Outstanding Games – A "Blog" If You Will

Outstanding Games: Chrono Trigger

All right everyone, the game I’m talking about today is Chrono Trigger. Now the title of this series is Outstanding Games, so many of the games in this series will be ones which have something odd or peculiar that appeals to me. However, Chrono Trigger does not. Chrono Trigger stands out by being an ideal version of a traditional JRPG (Japanese Role-Playing Game). Chrono Trigger was made by Squaresoft, the same people who made the Final Fantasy games, a fine series in its own right. That said, if I wanted to direct someone towards a game that exemplified how to do a JRPG right while at the same time falling completely within the genre, I would point them to Chrono Trigger.

As you may guess from the title, time is a major theme in Chrono Trigger. The game starts with a young, spiky-haired fellow by the name of Crono going to the Millennial Fair in town. He meets an exciting young lady there by the name of Marle, and the two of them go to see the display of Crono’s other friend, the inventor girl Lucca, who has developed a pair of platforms that allow teleportation between them. But when Marle volunteers to be teleported, something goes terribly wrong, and she disappears. Lucca investigates the problem and discovers that Marle has been sent back in time. So Lucca develops a device that will allow her to recreate the time travel event, and she and Crono set off into the past to save Marle.

The rest of the game takes place between different time periods, from a caveman era with a sentient species of dinosaurs in competition with humans to a post-apocalyptic future where humans live in domes and are running out of resources. As Crono and his party hop back and forth through time, they embark on a quest to save the world from the destruction of a powerful being called Lavos, who caused large-scale destruction in the future, making the world largely incapable of supporting human life.

One of the things that makes Chrono Trigger so memorable is the cast of characters. Beside Crono, Lucca, and Marle, there are also a robot (cleverly called Robo), an anthropomorphic frog knight (cleverly called Frog), and a fierce cavewoman (who actually has the real name of Ayla). You also encounter the fearsome, scythe-wielding wizard Magus (as well as his three less-competent underlings Flea, Slash, and Ozzie), the power-hungry Queen Zeal, and many other equally memorable characters.

Another area in which Chrono Trigger excels is in visual presentation. Chrono Trigger was originally for Super Nintendo (and for my money, that’s what it should be played on, but then I’m essentially a grumpy old man at heart) so its appearance obviously has to deal with the graphical limitations of that system. That said, however, the graphical style is clean and colorful and has aged remarkably well. While many Super Nintendo games look clearly dated, Chrono Trigger still looks beautiful if stylized.

And then there’s the music. Chrono Trigger‘s score is catchy and memorable and perfect. Once again, the Super Nintendo places limitations on quality and complexity of the sound that can be created, but Chrono Trigger works with those limitations to create a score full of memorable and evocative.

And that’s it. If I haven’t sold you on Chrono Trigger yet, I’m not sure what I would say to do so. It’s a great game. There was a period in my life when it was my favorite. I no longer feel that way, but Chrono Trigger remains among the games which stand out to me.

Outstanding Games: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

For my second entry in my Outstanding Games series, I’ve chosen Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. I’ve known for some time that this would be the next entry in the series, but I’ve struggled with how exactly to present it.

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For those who may be unaware, Castlevania is a long-running and successful series of video games, and Symphony of the Night is widely regarded as one of the greatest entries in the series. That said, Symphony of the Night is the only game in the series I’ve played any significant amount of. So I am in the problematic position of looking for something interesting to say on a topic that has been extensively talked about and on which I have a limited knowledge. That said, Symphony of the Night definitely deserves to be on my outstanding games list, and I have very little reputation to destroy by saying something stupid, so I might as well go forward. But before I embarrass myself with an attempt to extol the game’s virtues, I think I’ll give a basic overview of the game for those who are even less informed than I.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, like most entries in the series, deals with defeating Dracula. The main character, Alucard, is Dracula’s half-vampire son who hates his vampiric heritage. The entirety of the game takes place within “Castlevania”–Dracula’s magical castle which appears every hundred and which has mysteriously reappeared, even though it just disappeared 4 years ago. Alucard is concerned about this and enters the castle to find out what’s going on.

The gameplay largely consists of exploring the castle, killing monsters, and picking up items that make Alucard more powerful and allow him to access new parts of the castle. The game is a 2-D platformer, with the action consisting of running around, jumping, and hitting things with a sword. This game, by the way, with its emphasis on exploration and character improvement helped to establish a genre which is now called metroidvanias.

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So what is it about Symphony of the Night that makes it stand out? The plot is simple and relatively uninspired, some of the mechanics, such as the magic system, are hideously awkward (enter button combos to do spells, most of which are useless!), much of the game is not particularly well-balanced, with weapons and techniques that make the game easy (there are two of these that I can think of off the top of my head, and if I think a little more, I’m sure I can come up with at least a couple more), and the voice acting is hilariously bad (I love the voice acting, but it’s terrible). That said, there are at least two things about this game that are outstanding.

The first thing that makes this game stand out is the art style. Symphony of the Night has a wonderful Gothic aesthetic. I love Alucard’s pale skin, flowing hair, magnificent cloak and elegant movement. Meanwhile, the backgrounds are rich, with fancy oil lamps and marble walls.

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What stands out to me even more, though, is the exploration aspect of the game. Symphony of the Night is as much about finding items that allow you access to new parts of the castle as it is about killing monsters. There are many times when there will be a part of the castle that can’t be accessed because it’s behind a locked door or past a jump that can’t be made. Then you pick up an item which allows you to double jump or open locked doors, and suddenly large portions of the map that were previously inaccessible open up to you. Added to that, the castle is full of secrets, with hidden rooms and items, all of which gives the game a much greater complexity. But the game’s biggest secret goes far beyond a hidden room or interesting item. While I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t played the game but plans to, let me just say that the game is about twice as big as it pretends to be, to the extent that one can finish the game without ever realizing how much more to the game there is.

Finally, of course, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is fun. It plays well and offers a pleasant diversion. And it has enough extra hidden stuff that if you want to, you can continue to fruitfully play it for a considerable period of time.

Outstanding Games: A Boy and His Blob

I’d like to start a new series here on my blog called “Outstanding Games.” First, let me say that I only plan to showcase games that I have personally finished. Second, let me say that the games which I highlight in this series will not all be perfect. Indeed, many of them will be deeply flawed. Likewise, there will be many good games which I do not highlight in this series. However, each of these games will have the common quality that they stand out in some way. The way in which they stand out may be that they have an interesting mechanic or a well-constructed setting or it may be that they simply execute everything well. Regardless, these games are those that I consider in some way “outstanding.” So let’s begin with our first game, A Boy and His Blob.

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Wikipedia tells me that A Boy and His Blob (available for a great many systems) is a “re-imagining” of the Nintendo game A Boy and His Blob: Trouble in Blobolonia. However, since I’m fuzzy on just what, exactly, a “re-imagining” is, (as opposed to a remake or an enhanced remake or a reboot) and furthermore, I’ve never played the original game, I’m going to avoid comment on that aspect of it. (Note how I have cleverly spent a whole paragraph avoiding comment on it. I could probably spend even more paragraphs avoiding talking about it. Don’t try me.)

What I will comment on instead is what makes this game outstanding. The first thing one notices about A Boy and His Blob is its art style. A Boy and His Blob is undeniably cute. And that’s what I’d like to talk about here, because that aesthetic isn’t merely on the surface, but pervades the game as a whole.

The game starts with a blob from outer space landing crash landing in the woods near a young boy’s tree fort. The boy goes to investigate, and the two become fast friends. Soon it is discovered that the blob loves jellybeans and that when the blob eats different colors of jellybeans, he turns into different shapes, from a ladder to a hole in the ground to a parachute. And this is where the core gameplay comes in.

A Boy and His Blob is a 2D platformer. However, most of the game is more concerned with puzzles than with reflexes. There are some times when you have to time things right to avoid hitting spikes or being attacked by an enemy, but most of the time, the focus is on discovering what combination of jellybeans you can feed to the blob to get through the current situation and to the golden jellybean that marks the end of the level. And fortunately, the game is very forgiving. Even when you die, most of the time the game simply starts you back at the beginning of whatever room you happen to be in. There are, admittedly, some times that require hand-eye coordination, particularly in the challenge levels and with bosses, but it never reaches the stress level of more traditional platformers.

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If all of that makes this game sound approachable, that’s because it is. Everything about this game is meant to create a friendly, happy, approachable experience. The graphics are simple and cute, with big eyes, round edges, and soft colors. The boy looks and moves like a little boy to an incredible degree. There’s a button on the controller that has the boy call to the blob to come back to him. The “C’mere!” “Blob!” and sharp whistle that this button elicits are greatly reminiscent of a certain type of bossy young child. And one of the other buttons has no purpose but to give the blob a big hug—a reminder that even the brattiest of kids have moments of heart-melting sweetness.

And that’s the amazing thing about this game. In A Boy and His Blob, almost everything comes together to create a certain type of experience—a certain type of story. And it’s a type of story that will be familiar to anyone who has been a little boy and most who have been little girls, because it’s a story of childhood. It’s the story that as a child you read over and over again: a boy with a startling lack of parental oversight goes on an exciting adventure, meets new friends, faces dangers, triumphs, and returns home again. It’s a story told in Harold and the Purple Crayon, in Where the Wild Things Are, and in countless other children’s books. And it’s a story most of us have lived. It’s not a new story, but it’s well told. And that, in the end, is what matters.

Edit: It has come to my attention that I have written a song about this game. It has some spoilers in it (it retells the whole game), but if you don’t care about that, give it a listen.