Chapter 7

Japan, 2D Ga111e
Design and the
Rebirth of Consoles
(1983-1995)

Japanese Games and Game

Companies in the Early 1980s
Japanese arcade and console manufacturers experienced tremendous growth
throughout the 1980s relative to the contracting North American market.
Arcade games continued to be in demand throughout the 1980sas Japan's con-
centrated population was able to sustain dedicated game centers. The heavy
reliance on train stations created spaces where large segments of the population
spent time waiting, an ideal setup for arcade games. Japanese arcade manufac-
turers continued to push new game concepts and technologies, defining the
post-Golden Age arcade, as well as shaping the console market. Japan's home
console market was relatively undeveloped until the simultaneous release of
Nintendo and Sega's first cartridge-based units in 1983.The aggressive expan-
sion that followed reached a fevered pitch in the late 1980s and early 1990s as
the war for dominance among Japanese console manufacturers took place on
an international level, with the virtually vacant and highly profitable market
of the United States serving as the main battlefield. This struggle helped fuel
a continual need for high quality games, produced by a host of third-party
developers in Japan and eventually, the United States; a situation that reignited
the console industry in North America and established a pattern of Japanese
dominance in home video games that largely persists today.

141
142 History of Digital Games

2D Game Design Trends after

the Golden Age Arcade
Arcade games, by the mid-1980s, could no longer rely solely on their nov-
elty for success. Second-generation home consoles and home computers
brought many of the hits of the Golden Age, albeit in imperfect form, to the
masses. Further, as more games were created for the home with longer play
and more complex rules and interactions, arcade games needed new ways to
stay enticing. Since arcade games relied on both sight and sound to attract
customers to the cabinet, attention focused on aesthetic features.
The widespread adoption of 16-bit processors allowed attract modes to
grow in complexity: short narrative segments of still or minimally animated
images and text, flashed between the demonstration of gameplay, high score
board, and large colorful title graphics. Game worlds transitioned from
black backgrounds that represented the voids of outer space or other abstract
locations, to more colorful and recognizable places, like cities, forests, and
building interiors. In-game narrative segments introduced characters and
provided context for actions between stages. Games featured a wider array
of sounds including digitized voices, recognizable sound effects, and game
music that recalled the synthesized 1980s musical genres of synthpop and
techno. Even minor elements, such as the sound effect acknowledging coin
deposit, were also enhanced with voices and musical jingles.

Pseudo-3D in Games
Arcade game designers who desired to simulate the feeling of movement
through space at high speeds, increasingly relied on pseudo-JD visuals in
the mid to late 1980s. Pseudo-3D games depended on the use of depth cues,
such as imagery created in one-point perspective and changes in the scale
of objects, to create the illusion of 3D space. This technique, seen as early as
1975 in Interceptor (Taito) by Tomohiro Nishikado and appearing in rac-
ing games Night Driver (1976, Atari) and Pole Position (1982, Namco), saw
widespread use in the post-Golden Age arcade as 16-bit processors could
smoothly manipulate the size of game sprites.
One of the industry's most prolific game designers, Yu Suzuki of Sega,
made the most significant advancements in pseudo-3D hardware and game
design of the period. Suzuki's first major project was Hang On (1985, Sega),
a motorcycle racing game that featured detailed images and a fluid sense of
motion. Hang On's impressive performance was based on a development by
Suzuki's team known as the "Super Scaler." The Super Scaler consisted of
advanced hardware technologies that could quickly and smoothly change
the size of thousands of 2D sprites per second, producing the sense of
motion. This development became the heart of many of Sega's most popular
 Japan, 20 Game Design and the Rebirth of Consoles {1983-1995) 143

simulation-based games of the 1980s, all of which Suzuki had a hand in

creating: Space Harrier (1985), Outrun (1986), and Afterburner (1987). The
games themselves largely followed previously established conventions of
game design. More importantly, however, they led Suzuki down a path to
fully 3D game worlds explored in arcade games (see Chapter 8) and refined
on home consoles in the 1990s (see Chapter 9).

Side-Scrolling Action and the Beat 'em Up

The appearance of a new type of game in the mid-1980s combined the char-
acter driven, sideways perspective of titles like Donkey Kong and Burger
Time with concepts from scrolling shoot-'em-ups like Zaxxon (1982, Sega)
and Defender. These side-scrolling action games such as The Legend of Kage
(1984, Taito), Rolling Thunder (1986, Namco), and Shinobi (1987,Sega) fea-
tured large-sized sprites that represented human characters in colorful,
scrolling environments. The core gameplay of these games consisted of
fighting against large groups of weak enemies using punches, kicks, bullets,
swords, and even occasional "ninja magic." Like Golden Age shoot-'em-ups,
the games employed the "one hit death" rule for both player and enemies,
making gameplay continuously tense. The games also contained various
enemy types, each with distinctive patterns of behavior, which allowed
designers to adjust the difficulty by modifying the number, type, and com-
bination of enemies encountered at one time. These elements, plus intuitive
gameplay influenced by high-concept action films of the 1980s, made side-
scrolling action games ideal for the coin-operated arcade.
A more defined type of action game, known as the "beat 'em up," emerged
from this loose pool of game concepts as well. The first fully-developed beat
'em up was Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun (1986, Technos Japan). Nekketsu
Kouha Kunio-kun, westernized as Renegade, was designed by Yoshihisa
Kishimoto and centered on fighting multiple opponents with kicks and
punches in a scrolling arena-like space. While scrolling had been employed
in earlier action games, most notably Kung Fu Master (1984,Irem), Nekketsu
Kouha Kunio-kun gave both the player and enemies a greater amount of
health. The health system allowed Kishimoto to create gameplay centered on
"knock-down-drag-out" fights, as seen in the 1973 Bruce Lee film, Enter the
Dragon, as well as the altercations Kishimoto himself frequently experienced
as a youth. Players needed to hit enemies multiple times, "beating them up,"
in order to defeat them. The combat system of Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun
was highly developed relative to other side-scrolling games as players could
punch, kick, grab, charge, throw, and hit enemies fallen on the ground. This
created the opportunity for multiple strategies of play. Once the area was
mostly cleared of enemies, a tougher "boss" character joined the fight, requir-
ing the player to adopt a new strategy in order to progress to the next level.
144 History of Digital Games

Kishimoto desired gameplay that could lead to situations in which ene-

mies surrounded the player. Although earlier games like Robotron 2084
surrounded the player with hostile robots, it did so by an awkward mix of
perspectives in which characters were represented in profile, but moved up
and down the screen as if they were viewed from above. Nekketsu Kouha
Kunio-kun instead featured an isometric game space populated with sprites
rendered in a three-quarter perspective. The use of this perspective com-
bined with separate buttons for punching and kicking, however, necessi-
tated an extra button dedicated to "jump." The result was a three-button
control scheme that was quickly adopted by others beat-'em-up games of the
late 1980s and early 1990s.
Kishimoto's follow-up game built on Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun's com-
bat systems and featured long, side-scrolling levels instead of short, bounded
arenas. The most significant change, however, was the ability for two players
to play simultaneously, a feature well suited to the public spaces of arcades.
The game's title, Double Dragon (1987,Technos Japan), was derived from the
two player simultaneous gameplay and its inspiration from the film, Enter
the Dragon (Figure 7.1).While Kishimoto's previous game was successful,
Double Dragon and its sequels created a worldwide sensation that inspired
other beat 'em ups such as Golden Axe (1989, Sega) and Final Fight (1989,
Capcom).
Following the convention set by Double Dragon, beat 'em ups of the late
1980s and 1990s increased the number of simultaneous players by expand-
ing the pool of playable characters and the number of joysticks. Japanese
companies, Capcom and Konami, created beat 'em ups based on licensed

FIGURE 7.1 Double Dragon (1987, Technos Japan).

 Japan, 20 Game Design and the Rebirth of Consoles {1983-1995) 145

FIGURE 7.2 The Simpsons Arcade Game (1991, Konami) with four sets of con-
trols allowing players to play as the entire Simpson family. (Courtesy of Arcadia,
McLean, IL, www.vintagevideogames.com)

animation and comic book characters, such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
(1989,Konami), The Uncanny X-Men (1992, Konami), and Alien vs. Predator
(1994, Capcom) (Figure 7.2). In the mid-1990s, Sega achieved a certain
degree of success in translating the 2D beat-'em-up formula to full 3D with
Die Hard Arcade (1996).The genre's overall repetitive gameplay of punching
and kicking, nonetheless, wore thin with players and the side-scrolling beat-
'em-up disappeared from arcades by the end of the 1990s as home consoles
provided more novel forms of games.

The Head-to-Head Fighting Game

The emergence of head-to-head fighting games in the 1980s represented
the culmination of arcade competition and spectatorship begun in the late
1800s. In 1984, game designer Takashi Nishiyama oflrem created the side-
scrolling action game Kung-Fu Master. In it, players punched and kicked
their way through a series oflong linear stages full of adversaries and bosses.
146 History of Digital Games

The game was distinctive for using a bar to represent player health, as well as
the health of the boss character, a feature that was appropriated in later beat-
'em-up design. Nishiyama, despite the game's success, left Irem and joined
Capcom where he was tasked with creating a side-scrolling action game that
could compete against his own Kung-Fu Master. Rather than a game based
on attacking multiple opponents, Nishiyama's Street Fighter (1987,Capcom),
like the earlier Yie Ar Kung-Fu (1985, Konami), effectively consisted of a
sequence of 10 increasingly difficult boss fights that took place in a much
smaller game space. This form of gameplay allowed for dramatic ebb and
flow of combat as multiple punches and kicks were exchanged between the
fighters, each trying to deplete the other's health bar. As a competitive arcade
game, score played a key role in providing a measure of player performance.
Each landed punch, kick, and other technique added to the player's point
total. Victorious players received points for the amount of match time and
health remaining, encouraging quick but careful fights, while mini games
based on board breaking and other demonstrations of skill awarded bonus
points between sets of rounds.
Street Fighter distinguished itself in a number of ways that laid the foun-
dation for subsequent head-to-head fighting games. The game's sprites were
large and multicolored thanks to the increased capabilities of post-Golden
Age arcade hardware. Characters were furnished with more personality,
providing background stories and other biographical details. The design
itself was more complex: attacks were distinguished not only by punches
and kicks (as in Yie Ar Kung-Fu) but also by relative strength, promoting
a strategic form of play. Any attack could be more or less advantageous
depending on the opponent and their actions, effectively making the game a
more complex version of rock, paper, and scissors.
The game's design concept was supported by a previously unheard of six-
button layout that allowed players to precisely control their fighter's actions:
In addition, players were able to execute physics-defying super moves that
caused an overwhelming amount of damage and could quickly decimate
an opponent. Although these moves were grossly unbalanced in a game
that allowed competition against the machine and other players, this game
mechanic could only be triggered by a secret combination of button and
joystick movements; a privileged form of knowledge known only to the best
"street fighters."
Street Fighter was followed by other head-to-head fighting games like
Violence Fight (1989, Taite) and Pit-Fighter (1990, Atari Games). These and
other head-to-head fighting games of the late 1980s and early 1990s pro-
vided compelling gameplay, but few could match the popularity of Street
• A deluxe version of the cabinet was also created which consisted of two pressure sensitive controllers.
The design was dropped, however, as players damaged both the machine a.nd themselves with the force
of thei.r strikes.
 Japan, 20 Game Design and the Rebirth of Consoles {1983-1995) 147

Fighter II: The World Warrior (1991,Capcom) (Figure 7.3). Street Fighter II,
more so than its predecessor, was designed for competitive head-to-head
tournament play. This feature, like the beat-'em-up's growing number of
simultaneous players, took advantage of the arcade's social aspects by pro-
viding a novel form of competitive play and spectatorship that home con-
soles were unable to completely replicate. Street Fighter II' s large cast of
playable characters, each with meaningful differences in speed, strength,
reach, and special abilities, created exciting and varied gameplay and led to
intense debate among fans about which characters had the greatest overall
advantages. The unbalanced amount of damage caused by special abilities
in the first game was toned down relative to its predecessor, as super moves
became an integral part of the regular gameplay. Skilled players became

FIGURE 7.3 North American cabinet for Street Fighter II: Champion Edition
(Capcom, 1991), which differed from the original release by allowing players to
compete as the game's "boss" characters. (Courtesy of Arcadia, Mclean, IL, www.
vintagevideogames.com)
148 History of Digital Games

notable for their ability to string together combinations of attacks, which

could quickly finish an unwary opponent. While this was originally a pro-
gramming flaw that was assumed to be unexploitable by players, it nonethe-
less became a widely used approach that grew into a staple design feature in
later games of the franchise.

Western Responses to the Head-to-Head Fighting Game

Many Japanese developers closely followed the design and pixel art aesthetic
of Street Fighter II, as seen in the Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, and King of
Fighters game series: American developer Midway and British developer
Rare, however, each sought to represent the genre in more visually distinc-
tive ways. Mortal Kombat (1992, Midway), designed by Ed Boon and John
Tobais, contained essential elements of the head-to-head fighting genre: dis-
tinctive characters, secret special moves, bonus stages, and a multiple but-
ton layout. The game's most distinctive aspect, however, was its theme and
visuals: a postmodern pastiche of criminal underworlds, Hollywood fame,
magic spells, Japanese gods, and ninjas. These elements were met with a
heavy emphasis on the graphic depiction of violence. Characters spurted
blood when hit, and a unique game mechanic allowed the winner to kill the
losing character in a particularly brutal manner. The character Sub Zero, for
example, pulled the head with attached spine off opponents and held it up
for display; an act made all the more intense by the game's use of digitized
images of real actors rather than pixel art.
The "fatality" game mechanic illustrated the ultimate form of social com-
petition and game spectatorship and created an enduring mystique among
players. It was immediately used in subsequent head-to-head fighting games
such as Time Killers (1992, Incredible Technologies) and Eternal Champions
(1993, Sega). Mortal Kombat, however, garnered a large following through
its secret content, which included the special moves and fatalities as well as
unique fights with hidden characters, all of which fueled wild but unfounded
speculation about the extent of the game's hidden content.
British game developer Rare, added to the fighting game boom with Killer
Instinct (1994),which also inherited the genre's rapidly evolving conventions,
such as distinctive characters, multiple button layouts, blood, and finishing
moves performed at the end of the match. Rather than using pixel art or
digitized actors, the characters of Killer Instinct were created through a process
called pre-rendering. Pre-rendering was a common way to balance the desire
for high quality 3D imagery with the limitations of consumer computing
power. In pre-rendering artists constructed highly detailed 3D models that

• Many of these games were overseen by Takashi Nishiyama after leaving Capcom for rival developer
SNK.
 Japan, 20 Game Design and the Rebirth of Consoles {1983-1995) 149

were turned into a series of animated 2D sprites. This allowed the visuals
to maintain the 3D look while requiring a fraction of the processing power
to animate the individual frames. It was seen in Rare's Super Nintendo
platformer, Donkey Kong Country (1994, Rare), as well as numerous other
games throughout the 1990s such as Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (1997,Odd world
Inhabitants), and Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo (1996) and Starcraft (1998).
For Killer Instinct, in particular, it allowed gameplay to respond quickly to
user input, a must for competitive fighting games.
The distinctive element of Killer Instinct's design, however, focused on com-
bining individual special attacks to create chains of combinations. This design
concept required a different approach to the control scheme as forcing the
player to use a complex set of commands for each special attack was not via-
ble-especially since combinations could build up in excess of 50 individual
hits. Instead, Killer Instinct allowed the player to execute a simple combination
of multiple techniques with a few button and joystick inputs; combinations
that could then be extended with further input from the player. To create a
sense of balance between players who had increasingly become dependent on
trapping opponents in a seemingly never-ending sequence of combinations,
Killer Instinct featured a "combo breaker." This mechanic would interrupt an
opponent's chain of attacks if timed properly and could create an opportunity
to counter with a supercharged combination of one's own. Thus, the longer a
player strung together combinations, the more chances they gave an opponent
to counter and potentially turn the momentum of the match. The growing
popularity of 3D fighting games (see Chapter 8) throughout the 1990s and the
ability to play them on increasingly sophisticated home consoles (see Chapter
9), like the beat 'em up, led to the decline of 2D fighting games in North
America and with it, the disappearance of dedicated arcades.

Japanese Companies Transition

to the Home
Nintendo had produced home video games since the late 1970s with its vari-
ous color TV game dedicated consoles (see Chapter 3), however, it wanted
a more sophisticated unit that could play its hit arcade games. Starting in
1981, Nintendo engineer Masayuki Uemura, began experimenting with a
cartridge-based console capable of reproducing Donkey Kong. Meanwhile
Nintendo considered licensing and producing software for the ColecoVision
in Japan. The fees proposed by Coleco, however, caused Nintendo to balk
and fully support Uemura's engineering efforts. Nintendo's decision was
fortunate as the 1983 crash hit North America and caused Coleco to aban-
don the market.
The console that emerged from Uemura was dubbed the Family Computer,
or Famicom (Figure 7.4). Although the Famicom was designed for Donkey
150 History of Digital Games

FIGURE 7.4 Nintendo's Famicom Console and Controllers. (Photo by Evan Amos.)

Kong, it exceeded the arcade game's technical abilities by including the abil-
ity to smoothly scroll from one screen to the next. This uncommon but for-
ward thinking technical feature for a home console would become one of
the Famicom's greatest assets: Like consoles and several arcade games, the
Famicom used tile-based graphics that filled the screen using blocks of 8 x 8
pixels. Early games for the Famicom saved memory resources by repeating
tiles as often as possible and commonly led to brick and block patterns used
to construct game worlds.
The importance of the Famicom was related, in part, to its well-designed
controller. The iconic plus-shaped directional pad, or "D-pad," was based
on the controls of Nintendo's Donkey Kong Game & Watch LCD handheld.
Prior to the Donkey Kong Game & Watch, the handhelds used simple one
or two-button inputs; however, since Donkey Kong was designed as a series
of horizontal and vertical movements, these capabilities were translated
into the efficient, plus-shaped control pad. It would appear in some form
in nearly every console controller produced since. This control scheme was
ideally suited for 2D game design as it allowed the player intuitive movement
through space from either a top-down or sideways perspective. The ''A:.'and
"B" buttons, meanwhile, created a consistency with the majority of two-
button arcade games.
There were also ergonomic benefits. The controller sat comfortably in the
user's hands as both index fingers supported it equally, while it was held
in place by the thumbs. The controller's design took advantage of the fine
motor skills of the fingers, rather than the larger, less accurate motions of
the wrist needed for the VCS joystick. The move away from the 12-button
numerical keypad, as on the lntellivision, ColecoVision, and Atari 5200,
made interaction with the game more intuitive and reduced the amount
of time needed to find the correct button. Without the need for overlays to
guide a player's decisions concerning which button to press, players could

• The earlier Atari 8-bit a.nd Commodore 64 computers as well as the ColecoVision also had built-i.n
scrolling capabilities. Also, Shigeru Miyamoto originally desi.red scrolling level transitions in Donkey
Kong, but they cou.ld not be implemented because of hardware limitations in 1981.
 Japan, 20 Game Design and the Rebirth of Consoles {1983-1995) 151

concentrate almost exclusively on the screen. Aided by this unique combi-

nation of hardware and controller, the Famicom encouraged the production
of fast, responsive 2D games that successfully captured the essence of arcade
gameplay for the home.
Although, the initial batch of processors turned out to be faulty causing a
recall of the units, the Famicom was met with tremendous success in Japan,
selling three million units between its 1983 launch and 1984. Nintendo's
goal, however, was the United States. After a proposed deal with Atari to
license the Famicom fell through (just prior to the beginning of Atari's
woes), Nintendo decided to market the system to the United States directly,
a move which required a number of adjustments to the Famicom. It featured
a new American-style form factor created by industrial designer, Lance Barr,
which fit with contemporary home electronics trends. It was also rebranded
as the NES, complete with light gun and toy robot. Nintendo's main prob-
lem with breaking into the American market, however, was convincing
retailers to stock another videogame console after the weight of nine major
console releases between 1977 and 1983 helped flood the market. Nintendo
was finally able to win over American retailers by guaranteeing that any
unsold consoles would receive a complete refund. After a mediocre, but
encouraging series of test market launches in 1985 and early 1986,the NES
was launched nationwide in the fall of 1986.

Stabilizing and Controlling the Console Market

It was clear from the beginning that Nintendo intended to assert total con-
trol over the home console market through strict procedures in dealing with
third-party developers. A company that produced games for Nintendo's
console was limited to a maximum number of five games per year. In addi-
tion, Nintendo insisted on exclusivity and extracted a high licensing fee. Its
control also extended to the ability to override or censor anything it found
objectionable in the game content, in the interest of protecting the com-
pany's image, particularly its American branch, Nintendo of America. With
three million consoles sold in the first year of the NES's American launch
and six million the year after in a market that was supposedly "dead," devel-
opers were eager to create games for the system.
In order to eliminate the threat from counterfeit or unlicensed games, the
American and European version of the NES was designed with a lockout
chip, a safeguard that prevented the system from starting if an unlicensed
cartridge failed an authentication by the system. Competitors eventually
found a way to circumvent this early form of digital rights management
(DRM), but, along with Nintendo's licensing policy, it allowed the company
to more easily manage its image and build a reputation on high quality
games. These actions allowed Nintendo to achieve a near monopoly on the
152 History of Digital Games

home console market by the late 1980s, with an estimated share of greater
than 90% in both Japan and the United States.

Establishing Nintendo's Franchises

The Famicom's 1983 launch titles and early offerings were heavily tilted
toward the arcade, with ports of Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and
Popeye closely followed by Mario Bros., Galaxian, Pac-Man, Xevious, Space
Invaders, and many other Golden Age Japanese arcade games. In the mid-
1980s, however, Nintendo and its designers began to transition away from
an arcade-centric mindset to one focused on developing games better suited
for extended play sessions in the home; much of which was achieved through
finding and adopting a different approach to level design.
Leading Nintendo's transition was the industrial designer turned game
designer, Shigeru Miyamoto and newcomer Takashi Tezuka, also a tradi-
tionally educated designer. Miyamoto and Tezuka's main achievements for
the Famicom/NES centered on refining familiar coin-op game elements and
creating novel level design that resulted in a depth of gameplay rarely seen
on prior consoles. Their evolving design sensibilities and a range of techno-
logical enhancements to the Famicom, allowed the team to create some of
Nintendo's, and the game industry's most lauded games.
Miyamoto and Tezuka's first Famicom game was Devil World (1984,
Nintendo), a dot-gobbling, fireball shooting, maze game featuring devils,
crucifixes, and bibles that only saw release in Japan and Europe; Nintendo
of America objected to the overt use of religious symbolism. Little separated
Devil World from an arcade game, as the game endlessly repeated two mazes
and a bonus stage until the player ran out oflives. Nonetheless, it took advan-
tage of the Famicom's ability to scroll in the game space. In the months fol-
lowing Devil World, Miyamoto designed the stunt motorcycle racing game,
Excitebike (1984), which featured a game engine capable of more smoothly
scrolling between the string of individual screens that made up the game
levels. The illusion of movement from left to right at high speeds was crucial
for the game's racing theme. However, with the exception of a track editor
that allowed players to create and play customized levels, Excitebike was still
effectively an arcade racing game designed for short bursts of play.

Super Mario Bros.

The tipping point for Miyamoto and Tezuka's design of console-based
games was their next project, Super Mario Bros. (1985, Nintendo) (Figure
7.5), a game with an incalculable impact on the game industry that remains
strongly influential today. Super Mario Bros. centered on Mario's quest to
free the kidnapped princess of the Mushroom Kingdom from the clutches
of the Koopa Clan, a ruthless band of turtle-like creatures led by Bowser.
 Japan, 20 Game Design and the Rebirth of Consoles {1983-1995) 153

FIGURE 7.5 Super Mario Bros (1985, Nintendo).

Although platforming elements of running and jumping had existed

prior to Super Mario Bros., the game cemented a number of unique concepts
that struck a balance between fast arcade-like action and longer durations
of play suited for the home. It also helped rekindle the North American
console market and served as one of the first gaming experiences of a new
generation of players who would eventually become designers themselves.
The initial design idea for Super Mario Bros. involved controlling a large-
scale character in space. Many arcade games, like Donkey Kong, contained
all of the action in a single screen, requiring small characters in order to
maximize the play space. An increase in a character's scale (made possible
by assembling multiple small tiles together), however, required a larger play
space than could be displayed on the screen. This led to the game's signature
expansive world of colorful environments representing land, sea, and air.
To make gameplay feel continuous through large spaces, Super Mario Bros.
utilized the fast scrolling game engine developed for Excitebike. It allowed
Mario to smoothly accelerate to a run rather than move at a constant speed,
as in earlier games like Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. The result was a 32
level experience that cohesively combined bonus challenges, multiple strat-
egy boss fights, hidden objects, and secret areas. These elements encouraged
the player to experiment, discover, and explore the bounds of play within
the game space, a signature aspect of Miyamoto's design philosophy.
Adding to its sheer scale, Super Mario Bros. featured well-designed inter-
actions between its individual mechanics, enemy behaviors, and level design
that created intuitive and compelling gameplay. Power-up mechanics, cen-
tral to the game, increased the player's abilities in the game world. Although
many games of the time included power-ups (Pac-Man, Galaga, and Devil
World), Super Mario Bros. gave the player a wider range with the ability
154 History of Digital Games

to break blocks, throw fireballs, or temporarily become invulnerable. These

skills, gained and lost during gameplay, created a dynamic ebb and flow that
required the player to continually adjust and change strategies. Principally
important among the game mechanics was the jump, which deviated sig-
nificantly from the straight vertical or preset arcs of Pitfall!, Pac-Land, and
even Miyamoto's earlier arcade games. Players could adjust their position
slightly left or right in midair, allowing for subtle and precise redirection.
Further, the player could control the height of the jump based on an intui-
tive notion that the longer the player pressed the jump button, the higher
Mario would jump. While a previous game, Ice Climber (1985, Nintendo),
for the Famicom/NES allowed a slight left or right alteration of the player's
jump mid-air, it was not nearly as developed as that of Super Mario Bros.
With such an uncommonly high degree of control over Mario's move-
ment, the game needed to teach the player the subtlety of the mechanic
before increasing the challenge. Early in the first level, for example, the
player encountered a set of three green pipes, each progressively higher,
and containing zero, one, and two Goomba enemies. This set of obstacles
required mastery of the jump mechanic before the player could progress. A
small jump, created by a quick tap of the button, sufficed for the first pipe
but not for the second or third, which required a longer press. The Goombas
between the pipes were moving targets that required the player to adjust the
trajectory of the jump in order to land on or avoid them. A player who failed
at either action would die, but since this occurred at the game's beginning,
the player could quickly try again without losing ground. A later level,World
6-1, featured stair-like structures arranged in different configurations that
led to bottomless pits. Although these structures required careful timing and
accuracy of jumps to ascend, the player would have become skilled enough
to pass them easily. A cloud-riding enemy called Lakitu, however, com-
plicated this task by repeatedly dropping the un-stompable, spike-shelled,
"Spiny" character into the game space, reducing player maneuverability.

The Legend of Zelda

At the same time that Miyamoto and Tezuka designed Super Mario Bros.,
the team was also creating The Legend of Zelda, which released the follow-
ing year in 1986 (Figure 7.6). The Legend of Zelda used a similar narrative
form to Super Mario Bros.: it centered on a lone hero, Link, who attempted
to rescue the Princess Zelda from the evil Ganon, while uniting the dispa-
rate pieces of the magical Triforce of Wisdom. While Miyamoto and Tezuka
drew elements from the Japanese localizations of CRPGs Ultima II and The
Black Onyx, The Legend of Zelda featured none of the RPG genre's signature
experience points or character stats. Players instead explored the unfamiliar
landscape in search of items that would grant them access to closed areas
and eventually complete the game's goal. A raft, for example, allowed the
 Japan, 20 Game Design and the Rebirth of Consoles {1983-1995) 155

( ' ( ' t '

. . .
I ' ( '. ( t. . ( '. ( t
.
( l ( l
.
( .
.o
•

- 4
- I I
- I I
- 1
-> I
- I
. I
-
FIGURE 7.6 The Legend of Zelda (1986, Nintendo).

player access to islands while a power bracelet granted the ability to move
large rocks and access new spaces. This experience of unpacking elements
of the game space was also found in the side-scrolling shooting platformer,
Metroid (1986, Nintendo), which used new weapon powers to open previ-
ously encountered doors.
Rather than a gentle introduction to gameplay as seen in Super Mario
Bros., players of The Legend of Zelda were placed in a 128-screen overworld
without the means to attack. Those who ventured into one of the three avail-
able starting pathways confronted enemies they could not fight, leading
to a quick and helpless death. Further, while players were aware that they
needed to find pieces of the Triforce, they were given no indication of where
to begin, as the massive open world game space did not suggest any par-
ticular path. While these were common elements among computer-based
adventure and role-playing games, they were unconventional for console
games. This prompted Nintendo to include directions in the game's manual
for obtaining the sword and reaching the first two dungeons.
Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda were followed by sequels that
deviated significantly from their predecessors. Super Mario Bros. 2 (1986,
Nintendo), utilized game mechanics and level design that often intention-
ally misled the player, deviating from Miyamoto's encouragement-based
approach to platformers. For instance, early in the beginning level, the
player encountered a poison mushroom that closely resembled the power-
up mushroom but would instantly kill the player when touched. Although
the game was intended to create a greater challenge for those who had com-
pleted Super Mario Bros., Nintendo considered the game too difficult for
156 History of Digital Games

FROM CARTRIDGES TO DISKS, TO CARTRIDGES AGAIN

Super Mario Bros. was originally to be the last cartridge-based game for
the Famicom, as Nintendo planned to switch to floppy disk-based games
played on the Famicom Disk System (FDS) add-on. The FDS increased the
Famicom's base-available memory, sound capabilities, and offered larger
storage for games-attractive qualities for game designers, who were at
increasing odds with the limitations of Nintendo's early cartridges. The FDS
helped Japanese designers break from conventions of arcade games by
encouraging larger, more ambitious game levels with the potential for mul-
tiple hours of content. The Legend of Zelda and Metroid exemplified this
with content that players would not likely complete in a single sitting. As the
FDS had the ability to write data like a personal computer, these large lev-
eled games allowed players to save their progress on the game disk.
The increased capacity and enhancements brought by the FDS were
invaluable help that allowed developers to move into new territory, but it was
never released outside of Japan; issues with the inability to control piracy and
counterfeiting plagued the add-on, making a worldwide release ill-advised.
This created a problem for the international versions of The Legend of Zelda
and Metroid as players needed a way to continue their progress. Nintendo's
initial solution was to give players a password on death that could start a new
game with certain items-a solution used in the 1987 North American release
of Metroid. This was unsatisfactory, however, as the player needed to input
a 24 character code via the D-pad, after every death. The North American
release of The Legend of Zelda was different as it included a battery-powered
memory chip inside the cartridge that mimicked the FDS's data writing
capabilities. The battery-backup save-game was used for numerous North
American game releases thereafter, including Dragon Warrior and Final
Fantasy. Nintendo eventually dropped support for the FDS entirely and opted
to upgrade the contents of the cartridges with more memory as well as bank
switching capabilities (see Chapter 5). This created a noticeable difference in
visual quality and game content between early Famicom/NES games versus
those produced later in the console's lifecycle.

international release. Instead, the North American version of Super Mario

Bros. 2 (1988) used the setting and mechanics of the Arabian Nights-themed
Yume Kaja: Doki Doki Panic (1987, Nintendo) and replaced the character
sprites with those inspired by Super Mario Bros: Zelda II: The Adventure of
Link (1987, Nintendo), was a similar departure, as the top-down perspec-
tive was replaced with a side-scrolling action game that utilized experience
points, random encounters, and an overworld map similar to Dragon Quest
and other Japanese RPGs (see below).

• The original Japanese version of Super Mario Bros 2, however, did eventually make its way out ofJapa.n
and was titled, Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels as part of a four game compilation, Super Mario Al/-
Stars (1993, intendo) for the Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES).
 Japan, 20 Game Design and the Rebirth of Consoles {1983-1995) 157

Although both sequels were commercially successful, Nintendo

embraced a more conservative approach to subsequent games in these
key franchises. Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988, Nintendo) sported more than
90 levels and spaces with a game world alive with interaction; it featured
new power-ups, an inventory system, several mini games, and wandering
mini bosses brought together by an overworld map laid out like a board
game. It allowed players the choice to experience everything offered by the
game world or to take the shortest route to a final showdown with one of
seven "Koopaling" bosses. Despite its unparalleled grand experience, the
game returned to the accessible essence and feel of the original. It made the
learning curve more forgiving through level design that helped the player
learn the game's new mechanics and included a more frequent placement
of extra lives near the game's beginning. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to
the Past (1991,Nintendo) for Nintendo's "next-gen" Super Famicom/SNES
(discussed below) similarly returned to its inaugural roots. In all, this expe-
rience helped to solidify the design philosophy at Nintendo for the remain-
der of the 2D era and provide a starting point for its first 3D games in the
mid-1990s (see Chapter 9).

Computer Games and the JRPG on the Famicom/NES

As discussed in Chapter 6, the home computer industry saw rapid expan-
sion throughout the 1980s and gave rise to a number of distinct forms of
gameplay and game interfaces. Many computer game developers, aware
of the mass appeal of the Famicom/NES, also created games for the con-
sole. This allowed Nintendo's players access to a wider variety of game
types than what had typically been developed for consoles. Although
the Famicom/NES was not as technologically robust as home computers
like the Amiga, it nonetheless, featured ports of point-and-dick adven-
ture games (Maniac Mansion and King's Quest), vehicle simulators (Silent
Service and F-15 Strike Eagle by MicroProse), and RPGs (Wizardry: Proving
Grounds of the Mad Overlord and The Black Onyx), ports which often saw
release on the Famicom years before the NES. In addition to adapting spe-
cific computer titles, general design concepts also flowed from computer
games to Nintendo's console with games like The Goonies II (1987,Konami)
and Friday the 13th (1989, Pack in Video) which combined the action of
platforming gameplay with adventure-based, first-person exploration.
Both, like The Legend of Zelda and computer adventure games relied on the
player's willingness to explore the bounds of the game world and its various
interactions to make progress.
Important in the exchange between computers and the Famicom/NES,
were the concepts that led to Dragon Quest (1986, Churnsoft), the game
that created the framework for subsequent JRPGs. Japan had few computer
158 History of Digital Games

RPGs until the mid-1980s with The Black Onyx and localizations of the
Ultima franchise, and even then, they were appreciated by only a small
subsection of Japan's gaming population. Yuji Hori, a developer associated
with software publisher Enix, was an avid fan of Western RPGs, however,
he felt the genre's unfamiliar game mechanics and number management
created a significant barrier for new Japanese players. Thus, Hori along with
programmer Koichi Nakamura, looked to create a form of RPG more sim-
plified in its systems, eventually resulting in the Famicom game, Dragon
Quest.
In Dragon Quest (titled Dragon Warrior in the United States), the player
wandered through a map-like overworld of natural landscapes with icons
representing towns, caves, and dungeons. Like the Ultima games, once the
player moved over one of the map icons, the perspective abruptly changed
to a full-scale representation of the space, complete with non-player charac-
ters (NPCs), stores, and treasure chests where appropriate. In the overworld
map, the player fought enemies in turn-based random encounters, gathered
gold and gained experience points-all staple elements of early CRPGs. Hori's
design for Dragon Quest, however, simplified the standard RPG formula: it
reduced the character's attributes to two (strength and agility), compressed
the myriad classes/professionsinto a single character, awarded the majority of
experience points in simple low numbers, and replaced spell levelswith a pool
of magic points that were spent on spell cast. Leveling increased all character
stats and attributes and provided a clear indication of character progression
rather than changes in hit points and number modifiers common in Western
RPGs.
One of the game's most distinctive elements was its manner of interac-
tion. Dragon Quest adopted the interface from the Hori's earlier Famicom
port of the graphic adventure, The Portopia Serial Murder Case (1985,
Churnsoft), which consisted of selecting predetermined commands from a
series of menus using the Famicom's d-pad. These changes to the formula
for RPGs, aided by a series of articles in manga magazines explaining the
concepts of the gameplay, as well as character artwork by famed manga art-
ist Akira Toriyama, helped propel Dragon Quest to success among Japan's
Famicom player base.
Dragon Quest's popularity led other Japanese developers to create
RPGs as well. Final Fantasy (1987, Square) used the same basic systems,
overworld map, and Famicom friendly interface of Dragon Quest, but
added a more tactical element to combat: players used a party of char-
acters, composed of multiple classes and abilities, to fight mixed par-
ties of enemies. Player choice in managing the fight, in addition to the
exploration and fulfillment of the main quest, thus became a central
element of the game. The JRPGs by Enix and Square resulted in a long
line of sequels that inspired other developers and franchises. The North
 Japan, 20 Game Design and the Rebirth of Consoles {1983-1995) 159

American localization of these initial JRPGs and others created a small,

but devoted fan base that grew stronger after the 1997 North American
release of Final Fantasy VII (Square) and the 1998 Game Boy release of
Pokemon (1996, Game Freak).

Sega Joins the Console Market

Nintendo supercharged the home console market in Japan and reawak-
ened the desire of North American retailers, however, the Famicom/NES
was not the only 8-bit Japanese console of the period. The SG-1000 by Sega,
launched the same day as the Famicom but paled in comparison as seen in
the choppy scrolling and undesirable flickering sprites of games such as the
shoot-'em-up Orguss (1984,Sega) and port of arcade platformer, Wonder Boy
(1986, Sega). An updated version of the console, the SG-1000 Mark II was
released shortly thereafter, in 1984.
While commercially unsuccessful in the Japanese market, Sega was
undeterred and decided to compete with Nintendo head-on, by designing a
system to exceed the Famicom's capabilities. The SG-1000 Mark III, inter-
nationally known as the "Master System," was designed, like most previ-
ous consoles, to replicate the performance of arcade machines at home.
The unit's ability to smoothly scroll the screen and scale the size of sprites
allowed Sega to port its pseudo-3D and action platformer arcade games in
an attempt to help drive console sales. With Yu Suzuki's Hang-On as a pack-
in launch title, followed by ports of other Sega games, such as Afterburner,
Altered Beast, Outrun, and Space Harrier, the SG-1000 Mark III/Master
System performed better than its predecessors but was inconsistent in dif-
ferent regions, leading to tepid third-party support. The console was vir-
tually locked out in Japan and North America by Nintendo's monopoly
created by its exclusive licensing agreements and several years' headstart.
Despite this, Sega was able to produce a few successful original titles for
its console such as JRPG Phantasy Star (1987,Sega). In Europe the Master
System was more popular, as Nintendo had been unable to control the
market as in Japan and the United States. The Master System encountered
virtually no competition in Brazil, allowing it and the later Mega Drive/
Genesis to capture the market and continue to produce demand for games
through the 1990s.

16-Bit Consoles, Marketing,

and Game Design
Nintendo's dominance of 8-bit consoles made all previous attempts to com-
pete virtually impossible. The success of the Famicom/NES, however, made
Nintendo slow to accept change in an industry becoming more dependent
160 History of Digital Games

on rapid advancements in technology. Falling prices of 16-bit processors

in the late 1980s made their inclusion in a new generation of consoles cost
effective and allowed Nintendo's competitors to leapfrog and outperform
the 8-bit Famicom/NES. This inaugurated new set of "console wars," this
time between Japanese companies, as Sega, Nintendo, and newcomer NEC,
aggressively vied for market share.
The framework of intense competition drove many underlying game
design decisions as a "next-gen" version of a game within a popular genre
could either retain customer loyalty or lure them from a competitor. This was
particularly true of Nintendo's Super Famicom/SNES as its exclusive rela-
tionship with developers allowed for "super" versions of titles in various fran-
chises, such as Adventure Island, Bomberman, Castlevania, Double Dragon,
Mega Man, Metroid, and Punch-Out!!, many of which were highly lauded by
game critics for their refinements. In these and other cases, game graphics
received a vast amount of attention, as marketing relied on a player's ability
to instantly judge a game, fairly or unfairly, based on its visual detail. Vivid
colors brought characters and objects to life, while environments composed
of multilayered, parallaxing backgrounds contributed to the period's distinc-
tive and much-loved visuals leading to a Golden Age for pixel art.

New Contenders
In 1987 computer manufacturer NEC and software developer Hudson Soft
released the PC Engine in Japan, inaugurating the fourth generation of home
consoles. Although the unit used an 8-bit processor at its core, it was capable
of 16-bit visuals, which brought high-fidelity ports of arcade games to the
home. These advanced visual capabilities were the central feature of the con-
sole's advertising efforts as the console was renamed the Turbo Grafix-16 for
its 1989 North American launch. The PC Engine was able to temporarily
overturn Nintendo's dominance in Japan before settling for a second place
position, however, its performance in the United States was abysmal, as Sega's
new 16-bit console quickly captured a sizeable portion of the next-gen market.
The form factor of Sega's 16-bit Mega Drive/Genesis console stood in
stark contrast to the toy-like aesthetic of the Famicom. It projected an over-
all impression of maturity and high-tech futurism as its asymmetric layout
of vents, buttons, and switches bore a resemblance to high-end audio mix-
ing equipment, while the characters "16-BIT" were conspicuously embossed
in gold on the console's top (Figure 7.7). Sega, continuing the quest to capi-
talize on its arcade catalog, based the Mega Drive/Genesis console on its
System16 arcade board, used for Shinobi, Altered Beast, and Golden Axe
among others. With this, the gap between post-Golden Age arcade games
and console games significantly narrowed, allowing the console to faith-
fully reproduce popular arcade games more accurately than the PC Engine/
 Japan, 20 Game Design and the Rebirth of Consoles {1983-1995) 161

FIGURE 7.7 Japanese release of Sega's Mega Drive and controller, marketed as
the "Genesis" in the United States. (Photo by Evan Amos.)

Turbo Grafix-16. The design of the controller for the Mega Drive/Genesis
was also heavily influenced by Sega's arcade games: its 8-directional game
pad followed the standard 8-directional arcade joystick while its three but-
tons allowed the console to reproduce the typical "attack/jump/special
weapon" control scheme of Sega arcade games like Altered Beast, ESWAT
Cyber Police, Shinobi, and Golden Axe. In addition, the rounded edges and
small projections at the ends of the controller provided a greater degree of
ergonomic comfort relative to the rectangular game pad by Nintendo.

New Platformers for New Consoles

and Intensified Competition
Replicating the performance of arcade machines was a compelling feature of
the new consoles, but ports of arcade games alone did not suffice in a game
market rapidly transitioning away from arcades and into new territory. In
particular, Sega's initial lineup of unmodified arcade ports was criticized
as being light on content. Both NEC and Sega included arcade-like action
platformers with shooting or other combat-focused mechanics, but neither
system initially had a viable Mario-style platformer with compelling game
design and a mascot capable of siphoning Nintendo's fans away.
The first direct challenge to Mario was the PC Engine/Turbo Grafix-16
platformer, Bank's Adventure (1989,Red Company/Atlus). Bank's Adventure
was a brightly colored, light-hearted, prehistoric-themed game, starring
"Bonk" a child-like caveman with a colossal head that "honked" enemies.
The game used many design elements from Super Mario Bros.-a smooth
scrolling game space, an ebb and flow of power-ups, hidden rooms, boss
fights, and a highly controllable jump mechanic. The game spanned different
environments and created the feeling of embarking on a journey. Although
it was released on multiple game platforms (including the Famicom/NES)
and led to a number of sequels, it was unable to significantly impact the
game market, as Nintendo had already produced more elaborate and refined
platformers like Super Mario Bros. 3.
162 History of Digital Games

FIGURE 7.8 Sonic the Hedgehog (1991, Sonic Team).

Sega was more successful with its platformer, Sonic the Hedgehog (1991,
Sonic Team). Both the game and the character, Sonic, were intended to pro-
mote the technical power of Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis console by focus-
ing on speed (Figure 7.8). The game's concept was based on a particular
design problem with the platformer genre: players needed to traverse a lin-
ear sequence of levels in order to make progress. This structure, inherited
from arcade games, gradually grew in difficulty with each level (as discussed
above in relation to Super Mario Bros.). Skilled players, however, were still
required to play through the beginning levels in order to get to the later,
more difficult content.
Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto addressed this problem by creating level-
skipping warp zones in the Super Mario Bros. games. Sega programmer,
Yuji Naka, however, wanted to make his love of fast moving objects into
a fun experience by creating a game that allowed skilled players to com-
plete early stages in extremely fast time before getting to the game's later
content. This concept was reinforced by Naoto Oshima's design of a feisty,
anthropomorphic, blue hedgehog that sported a spiky hairstyle and wore
bright red running shoes. In the final game, Sonic ran through roller coaster
loops, rolled into a ball, and shot through serpentine tubes at almost dizzy-
ing high speeds. The game's brightly colored zones featured highly animated
objects and parallaxed backgrounds that made Sonic's world one of constant
motion. Although still a linear experience of running from left to right, the
level design of Sonic the Hedgehog was more open, with each stage often fea-
turing multiple pathways to the end goal Since the game's timer counted up
and not down, players were free to either cruise through the level as fast as
possible, like a race, or meticulously explore the entirety of the game space,
looking for the collectable golden rings or power-ups.
 Japan, 20 Game Design and the Rebirth of Consoles {1983-1995) 163

Sonic the Hedgehog propelled Sega to its first major home console success
and provided the first real threat to Nintendo in the North American mar-
ket, especially after the game was bundled with new systems. Sega also went
on the offensive against the monopoly of Nintendo with a confrontational
North American marketing campaign, unified by the catchphrase "Genesis
does what Nintendon't." The Genesis' offerings included games that not
only pushed the boundaries of represented violence, such as an uncensored
version of Mortal Kombat and the fighting game Eternal Champions (1993,
Sega), but also games with celebrity sports personalities of the early 1990s
such as Joe Montana, Arnold Palmer, and Pat Reilly in addition to "King of
Pop," Michael Jackson.
Nintendo, meanwhile, launched its 16-bit Super Famicom/SNES in Japan
in 1990 along with its new platformer, Super Mario World (1990, Nintendo),
produced by Shigeru Miyamoto and directed by Takashi Tezuka. Super
Mario World, like its predecessor Super Mario Bros. 3, was essentially a
retelling of the original Super Mario Bros. with a number of added mechan-
ics in the form of power-ups, enemies, and environmental objects. Like
Super Mario Bros., it was designed to subtly teach the game's basic behaviors
before testing players with challenging content. As a backup, it also included
optional text boxes explaining the game mechanics; a feature found in many
of Nintendo's subsequent Mario games. A notable feature was its break from
the sense oflinearity as the activation of a switch or object in one level often
required the player to revisit already completed levels in order to progress
to new or secret areas. This Zelda-like design feature encouraged players to
investigate game spaces in total and provided a new objective in an other-
wise familiar level, thereby efficiently increasing the game's content; a con-
cept that was central to the later fully 3D Super Mario 64 (1996, Nintendo).
Nintendo's reputation as a provider of quality platformer game design
was further enhanced with two titles, created later in the Super Famicom/
SNES's life cycle, Donkey Kong Country (1994, Rare) and Super Mario World
2: Yoshi's Island (1995, Nintendo). Each game closely followed the form of
the earlier Super Mario World, but signaled a maturing of design for 2D
platformers at a time when 3D-based gameplay was becoming increasingly
common. Each game also provided a significant visual departure from the
16-bit era's pixel art graphics as Donkey Kong Country utilized pre-rendered
visuals while Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island featured graphics resem-
bling a series of hand-drawn 2D layers-a deliberate pushback by Miyamoto
against the encroaching visual realism in games (see Chapter 8).
While 2D platformers were synonymous with Nintendo, the Super
Famicom/SNES was designed with capabilities that foreshadowed the com-
ing wave of 3D-based gameplay. Key was the mode 7 background layer
graphics setting, which could rotate and scale a background layer, produc-
ing the effect of smoothly moving through space in a pseudo-JD perspective.
164 History of Digital Games

FIGURE 7.9 Super Mario Kart (1992, Nintendo).

This effect was used to create racing and flying gameplay as in F-Zero (1990,
Nintendo), Pilotwings (1990, Nintendo), Super Mario Kart (1992, Nintendo)
(Figure 7.9), Top Gear (1992, Gremlin Graphics), and Super Star Wars (1992,
Sculptured Software/LucasArts).
The competition between Nintendo, Sega, and NEC occurred in a com-
plex time of change for digital games and digital culture. Compact disc-
based games and hypermedia applications that combined image, sound,
text, and video with nonlinear access exploded into the marketplace and
brought with it a new experience of media for consumers. 3D graphics
appeared in more sophisticated forms than simple wireframes on home
computers. Finally, virtual reality made its first commercial debut, sparking
the imagination of the public and raising expectations for the future. All of
these developments in the late 1980s and early 1990smade an impression on
the highly competitive home console market, as Nintendo, Sega, and NEC
looked to enhance the capabilities of their products in a rapidly changing
environment. This set of topics and their impact on games across the indus-
try will be more fully explored in Chapter 8, as a new visual and spatial real-
ism came to dominate the design of digital games in the early to mid-1990s.