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Games whose titles consist of a single word.
Sure, these days have almost every game sporting the newfangled 3D, but way back when, everyone had to live with plain old 2D. 2D, or two dimensions, limit the game to scrolling backgrounds, but some games even now make use of this basic concept.
Pixel art refers to digital images composed of visible pixels, drawn with individual pixel-level intent and precision.
An online retro gaming streaming platform.
It's arguably the one move that symbolizes the medium to those outside it. The ability to jump, be it onto a building, a platform, or a skull, is one of the all time most important abilities ever put in a video game.
General MIDI (also known as GM or GM 1) is a standardized specification for electronic musical instruments that respond to MIDI messages. It is used in the large majority of older DOS and Windows games.
A two-dimensional image or animation overlaid into a scene. The foundation of early 2D games, making up everything from props to the player-controlled character.
When a certain amount of time is given to the player to reach a goal or finish an objective.
This concept is for games in which at least one of the main characters is male.
A digital distribution platform that focuses on providing DRM-free computer games, both old and new.
Chiptunes are musical compositions that are synthesized by a computer or console sound chip.
Passwords are codes used to save a player's progress, primarily during the 8-bit era and, to a lesser extent, the 16-bit era.
Games that earned the "ASM-Hit"-Award. ASM (Aktueller Software Markt) was a popular German multi-platform computer games magazine that was published from 1986 until 1995.
These games are designed to be played by one person, and one person only.
Health is a value that gauges how much damage players can take in a game before they die or pass out. Also known as life in some games. Health is usually represented by a bar or a percentage instead of an exact amount. Found in most non sport games
The concept of lives in video games evolved to let the player get a second chance after failing once. The most recognizable symbol is the heart.
A door that players must go through to exit the level
The main line of distinction between victory or failure in video games, death is the process of a biological being ceasing to be alive.
Flat shading is a lighting technique used in 3D computer graphics. Its characteristic look is easily recognized.
A form of copy protection using a physical object such as a wheel, manual, or dongle.
Bosses are enemies that fight you at the end of a level or at a significant point in the story.
A game perspective that views the action from above, commonly at a fixed position and/or rotation.
Tracker music, or module/MOD music is a digital music format that was popularized in the late 80's and became the de facto standard for video game music on the Amiga, as well as in the Demoscene, and is still in wide use today.
In many games there is a ranking system, the players with the highest point value are listed in a "high score" table.
Enemies that prefer to keep a distance to the ground, and swoop down occasionally to do some damage.
A gameplay mechanic allowing players to store their items and freely carry them around.
Climbing is a common tradition in games, particularly platformers. There is often a particular type of surface that can be climbed, and it has a recognizably different look than other surfaces in the game. Climbing ladders or stairs doesn't count.
A non-interactive sequence within a game most often used for plot advancement.
Parallax scrolling is a scrolling effect used in video game graphics, employing multiple scrolling layers to create the illusion of depth, for a pseudo-3D effect in an otherwise 2D scrolling game.
Extraterrestrials appear in many video games in a variety of styles. Sometimes they're evil, sometimes they're benevolent, and sometimes they're very similar to humans.
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