When Good Storys Go Bad
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WARNING : THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR THE FOLLOWING GAMES
###### The Pokémon series, the Mario series and the Tony Hawk's series ######
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Do you remember the first Super Mario Bros. game? Your only objective was to go from left to right as fast as
you could, go through all of Bowser's castles, make him fall into lava and go rescue Princess Peach. That was it. Pretty simple, eh? Super Mario Bros. 2 - the not-japanese one - wasn't much different. Go on, get rid of Wart. The whole game plays in a dream, which makes it even more anticlimactic. You know what comes next. Super Mario Bros. 3! Go on, take care of the seven sons of Bowser and the latter one in the end, save the princess. As you can see, as time went by, stories became more complex, from just one main villain to eight, for example. Games evolved from more or less mindless platforming to a media of storytelling on Oscar worthy level. Just go and play GTA IV, to mention a recent example, and you will see what I mean.
This went well for a long time. But with better hardware came the possibility of more story (try fitting ShenMue's story on a NES-catridge) and to stage things better. Let's skip from SMB3 right to Super Mario Galaxy. If you finished the game, you will understand my problem. If you haven't, stop here!
So, I just learned that Rosalina's mother died, which is kind of depressing. But hey, I can take that, it's just a game. I keep on playing and finally reach the final battle against my archrival, Bowser. It isn't the hardest fight ever, but I am happy when it is over. If you are like me, you just sat back, relaxed and waited for the credits to roll, the commom yadda-yadda you-are-the-hero stuff. Not this time. To cut it short: All matter is destroyed after you "won". You see how all being, everything in existance, is destroyed in some creepy reverse big-bang-thing. In the end, everything comes full circle, is restored and you learn that this wasn't the first time it happened. Call me a wuss, but this freaked me out. I - Mario - am supposed to be the hero, but I kill everything. Not on purpose, but I still do. The game itself was nice, not the best IMO, but neat. Until i saw the ending, which instantly not only killed it for me, but also changed my views on some games. There are things I do not want to see in a Mario game and that just hit the nail. This was the first game in a while which left me without this good feeling inside. I only felt f***ed up.
This isn't the only example. Have you played Pokémon? You catch a genetic enhanced mutant, the Pokémon which is supposed to be the mother of all kinds. Those legendary birds, which, at the time, were said to be unique. In the second generation, you catch even more unique Pokémon, still cool. But in the third gen, the series took it to a whole new level. The "masters" of land, water and the sky. An alien virus from outer space. Oh-kay. Diamond and Pearl? The beings of time, space and emotions. After a special Nintendo event, you are able to meet Arceus. You should remember that name. It not only is the true form of Dialga and Palkia - both are just the split up Arceus, by the way - but also, fasten your seatbelts please, the god of the Pokémon universe.
Yeah. The omnipotent being, captured by a ten year old boy, put in a Pokéball. Of course.
How does Game Freak intend to top that in the fifth generation? What Pokémon is supposed to beat a friggin' god?
My last example is the Tony Hawk's series. I loved the second game, I played it for hundreds of hours, no kidding. The series improved over time, it got a storyline, all cool. Until T.H.U.G.. Your former friend, Eric Sparrow challenges you to do the same line he did. While he is throwing fireballs at you.
Although, thinking about it after time has passed, it is kinda funny. But damn, it left me thinking.
Let me be a philosopher for a moment. What does a warrior do after he beat his opponents? Just give in to the void that is created because he has nothing left to do, or does he stand up and look for a new challenge? If the first was true, we wouldn't have the amount of sequels, prequels and spin-offs we have. So i take the latter one to be true in almost every case. The problem is, most people don't want play a game that isn't more exciting than the previous, me included. Therefore, series have to become more extreme over time, improving the action. Honestly, I fear for the games my children will probably play one day, because after what I saw, a Mario game in which everything gets killed IS possible.
I don't have an answer for that matter. All I can say is, that I hope developers remember that the story doesn't have to be that over the top to appeal to gamers.
Think about it, leave a comment, ignore my grammar mistakes since I'm not a native english speaker and most important of all, have fun!
And that, as they say, was that.
