions, including adding dramatic new double battles and bestowing new Innate Abilities and Natures which further distinguished the cute critters you were feverishly trying to collect.

9. Mario Kart: Super Circuit

Developer: Intelligent Systems
Released: 2001

While the pre-rendered graphical style hasn’t really stood the test of time, the polished karting mechanics absolutely have. The beauty of Nintendo’s portable racer is that it doesn’t attempt to reinvent the wheel, but simply builds on the two games that proceeded it. You won’t find new power-ups or new characters, but you will discover 20 brilliantly designed tracks, challenging difficulty levels, and some excellent multiplayer options. In a slice of genius, it also allows you to unlock the 20 tracks of Super Mario Kart, a move that proved to be so popular, the franchise continues to revisit classic tracks to this day.

8. Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade

Developer: Intelligent Systems
Released: 2003

This is actually the seventh entry in Intelligent Systems’ tremendous strategy series and it serves as an excellent introduction to the highly-regarded franchise. Like its strategy stablemate Advance Wars, Fire Emblem looks cute on the surface, but is actually a resoundingly tough game, thanks to its challenging AI, exceptionally designed maps, and triangle weapon system that powers each combat encounter. Things are further complicated by you permanently losing members as they fall in battle, which is doubly impactful as the strong writing and engaging personalities make each character easy to connect with. The follow-up Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones is equally worthy of your time and cash.

7. Astro Boy: Omega Factor

Developer: Teasure
Released: 2003

Treasure and Hitmakers wonderfully chaotic collaboration is not only a love letter to Osamu Tezuka’s classic manga series but also serves as an overview of his entire canon of work. At its core Omega Factor is a beat-’em-up, but it’s one that prides itself on dishing out as much damage as possible so you can quickly build up Astro Boy’s EX gauge and flatten your foes with outrageous special attacks. It’s a truly marvelous game, which is enhanced further by technically outrageous boss encounters, a surprisingly strong storyline, and light platform and shooting sections that nicely highlight Treasure’s technical wizardry.

6. Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga

Developer: AlphaDream
Released: 2003

The GBA certainly isn’t shortchanged in the RPG department, but few hold a candle to this wonderfully witty adventure. While the outrageously funny story will hold your attention, it’s the finely crafted combat mechanics that make AlphaDream’s adventure so much fun to play. The flow of battle will be instantly familiar to anyone who has experienced Mario’s earlier RPGs, but fights are cleverly enhanced by the inclusion of Luigi. This brotherly love extends to the rest of the game too and the pair have a number of special moves that will enable them to navigate BeanBean Kingdom in their mission to rescue Princess Peach.

5. Castlevania: Aria Of Sorrow

Developer: Konami
Released: 2003

All three GBA Castlevania games deserve to be in your collection, but if you can only choose one then hunt down Sorrow. It’s not only the most aesthetically pleasing of the three games but is mechanically rich thanks to the brand-new Tactical Soul system that allows you to absorb the souls of defeated foes and use them to enhance the skills of protagonist Soma Cruz. You won’t find an inverse castle here, but you will discover spectacular bosses, an excellent soundtrack, and a silly amount of weaponry to experiment with. Soma’s adventures continue with Dawn Of Sorrow on the DS.

4. WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!

Developer: Nintendo
Released: 2003

Few games reach the absurd heights of silliness that this collection of potty mini-games manages to achieve. The brilliance of Wario Ware Inc stems from its sheer accessibility and simple control system – you’re typically given a single word instruction and then a few seconds to achieve the required absurd task, which can range from balancing a set of tiles while riding a unicycle to sniffing a bogey back into a girl’s nose. Over 200 absurd games are spread across nine themed levels, including a stage celebrating classic Nintendo franchises, and the entire package is held together by a very abstract art style that elevates Nintendo’s game to even higher levels of weirdness.

3. Advance Wars 

Developer: Intelligent Systems
Released: 2001

Although the lineage of Intelligent Systems’ series can be traced back to the Famicom, Nintendo’s portable system feels like its true home. The diminutive troops and vehicles may make Intelligent System’s game look cute, but they’re simply a jolly front for some incredibly complex maps that will take a real tactical genius to master. Luckily the task becomes a lot easier thanks to a selection of commanders who are full of character and boast unique powers to master. Even when you’ve completed the lengthy campaign, the war is far from over and the engaging multiplayer maps will keep you playing till your batteries run out. The sequel (Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising) released in 2003 and continues the first game’s story – and it is equally great, introducing eight more commanders, new powers, a brand-new Neotank, and numerous other quality of life tweaks.

2. The Legend Of Zelda: The Minish Cap

Developer: Capcom
Released: 2004

While it lacks the guiding touch of Eiji Aonuma who has been shepherding the series since Ocarina Of Time, The Minish Cap still feels like a traditional Zelda game. Flagship had already done fine work with the Oracle series on the Game Boy Color, and The Minish Cap builds upon those strengths by improving elements like dungeon design and giving Link brand-new sword techniques to master. The masterstroke of The Minish Cap however is Link’s new ability to shrink down in size, which greatly improves the puzzle aspects of the series because you need to flip back and forth between forms to find new routes and solve various tasks. Ezlo, the game’s titular talking hat is also a great addition, with his acerbic comments providing plenty of humor as you navigate Flagship’s ambitiously designed world. Handheld Zelda games don’t get much better than this.

1. Metroid Fusion

Developer: Nintendo
Released: 2002

Many expected Super Metroid to be converted to Nintendo’s portable 32-bit powerhouse like past Super Mario games had been, but series stalwart Yoshio Sakamoto had other plans. Metroid Fusion is the result and it’s a fantastic adventure that takes the series in interesting new directions. While it doesn’t offer the same level of freedom as its older siblings, its more linear structure leads to a far stronger narrative than earlier Metroid games and explores Samus’ personality in a way that the later games would embrace. Its other strength is the introduction of Samus’ nemesis SA-X, a deadly parasite formed from her old Power Suit. Samus herself is trying to regain her lost powers, meaning she’s constantly stalked by a far more powerful foe. It’s a deadly game of cat and mouse which is enhanced by the game’s atmospheric visuals and the claustrophobic nature of the GBA’s small screen. It’s quite simply the best game you can experience on Nintendo’s handheld.

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The revival of the low-fi 3D aesthetic associated with that console has been far more low-key. Rather than gracing Game of the Year lists and winning high-profile awards as 16-bit-inspired titles frequently have, you tend to find games with PlayStation-style aesthetics circulating as small experimental projects on indie distribution platform itch.io, only the odd title poking its head above the parapet to gain some kind of wider recognition. 

We spoke to some of the creators behind these games about their reasons for returning to PlayStation visuals, the potential power of the aesthetic and the reasons why it has yet to be fully embraced by the mainstream.

Nostalgia and lo-fi

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When it comes to timing, the nostalgia that helped fuel the 2D 16-bit revival should be right for the PlayStation – just as developers that grew up on the SNES and Mega Drive went on to make games inspired by those systems, the generation who witnessed the mind-blowing shift to 3D that the PlayStation pioneered are old enough to be making their own games. “PlayStation-era is what Melos and I grew up playing,” says Marina Kittaka, referring to her Anodyne 2 co-developer Melos Han-Tani. “So there is an element of not only nostalgia, but a fundamental ‘speaking the language’ of what are now considered lo-fi 3D games. Our generation growing up also coincides with more and more 3D tools that are approachable to small developers,” Kittaka concludes.

Toni Kortelhatim, better known as his YouTube moniker, 98Demake, also started his journey into the world of PlayStation-style graphics through nostalgia on his YouTube channel, creating versions of modern games like GTA V and The Last Of Us as if they had been made in 1998. Kortelhatim decided to run with this style to create his surreal horror title OK/NORMAL, going so far as to stick to the limitations of the original PlayStation to keep the game authentic. “The whole point going in was to create a sort of a ‘lost media’ game,” Kortelhatim explains. “I felt the PlayStation look just made sense, since there were a massive amount of really obscure games released for the original PlayStation,” he says, citing the likes of LSD: Dream Emulator, Kurushi and Kula World as inspirations. OK/NORMAL’s deliberate use of warped textures, jagged edges and CRT blurriness to invoke an uncomfortable sense of the surreal showcases one of the major strengths of the PlayStation’s visual style. 

Go back to the games of that era and there is often something unintentionally haunting about those early 3D worlds. Their flat surfaces and rudimentary textures, fading into the darkness or murk of low draw distance, feel uncomfortably sparse. The contrast that the modern wonders of 3D gaming now offer only enhance this sense of uncanny, which perhaps gives us a clue as to why games that use this visual style haven’t yet broken into the mainstream in the same way that pixel-art games have. There is something alienating about them. They make people uncomfortable. 

The latent horror of PlayStation

Indeed, it is perhaps telling that the horror genre is unusually prevalent among the modern titles that are returning to the PlayStation aesthetic. Alongside Kortelhatim’s OK/NORMAL, there is Haunted PS1 Demo Disc 2020, a collection of indie horror games presented in the form of a fake PlayStation demo, set to get a sequel in 2021. There is also the Silent Hill-inspired Concluse (due a sequel in 2021 as well) and the haunting Paratopic, arguably one of the better-known 3D retro titles.

“I think there’s something inherently scary about the PlayStation look,” says Kortelhatim on the aesthetics applicability to horror. “Everything’s pixelated. Everything’s sort of wobbling due to the low precision vertex snapping. The textures are warped due to affine texture mapping. Usually the draw distance is very short – everything in distance is either covered in a fog, or darkness. Combine those things, and it makes for some real nightmare fuel. You see a monster or whatever emerging from the distant fog. Due to the distance, the monster is just a blob of red and skin-coloured pixels. Your mind starts racing ‘what the hell is that thing?’. Even when it’s closer, your mind needs to fill in the missing gaps, and whatever you create in your mind in those moments is scarier than anything a developer could create to scare you.” 

Jessica Harvey, one of the trio that created Paratopic, tells us that the atmospheric potential of PlayStation-like 3D visuals was also something that drew her to the style, though references what was actually a DOS game as one of the key influences. “Bethesda’s FPS, Terminator: Future Shock, was perhaps the only direct influence, if only because the limitations of the tech so strongly fed back into the game and manifested a visceral sense of atmosphere and mood,” Harvey tells us. “Janky, jagged bombed-out buildings, a night that by merit of a tiny draw distance consumed everything around and left you stood in a pitch black void, the composition of a limited texture palette. This showed me what could be done, beyond simply mining for nostalgia.” 

As to the question of why horror is such a prevalent part of the underground PlayStation revival, Harvey suggests we need to look beyond the realm of video games. “Why do horror films often use a grainy lens, or, going more art-house, straight up black and white? Why are haunted VHS tapes and TV signals such powerful tropes? All of these are deeply imperfect renditions of technology. They provide us with a lack of clarity, they draw out both the material and metaphysical shadows, they are possessed by an instability that has us question whether the realities they contain are collapsed in on themselves. 

The analogue, the corroded technology… it all has these signal failings, these glitches that open up cracks into a void beyond the reality they transmit. You can try to simply replicate that in video games – use a grainy post-processing or whatever – but how do you truly embody it? The Nineties was this,” Harvey continues. “Embryonic visual techniques, jankiness from under-explored design and implementation solutions, the twitching of the lens of imprecise 3D. The PlayStation era is our grainy black and white film stock, albeit somewhat more beautiful.”

The untapped potential

While Jessica elegantly captures how and why replicating early 3D jank, low-fi visuals and the occasional inelegance of the nascent form is so powerful when it comes to the terrain of horror, she is also quick to highlight that this isn’t the only way PlayStation-style visuals can be used, offering Anodyne 2: Return To Dust as an example. That game, a fascinating blend of genre, tone, and style, also draws explicitly from the late Nineties era of 3D, but presents us with something far less oppressive than the other titles we’ve discussed so far.

“Panzer Dragoon Saga is one that I kept referencing for Anodyne 2,” says Kittaka on Anodyne 2’s inspirations. “I had a YouTube longplay of that game open in a tab for months. I also enjoyed watching chunks of The Playstation Project by Virtual Gaming Library on YouTube. It has five-second clips from every NTSC-U Playstation game [and I] couldn’t help but feel visually inspired by literally every game. There was a really exciting and beautiful energy to that transitional period as 3D was finding its legs.” 

Han-Tani argues that precisely because it was a transitional period, there’s plenty of unexplored potential left in the aesthetic. “The late Nineties to mid-Noughties have an interesting mix of hardware limitations and artists trying out new things in 3D before conventions took hold. It’s an experimental period with tons of variation, and in the AAA game industry’s rush towards photorealism, they left behind many loose ends and unexplored pathways to interesting 3D styles, mainly viewing that era as ‘ugly’ and ‘transitional’,” he argues. “Most people generally overlook the era and aren’t interested in analysing what it has to offer spatially and thematically. The Nineties had a developed style of what was ‘good’ visually in 2D, and a lot of indies now use that as a benchmark and reference point, while 3D ended up getting refined into photorealism or expensive workflows.” 

Han-Tani suggests that there are some other factors that may account for the relative lack of games exploring Nineties-style 3D visuals. “Skill-wise, it takes work to think about what you want to expand upon and what you want to leave behind because there’s so many interesting old 3D games. Why bother doing that if you can use photorealism or flat colours and call it a day? Regarding game design, 3D (with free camera rotation) is tricky to design for because of having to keep track of what the player can see as well as keeping in mind art restrictions and the game mechanics. You need to have at least a passing interest in architecture or landscapes to design effectively in 3D because of all the navigating a player will do, too. So there’s more to figure out as you go [when] designing a 3D game.” 

Play without limits

The other key factor, he argues, is a financial one. “There hasn’t been a ‘killer’ game that’s used the PlayStation art style effectively in 3D, so there’s no gold rush. It’s proven that 2D nostalgia sells, which is why we get Metroidvania after Metroidvania, but it’s yet to be seen if that’s true for Nineties and Noughties 3D.” Kortelhatim doubts that we will ever see this ‘killer’ game.

“Pixel art is kind of timeless,” he says. “Every pixel-art game, especially from the 16-bit era, is still very much untouched by times as far as the graphics go. It’s much easier for the eyes, so it’s easier to push to the mainstream. Not everyone ‘gets’ the PlayStation look, nor has fond memories of it. It can be rudimentary and awkward, hence I don’t think it’ll ever reach the kind of popularity that pixel art has.” 

Regardless of whether time will prove Kortelhatim right or wrong, mainstream success should not be the arbiter of whether art has value. The games being produced in the niche but growing trend of retro 3D prove that there is something worthwhile to be drawn from the aesthetic and the developers we spoke to all saw plenty of potential open to be explored. “I think it’s a great style, since it’s really versatile with endless opportunities,” Kortelhatim says. “It’s fairly easy to create something aesthetically pleasing, even for beginners. As a solo developer, I don’t have the resources to create extended worlds in a photorealistic manner. With the PlayStation style, you can go nuts.” 

Harvey too acknowledges that there are practical implications for small developers using low-fidelity visuals, but argues that there are artistic reasons to explore the style too, referencing its “impressionistic” qualities. “We have potential for the most gorgeous broad brush strokes. The literal qualities of high-end visuals shut us off from a lot of what we can do with chunky polys and gutter resolutions. Those hints and suggestions and wisps of form.”

Even within the genre of horror, Harvey suggests there’s more to be done. “We have latent hauntology to play with,” she says. “That the era’s tech and design was so embryonic, that we were in a transnational stage before things coalesced, we find ourselves in a realm filled with potentials – things that could have been. The domain of then unanswered questions and undiscovered solutions, of alternatives that never came to pass. To be haunted by these lost futures is something that, as far as the medium goes, only the dawn of 3D era can offer with such dynamism and mass relatability. Where do we go with that? This is my main interest in the aesthetic. Multitudes of creative space to explore both emotively and with respect to sociopolitical commentary.”

Harvey also disagrees that the harshness of the characteristically angular style precludes it from ever making a breakthrough to a larger audience. “I don’t believe that this impacts the abstract ‘appeal’ of the aesthetic,” she says. “That the mid-Nineties era was a collective memory to us makes it immanently relatable. It’s up to us as creatives whether we choose to subvert or complement that relatability. Next to this, as an intersecting line, we do have the more family-friendly connotations of the N64 and its visuals’ distinctive traits to toy with.” 

There’s something that feels fitting about the relative obscurity of the underground revival of PlayStation aesthetics. These games’ tendency for strangeness and experimentalism feels perfectly congruent with many of the obscure curios that actually came out on the system in the Nineties. Their ability to tease out powerful responses from the quirkiness of its distinct polygonal style, to enhance the sense of innate mystery and unease that often accompanies it, is something that feels at home hiding from the attention of widespread recognition, perhaps all the more powerful because of an outsider status that makes it feel raw, unsterilised and aggressive.

If it is to stay that way, so be it. We’re perfectly happy to celebrate what creators are already doing by returning to this forgotten vision of 3D. But let’s not place any limits on where it might go. It’s a trend that’s slowly becoming more visible. PlayStation-style visuals may yet be back to a degree we never anticipated.

This article was originally published in issue 117 of Retro Gamer magazine. 

The post Exploring the resurgence of the low-fi 3D visual style of the PS1 era appeared first on Game News.

Then suddenly, on April 25, 2014, the new Disney overlords saw fit to de-canonise almost four decades’ worth of Expanded Universe stories. Those tales of bravery, triumph, and tyranny still exist, sure, yet now they’re referred to as ‘Legends’ that sit firmly out of the main Star Wars timeline. Disney has since decided to cherry-pick certain concepts from this period, when the EU was the only source of new material for Star Wars fans, and integrate them into its own plans. Thank the Force, too, because while some may consider the period between each trilogy’s release – when Star Wars movies were absent – inconsequential to the Skywalker saga, for a whole generation of fans names like Rianna Saren, Bastila Shan, and Kyle Katarn carry a lot of credence. 

Heroes such as these demonstrated that Star Wars could be so much more than simply Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Leia Organa. A feat not possible were it not for the talented developers that were tasked with respecting Lucasfilm’s established canon while finding room to innovate and introduce their own. 

The Force according to Kyle

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“A reluctant hero fighting against a new threat.” That’s how Raven Software’s Christopher Foster describes Kyle Katarn, arguably one of the most famous protagonists in all of Star Wars video games. First introduced in Dark Forces (1995), through him players finally got to experience events only hinted at in the original trilogy. The game’s opening mission, for example, depicts his attempt to steal the Death Star plans (yes, those ones). Turns out it involved blasting away endless legions of stormtroopers held up in an Empire base situated on the planet Danuta.

Admittedly, this opening mission served more as a prelude for events to come, but still, it highlighted LucasArts’ willingness to fill out this rich sci-fi universe in video game form. Katarn himself was so popular, in fact, that his imperial-turned-rebel-mercenary journey became the nexus point in a series of Star Wars games that would sit under the Jedi Knight banner. Because while Dark Forces solely let players view the action from behind the sights of a blaster, all three sequels gradually expanded on this core combat. 

By the time Raven Software took over development duties from LucasArts for Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast (2002), learning how to properly wield a lightsaber became equally as important as traditional first-person gunplay. This all happened at an exciting time for Star Wars, when the prequel trilogy was confirmed by Lucas as a sure thing. As such, LucasArts needed a team that had hunger, drive and, most importantly, could do justice continuing Katarn’s story in the period set after Return Of The Jedi. Having proved its ability with games like Heretic II and Elite Force, Chris Foster and his superfan colleagues at Raven Software jumped at the opportunity to create a follow-up that was exciting and engaging. One of the primary methods they went about doing this was by iterating on the lightsaber combat that was introduced in Dark Forces 2.

“Our team wanted the lightsaber combat to not just be a guy waving a stick around that one-shotted enemies,” Foster reveals. “Previous games had shown us that it could almost be a living extension of the player – we wanted it to be the ultimate combination of a weapon and an extension of the player’s will.” Raven underwent rigorous prototyping to ensure it wouldn’t feel clunky. “We tested out the first stormtrooper AI, using buttons, puzzles, Force powers and of course, the lightsaber. [We] tweaked timing, animations, reactions, damage and the blaster parrying mechanics until they felt the way we needed them to be.” For as improved lightsaber wielding in Jedi Outcast now was, it also wasn’t lost on Raven just how important the legendary weapon should be handled story-wise. Much like how Obi-Wan gifting Luke his father’s lightsaber represents a turning point in his story, Kyle Katarn needed a similar moment – especially since the sequel picks up after he’s cut himself off from the Force completely.

Fortunately, it arrives early on at the Valley Of The Jedi, after Katarn allegedly loses his friend and close ally Jan Ors at the hands of a Dark Jedi. “When you picked up that lightsaber after having used guns for the start of the game, we wanted you to know you had arrived,” Foster concludes. “Having that thing in your hand was your destiny and it was a part of you.”

KOTOR

Knights Of The Old Republic (2003) is yet another Star Wars game that treats this important Jedi rite of passage with the significance and excitement it deserves. As a full-blown RPG rather than an action game, such moments are generally given more time to breathe. Taking place approximately 4,000 years prior to the birth of Luke Skywalker, this was just one of many freedoms BioWare had given itself when choosing to set a game so far before anything else Star Wars. 

Whereas Raven and other developers making tie-in games between the prequel era and Disney acquisition were often forced to work around canonical gaps situated between episodes, here there was no such problem. It was an easy decision, as BioWare cofounder and executive producer on KOTOR Greg Zeschuck remembers. “We had a choice of current or prior, and we didn’t really want prior at all because we knew the Star Wars Galaxies guys quite well and they had a tough time with scrutiny. [Theirs] was somewhere in the phase where there can’t be lots of Jedi, so no players can be Jedi. We always said that’s the dumbest thing on the face of the Earth.” 

Greg and his team understood that engaging players using a proper hero’s journey arc meant making them a Jedi, and did this by letting them create their own character – a hallmark of the RPG genre BioWare specialised in. KOTOR’s ultimate goal was to reflect everything through the player. An ethos that went so far as to inform how its story and dialogue was structured. You’d be able to make decisions that leant either on the Light or Dark Side of the Force, having companion characters and the world at large react to them. The beginnings of such ideas are seen in other BioWare role-playing games such as Baldur’s Gate II and Neverwinter Nights, but the studio wanted to push the visual representation of these role-playing elements further than before. 

“It was actually after a few months when we realised that we should change the character’s appearance depending on which side of the Force they fall on,” Zeschuck reveals. “It really had to be all about the character. That was the big revelation for us. The idea that you could reflect in your on-screen character with subtle changes. I was the one who proposed the bags under the eyes if they turn evil and they start looking haggard. Everyone laughed, ‘That’s ridiculous.’ Well, two weeks later they were like, ‘Yeah, that’s what we’re doing.'” 

Visual changes made for a rather unique depiction of the Force, yet little did BioWare know that it was also laying the groundwork for its own sci-fi RPG universe in Mass Effect a few years later. Part of what makes KOTOR so memorable in many players’ minds is its grand scope. Whereas most other Star Wars games released up until this point focussed on linear campaigns that spanned various genres, here was a take on Lucasfilm’s IP that could be approached in multiple different ways. Not only in terms of the alignment system which saw you err on the side of Jedi or Sith, but also in the cinematic, round-based battles. This introduced an element of chance to combat and forced you to think more strategically.

As a holdover from BioWare’s fondness of tabletop RPGs and work on previous games, the studio experimented with real-time action before settling on something more filmic. “Up to that point all Star Wars games had been action games, there’d been no strategy or turn-based,” says Zeschuck. “We really felt that the game would be better with a party, and those things are in direct conflict. That’s why we created something that was halfway between… where you could play it as an action game if you wanted but for the really difficult battles you pause it, set up some moves, let it run a bit and then pause again. “If you went solo, that’d be different right? If it was just you running around it’d feel empty from a story perspective. You wouldn’t have all these characters reflecting the world back at you, so from our perspective it was important to find a solution. We also didn’t want to lose the cinematic flair of Star Wars. You know it’s actually quite fantastic to watch, with all the lightsabers flying and all the clashing. We still wanted that, too, so that’s how we landed on the ‘pause and play’ approach.”

For a single-player experience as it is, you never feel alone in Knights Of The Old Republic thanks to the eclectic range of AI-controlled party members crafted by BioWare’s writing team. From roguish war hero Carth Onsai and honourable Jedi Bastila Shan, to the Star Wars saga’s first openly gay character in Juhani, these characters’ different personalities added to the game’s sense of grandeur and sophistication. Your ultimate mission might be to track down and defeat Darth Malak’s evil threat, but it wouldn’t be as memorable without friends by your side. 

The success of KOTOR inevitably led to a sequel, although it was Obsidian Entertainment and not BioWare that handled development. Set five years after the events of the first game, KOTOR 2: The Sith Lords focused on ‘The Exile’, who had served under Darth Revan and committed such heinous crimes that they severed their ties to the Force in order to survive. While it lacks the polish of its predecessor, it was praised on release for its complex story and rich characters which expanded the arcs of existing KOTOR characters, while introducing plenty of new ones, including the titular Sith Lords. 

The Twi’lek and the droid

As shown, this era of Star Wars games was an excellent opportunity for creators to explore this universe from the perspective of all-new characters. They didn’t even need to be human – a point proven by Star Wars: Lethal Alliance when it released exclusively for handheld consoles in 2006. Set snugly between the events of Revenge Of The Sith and A New Hope, it tells the story of Twi’lek mercenary Rianna Saren, who teams up with security droid Zeeo to thwart the Imperial Army’s growing forces and aid Princess Leia’s Rebel Alliance. 

Developer Ubisoft Montreal knew it’d be a challenge to create a third-person action game without lightsabers, though, and still have it be exciting. True, this was a bite-sized adventure intended for the Nintendo DS and PSP, but the intention was always for Lethal Alliance to be just as ambitious as other contemporary Star Wars games despite a shrunken scope. The team pulled this off by fully capitalising on Rianna and Zeeo’s unique two-person partnership, almost developing a Ratchet & Clank-esque camaraderie between the pair and integrating this into gameplay. 

“The focus was to play an acrobatic spy – Rianna – meaning acrobatics and blasters gunplay and find interesting combo mechanics with Zeeo the droid,” reveals lead game designer Philippe Baude. This unique setup wasn’t without its development hurdles. “It was actually super hard to find how the two of them could interact,” he continues. “Of course, Zeeo as a droid could do the hacking… but could he do more? How could he be useful in a blaster fight? How can he support the acrobatic skills of Rianna? We really worked hard for a few months to establish his skills and how to create those cool combos.” 

This inspired occasions where Rianna must defend Zeeo from fire as he sliced through to the next area, and giving her the ability to launch him at any unsuspecting enemies for a successful (and satisfying) stun. At its most creative, Star Wars: Lethal Alliance has Rianna send Zeeo up high for use as an anchor point when swinging or sliding across large ravines. Small touches like these helped Ubisoft Montreal’s take stand apart from other Star Wars shooters, while leaning into the IP’s most underutilised aspects. “Having a droid as one of the main characters was so cool and so Star Wars: it was a no-brainer,” Baude says, “and actually, when you look at the whole saga, the real hero might be R2-D2. He’s saving everybody from Episode 1 to Episode 6. Without him, there is no 7, 8 and 9.”

Is Baude surprised there hasn’t been a Twi’lek, or any other non-human character, leading a Star Wars game in the years since Lethal Alliance’s release? “Yes and no,” he considers. “It’s always easier for people to have a direct connection with something close to them. So ‘humans’ in [the] Star Wars universe is the easier road. But recently with official TV spin-offs like Rebels or even The Clone Wars, they introduce strong alien female characters. Ahsoka Tano will have her own show and I am sure that we will soon see Hera Syndulla in a live-action TV show.” Could a game follow soon after? 

On the battlefront

Speaking of alternate perspectives in Star Wars, one never explored too much (at least in the prequel trilogy itself) is that of the Republic’s Clone Army. TV shows like The Clone Wars, as Philippe mentioned, have done a great job at addressing this since even before Disney’s acquisition in 2012, but video games were once again well ahead of this curve. Because while the clashes between droids and clones were largely kept as background on the silver screen, games like Star Wars: Battlefront and Republic Commando enabled you to live out these epic confrontations right on the frontlines. “The fact that the major battles from Star Wars had never been explored from the grunt level was a compelling pitch”, reveals Peter Dellekamp Siefert, designer on both of Pandemic’s original Star Wars: Battlefront games. 

“The internal message, ‘Relive all the classic battles of Star Wars, any way you want,’ was developed by [game director] Eric Gewirtz and [studio COO] Greg Borrud. The realisation that you could play with ‘all the action figures and vehicles’ was a huge call back to all of our youths.” Star Wars already had a great track record for letting players take flight via Factor 5’s various Rogue Squadron games, but never before had large-scale ground battles received similar treatment.  

Battlefront (2004) was the game to finally change this, however, focusing on objective-based first and third-person shooting that saw up to 32 players duke it out across battles from both the original and prequel trilogies. Multiplayer being the core gave Pandemic a rare chance to expand on all four factions’ class structures. Soldier, Engineer and Pilot archetypes were already well- established within Star Wars, but others had to be thought through more carefully. “When we got to the Special and Officer classes there were gaps in the prequels since they didn’t have as much information. They hadn’t benefitted from 20 years of canon the originals had,” Dellekamp Siefert reveals. This inspired Pandemic to develop distinct playstyles, to encourage players to experiment with other trooper types. “At first, the Clone Commander with a chaingun was controversial, because it was using bullets and at that time most people thought projectile weapons didn’t exist in Star Wars. There was plenty of back and forth because we were exploring so many aspects of the Star Wars universe where deeper questions hadn’t really been considered.”

The first Battlefront was such a hit, LucasArts greenlit a sequel that released a year later. Grunt-level battles would make a return, of course, yet scope increased thanks to the addition of space battles, playable heroes and a more narrative-driven single-player portion that took place between Geonosis (Attack Of The Clones) and Hoth’s (The Empire Strikes Back) epic battles. “The campaign became focused on the narrative of the 501st Legion. This gave us a thread that connected the clone troopers of the prequels with the stormtroopers of the OG series,” Peter explains.

Meet Delta squad

Battlefront 2’s campaign did a decent enough job of highlighting the Republic army’s progression in the series, but those wanting to dive more into the mindset of a clone had the chance to do so in Star Wars: Republic Commando, released earlier that same year (2005). 

Developed in-house by LucasArts, the game cast players as the leader of an elite clone trooper unit called Delta Squad, following their exploits in the Clone Wars, all as they learned to bond and work together as a team. New Zealand actor Temuera Morrison returned to lend some authenticity to the game’s clone troopers through voice, but how do you go about giving what should be identical clones a distinct personality? 

“At first, there was some internal resistance to the ideas that the clones would be differentiated at all,” explains Republic Commando co-writer Ryan Kaufman. “But then, we began to research real soldiers, and we found some inspiration in the way that US soldiers would customise their kit, and their vehicles. They wanted to express their individuality, as a reaction against the mass brutality of war. You can imagine the clones feeling the same way, especially facing off against a mass-produced droid army. That example began to resonate, and people embraced differentiation between clones.” 

It was important to make Scorch, Fixer, Sev and player character Boss all feel unique, not least as hearing the same voice shout “get moving” or “need Bacta” over and over could get a little stale. The same passion for variety is found in Republic Commando’s FPS gameplay. Because while gunning down enemies is key, LucasArts also ensured to give players a suite of different tactical options as the unit’s leader. So much so that telling Delta Squad to set up vantage points and sniper positions eventually becomes second nature. Players get to blast their way through three key battles set between the events of Episode 2 and the then-unreleased Episode 3 as part of Republic Commando’s campaign. And though you’d think such a tight time period would be too restricting for LucasArts to creatively work in, Justin Lambros – another one of the game’s writers – says it was far from the case. 

The key was to pay respect to the legacy of other successful Star Wars-set military shooters. “Geonosis was an obvious early inspiration from Attack Of The Clones and it also lent itself to that dark and eerie Aliens vibe which was shown off so well in the early teaser trailer for the game,” says Lambros. “The RAS Prosecutor was a great way to pay homage to the original Dark Forces game, which was such a groundbreaking experience for Star Wars games (and shooters at the time) and next to Hoth, onboard a starship is the next most common location for a Star Wars game to take place. Then Kashyyyk was a major location from the Revenge Of The Sith movie that fans had been clamouring to see, so that made tons of sense as a location.”

Unleashing the Force

Following the prequel trilogy’s completion, it’d be fair to say that thoughts towards Star Wars had somewhat soured. Anakin Skywalker’s transformation into Darth Vader had disappointed a large portion of the fanbase, and with no more Star Wars movies seemingly in sight, the job to continue fleshing out this universe again fell to videogames. This inspired LucasArts to reignite excitement by developing a different type of Jedi game, one that would let players unleash the power of the Force like never before. 

The release of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed in 2008 saw players take on the role of Starkiller in the aftermath of Episode 3, operating as Vader’s secret apprentice who hunts down survivors of the Jedi purge. Him being such a powerful Force user led LucasArts to get Industrial Light & Magic involved and develop a new engine using early PS3/ Xbox 360 dev kits. It was the only way to do the abilities of a Jedi justice. 

As art director Matt Omernick puts it, “We were doing a lot of things new. We were reimagining the Force.” In order to achieve this lofty ambition, LucasArts put together a previs demo that showcased Starkiller’s physics-defying Force powers. “One was a Force repulse,” Omernick explains, “which was kind of him coming in and then blasting. Then there was using the Force to throw stormtroopers around and bang them against the wall. Then we had a giant Force push that moved vehicles and scattered everything in front of it.” These explosive gameplay elements combined with snappy lightsaber combat that let players slice enemies limb from limb.

These exaggerated abilities may have been the main focus to create what director Haden Blackman described as the “superheroes of the Star Wars Universe”, but The Force Unleashed was also developed with the mindset of bridging the gap between the prequel and original trilogies. This meant creating an internal conflict within Starkiller, giving him fully developed companions in Juno and Proxy, and faithfully portraying this transitional period through the visuals and art design. 

“To craft the sweet spot we started with the stormtrooper helmet,” Omernick reveals. “What would it look like in this era? The Rogue Shadow [Starkiller’s ship] was another one of those where we were starting to not only blend the kind of tech and what ships might look like, but using the art to subconsciously start to tell the story of Starkiller’s shifting his psyche, right? That ship is a nice blend between a TIE fighter and an X-wing in lots of ways. It’s one of my favourite designs for all those reasons, and because it became a Lego set.” 

The Force Unleashed 2 followed in 2010 and while it further fleshed out the story of Starkiller and built upon the spectacular Force-based powers that proved so popular in the original game, it wasn’t as critically acclaimed and would prove to be the last big Star Wars game before the Disney buyout in 2012, which saw the House Of Mouse buy LucasFilm for a staggering $4.05 billion. Canon or not, so much effort went into games developed for the original Star Wars EU, it’s no shock to see Disney pay at least some attention to the past. 

If anything, granting every game released before 2014 the status of ‘Legend’ makes their light burn even more brightly within the hearts of players, letting them act as beacons that could potentially inspire future generations of Star Wars games. While Chris Foster would love to see Kyle Katarn “become a mystery – someone whispered about, perhaps, but not seen”, other developers like the door being open for Legends material to be integrated in the future. After all, as Ryan Kaufman sums up, “These stories and characters resonate with so many people on so many levels.”

This article first appeared in issue 223 of Retro Gamer magazine. 

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The awards show will once again be a virtual one and, as part of our celebrations of 50 years of games, will include two brand new categories: Ultimate Game of All Time and Best Gaming Hardware of All Time. 

Pretty big awards, right? Well, here’s where you come in. The Golden Joystick Awards are voted for by fans, so as well as having your say in the usual categories – such as Most Wanted, Best Studio, and Best Storytelling to name a few – you’ll be voting for the hardware and game you think towers above all the others throughout the past five decades. No pressure.

Daniel Dawkins, Content Director of Games and Film, explains: “We’re inviting players to celebrate ‘50 Years of Games’ with us in a landmark moment for the gaming industry and the Golden Joystick Awards. The world’s first commercially available video game: Computer Space, released in November 1971. As the first coin-operated arcade machine, it represented the first time a videogame was ever played in exchange for money: the birth of videogames as a commercial industry.”

Voting for this year’s awards will begin in October, where we’ll be announcing all the categories alongside nominees for this year’s awards. You can then see which games, studios, and developers will be taking home prizes on Tuesday, November 23. Be sure to head back to GamesRadar for more details on how to watch this year’s Golden Joystick Awards. 

Keep up-to-date by following The Golden Joysticks Awards on Twitter and Facebook.

The post The Golden Joystick Awards celebrates 50 years of games this November appeared first on Game News.

It turns out that Takashi Tezuka and Shigefumi Hino didn’t think so. They were two of the directors of Yoshi’s Island, alongside fellow directors Toshihiko Nakago and Hideki Konno, with Shigeru Miyamoto acting as producer. Working together at Nintendo EAD, this team wanted to take a different approach instead. “We felt we’d done everything we wanted to for side-scrolling with Super Mario World, and so wanted to try creating a platformer with a different angle to it,” the developers explain. “Before Yoshi’s Island, we’d only created games with Mario as the lead character. We felt that changing the lead character would give us a different perspective and different gameplay possibilities, and so we started thinking up a game with Yoshi as the lead.”

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That makes sense – but the Mushroom Kingdom is home to many interesting characters, many of whom have also starred in spin-offs. What made Yoshi the character of choice over the likes of Wario, Luigi or Peach? This goes back to the creation of the character for Super Mario World, as we discover. “The idea for Yoshi came about because Mr Miyamoto wanted to have Mario ride a horse. We thought it would be better to have a new character rather than a horse, so Mr Hino and I went about creating one,” Tezuka tells us. “Yoshi turned into quite the cute character, and we were very interested in creating some kind of spin-off with him; that’s where it all began.”

This wasn’t Yoshi’s first starring role in a game, of course. Mario’s trusty steed had previously headlined three games, the puzzle games Mario & Yoshi and Yoshi’s Cookie, and the Super Scope blaster Yoshi’s Safari. But none of these were platform games, and Yoshi’s only appearance in a platform game so far had been as a sub-character. So while Yoshi had certain established abilities such as his ability to grab enemies with his tongue and eat them, the team had a great deal of freedom to decide on new abilities and a new style of play that would provide a clear break from traditional Mario games.

A new way to play

That said, it wasn’t easy for the team to come up with these new and interesting ideas – according to Hino, such things were quickly seized upon when they did arrive. “I remember Mr Tezuka coming in suddenly one morning and dropping an idea on us,” he says. “The development team were hungry for the seeds of an idea and so we ran with it; we discussed them over and over and polished them into something we could implement in game.” Abilities that Yoshi gained in Yoshi’s Island include the ‘flutter jump’ – an extended jump where the dinosaur struggles against gravity in a cartoonish fashion – as well as the ‘ground pound’ jumping attack that could be used to smash stakes into the floor, something Mario would later adopt. Yoshi also gained a variety of possible vehicle transformations including helicopters, cars and submarines, but these could only be used in certain places.

However, the ability that most closely tied into Yoshi’s existing skillset was his unique capability to create eggs. As in Super Mario World, Yoshi could use his tongue to eat enemies and then spit them back out at other enemies as an attack. However, by pushing the down button with an enemy in Yoshi’s mouth, the player could have Yoshi lay an egg. Instead of containing items or more Yoshis, as they did in the likes of Super Mario World, eggs could be thrown, rebounding off walls, breaking through barriers, collecting objects and smashing enemies. 

“We wanted to include egg-throwing as throwing actions weren’t something that had appeared much in Mario games,” Tezuka tells us. “Having said that, though, giving users the ability to simultaneously control both Yoshi’s movement and the direction they throw eggs in proved challenging and gave us quite the headache!” However, it proved to be a crucial element of the game. “Having said that, though, fusing this egg-throwing mechanic into a platformer helped us invent ideas that hadn’t been possible until that point,” Hino points out. “It was a real boon for ideas for the game!”

While the egg-throwing mechanic would be easy to implement in modern games thanks to the prevalence of dual analogue sticks, achieving it in Yoshi’s Island required some ingenuity. The development team managed to hit upon an elegant solution that managed to squeeze the whole process into two button presses. By hitting the A button, the player would reveal an aiming reticule that moved back and forth along an arc in front of Yoshi – while still allowing him to run and jump freely. Hitting the A button again would cause Yoshi to throw an egg in the direction he was currently aiming for. It was the trickiest of Yoshi’s skills to get to grips with as a player, but it gave the game a unique feeling amongst platform games.

One of the other things the new star allowed the Nintendo EAD team to do was make an adjustment to the difficulty of the game. “Unlike the Mario series, we tried to give the gameplay a more gentle and relaxed pacing, as opposed to turning it into a platformer that requires players to master tricky techniques,” explains Tezuka. “So, for example, there’s no time limit on the stages, and it’s a little easier to control Yoshi’s jumps as he flutter jumps unlike Mario. As we were adding in these little adjustments, we came up with the idea of having some exploration elements as part of the gameplay and slowly the game took shape. 

Exploring new opportunities

Sometimes the desire to provide exploration elements and a relaxed game experience were conflicting goals, as was the case when deciding on a progression system. Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario World had both used maps that allowed the player to select the next stage. Why did the team choose to return to linear progression for Yoshi’s Island? “We looked at many different map styles for this game. Seeing as we had already used a board game-style map system in Super Mario World, we settled on a linear path as a way of returning to our beginnings,” Tezuka replies. “The map used in Super Mario World and other titles gives users the option to choose the level of difficulty when there’s a branch in the path,” adds Hino. “With Yoshi’s Island, we designed the game so that players can play the courses over again with different objectives so they can get better. So, with that in mind, rather than users going through the game selecting what level of difficulty they want to play, as done with the board game-style maps, our intention was to make it possible for users to progress through the game by setting their own goals.”

As well as the ability to set your own level of challenge, one of the key aspects of the game’s gentle pacing was the ability for the player to get hit without being in too much danger. In the Mario games, the player was only ever a couple of hits away from losing a life, with finite opportunities to grab power-ups in order to prevent that outcome. In Yoshi’s Island, getting hit would cause Yoshi to lose his cargo, and the player had a short amount of time to recover it – but if they did so successfully that time limit would reset, meaning that it was possible to take an unlimited number of hits per stage. And in a surprising role reversal, that cargo was Baby Mario.

“I don’t think we started out with the intention of having the roles reversed,” reveals Hino. “Once we decided to make Yoshi the lead, we thought he could have something ride on his back and so decided Yoshi’s mission would be to carry something through the game. We wanted to add something extra to the traditional side- scrolling gameplay of having players just proceed to the right to reach a goal, and so having Yoshi need to carry something across the map was a good fit.” That makes sense given Yoshi’s original role as a mount for a certain plucky plumber, but why did Mario need to be a baby? “We decided to have Yoshi carry Mario because that’s what he’s always done, but we made Mario into a baby as it wouldn’t make sense for the game if Mario could walk around by himself,” Hino explains. “This setup was also a big help for writing the story for the game.”

That story started with a stork attempting to deliver Baby Mario and Luigi to their parents, only to be attacked by Bowser’s henchman Kamek, a Magikoopa who could foresee the great problems that these brothers would cause for his boss. While he succeeded in kidnapping the Baby Luigi, Baby Mario was lost in the confusion and fell to Yoshi’s Island. With the instinctive bond that brothers have, Baby Mario could sense his brother’s location, and the Yoshis decided to take him to rescue Baby Luigi and reunite them both with their parents. And for those of you unfamiliar with the game, that plural is no type. “One of the ideas that came out while we were creating the story, and which I’m particularly taken with, is that there are many different Yoshis in the game,” says Tezuka. “Normally, the lead character is a singular character in the game world, so personally I thought the idea of having different Yoshis working together and taking turns to carry Baby Mario through the game was really interesting.”

This storybook presentation plays well with the game’s aesthetic – it sports a hand-drawn, colouring book style with crayon backgrounds. While this wasn’t the plan from the start, the idea of being visually unique was one of the team’s aims. “We spent a lot of time trying to come up with a new and different look for the game. We tried out many ideas and the most interesting was one I drew as a last-ditch attempt: a cloud that had this very rough scribbled look to it,” explains Hino. “Everyone agreed is was perfect and so we decided to go ahead with giving the game a hand-drawn look. At the time, there were a lot of other beautiful graphics out there, and we wanted to differentiate our title from these. I also watched a lot of children’s TV shows as well for inspiration.” 

That wasn’t the only reason that the Nintendo EAD team ultimately chose to use a deliberately low-tech look.  “At the time, our company was abuzz with talk of the graphics used in Rare’s Donkey Kong Country. There was definitely a feeling that those sorts of visuals might go on to become the mainstream. I wanted us to come at things from a different angle,” says Tezuka. “Although there were some people in the company who were expecting us to follow Donkey Kong Country, a decision was taken that we should put our weight behind a completely different sort of visual look,” adds Hino. “It was around about the time that we decided on that direction that Mr Hisashi Nogami joined the company as a designer. As we were competing together and having fun coming up with different designs, we slowly settled on the feel we wanted the visuals to have.” In a 2018 interview with Kotaku, Nogami mentioned the game’s hand-drawn look was actually achieved quite literally – images were drawn by hand, scanned, and recreated as pixel art. 

Pushing the SNES

Of course, the ironic thing is that despite that rejection of Donkey Kong Country’s look, Yoshi’s Island was a game that did things that few other SNES games could. It’s something that isn’t lost on the developers. “Yoshi’s Island has this very warm and friendly feel to it, but a lot of technical effort went into making the game,” they note. “It’s actually one of the later SNES games, so [it] makes use of all the developmental know-how we’d built up to that point, as well as what was considered the latest in technology with the Super FX 2 chip.”

The use of the enhancement chip is a curious one, and we were interested to know where the decision to use it came about. “In principle, we look at what the software and hardware can do and look at what sorts of visuals or gameplay we can create with that technology. It was mentioned one day that the Super FX 2 technology was available, and a suggestion was made about using it,” explain the developers. “We were very excited and decided to make use of it for two reasons: the first was that as software developers we wanted to use all new technology we could, and the other point was that this technology offered further gameplay and visual possibilities (eg, object (sprite) rotation and a large increase in the number of screen colours possible).”

What was so interesting about the use of the Super FX 2 chip? That would be the way it was deployed – the original chip, designed by the UK team at Argonaut, had been used to power the polygonal graphics of Starwing. All of the subsequent Super FX games, like Stunt Race FX and Vortex, had been 3D games too. Few gamers would have guessed that the first outing of the updated version would be in a 2D game, but it proved key to some of the most impressive visual effects in Yoshi’s Island. Some of those were actually polygonal special effects, such as falling walls and rolling platforms. But the Super FX 2 was primarily used here for manipulating 2D sprites, a technique that Nintendo called ‘Morphmation’ in advertising. As well as adding extra layers of parallax scrolling, the chip allowed the console to handle multiple rotating sprites on the screen, perform some psychedelic background warping and even squash and stretch sprites. These were most frequently used in the game’s boss battles, which routinely featured some absolutely colossal sprites.

Koji Kondo was behind the game’s sound and music, and delivered another set of memorable themes. Although still present, there was less focus on the bongos and other additional percussion that had marked Yoshi’s presence in Super Mario World, and there were some pretty bold musical choices – most notably the music box tune that played during the game’s intro sequence. Of course, the most memorable sound in the game was that of the crying Baby Mario, which triggered whenever he was separated from his dinosaur guardian – we’d avoid getting hit just to make sure that we didn’t hear it. The Japan-only official soundtrack CD is now a prized item in its own right, with used copies selling for extraordinary prices.

25 years of excellence and innovation 

Yoshi’s Island was released in August 1995 in Japan, and releases in North America and Europe followed in October 1995. The game received universal acclaim upon its release. Nintendo Magazine System gave it 97%, with Simon Clays commenting that it was “about the best game I’ve ever had the pleasure to play,” with his only complaint being that the graphics were “slightly immature”. Tony Mott awarded the game 94% for Super Play and praised it for its variety, noting that “You never know what’s just around each corner, but you know that it’ll be something worth seeing.” However, he felt that the game’s linear progression was disappointing by comparison to Super Mario World’s wealth of secret exits and stages. Edge’s review scored the game 9/10, crediting the Super FX2 chip with “some wonderfully inventive touches which make each new level a reward to the player.”

The game was later converted to Game Boy Advance as Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi’s Island, and that version has since been made available for 3DS and Wii U. Of course, despite Yoshi’s solo success Mario was soon back on top. Although the developers felt that they’d pushed Mario to his 2D limit, new hardware meant that Nintendo had already figured out what to do with its headline star. Less than a year later, Mario returned in the groundbreaking Super Mario 64, which many of the Yoshi’s Island staff also worked on. But as a swan song for an era in which 2D gaming was still the primary concern of the world’s most prominent game developers, you couldn’t ask for much better than Yoshi’s Island. The game established Yoshi as a platform star in his own right and is still considered to be one of the greatest of all time, frequently showing up in lists of the best games ever – including our own readers’ top 150 in 2015.

With that in mind, we’ll leave the last word to the developers – why do they think that the game is still so beloved by players? “I think maybe it has something to do with the appeal of the gameplay; Yoshi offers this unique ability to gobble up enemies, turn them into eggs, and then throw those eggs,” says Tezuka. “For the Yoshi series, we wanted to convey Yoshi’s warmth of character. The adorable voice and our leaning towards hand-made visuals has all added up to create the character’s uniqueness, and I think it’s maybe these things that players are drawn to.”

“It wasn’t easy creating Yoshi or Yoshi’s Island,” says Hino. “We competed in the team to see what were the most amusing or fun things we could draw, and laughed together as we thought up strange enemies and level features, knowing we had a bit more freedom to do so because it wasn’t a Mario game. Even the programmers jumped on board and worked really hard to achieve our ideas. I think the fondness people have for the character and the game is because we managed to give form to all this passion we had. A long time has passed since then, but even now designers continue to develop Yoshi with all kinds of different interpretations, such as handicrafts, worlds made of yarn and so on. I’m really happy to see people still continuing to enjoy playing with Yoshi. 

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Speaking exclusively in Retro Gamer 209 (opens in new tab), which is on sale now, the Apprentice UK host opened up on why he wants to create a space for people to see his computers that took the European home computing scene by storm. 

“I’m thinking of taking one of my warehouses somewhere and just allocating a space where I can collect all these things and put them nicely on display,” Lord Sugar says. “I just decided it could be useful to start collecting these items.”

However, this isn’t a brand new business plan, as Lord Sugar is clear that this is more about preserving the past. He told Retro Gamer:  “I won’t be trying to make a business out of it, it will be a personal thing for myself but if Amstrad people want to come and see it, then I’ll make it accessible for them.” 

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Lord Sugar might not need to dip into his own personal stash of Amstrad computers though. After tweeting about his plans, Roland Perry, Amstrad’s former group technical consultant, responded by suggesting that he would be “happy to help coordinate a larger collection (opens in new tab)“, while The Centre For Computing History in Cambridge have also offered to help with the efforts to preserve the memory of Amstrad. 

For more on Lord Sugar’s plans, as well as a look back at the BBC Micro on it’s 40th anniversary and in-depth feature on the return of Alex Kidd, be sure to pick up your copy of Retro Gamer here, or subscribe down below. 

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That’s because Street Fighter II redefined the genre in 1991, setting the standard for 2D fighting games for decades to come and kicking off a craze that revitalised the arcade market. Via Street Fighter, Capcom stood atop the 2D fighting pile for the remainder of the Nineties with the popular Street Fighter Alpha series and hardcore-friendly Street Fighter III series. Then in 2008, Street Fighter IV (opens in new tab) revived the series and ushered in a fighting game renaissance, drawing mainstream attention back to the genre. Street Fighter 5 (opens in new tab) attracted record- breaking numbers of competitors to the prestigious Evolution Championship Series fighting game tournament in 2016. 

Over the years, Street Fighter has busted out of the arcades and into the modern esports scene, and has transcended videogames to become a part of broader pop culture. There aren’t many games that would be instantly recognisable when referenced in a Jackie Chan film or an episode of Family Guy, but Street Fighter shout-outs made it into those and more besides. The series has inspired comics, animated movies, card games and even a major Hollywood film starring Jean Claude Van Damme, Ming-Na Wen and Raul Julia. Of course, what goes into the creation of a good Street Fighter game hasn’t changed much over the years. 

Building the bruisers

Every Street Fighter player has a preferred strategy – and in the game, those strategies are represented by their characters. As a result, character design is of utmost importance to the series. Whether you want to get in close and deal lots of damage, play keep-away and punish mistakes, or even play a deliberately weak character as a handicap, Capcom provides a character with the attributes and move set to let you play your game. So with decades of hindsight, it’s strange to think that the original Street Fighter game’s characters represented obstacles to overcome. To do that, you had a generic martial artist with a single skillset: Ryu. 

This need to combat fighters of all types ultimately ended up informing the character’s abilities. “In terms of gameplay, he’s a great all-rounder and easy to use,” says Yoshinori Ono, a series veteran and the executive producer of Street Fighter V. In Street Fighter II, the number of playable characters was increased to eight. This meant that for the first time, the developers had to design a multitude of characters to play both with and against, and could explore the aforementioned offensive and defensive extremes. 

We’ve often wondered what the starting point is, so we call Street Fighter V chief director Takayuki Nakayama into the ring; do the designers come up with character designs to fit certain fighting styles, or design cool-looking people and then decide how they’ll fight? “Both of those approaches have been used but we actually mostly come up with them at the same time,” he explains. “We think about what kinds of moves would be fun at the same time as we’re thinking about what kind of design would best show off their moves.” 

Character design has always been a difficult process, with many ideas trialled and dropped along the way – rejected Street Fighter II designs include a bullfighter and an American amateur wrestler. According to Nakayama, it remains difficult to nail down. “We go through at least 100 versions when we are designing a brand- new character, going through many iterations of their appearance, storyline and moves,” he explains. Such a process must surely take a long time? 

“It obviously depends on the specific character but I’d say, broadly, it takes five people three months to design one character,” he confirms. “And then it’s a further six months to finalise their moves and animations.” Something that has always been a part of Street Fighter is its international flavour – the original game featured fighters from the USA, Japan, China and the UK. 

“The fact that the original Street Fighter II had The World Warrior as its subtitle tells you that fighters from around the globe coming together to compete is not just a natural part of Street Fighter but an essential part,” says Ono. “I think that it also lets players feel more connected to the game when they see a character from their part of the world in it, and maybe it’s a hook for them to get into the game in the first place.” 

However, new characters are only one part of the story. While Street Fighter’s cast and the bulk of the characters in Street Fighter II and Street Fighter III had to be designed from scratch, the Street Fighter Alpha series provided a mixture of new and returning characters that has become the model for new instalments to the series going forward. How does the team go about bringing these older characters back after long absences? 

“The first step is researching how the character was played in the games they previously appeared in. We play those games and watch videos, and even reread the old design documents to work out what the original intent behind the character was,” says Nakayama. “Combined with our estimation of what players want from the character and how they like to play as them, we recreate them and then work on eliminating the aspects that aren’t in line with our vision.” 

For Ono, it’s hard to pick a favourite. “Hmm… I get asked this a lot. The characters are like my children – I don’t like to engage in favouritism,” he hesitates. “I love R Mika a lot, and used my position at Capcom to bring her back in Street Fighter V,” he explains with a chuckle. ”But then again, I joined the company in the Street Fighter II era and worked on the sound team, I do have a special place in my heart for Cammy, since she was part of my work back then.” 

But what of the Blanka toy that Ono is often seen with? ”Well, he’s been my travel buddy around the world for over ten years now, so he’s beyond the level of like or dislike.” But despite all of the new characters over the years, none has displaced Ryu as the face of the series. “I think it’s his personality that makes him resonate so much,” says Ono. “He doesn’t stand out, he values effort, he’s a man of few words, he’s kind of mysterious, and there’s no one who you could say he’s similar to. I think that’s what has kept him popular over the long history of the series.” It doesn’t take much to convey that either, as occasional post-match win quotes will suffice. “He also has the ‘Perfect Attendance Award’ for the series and that is something that I think shows his dedication,” Ono laughs.

The sweet science

If you’ve ever wondered why some people passionately prefer Street Fighter Alpha 3 to its predecessor, or why players of Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike didn’t necessarily get on well with Street Fighter IV to start with, it’s usually because of the fighting mechanics. As a basic example, consider throw attacks. Introduced in Street Fighter II, they allowed a player to inflict a damaging attack on blocking player – thus reducing the viability of defending your way to a time out victory. But from Street Fighter III onwards it’s possible to ‘tech’ throws, reducing damage or even cancelling the throw entirely with an appropriately timed input – thus limiting the usefulness of such moves.

By tweaking the abilities and options available to players in this way, Capcom can dramatically change the way games feel. “It changes a lot just because it makes the meta different,” explains Justin Wong, a professional fighting game player. “If there was parry, you have to think twice in using long-range normals, if there is focus attack you have to think about how to break the opponent’s focus attack since it can absorb one hit. Each different game mechanic changes the meta and also changes the tier list as well.” 

Of course, Street Fighter II’s defining mechanic famously originated as an unintended side effect of another system. The ability to cancel the animation of a normal attack into a special move, creating a combo, was accidentally added when the developers were making special moves easier to pull off but was considered interesting enough to include in the final game. Landing combos has become key to maximising your offensive opportunities over the years, and those simple origins are far behind us. 

“Street Fighter’s combo system evolved a lot,” says Justin. “Back in the day there was no combo count but now there is, so people can see what is a combo and what is not a combo. It also changed a lot with juggles, using the game mechanics to extend combos to make them longer.” Street Fighter Alpha introduced a mixture of mechanics that enhanced both offensive and defensive options. The one that symbolises this balance most effectively is the air guard – although it’s an extra blocking option, it’s one that makes aggressive moves like jumping towards the opponent much safer. 

Likewise, the Alpha Counter allowed players to turn defence into attack, burning one segment of your super meter to hit an opponent in response to a blocked attack. Escape rolls also ensured that your opponent couldn’t always predict where you’d be standing when you got up from being knocked down. Street Fighter Alpha 2 added the devastating Custom Combo, a DIY super move that could inflict huge damage, and Street Fighter Alpha 3 allowed you to use Guard Crush to punish players that blocked too much. 

Street Fighter III: The New Generation added a variety of new movement options that significantly increased the scope for aggressive play. For the first time, a double tap of the joystick forwards or backwards allowed the player to dash in the appropriate direction, closing distance quickly. By flicking the stick downwards prior to jumping, you can perform a super jump, covering additional distance. Hitting down when knocked down would also cause a quick stand, throwing off your opponent’s attack timing and allowing you to get straight back into the fray. 

And then there’s the parry – a curiously aggressive defensive move. By pushing the stick towards the opponent in time with their strike, you can nullify damage and recover before them to launch your own attack. 2nd Impact introduced EX moves, powerful variants of certain regular special moves that cost super meter to use. If all that aggression rubbed you up the wrong way, the Street Fighter IV series was probably more to your taste. The Focus Attack was a powerful new ability that allowed players to absorb an attack and deliver a devastating strike in response – one which would induce the new ‘crumple’ state, in which the enemy is falling but still vulnerable to attack.

The Ultra Combo was also introduced – a secondary super gauge which charged only upon receiving damage, allowing for some extraordinary comebacks. The pendulum has swung back, with Street Fighter V adding V Triggers and V Skills, character-specific abilities that skew towards aggressive play, as well as Crush Counters that allow players to carry on combos after countering a weaker attack with a strong attack. However, defensive characters aren’t as disadvantaged in competition as players initially believed, and that’s the beauty of Street Fighter’s mechanical depth – it can take years to fully work out what’s going on and how best to work within a given game’s rules.

Something special

There are many things that go into making your favourite Street Fighter character play in their own unique fashion, but arguably the most important is special moves. Don’t take that from us, though – take it from multiple time Evolution championship winner Justin Wong. 

“Special moves are always important throughout the years because they are what makes the character who he/she is,” says Justin. “Ryu would not be Ryu without the Hadoken and seeing the evolution of it being better/worse has always been a treat.” As compared to normal attacks, special moves are a little more difficult to perform in that they require a combination of joystick movements and button presses. 

The trade-off is that these attacks typically have properties that aren’t found in other moves. Some might hit multiple times or send you to the other side of the screen in the blink of an eye. Others launch projectiles, others still nullify and repel those projectiles. In any case, they have a huge impact on the way you play. 

When creating special moves for characters, three key considerations are taken into account: “Individuality, coolness, and accessibility,” according to Street Fighter V’s chief director Takayuki Nakayama. But one thing that Capcom tries to steer away from is introducing more powerful moves in exchange for more difficult inputs. “We try not to have any moves that are really hard to pull off. The strength and difficulty of a move should not be in its input command but in the strategy of deciding when to use it – the timing and the frames, and how to work out the risks and rewards,” Nakayama explains.

Does the team ever come up with moves that end up suiting another character better? “Not often, but it has happened,” confirms Nakayama. “We also sometimes reuse ideas that were cut from games that didn’t come out.” 

Between games, a set of special moves is what keeps a character familiar. If you know how to pull off a character’s moves in an older game, the chances are high that you’d be able to jump straight back into playing with them in Street Fighter IV or Street Fighter V. Of course, there are exceptions – Chun-Li, for example, has had her Kikoken fireball changed from a charge motion (holding back, then forward) to a half-circular motion and back again. 

“I feel that the reception has been positive,” says Nakayama when asked about such changes. “We only make changes in order to bring the inputs in line with the character’s fighting style, or when two moves have similar inputs which can cause players to do the wrong move at critical moments.” One function that special moves perform particularly well is differentiating characters that are otherwise quite similar, such as the trio of Ryu, Ken and Akuma. 

“Each character has to have their own concept defined. Ryu has weight in each attack, and is very defensive. Ken is better at combo attacks and has a certain fl ashiness, so when he starts attacking he keeps going. And Akuma has the best parts of both but takes more technical mastery to use well,” Nakayama explains. “Based on these concepts, we separate out the abilities of their moves. Ken is a character where you want to rush your opponent, so he has lots of hits, and his fi sts brush up against the ground so friction causes them to go on fire – that kind of thinking is how we distinguish each character.” 

The natural culmination of the special move has been the rise of the Super and Ultra attacks. When introduced in Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Super moves were just more powerful variants of special moves. But in recent years, the gameplay function has remained the same while the graphical presentation has turned them into miniature cinematic attack sequences, with dynamic camera angles and detailed facial expressions making them into much more of a spectacle. 

“This trend started in Street Fighter III and was firmly established in Street Fighter IV,” says Nakayama. “I think they simply came from wanting to show powered-up versions of special moves in really creative and cinematic ways.” Land a couple of Supers and you’ll agree that they combine flash and function into something incredibly satisfying.

This article originally appeared in Retro Gamer magazine. For more great gaming coverage, you can subscribe to Retro Gamer here (opens in new tab).

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