This week, stay a while and listen to the tale of an important yet often overlooked and taken for granted aspect of video game history: Sound and Music. Much like in cinema, sound and music have always been essential parts of the gaming experience. Using them, developers aim to immerse players in the virtual worlds they create in various ways. For example, they can set the tone of a moment, segment or universe, convey a variety of emotions as well as crucial feedback for gameplay, and they can elevate the storytelling in video games.

In the early days of video games, sound was limited to simple beeps and white noise due to the technical constraints of the hardware. As technology advanced, developers began to experiment with incorporating more sophisticated sound effects and music into their games. In this article I'll have a look at the early history of these developments, up until around 1984. While part of the focus is on tech specs (number of audio channels, frequency range (pitch), timbre complexity, and higher audio quality (bit depth (fidelity/accuracy and amplitude/volume range), sampling rate (accuracy in representing higher frequencies), and clarity)), I'll also try to highlight some unusual examples as well as creative ones when it comes to using limited hardware, or picking up on (or creating) new genres for the time.

The first video game featuring sound is most likely Computer Space from 1971. Nowadays, developers can use audio recordings of anything, such as an orchestral piece, or a stock library of sound effect samples and put them in a game with relative ease for a decent audio experience. At this point in time, this was not the case at all, as even in general music production there was no sampling yet. There were no trackers for over a decade into the future, and no standardized hardware either. The sound system for Computer Space was designed by Ted Dabney, and surprisingly it's hard to find direct info on. It appears to be using analog circuitry, and you can read more about it as well as see a picture of it in this long "troubleshooting journey" article.

The game features a rotation sound, a player missile sound (these two seem to be square waves, making this a prototypical PSG sound chip), a player thrust sound, and two separate explosion sounds for when an enemy ship or the player ship blows up, which are rather satisfying all things considered! Note that while the educational FMV game Auto Test (Capitol Projector, 1954) does predate Computer Space for a game featuring sound (using an audio tape player), it is an electromechanical game. A year later, Pong (ARC, 1972) further popularized the use of sound effects in video games, featuring basic square waves at different pitches to accompany gameplay actions and events - hitting the ball, the ball bouncing on a wall, and missing the ball.

Jumping ahead to 1975, Gun Fight (ARC, Netlist Sound Device) finally introduced players to music in video games, with a single voice square wave jingle based on "The Funeral March" by Fryderyk Chopin. Great way to start the party. This also started a (relatively short-lived) period of relying on cover music in games, probably as a result of there not really being any dedicated music composers in video game development yet. Some early '80s games would also get away with covers or remixes of contemporary pop songs. The next year, Amazing Maze (ARC, 1976, Discrete Sound), would introduce continuous VGM (video game music) during gameplay. While the song/jingle is very short and simplistic, being made up of a single voice of staccato notes, this was another step towards proper music in games. Things will (mostly) only get better from here, and at a pretty fast pace.

Some More Notable Retro Game Examples:

First adaptive music (Space Invaders (ARC, 1978, analog circuitry+SN76477 (for SFX)), edited text from a previous article)(Tomohiro Nishikado) - The first example of a smooth transition within an in-game music track based on player action can be found in this game. As the player destroys the alien ships, the descending four note bassline that makes up the music will gradually speed up while the movement of the enemies does as well. This contributes to an added sense of urgency and some would say is key to making the game an experience that people still remember to this day. The game uses discrete analog circuitry for its audio hardware. The music is made up of square waves passed through a lowpass filter, making them sound more like a sawtooth wave here.

Hangman (TI-99/4A, 1979, TMS9919/SN94624/SN76489 (same chip as in the Sega Master System) - This video game adaption of the classic guessing game features polyphonic musical jingles. Polyphony is characterized by multiple notes or voices with separate melodic lines and/or rhythms, so here we have multiple harmonies playing at the same time and they're not all playing chords or octaves. I'm not sure if these are originals or not.

Sampled SFX, voice samples and speech synthesis (Crazy Climber (ARC, 1980, AY-3-8910 & 4-Bit R-2R DAC)(Shigeki Fujiwara), Berzerk (ARC, 1980, SSi TSI S14001A & Exidy SFX))(Alan McNeil) - These two were among the first video games to feature voice samples. Crazy Climber's samples are handled by the DAC chip and it features a variety of sounds: cartoony suction cup samples for when you're climbing, collision sounds, punching sounds, a funny "ouch!" scream when hit by enemies, "oh no!" if you fall down, an encouraging "go for it!" when reaching certain intervals, and an over the top "RIGHT ON!" when finishing a level. Voice sample quality seems roughly on par with the average NES game or a bit higher, but the suction cup and collision sounds stand out as surprisingly clear. Berzerk instead handles voices using basic speech synthesis - while it sounds like a more monotonous and choppy version of what Stephen Hawking used, these are some memorable lines ("Chicken, fight like a robot" is my fave) and the delivery does fit a robot rebellion nightmare scenario. In a way, it serves as a reminder that more advanced tech won't always lead to better results in terms of nailing a certain tone.

For home systems, Ghostbusters (C64, 1984, SID/Atari 8-bit, 1985, POKEY/NES, 1986, R2A03)(David Crane) is a good early example*. On the C64 it features a pretty solid chiptune rendition of the theme for the time, starting with a decent quality, if goofy voice sample of someone shouting the title and laughing. What's also cool is that the player can actually trigger this sample at will while the song is playing at the title screen. In terms of music, the C64 and NES allowed for music more reminiscent of modern pop and therefore it was more recognizable as "proper" music to a wider audience, with enough channels, pitch range and timbre variety to simulate a small band setup with bass, harmony, melody and drums, as well as more realistic sounding percussion using samples when cart sizes allowed for it. In short, they provided a more dynamic aural delivery, and without using expensive hardware. Sample playback actually shouldn't have been possible on the C64 SID chip, but was due to a bug - you can learn about this in detail from this video on the Modern Vintage Gamer YT channel.

*The first seems to be Castle Wolfenstein for the Apple II.

Kingdom (Atari 800, 1980, Dual Track Tape)(loading theme, unknown composer) - Several early Atari games used tapes played along with the game to add relatively advanced and high quality music, instructions or narration, though it would play between gameplay segments rather than during them. This cheesy jazz fusion/disco pop track was used as a loader tune for several games by the same company, something that would later be emulated by Ocean for their C64 games (with the main differences being that those were chiptune tracks and ended up becoming a lot more famous).

Reactor (ARC, 1982, Votrax SC-01)(David Thiel), [Video where Thiel talks a bit about the track - removed from YT] - While I don't know much about the full capabilities of this custom sound chip, the track used here during the instructions demo is something pretty special. A thick kick drum (probably made with a quick downward sweep of a pulse wave) and a gritty, saw-like bassline are combined to make a short and intense electro track which, while the intention was possibly to make it sound like Queen's We Will Rock You or something, ends up being reminiscent of much later bands such as Justice, MSTRKRFT and Daft Punk. Sadly, that's the one track in the game and David Thiel didn't really make anything like it afterwards (his work for M.A.C.H. 3 (ARC), Winter Games (A2GS etc.) and Duck Tales (AMI) is mainly orchestral and rock/pop-based, while the simple jingle from Mad Planets (ARC, 1983) might've been inspired by Pink Floyd's On The Run).

Gyruss (ARC, 1983, 5x (!) AY-8910 at 1.789 Mhz w/ DAC & "Discrete Sound")(Masahiro Inoue; based on Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor) - Probably the first chiptune soundtrack with both sampled percussion (snare and toms, handled by the DAC chip) and stereo mixing. While it is a remix of a classical piece split into three parts it is rather detailed and seems to make pretty good use of all the 5 AY chips used, featuring simulate echo and chorus effects as well as noise accompaniment to the sampled drums (which can be more clearly heard in the stage clear theme). The chorus is done by two channels playing the same thing but with one or both channels slightly detuned, and it sometimes produces a bit of a pulse width modulation (PWM) effect on some sustained notes, something the C64 is known for. The AY-8910 sound chip has the same capabilities as the later AY-3 chip, used in the MSX computer as well as in the PC-98 computer, both popular machines in Japan. It is very similar to the one used in the SMS and Mega Drive, but tuned lower. As for the SFX, most of those might be done by the "Discrete Sound" chip(s) considering their unusual timbres compared to what you'd generally hear from the AY chip. Based on a forum response about Donkey Kong's SFX and this game also being described as using "Discrete Sound" in MAME, they might've been using TTL circuits for these.

Spy Hunter (ARC, 1983 or 1984, 2x AY-8910 & AD7533 DAC ("Cheap Squeak Deluxe board"))(Bob Libbe, Michael Bartlow, Neil Falconer, Marc Canter; Peter Gunn theme by Henry Mancini) - Here's another of those earlier games using a cover of an existing track, but what a fitting track and what a great rendition for the time! It's the full song, also including a pretty sweet new keyboard solo somewhat reminiscent of The Doors, and the sample-based instrumentation is a step up for chiptune soundtracks of the time. Only thing missing is a drum track. While this is also an early arcade cabinet to feature stereo sound, it's used for the SFX rather than the music and they are produced by the AY chips.

Laserdisc sound (Interstellar Laser Fantasy (ARC, 1983)(unknown composer & sound designer), Dragon's Lair (ARC, 1983)(Christopher Stone), etc.) - The laserdisc format meant a sudden and giant leap forward in terms of production, instrument quality and SFX quality, being almost on par with the CD Redbook audio introduced years later. The longest and most varied Laserdisc OST up to this point can be found in Interstellar Laser Fantasy, an FMV-based rail shooter. Stylistically it's also quite forward thinking for its time, featuring a number of ambient tracks (sometimes pure ambient noise), sweeping atmospheric synth parts and some semi-orchestral fanfares, while also having a distinctly game-like feel by incorporating "laser"/pitch sweep SFX and playful staccato notes into some tracks. Good stuff! Most of the SFX on the other hand are pretty standard 8-bit era chip-based ones played in real-time, probably through an AY-3 chip, while others are custom samples put on the laserdisc and trigger when the player reaches certain points of the game, like in a movie. From that same year, there's also the much more famous Dragon's Lair, which seems to feature the first orchestral (style) game OST besides some of the earlier tape-based music. It does sound mostly synth-based to me however, and there are no longer tracks without SFX or VA playing over them, on the same audio tracks as the music. Here it sounds like only the basic "confirmation beep" SFX is chip-based, playing whenever there's a QTE which is basically every three seconds in this game.

Ultima III (AII, Mockingboard AY-3-8910, 1983 or 1985 ver.?)("Lord British"="Rule, Britannia!"​; Kenneth W. Arnold) - Probably the first game soundtrack where the player can manually trigger most of its songs by moving back and forth between areas in-game, and its length and variety was unmatched at the time in terms of original chiptune-based VGM. The style is mostly appropriate to a medieval fantasy setting, featuring old european folk song pastiches (possibly covers since the Lord British track is one and again, it was pretty common at the time). Technically, it's pretty barebones and there's no percussion but we do get some effective use of echo in the mysterious Dungeons track. As for the SFX, it seems like some of the combat sounds are very crude samples, though I'm not sure how they are played. Perhaps using PWM on the internal speaker of the Apple II computer, as was sometimes done for later DOS games? You can find some good examples of this in Turbo Cup (1988), Aspar GP Master (1989), and (perhaps the best example music-wise) ​Pinball Fantasies (1992).

Marble Madness (ARC, 1984, OPM/YM2151)(Brad Fuller, Hal Canon) - So here's the first use of FM synth in a chiptune-based game soundtrack*, one of the first chiptune-based game soundtracks in stereo and, arguably, the first ambient track in a chiptune-based game soundtrack (Level 1). It's also one of the earliest chiptune soundtracks to use vibrato. Pretty cool. The YM2151 chip is similar to the YM2612 chip used in the Mega Drive, except with 8 channels of 4-operator FM instead of 6, no DAC (a sample-based chip was instead often included separately in arcade games for added percussion, SFX or instruments) and a few effects being different, changing the timbre of some sounds. Stylistically this one is a little unusual in that it goes for more of a classical music or chamber music emulated sound in most tracks, which is reminiscent of a Warner Bros. cartoon but perhaps darker and weirder at times. The OST is also fairly long and with relatively long tracks for chiptunes at the time. On the downside the attempt at electric guitar in a couple of tracks is rather painful to listen to, and the FM percussion is a kinda weak but hey, it's literally the first attempt with this chip. The SFX soundscape is sometimes harsh, but generally pleasant, and surprisingly varied and expressive. I mentioned cartoons earlier and they have a similarly whimsical vibe to them, playing what sounds like birds tweeting as the player's ball falls to a lower platform and appears dizzy for a bit. Basic musical cues using bell- and brass-like instruments play when the player moves through or over certain terrain (the pop-up megaphones in Aerial might be the first jump scare in a game), and at one point a bell-like sound with heavy vibrato.

*Probably. Cycle Mahbou (ARC, OPN/YM2203) was actually released the same month but it's also a pretty weak example of FM sound even for the time, and uses a simpler sound chip. There's also Victorious Nine (PC-88, OPN), but I don't have a definitive source for its release date (it could be from 1985) and it's also a fairly weak example.

Ballblazer (C64/Atari 8-bit, 1984 or 1985?)(Russell Lieblich) - Several creative techniques are used for the music here: Bass+backbeat drum and chords combo, modulation, fleshed out "free jazz" solos, and a variety of instrument envelopes (settings that shape an instrument). Along with echo and slides. Apparently these solos are actually generated by the game itself as you play. I've read that they're also affected in some way by what you're doing in the game but this seems to be incorrect as the in-game music is just a separate drum track. The SFX design is sparse besides a pretty satisfying shot sound.

​Balloon Fight (ARC, 1984, N2A03), NES ver. (1985) - Hirokazu Tanaka's early '80s songs were pretty simple technically, and so is this OST overall, but at this point I would say he was intentionally shaping a minimalistic and playful style that also suited the games he worked on rather well. Sound design-wise the main thing that stands out here is how for the drums, both noise and a square wave pulse are used for short and snappy sounds that he would later re-use in Gyromite and a few other games. There's also a neat little tom solo in the middle of the bonus stage theme here, which was split into two parts for the extended NES version. The SFX have a suitably playful vibe, making use of various musical cues for different events, although the main mode sounds a bit barren without a continuous backing track and the high pitched bird chirping will probably start to grate after a while.

Unintentionally funny and/or confusing samples (Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars (SMS, 1986), Double Dribble (ARC, 1987, YM2203 OPN & Sanyo VLM5030 & 3x RC filters), Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road (NES, 1988), Bad Dudes (ARC, 1988/NES, 1989), etc.) // (Stratovox/Speak & Rescue (ARC, 1980, AY-3-8910 & SN76477 & 8-Bit R-2R DAC), Ring King (NES, 1987), Blades of Steel (NES, 1988), Thunder Force II (MD, 1989), etc.) - Alright, let's finish this off with some examples of things not going quite as planned when it comes to sound design. Starting with the funny, the Sanyo VLM5030 chip in Double Dribble (ARC) was designed to mimic human speech. While the speech samples used here and there aren't *that* bad (though only slightly more human than the ones in Berzerk from 7 years earlier, and the title shoutout says "Dibble" instead of "Dribble"), the real attraction here is the US national anthem, sung by an obvious amateur and made to sound completely bizarre when run through the sound chip. Even funnier, the developers thought it was good enough to put in the game's idle demo, so that it would play over and over when the game wasn't being played. Next is Bad Dudes, with its unironic "I'm Bad" clip at the title screen. Converted to the NES sound chip, the sample quality then takes a nose dive.

As you might know, good quality samples in the early days would take up space that was often at a premium, and without good compression techniques or recording equipment available, the results were sometimes disastrous, making it almost impossible to make out what was being said. Or even worse, making the sound so grating that you wish you could just turn it off. In Stratovox (1980), what sounds like a non-English speaker seems to be delivering his lines on the cheapest mic available at the time. Considering the DAC supports twice the bit-depth of the one in Crazy Climber, it's kind of amazing how bad it sounds, but the developer apparently found it good enough to spam it during gameplay and then again during the score countdown, once for every bonus. In Ring King (NES ver.), while the voice samples are really muffled (except for at the start for some reason, where they seem to clip instead), we can at least easily tell from the visuals what they're trying to convey. And as you can hear from the example before it in the video, decent voice samples on the NES was a possibility even back in the day (there are also clips of the arcade version online for comparison - they sound alright there).

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What are some of your favorite examples of music or sound design in retro games? Share your thoughts and memories!

One of the most significant, yet often overlooked aspects of retro gaming is the innovation of the difficulty curve. The difficulty curve can be visualized in a 2D graph and refers to the gradual increase (or decrease) in challenge level as the player(s) progresses through a game. It keeps players engaged and ensures a sense of progression and accomplishment as they overcome increasingly tougher obstacles. Developers generally want to keep players in a "flow" state where they're always engaged, outside of both the frustration and boredom zones, above and below the curve respectively.

Now, while a more or less even difficulty curve with subtle tutorialization of new elements is generally seen as good design today, it can also feel predictable and therefore a bit boring. For some genres, or more complex games or game elements, tutorialization simply has to be explicit. Some games make the early game harder, which can be seen as a narrative tool, creating a sense of (extrinsic) progression and serving the role of creating a power fantasy. Like I mentioned in the risk/reward article, that mechanic blends into the topic of difficulty balancing. If the optional rewards aren't that hard to get, the risk isn't that high and/or the reward is permanent, the difficulty curve can eventually become flattened or even flipped as the game goes on. Various RPGs and Action Adventure games implement this to some extent, with optional grinding, side quests or dungeons that reward the player (often with stat boosts) via leveling, items or equipment. Yet another approach, relating to puzzle games but also other genres, is to insert mandatory and esoteric puzzles or secrets into a game and leave it up to players to try every possible solution (brute forcing) or ask other players to proceed. A euphemistic description is to call this a social element, relying on the audience asking each other how they figured something out and hopefully getting a useful response, which in the best scenario leads to an increasingly obvious hint and the player sitting on the knowledge feeling a sense of pride or that they're needed, and in the worst to just being told what to do (even worse, by a guide rather than in person) and the puzzle being pointless. Then there are rogue-likes and -lites, which tend to throw the expected out the window, have a sometimes wildly uneven difficulty curve and frequently maximize the punishment for failure, which can be very exciting for some players, but very frustrating for other players. Let's have a look at the early evolution of this fundamental aspect of video games!

The first example I can find of a game with a difficulty curve is from the pivotal Pong (1972), and it's about as back to basics as it gets. As the game goes on, the ball simply moves faster and faster. This style is replicated in various later games such as Pac-Man, where the ghosts become both faster and more aggressive, and Tetris.

dnd (1975) - I keep coming back to this game, don't I? In this pioneering dungeon crawler RPG, the curve is intimately tied to risk/reward as the current difficulty is based on how much gold the player's avatar is carrying. Gold can be dropped to quickly lower the difficulty on the fly, or the carry capacity can be increased if the player finds a Bags of Holding item. Tough enemy encounters can also appear, offering to let the player live if they give up their gold, magic items as well as half their experience points. It's a pretty interesting mechanic which sadly wasn't implemented later on as far as I know, at least not within the time period we're working with here.

Space Invaders (1978) - This pioneering shoot 'em up features a difficulty curve that goes back down at the beginning of each new level. This is sometimes called "Nishikado motion" as an homage to the developer, and it was influential (directly or indirectly) on many later level-based action games, where the difficulty generally goes down relative to how far into the game the player is. Some examples are Donkey Kong, Gradius, Mega Man 2, Quackshot, Doom and Warcraft II, but there are many more. You're generally not going to get ambushed by a group of enemies or encounter a hard to avoid, instant death trap right at the start of a level in these games. The pattern seen in the picture has of course also been applied within levels, sometimes multiple times, by giving players a break via a power-up - this can then also get more nuanced with a risk/reward element to acquiring the power-up, something I'll get back to later.

Kid Icarus (1986) - A Nintendo developed action platformer with Action Adventure and RPG elements, it's also known for its unusual difficulty curve, which is initially inverse. The first world/set of sub levels is seen as one of the hardest, consisting mostly of vertical platform levels where falling down means instant death (and just ducking on the wrong platform leads to falling), helping items are very expensive and basic mechanics like how to level up your HP and AP aren't fully explained. Players who do figure it out generally grind a health level or two in the first sub level (1-1) in preparation for the rest of the game, after which the game has a fairly standard difficulty curve besides the winter themed levels, and a few other testing segments where thieves can steal your weapons or wizards turn you into a defenseless walking eggplant. To be fair, the game's difficulty curve makes more sense when seen through an AA or ARPG lense: Metroid and Zelda feature very similar elements and their open-endedness can lead to a lot of early deaths since you are also at your weakest starting out, but they also do a better job at both explaining themselves (via the manuals) and easing the player into them.

Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988) and Zelda: A Link to the Past (1991) - These two are often acknowledged as an early gold standard for the even, balanced difficulty curve, where there's a seamless progression of complexity or reflex-based challenges and new elements are subtly tutorialized for the player. New mechanics, power-ups and enemies are gradually introduced and generally in a more safe environment where the player can experiment and learn by doing. Zelda's difficulty curve can also be extensively tweaked by the player, which brings us to the next category...

The customizable curve (The Legend of Zelda series, Metroid series, Final Fantasy series, Phantasy Star series, Yoshi's Island (and to a lesser extent, SMW), the Fallout series, etc.) - This comes in four (or more?) different types. As mentioned before: If the reward isn't that hard to get, the risk isn't that high and/or the reward is permanent, the difficulty curve can become flattened or even flipped as the game goes on. In the first type, common in RPGs and Action Adventure games, the reward for more time spent and/or taking on higher challenges is a permanent decrease in the overall difficulty curve, or at least a decent chunk of the curve ahead of the player. One Action Adventure example is Zelda: A Link to the Past with its hidden HP and MP upgrades, fairy fountains that offer various upgrades, and making it voluntary for the player to increase their HP after beating a boss.

The second type works like this: beating the main game is a low or perhaps a decent challenge, but the real challenge comes from the optional 100% completion, or a set of tough challenges that the player can take on for a sense of accomplishment and/or actual mastery of the game. In Super Metroid, for example, to get everything or to get the best completion time, skillful use of the Shinespark ability is a requirement.

The third type of customization generally happens before the game starts, via the options menu, and it's generally not a dynamic element. However, a few retro examples of the latter do exist such as Fallout 1-2 and Baldur's Gate 1-2.

Pay to win/Microtransactions (Xybots (1987), Dynamite Duke (1989)) - This lovely innovation and the fourth type of customizable curve, kind of deserves a scathing article by itself. Players were thankfully spared from it to a large degree in the era defined as retro on this site, as it only appeared in the arcades. To be fair, a lot of arcade games incentivized this behavior with a combination of instant respawning after dying or using a continue, and cheap, trial & error heavy difficulty. These two games took it a step further however, by letting players buy in-game currency with quarters (which are then used to buy various items), or buy the items themselves, respectively. There is a limit at 25 credits in Xybots, but this is where this seems to have started in video games.

Dynamic difficulty balancing/Adaptive enemy AI/Rubberbanding (Astrosmash (1981), Xevious (1983), M.U.L.E./MULE (1983), Archon (1983), Zanac (1986), Ghouls 'n Ghosts (1988), BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception (PC, 1988), Little Ninja Brothers (1989)(Easy mode), Dragon Spirit: The New Legend (NES, 1989), R.C. Pro-AM II (1992), Battle Garegga (1996/1998), etc.) - As a form of dynamic difficulty balancing, shoot 'em ups started implementing (often hidden) rank systems in their games as an additional layer of challenge, requiring players to deliberately either play worse, destroy certain targets (Xevious) or sacrifice extra lives at certain points in a game to lower the difficulty to a more reasonable level. Or simply deal with the much higher difficulty level. In Zanac, based on factors such as weapon power, how many enemies have been killed and fr how long you've stayed alive, and more, the game will make the enemies faster and more aggressive. Variants on the mechanic can be found in other games as well: In MULE, where random events are adjusted so that the player in first place is never lucky and the last-place player is never unlucky. In Ghouls 'n Ghosts, the 8 DIP switch difficulty settings determine how hard the game gets the longer you stay alive and how much the difficulty drops when losing a life (there are 16 internal settings in all). In Archon, the computer opponent slowly adapts over time to help players defeat it. How nice!

The steep difficulty curve (Bomberman/Dynablaster/Atomic Punk (ARC, 1991), Ecco the Dolphin (1992), Splatterhouse 3 (1993), Umihara Kawase (1994), Gunner's Heaven/Rapid Reload (1995), G-Darius (1997/1998), etc.) - The game generally starts out relatively tough and for the most part only gets tougher. In the case of Splatterhouse 3, this applies more strongly if you are trying to go for a better ending which is based on time taken. In the case of Gunner's Heaven and G-Darius, the curve gets steep after 1-2 levels. Which might make them candidates for...

...The weekend rental showstopper (Castlevania III (NES), Ninja Gaiden 3 (NES), Ecco the Dolphin, Rocket Knight Adventures (E/U), Contra III and Hard Corps (E/U), The Lion King, Dynamite Headdy (E/U), Streets of Rage 3 (E/U), etc.) - While for a lot of earlier games we can only speculate why that particular platforming segment or boss was such a difficulty spike for us, developers have occasionally admitted to creating these intentionally so as to make customers buy the game rather than just renting it. In some other cases, The Cutting Room floor have covered difficulty changes during localization in detail (in Ecco's case, it was made easier for the Japanese localization but also made easier in the later Sega CD release).

The Post-Game (In Lunar 2: Eternal Blue (1994/1998), Lufia II (1995), Diablo (1996), Diablo II (2000)) - Optional challenges eventually started turning into games where getting through the game once is simply the beginning, and a big chunk or even the majority of the game is found in the harder modes, unlocked side quests and in finding all the rare items. Within the scope of this article we're not quite at that point though. In the first Diablo, this consists of replaying the game with the same character on Nightmare or Hell difficulty (it's also possible to do this at level 1 in single player, which initially causes a steep, inverse curve), encounter the rest of the single player side quests (which are randomly selected from a pool), and focusing on player killing in MP, where the reward is an ear marked with the killed player's name and level. In Lunar 2: Eternal Blue, after beating the final boss, players can revisit previous areas, discover several new areas, as well as tie up the loose ends of the story in a satisfying way.

What games do you think have the most interesting or perfectly balanced difficulty curves, and why? Let's discuss and reminisce!

Risk/reward or risk vs reward can be defined as a main ingredient in games, in that you tend to have to take a risk to overcome an obstacle in the first place, such as getting in the enemy's line of sight/attack range to be able to shoot it or hit it, or stronger blows being harder to land. Without this tension, there's no excitement and no fun, so it's a necessary ingredient for action games especially. It can also be translated to a turn-based game, for example when you make a dice roll for a speech check in an RPG as you're trying to convince an NPC to help you, but failing could turn them hostile. For this post, I'm focusing on where it's used as an optional challenge during a game, that the player can choose to engage with for a potential boost such as a power-up, doing more damage for a faster victory, a stat upgrade or an extra life, but at the risk of significant punishment. The topic also blends into the topics of player incentive and difficulty balancing - if the reward isn't that hard to get, the risk isn't that high and/or the reward is permanent, the difficulty curve can become flattened or even flipped as the game goes on. Interesting to think about, but lets get back to risk/reward and the first example of it in games. In this post, I'll delve into the early evolution of risk/reward mechanics in games, from pioneering classics to mostly forgotten and/or more unusual examples.

The first example is hard to pinpoint (in a more general sense, it's an element in Star Trek from 1971), but early and recognized ones can be found in Space Invaders (1978) - In this pioneering Japanese shoot 'em up and one of the first major commercial hits in the industry (after Pong and Breakout). The first risk/reward mechanic here is sometimes called the "wall of death" or "death row", and requires a bit of setup as seen in the footage. When the remaining alien invaders are just one row above the player's ship/cannon, it actually can't be hit by their attacks, so a player can let them get that close to be able to pick off an entire row of them without the risk of being shot, but at the risk of then getting taken out by the last invader, which as anyone who's played it knows, moves the fastest. Since one has to hit an enemy to be able to quickly shoot again (there can only be one player shot on screen at a time), players have to be very exact when timing their last shots. It is theorized by some that this "temporary safe spot" feature was unintentional (just like the invaders speeding up was at first), but was kept in the game due to positive feedback from players. This point-blank range maneuver is generally not more risky than playing normally actually, if you remember the setup, but there is the risk of the invaders starting out traveling in the other direction (usually in a 2-player alternating game). You then have to flip the setup to make up for it.

There is also another element of risk/reward here, in the special "mystery ship" which will occasionally move across the top of the screen, awarding bonus points if destroyed (which lead to extra lives). As you can imagine, focusing too much on these will quickly get you shot and the wave of invaders will have more time to move closer as well (even if you do the wall of death setup, you eventually need to shift your focus), so it's good to use some strategy in how you take out the invaders and how you position your ship.

Point-blank range shooting for the win would be iterated upon in various later action games. In I, Robot (1984), you can gain more points from shooting enemies while close to them (you also gain more from beating levels faster). In Gradius (1985), just like in Space Invaders, due to the way the "maximum shots on screen" limitation is implemented you can greatly increase your rate of fire and thus your efficiency in destroying enemy ships by getting in close and shooting them at point-blank range. This is repeated in various later shooters and some other action games wth ranged attacks, such as Gauntlet (1985), Super Mario Bros. (1985), Ghosts 'n Goblins (1985) - more noticable when using the torch, Raiden (1990), Gargoyle's Quest (1990) and Super C (NES, 1990). More unique to Gradius is how its weapon system works and how that ties into the risk/reward aspect - if you delay using up power-up items on the earlier upgrades (preferably after increasing your speed a bit), you can go straight for the gun drones/options and/or shield for a boost early on.

Some More Retro Game Examples:

Pac-Man (1980) - This classic maze chase game that put Namco on the map features two early examples of risk/reward. One in trying to get as many points as possible while invincible by eating the now vulnerable ghosts, which nets extra lives through points. You risk becoming vulnerable at a bad time and trapped by ghosts but are incentivized by a higher point reward for each ghost eaten, possibly also being the first example of a chain bonus mechanic in video games. The other risk/reward mechanic is going for the temporarily spawning fruit for extra points.

Galaga (1981) - In this variation on Space Invaders, you can sacrifice one life for the opportunity to attach one more ship on the side of your ship, adding to your firepower but also making you a bigger target.

Castle Wolfenstein (1981) - Castle Wolfenstein is an early stealth game, in which some guards can be alerted by gun fire from within an adjacent room to the one you're in. Opening doors and chests with gunfire is quicker than doing it normally, but has a risk attached to it. Also, if a chest contains grenades and ammo it blows up and the player dies!

Super Mario Bros. (1985) - The first Super Mario offers a fairly unique risk/reward mechanic in the kicking of koopa shells. Chase them as they hit enemies for additional points and eventually 1-ups, but at the rising risk of them bouncing back into you and you having a more difficult time reacting to it.

R-Type (1987) - This standard setting horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up featured a unique mechanic in how the pod (force) power-up is used. When picked up it acts as a shield, allows for charge attacks, upgrades your main shot and can also be launched and recalled, which is where the game's risk/reward mechanic comes in. When the pod is launched, it can reach into bosses' weak spots to take them down quicker, but while doing this the player's ship is left more vulnerable to enemy fire, fire power from the ship is lessened and the pod also moves pretty slowly when called back. It can also be launched and attached to the back of your ship, to protect against back attacks during some segments. A variation on this mechanic can be found in Gaiares (1990), where enemy weapons are stolen with a pod.

Finally, the charge attack can be considered a lighter form of risk/reward in this context, since you are left vulnerable while charging, with the tradeoff of firing through any smaller ships caught in the shot's trajectory when it's fired. Variations on this can be found in the later Air Zonk (1992), where it triggers a smart bomb, and Power Strike II (SMS, 1993) as well.

TMNT III (NES, 1991) - In only this game in the TMNT beat 'em up series by Konami, when a player uses a character's special attack enough without eating any pizza (which somehow stays fresh when left on the ground for who knows how long on the streets of New York), they are eventually left with only 1 HP but can still pull off the move. So while at the brink of death, players can spam special attacks for a faster, more intense but also more challenging game. Maybe the devs were listening to Danger Zone and Standing on the Edge on repeat during crunch time?

D/Generation (1991) - This isometric view, action adventure-esque and cyberpunk themed game features an optional rescue mission: On most floors there will be an NPC held hostage by the machinery gone rogue in the high-rise building that the whole game takes place in. You have to escort each NPC out of the room they're in by leading them to the exit marked with an arrow. This can be challenging but is also over pretty quickly, and the risk/reward element is there in that you gain extra lives this way.

Rushing (Dune II (1992), Warcraft II and Command & Conquer (1995)) - These games probably popularized the term for multiplayer RTS games, which is when a player neglects building up their economy and defensive structures early on for a military advantage, finds and then rushes the enemy base with most or all of their combat units. Variations also exist such as focusing on early military and harassment of the enemy's resource gatherers while not compeltely ignoring the other two, or rushing with defensive buildings, starting near the enemy and trying to not get noticed until your opponent can be overwhelmed. Whle hated by many casual players, it is nonetheless a tactic that can be exciting to be on either the receiving or giving end of. Prior to MP RTS games, Dune II (1992) also allowed for rushing in some missions. This could be combined with luring enemy units using your harvester, and capturing enemy turrets with infantry for maximum effect.

Final Fantasy VI (1994) - While not the first Final Fantasy to feature risk/reward mechanics, the sixth game introduced Desperation Attacks, which led to the well known Limit Breaks and their variations in the PS1 games and onwards. A Desperation Attack (lit. Near-Death Special Skill translated from Japanese), is a special attack unique to each character except Gau and Umaro in Final Fantasy VI, which either does high damage to or outright kills a single enemy. When a character's HP drops below 1/8 of their maximum, they enter Critical status, triggering a 1 in 16 chance (6.25%) of executing a Desperation Attack when the Attack command is used. These attacks bypass Defense and are unstoppable. Note that for some reason, during the initial 25 or so seconds of battle, characters will not use Desperation Attacks. Some status effects can also hinder them. With the low chance to trigger and other quirks, it seems rare for players to even have seen these in action while playing through the game, but since they influenced the more well known and fleshed out versions in later games, and have a higher risk related to them here, I went with this example.

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What are your thoughts on risk/reward in retro games, do you have any favorite examples to share? Additionally, how do you think contemporary game developers can innovate upon traditional risk/reward systems to offer more interesting and fun experiences for players?

This week, let's delve into a quality of life innovation in gaming with a capital Q: Fast Travel. This game mechanic has revolutionized the way we navigate virtual worlds, saving us countless hours of tedious backtracking and uneventful exploration. While it has sometimes been criticized as lazy or for making players miss non-crucial for progression but still worthwhile aspects of the game, various games have implemented it well by turning it into a reward for exploration or overcoming challenges, something with a resource management aspect to it, and/or to only skip the parts of a playthrough that most would considering unnecessary. As gaming technology evolved, so did the concept of fast travel, taking the form of various vehicles or letting the player pick a point on the world map to travel to while in-game time is spent quickly or instantly.

The very first example seems to be from the RPG moria (1975), a move called "Tie a string". This treacherous mechanic works like a teleport beacon, moving the player back to where it was used, however it disappears when moving between floors, and it can even be cut off by monsters if you're unlucky! So while it has some use you can't exactly rely on it. Later games such as Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1984), Exile (Superior Software, 1988) and Flashback (1992) would eventually implement a more reliable teleport beacon as an indestructible item that the player could find.

Some More Retro Game Examples:

Superman (1979) - Here's an early example of a creative, if confusing way to implement shortcuts. If in Superman form and the player moves north or south to the edge of the screen, they end up on another screen, predetermined by the game, which seems to be located to the north or south of the previous screen as if the game was in top down view. When entering a building there's no exit door on the same screen - this is actually a subway system as pictured above. Players can change stops by exiting a screen upwards, or go down, left or right to exit the subway system.

The one-way warp to a later level (Major Havoc (1983), Crystal Castles (1983), "I, Robot" (1984), Super Mario Bros (1985), Bubble Bobble (1986), etc) - This version of fast travel does pretty much what you'd expect, although it tends to be more or less hidden from plain sight as an exploration and/or timing challenge for the player. A key difference is that it can be used as a cheat to completely skip parts of a game as well. Can you beat the aforementioned games without it?

Ultima IV (1985) - This creative RPG is known for its focus on self-improvement according to a set of moral virtues rather than defeating the villain of the story. When it comes to fast travel, the game lets players teleport between moongates, usually located near a town, based on the phases of the world's two moons. The left moon's phase tells you when a certain gate will appear, while the right moon's phase tells you where you'll end up if you go into a gate. This feature actually carried over from the prequel, Ultima III. New to this game however, one can also travel to each moongate via the Gate Travel spell, choosing between them from a list of numbers in the GUI. This feature probably influenced the later Dragon Quest III's use of the Zoom spell.

The Legend of Zelda (1986) - This game introduced action adventure players to the idea of using specific items for fast travel, in this case the recorder/flute which is used to travel between completed dungeons. This works similarly to moongate travel in Ultima III & IV (1983/1985) in that it's not completely straightforward - the destination is determined by which direction Link is facing while using it. It also features magical staircase portals, for warping back and forth between different areas of the overworld. It streamlined the gameplay while treating fast travel as a reward for exploring and overcoming challenges. Surprisingly, Zelda II didn't re-use these features (although there are a couple of shortcuts unlocked in western Hyrule after getting the hammer), but Nintendo revisited and further developed the mechanic in A Link to the Past. Here Link can free a bird using the ocarina, then call on it from anywhere outdoors in the overworld to travel between 8 different locations near instantly. Also new to the series, players can teleport Link to the entrance of a dungeon by using the Magic Mirror.

King's Quest III (1986.) - This creative Point & Click Adventure game is known for making the player start out as a slave to an evil magician, having to work against the clock to get the most out of each day and eventually gain their freedom. Less known is its powerful fast travel system, which might be based on the one in Star Raiders from 1979 - using a magic map found later in the game, which also works like an auto-map by the way, players can freely choose the area of the game world to travel to, so long as they have first moved to that area by foot at least once before. This method became quite popular later on and very similar systems can be found in various famous games such as Ys: Oath in Felghana where it lets you teleport to visited save points, Final Fantasy X, Fallout 3, and Zelda: Breath of the Wild where it lets you teleport to shrines and towers.

Final Fantasy series (1987 and onwards.) - The series that popularized JRPGs in the West is also known for implementing overworlds that allow players to quickly travel between locations, either by using ships (which are not new by this point and are mainly used to travel where you couldn't before), chocobo birds which temporarily protect you from encounters in the overworld (similar in function to horses in Ultima IV), and airships in various forms. This gradually made more and more of their typically large worlds accessible, adding a sense of progression toward sophisticated adventurer status. It also added a sense of freedom to the game which was generally heightened to a great degree in the late-game portion of each one.

Teleporting back to town or back home (Bouken Roman (1986), Dragon Quest (1986), Ys: The Vanished Omen (1987), Legacy of the Wizard/Dragon Slayer IV: Drasle Family (1987), Diablo (1996)) - In the influential Dragon Quest, the Zoom spell allows players to return to the game’s central castle, Tantegel. In the first Ys, the consumable wing item lets players instantly warp back to town, cutting out the backtracking and functioning as an escape for when you're overwhelmed by enemies. The crystals in Legacy of the Wizard, and the W icons in Bouken Roman for the MSX have the same function, and the former also features teleportation via the portrait paintings in its dungeon, provided the player has acquired all four crowns by defeating their guardians. In Diablo, a town portal spell lets the player (as well as other players), teleport back to town and then back into the dungeon before disappearing. In multiplayer, this can be used to quickly join up with someone further into the dungeon without the portal closing, and if two or more players cast the spell, they can keep using another's portal instead of using up their own.

Wing Commander (1990) - This influential and ambitious space combat sim game also offers a unique take on fast travel. Auto-pilot (A key) triggers a short cutscene in which your ship moves towards the next objective (map waypoint). This lets you skip longer distances, without skipping any events since if you encounter enemies or asteroid fields, the gameplay resumes.

Super Mario World (1990) - This game took the series' fast travel to new heights with the introduction of warp pipes and joining together its different areas into one big world. These green pipes allow players to bypass the majority of the game by going into the separate "star road" hub area, providing a shortcut directly to the last area (provided they have the cape or found the red switch palace) as well as between any areas that they had found the exit to the star road from.

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (1996) - This game offers the most complex and varied fast travel systems thus far. First off, it allows players to instantly teleport between locations they've learned about on the world map at the click of a few buttons, but it also makes them consider a few factors when doing so. In-game time spent when using it, which matters here since most quests are time sensitive. Cautious or reckless travel (affects travel time as well as your HP/MP/Stamina stats when arriving), transport type (on foot, horseback or via ship), and if you want to rest at inns or outside (the former is faster but more expensive). You'll then be teleported to your destination instantly. Many appreciate the convenience this offers, especially in sprawling virtual landscapes, which also tend to be mostly empty and eventless in this game's case (unless you play a later, modded version of it that is). There's also a teleport beacon spell in this game that offers a strategic layer in that it can for example be placed at the entrance to a new dungeon before one goes exploring, or for something shady while in a town. Finally, you can also gain a high rank in the Mages' guild, giving access to one-way teleportation (or two-way if you place a beacon first) to any point marked on your map.

What are your thoughts on warping and fast travel in retro gaming? Do you prefer the simplicity of early implementations like one-way warp gates, for fast travel to be rooted in reality in some way (or perhaps to maintain some challenge during traversal), or do you enjoy the convenience of more modern fast travel systems? Share your favorite examples and thoughts below!

For every Mega Man, there's a few Chubby Cherubs. For every Turrican, a few Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures. As some have argued, mayhap with prejudice, ignorance and sometimes factual errors, both Japanese and Western 2D platformers from back in the day tend to be so-so games or worse. While there are certainly standout titles from each region, and quite a few at that, it is nonetheless true that the majority contain issues that make the games more frustrating than fun. Issues that lead to negative stereotypes about each region, and derogative terms being thrown about like an unwanted sports game cartridge at a garage sale. However, for each stereotype associated with one region, it's worth noting that there are usually various examples of the same thing in the other region. Let's have a look at some of the more pervasive ones.

Starting with western ones also found in Japanese platformers, there are Japanese examples of collectathons such as Flicky, The Goonies (NES), Rainbow Islands and, arguably, Yoshi's Island, Wario Land and the Great Cave Offensive mode in Kirby Super Star where it's not mandatory but heavily encouraged. Some of these are among the most beloved JP platformers.

There are sprawling and maze-like JP platformers such as New Zealand Story, Cosmo Police Galivan (NES), GG Shinobi II, Bio Senshi Dan, Metroid, Castlevania II, Milon's Secret Castle, Magical Pop'n, Hyper Iria, Cyborg Hunter, Bonanza Bros, Moonwalker (MD) and the aforementioned Great Cave Offensive mode. These cover the spectrum from level-based and linear games with such levels, ones with a hub map and a more open-ended structure and some ability gating, to full on platform adventure/metroidvania games which is the most well known form nowadays.

Japanese platformers with fluid and/or detailed animation taking priority over the controls/hit detection, or the game just having kind of sloppy hit detection in general are also a thing. See Astal, Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose and Whirlo for the former, and Ghosts 'n Goblins, Strider NES, TMNT NES, Super Genjin 2, Two Crude Dudes, Decap Attack/Magical Hat, Rent a Hero, and sometimes Whirlo again for the latter.

When it comes to "unnecessary realistic features like fall damage", there are Japanese examples in Blaster Master, Donkey Kong, Spelunker, Legacy of the Wizard, most Ghouls 'n Ghosts and Castlevania games (no mid-air control) and some games they influenced like Black Tiger, 8 Eyes, Kenseiden and Actraiser (very limited unless jumping from a stand still, in which case you can't jump as far). Interestingly, Nintendo reintroduced fall damage to Mario games with Mario 64, but has been inconsistent about including it later on.

As for "copious amounts of 'tude or gross-out humor", or edginess - Various classic Japanese platformers feature these aesthetics or themes as well, such as Splatterhouse 1-2, Castlevania, Contra, Sonic, Mystic Defender, Friday the 13th, Fist of the North Star/Hokuto no Ken/Last Battle, Joe & Mac, Rocky Rodent, Assault Suits, X-Kaliber 2097, Nosferatu, Demon's Crest and JJ & Jeff.

JP platformers generally having more clear/functional visuals is something I tend to agree with, though there are exceptions here as well such as Castlevania IV, parts of Super Metroid, Actraiser 2, parts of Pulseman where the backgrounds get extra trippy and distracting, and Alisia Dragoon.

Going back to mechanics or "impact", the origin of not having knockback when taking a hit is probably Super Mario Bros, while some games like Psychic World, Ys III, Strider NES, ESWAT ARC & MD, Zeliard, Legend of the Mystical Ninja, Toki (after respawning) and El Viento have very short or no invincibility time after taking a hit, and a few games like Wonder Boy 3-4 and Son Son II bounce the player all over the place at times.

And vice versa for western platformers including stereotypically Japanese features. Many classic western platformers are of course punishingly difficult with a lot of memorization required (Japanese ones tend to top google lists though). Various games require precise jumps, such as Monty on the Run, Impossible Mission, Prince of Persia, Spelunker and parts of Turrican 1-2.

When it comes to visual aesthetics, let's not forget that Donkey Kong, the origin of Mario, was originally based on Popeye, or that Shigeru Miyamoto has expressed admiration for Disney and that he wants Mario to be as iconic and universally recognizable as Mickey Mouse. Or the fact that tons of those colorful and cutesy Japanese platformers from back then are using western cartoon and comic licenses like Ducktales, Mickey Mouse, TMNT, Felix the Cat, Aladdin, Looney Tunes, Flintstones and so on and so forth. Western platformers themselves were often based on cartoons or comics, or had colorful and/or cutesy original designs such as in Flink, Rayman, Marko's Magic Football, Mr. Nutz, Incantation, James Pond, Toejam & Earl 2, Chuck Rock 2, Plok, Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel, Pagemaster and Bubba 'n Stix.

On the subject of cultural appropriation or twisting one's own culture to confirm biases, I would say first off that this was almost a necessity for JP developers back in the 1980s especially, with more genuinely Japanese feeling games (that hadn't been filtered through western media yet) being considered weird, stupid, silly and/or ugly. This only started changing for real in the mid '90s thanks to Pokemon, FF7, Tamagotchi and a few other games. Western games, including platformers are of course full of this stuff and from all over the world, from TMNT, First/Second Samurai and Colonization, to Shadow Warrior (1997), Carmen Sandiego and Mortal Kombat, and there are also some examples of games mimicking anime/manga aesthetics such as the intros to Turrican 2-3 or the character portraits in One Must Fall 2097.

Musically, while it's true that Japanese composers for platform games tended to mostly stick with ~30-60 second loops and pop song structure for a good long while, western developers usually did the same for platformers, and the arpeggio-heavy sound design in many of the earlier European tracks is a bit divisive. There is a technical limitations aspect to some of these differences in the 8-bit era, but Japanese exceptions also exist such as the Temple theme from Zelda II, the Title theme from Metroid, Pyramid from Actraiser, Crimson Castle from Violinist of Hameln and Windy Cliffs from Do-Re-Mi Fantasy. Some would also argue that longer, more ambient and/or less straightforward tracks don't really belong in most platformers. On the Mega Drive/Genesis specifically, western platformer OSTs have a reputation for generally having lacklustre sound design, although various exceptions exist here such as Wolfchild, Earthworm Jim 1-2, Alien 3, The Adventures of Batman & Robin, Puggsy, Mortal Kombat, Mega Turrican and Toejam & Earl 1-2, while there are various Japanese MD games with rather grating OSTs as well such as ​​​Turbo OutRun, Megapanel, X Dazedly Ray, ​New Zealand Story, Doki Doki Penguin Land MD, Atomic Robo-Kid, most of Tommy Lasorda Baseball and parts of Truxton.

So now that I've talked about all the (supposedly) bad stuff, and hopefully helped shatter some misconceptions about both Japanese and Western platformers, let's talk about which region had the larger share of GOOD platformers and why. The general consensus (at least on North American sites) seems to be that there are more good platformers that came from Japan in the '80s-'90s than there are from the west. Probably more good console games in general? As some wise people have previously pointed out in these discussions, this was due to a number of factors: One is that a good deal of the really bad Japanese games were never localized, while the western ones were more readily available if not directly, then through friends and relatives or demos in stores. Another is that western developers simply made fewer platformers, which has cultural and technological reasons - in the UK and several European countries, computers were more popular than the consoles throughout the '80s and up until the early '90s, and these weren't specifically designed for platformers or even arcade action games, nor did a majority of their audiences prefer arcade action which is reflected in the top lists on fan sites of the Amiga and C64 today. When western developers did make platformers, they tended to have different goals, focusing more on collectathon gameplay (probably inspired by Pac-Man but maybe also earlier RPGs where loot is a focus), exploration and in some cases more realistic movement. I've read that fans of the Turrican series actually criticized the more linear and somewhat more forgiving third game for being "dumbed down" at the time. Finally, various earlier Japanese platformers were made by relatively large companies like Nintendo, Konami, Sega and Capcom. They had experienced developers by the time the NES became popular in the west, and as an aside, Japan was at its economic peak of the 1900s in the 1980s. Western platformers of the '80s, on the other hand, were often games made by teenagers in their bedrooms who made games for the Amiga, C64, Spectrum, etc. I initially thought this might explain the lack of scrolling in western platformers until after Super Mario Bros became a hit in the west (which seems to get its scrolling from Excitebike, Kung Fu Master and Pac-Land, but also because it was easy to do well on the NES - at least horizontally). However, in yet another example of a typical feature for one region appearing in the other, the games Snokie (C64, 1983) and Horace & the Spiders (Spectrum, 1983) are sidescrolling platformers from two years before SMB1. But as we all know, they and other early attempts didn't catch on.

I think it's also pretty safe to say that JP platformers and their traits, whatever you think of them are what come to mind for most people when the subject of classic 2D platformers comes up, and that they've been more influential overall on later retro revival platformers. The western legacy tends to be more vague, such as the dynamic and natural level geometry of Aladdin and Earthworm Jim, more of an acquired taste such as cinematic platformers/Prince of Persia-likes, or forgotten to time such as with the 2D origins of collectathons (Montezuma's Revenge, Monty on the Run, Wizards & Warriors) or the western origins of platform adventure/metroidvania games (Below the Root, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Hero of the Golden Talisman).

In conclusion, while the aforementioned negative stereotypes exist, they don't define the entire landscape of retro platformers and they don't necessarily define either region for those who are familiar enough with their games. In some cases, they are even considered a good thing by fans of that region's games. Both regions produced standout titles that defied expectations and offered memorable and fun experiences. Western developers made us move from left to right, swinging on vines over pits and leaping over rolling logs to get to the shinies in Pitfall. They created their own subgenre of Prince of Persia-likes, leading to 3D interpretations like Tomb Raider and inspiring the creators of Ico and Metal Gear Solid. Some developers continued experimentation with maze- and collectathon level design eventually led to games like Banjo-Kazooie while Rare specifically also did great at a more JP approach with their DKC games. Likewise, Japanese developers crafted the seminal Super Mario series, providing a foundation for both 2D and 3D platformers to come and introducing momentum-based physics to the genre. They created the adventures of the blue blur AND the blue bomber, the metroid who can't crawl but rolls instead, as well as a variety of classic action platformers. Their dedication to tight controls, imaginative level design and mechanics, and charming aesthetics were foundational to the genre's mainstream success.

By acknowledging the differences, strengths and weaknesses of both Japanese and Western platformers, we as players can appreciate the diverse contributions each region has made to the genre. If you were surprised by some of what I've written here, then I'd say take the time to try a different flavor of platforming goodness. Let's continue to explore, discover new favorites, and share our love for retro gaming, creating new memories for generations to come!

Thank you.

This week I want to shine a spotlight on something that in real life has fascinated people since we could formulate our thoughts around it: Immortality. In games, while it's common to flirt with the concept to for example play around with a game's pacing and difficulty curve (see the earlier post about power ups), and of course through extra tries (1-ups), permanent immortality is pretty rare. Probably as a result of the arcade roots of a lot of video games and - for competitive games - the satisfaction derived from taking out an opponent in a spectacular fashion as well as doing something we're not allowed to and/or don't want to in real life. While a game with zero negative consequences gets boring quickly, it's interesting to see how games have taken other approaches to punishing poor player performance than to make them replay a segment, level or the entire game while losing any progress made.

Note that to narrow the scope I've decided to exclude games in which you don't die but there's clearly a fail state (sports games, puzzle games and the like - note that a fail state means you can't progress, not necessarily a game over screen and starting over from the beginning of the game), games where you can keep respawning on the spot by paying (which in emulation or some ports of arcade games would be until you win or tire of the game), as well as to focus on games in which you control one or more player avatars. These are games in which you'd expect to die, but don't.

The first example ever is probably Superman (A2600, 1979), which seems fitting. In this action adventure/collectathon game, the worst that can happen is that the chopper enemy (which also can't die) carries an object to another screen, or that the moving cryptonite satellites poison you, making you unable to fly nor carry objects until you touch Lois Lane to restore your powers.

Some More Notable Retro Game Examples:

Below the Root (1984) - In this pre-Metroid Metroidvania of sorts, while you can run out of time, you otherwise can't die - only get knocked out and sent back to where you started while keeping your game progress. You can get captured but you will only lose some time and end back where you started. When you reach day 51, you do lose, however you're given plenty of time and should be able to beat the game in a few in-game days.

Boulder Dash II (C64, 1985) - This seems to be the first, or at least one of the first games with an invincibility code. If the game doesn't give you immortality by default, you can always cheat!

Forgotten Worlds (MD ver., 1989) - This one is a little different and treats immortality a bit like in Mario Maker 2's multiplayer mode - if one player dies, they can keep respawning over and over unless the other player is also dead. Each player also has a health bar, so staying alive as a team is a lot easier than in most other shoot 'em ups or in 1-player mode.

Most Lucasarts Adventure games since 1990 - I believe Monkey Island started this trend for Lucasarts games where you also can't become a "dead man walking", a fairly common issue for the genre at the time, although it actually is possible to die at one point in MI1 if you really try. This design decision was influenced by Sierra's games, where there are instead many ways to die.

Esper Dream 2 (NES, 1992) - In this ARPG with separate battle encounter screens, while you can die, your NPC allies cannot. A nice change of pace if you've played through some frustrating escort segments in other games, and in an overall solid game to boot.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992) - While player one can die as usual, the "Sonic & Tails" mode allows a second player to control Tails, who can't be killed. Tails can get left behind or lose rings, but it won't result in a game over for either player.

Home Alone (MD, 1992) - This one's trapping gameplay has been discussed in a previous post, so let's focus on the (near) immortality. If you get caught by the criminals, you’ll simply be carried to the nearest "hook" on the wall. To break free of the hook, mash the directional buttons quickly. It is actually impossible to really die without having the criminals successfully loot every house. The only other punishment for failure here is that if the criminals finish looting a house before you cause them enough pain, the yellow pain meter will reset when you (and them) enter a new house.

Haunting starring Poltergeist (MD, 1993) – This game is pretty unique both in how it plays and how it handles immortality. You are a ghost and your goal is to scare a family of rich people responsible for your death out of their house, something you achieve by rigging their furniture with traps. While I haven't counted them all, there are many different ways to scare the family (something like 80+), and they can get pretty extreme for the time. While you can't die in the main game, you instead get sent to "hell" whenever you run out of the ectoplasm used for placing traps - a segment that plays like a collectathon bonus level of sorts. While this might sound better, it can get tedious in the long run and you actually can die and have to redo these segments, although you have infinite lives so there's no game over.

Harvest Moon (SNES, 1996) - In this, one of the first graphical farming sim games, you're simply working under a time limit and the ending is affected by what you accomplished (or didn't) along the way. The game always ends after the third summer.

Wario Land 2-3 (1998/2000) - Mortality was abolished for a couple of games after the first Wario Land (first two if we count the Virtual Boy game), and the focus was moved towards solving puzzles. However, some transformations can still get frustrating to use because you can't cancel them and they either slow you down or make you lose manual control (Wario being on fire). Still it is funny how you can get drunk and have to sober up by jumping into the water, in a Nintendo game of all things. During boss fights, while you still can't die you can instead get thrown out of the boss arena, forcing you to retry the fight.

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Have you come across any other games that implemented immortality in a memorable way? What are your thoughts on this innovation and its impact on games? Share your thoughts and experiences!

In the early days of game development, those who wanted to create large scale, open-ended adventures spanning whole worlds or even multiple ones were likely asking themselves one or more of these questions: a. How am I going to render all of the detail of an entire world on screen without the game slowing to a crawl, b. How do I keep the game from losing focus from the player getting lost in the minutiae of searching through every nook and cranny of the world? and c. How do I efficiently convey a sense of place where smaller areas connect into a cohesive whole? Let's have a look at how developers answered these questions at different points in time in this week's topic: Overworlds & Hub Maps!

The first example of an overworld can be found in Akalabeth (AII, 1979), the first commercial RPG. In this game, the player creates a character and then starts in the overworld, in which there are several entrances to one big dungeon, where most gameplay takes place. Graphically the overworld consists of simple patterns of lines on top of a black background - collections of five squares are towns, the large square with a smaller crossed-over one inside it is Lord British's castle, Xs are dungeons (going into them changes the perspective to first person view), squares are forests, and the lines are mountains. The last two are impassable, serving only as landmarks. The player's avatar is a crosshair positioned in the middle of the screen and can be moved in the cardinal directions via keyboard shortcuts, and the size of the world is 20x20 screens. While this is all impressive for the time and platform, it should be noted that there are a couple of heavy limitations here in that towns are identical and dungeons are non-persistent when it comes to loot and monsters, so you really only need to find one dungeon entrance.

The game's manual also provides a bit of a backstory for why the game world is structured as it is. One of two sons of the lands of Akalabeth's king, Mondain, wasn't chosen to become the next king. He became jealous and used his great powers for evil, traveling the land for many years while spreading "evil and death". During these travels, he created all the dungeons of the game's world and filled them with monsters. Why he did the latter isn't actually written, but one can assume it was to leave a permanent scar on the lands to spite his father. We also know from interviews that an influence on creator Richard Garriot to structure the game world like this came from D&D.

Some More Notable Retro Game Examples:

The Ultima series until Ultima VI (and Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Phantasy Star series; 1980-1988) - Starting with Ultima II, the early Ultima games seem to use the same game engine for the overworld as for the town segments but while in the overworld, the terrain and towns are downsized, making the player avatar appear as a giant. Or as a board game piece, a feeling that is intensified by the tile-based movement which lasted up until the NES ports of Ultima III-IV and until Ultima VII on PC. The visuals are sparse even compared to mid-'80s console games but a positive is that every type of tile can be easily identified such as water, forest, field, mountain, town and so on. Ultima II (1982) introduced avoidable enemy encounters (non-random encounters) in the overworld, which didn't trigger a separate battle screen when touched. By Ultima V, a day/night cycle is introduced which makes the player avatar's field of vision shrink as it becomes night and vice versa. This way of structuring game worlds in RPGs also shaped JRPGs for many years to come, with a few exceptions.

AD&D: Cloudy Mountain (1982) - It didn't take that long for official D&D games to appear, though they weren't always what we'd now call proper RPGs. This proto Zelda-like Action Adventure game with rogue-like elements... is also one of the first games to feature a hub map, letting the player quickly move between points of interest. Which in this case are the different dungeons, some of which have a boss (dragon enemy) and a tool item in them. Tool items? Well, while the game is mostly non-linear, you do need to use acquired inventory tools to progress at certain parts of the hub map - the boat is used to cross rivers and the axe is used to get past trees. For a pre-NES game, the map is also pretty detailed, with a bit of animation as well as color coding to show where the player has recently moved.

Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988) - While SMB2 (U/E ver.) had some semblance of a hub map in-between levels, Nintendo went all the way here with detailed, distinct hub maps for each area. These maps span more than a single screen and have the visual design and content on par with a good board game without the annoyance of bad dice rolls or the rollover effect at the end of a course. They feature branching paths between levels, fortress levels with an exploration/puzzle element and a mini-boss at the end, wandering monsters, mini-game and NPC encounter locations, locked doors, interactive elements and even some secrets. One example: by scoring 80k points, a memory mini-game panel appears somewhere on the map, and if it appears over an unfinished level its panel can be used to skip the level, as when the game is finished the level tile will transform into a finished state. One final interesting mechanic is how when the fortress level of an area is beaten, a locked door on the map is removed (and a bridge lowered), opening up either a shortcut or a path towards a mini-game, which stays open after a game over.

Clash at Demonhead (1989) - In a fairly unique twist on the by-then-established hub map concept, this comedic Platform Adventure/Metroidvania game makes it so that the player can generally only travel between points that are connected on the hub map, and the routes themselves make up the game's levels/sub areas. This idea might be from Cube Quest (1983), but it is more fleshed out here with many branching paths, and you can (and should) move back and forth between visited areas. Other than that, there isn't that much to the hub map, it's not very detailed and shops and NPCs are encountered while en route.

Drakkhen (1989) - This unconventional RPG had a unique for the time way of portraying its overworld that's very reminiscent of the Mode 7 effect in SNES games - a 2D ground plane is skewed so as to mimic a 3D perspective where the player can move in the cardinal directions as well as rotate in FP view, while most objects and characters are 2D sprites laid on top of it and scaled in/out as the player moves, and a 2D background makes out the horizon landscape and sky. There are also a few basic polygonal shapes mapped onto the ground, representing roads, dirt patches, fast travel points and lakes. When dungeons are entered, the engine changes to a flip screen, tilted view one sort of like in a beat 'em up, except during combat, your party of heroes move onto the screen and act on their own (the same happens when monsters or NPCs are encountered in the overworld). Other locations are portrayed with single screen artwork, like in a graphic adventure game. Like in Ultima V, there's also a day/night cycle and here you can even see the sun rising and setting in real-time as you're moving around in the overworld.

Claymates (SNES, 1993) - In this platformer, the overworld while fairly detailed and helping provide some additional context to where the player is going on their adventure, doesn't drastically change between areas and isn't the best looking one we've seen up to this point. At first glance, it probably looks like an average hub map. What's more interesting about it is the gameplay - the player can move around freely and each screen of each area was turned into a mini-game reminiscent of ChuChu Rocket or Lemmings. In case you haven't played those either, each completed level gives the player two robots, automatically moving forward. These can then be manipulated by moving different objects on the screen to make them move up to and clear obstacles, unlocking the next level.

What are some of your favorite overworlds or hub maps in retro games? Do you prefer for games to use them, or to provide a more seamless experience? Let's discuss and reminisce!

This week, let's talk about an innovation that lets the player put themselves in the game designer's shoes: the level editor (also known as the track editor, map editor or scenario editor). This tool has allowed players without programming skills or a position in a development team to create, play and share their own levels, race tracks and scenarios with others. The level editor (along with construction kits aka game creation tools) has transformed gaming from a more passive, controlled experience into an interactive and creative one - players could eventually create an entire game within a game, encouraging vibrant communities of creators and innovators. Over time, they have become more powerful and complex, leading closer to a situation where only one's imagination is the limit when it comes to altering and adding to one's favorite games.

Possibly the first example of a level editor in video game history can be found in the classic puzzle platformer/trapping game Lode Runner (Multi, 1983), created by Doug Smith. The game lets players design and share their own single screen levels using platforms (breakable and non-breakable), ladders, horizontal ropes, traps (pits or non-solid blocks), enemies and treasure. This feature laid the foundation for the creative possibilities that would define future attempts at giving designer powers to the players. Lode Runner's level editor let players shape their own gaming experiences and encouraged a community-driven culture of creativity and collaboration, while probably also inspiring more than a few players to become game designers themselves. Console players instead had access to the NES version, which is more zoomed in and features scrolling and cuter graphics, but only Japanese players could save their levels back in the day.

Some Other Notable Retro Game Examples:

Excitebike (NES, 1984): Excitebike's track editor allowed players to experiment with different obstacles, ramps, terrain and cooling tiles, 19 different objects in total. Custom tracks could only be saved in the Famicom version using the Famicom Data Recorder peripheral however. It provided a lot of replay value and inspired future racing games to incorporate similar features.

Doom (PC, 1993) and Doom II (PC, 1994)(DEU, 1994): While not officially shipped with a level editor, Doom's accessible modding tools and strong community support led to the creation of many custom levels, mods, and total conversions. The ability to create and share content played a significant role in Doom's enduring popularity and legacy, and popular, creative new levels continue to be made even to this day (see for example MyHouse.wad from 2023).

Warcraft II (PC, 1995) and Starcraft (PC, 1998) - See the world, they said! Warcraft II marks the point where Blizzard became truly competitive with Westwood for the go to RTS on PCs. It also introduced map editors to the genre, with an editor that allows players to develop scenarios for use in multiplayer matches and/or against AI opponents. Among its features are map size and tileset (the look of the objects and terrain, four different ones including the expansion's tileset), access to all units including heroes and neutral ones, resources and buildings including most of their stats (such as costs and attack power), player starting locations and factions. One can also place prisoners (passive units which you take over) or AI controlled allies that one adds to their team by touching one of their units, and tweak AI opponent behavior to make it focus on air, sea or land units. If you wanted you could even make a ballista shoot halfway across the map! The map editor for Warcraft II has since been improved by unofficial releases such as War2xEd, allowing for more changes to unit and (I think) changing objective/trigger points.

These features were expanded on in the later Starcraft and Warcraft III, leading to fan-made campaigns as well as smaller games within these games such as ARPG and Tower Defense variants (battle.net had its own category called Use Map Settings for SC) and eventually the creation of the MOBA subgenre. In the Starcraft editor, various triggers (such as timed spawning of enemy units at timed intervals) as well as mission briefings with custom voice clips were introduced, letting players show off their voice acting talents to the world through the power of the internet.

Tenchu: Shinobi Gaisen (1999) - This expanded re-release of the first Tenchu, sadly released only in Japan, included a level editor and a time attack mode. The editor lets you name and set a password for your level, set an objective (find character, kill character, kill all enemies while leaving innocents alive+be stealthy for points, escort mission, find item), toggle stealth mode on or off, as well as make the layout and place the characters for your level of course. You can also set up movement routes for all characters. Level tiles, tilesets and objectives need to be unlocked by playing the main game however. Later on, a collection of the 100 best player-made levels were released by Acquire as Tenchu: Shinobi Hyakusen, which is now famous for how hard some of the levels are.

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What are your favorite retro game examples of level editors, and what made them memorable? Do you appreciate the freedom to put part of the design aspect into your own hands, or do you prefer to pay and play only? Let's discuss and reminisce!

This week, we delve into an innovation that used to be pretty rare to see within the games themselves - the Bestiary aka the Monster Encyclopedia. This innovation has proven to be more than just a collection of fantastical creatures; it can be a narrative tool, a world-building device, and a strategic resource. Furthermore, it helped games go fully digital by putting what would otherwise be in a manual or foldout into the game itself.

The concept of a Monster Encyclopedia can be traced back to the roots of tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) and the earliest computer game adaptions of them. In 1977, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, the pioneers behind Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), introduced the first D&D Monster Manual. It provided dungeon masters with a catalog of creatures derived from mythology and folklore, enriching the gaming experience by letting players anticipate what they would face and to define how monsters were shaped across different gaming sessions. However, the video game bestiary actually goes back to two years before this and the computer game dungeon (PDP-10, 1975), which I've covered in an earlier part of this series. Accessed from the main menu, the bestiary in this game shows single color sprites representing categories of monsters and lists what those monsters are (25 in total), then it lists their HP and EXP value on a separate page.

Paradroid & Paradroid '90 (1985/1990) - In this early action adventure/maze shooter game, players control an influence device sent out to explore and clear out a group of space ships populated by various robots that went rogue and killed the human inhabitants, before these end up in enemy hands. Using the influence device, the player can fire a weak weapon or they can engage in a unique mini-game to temporarily take over any enemy encountered, allowing them to use that robot to fight the others and giving them a second chance if they are destroyed in this form. At computer terminals found aboard each ship, a bestiary (droid database) can be found. Each robot is named with a three digit number shown on its in-game sprite, gets a more detailed picture of what it looks like, and has various other stats listed across two pages. The '90 game's bestiary features more detailed robot pictures, as seen above.

Civilization (1991) - The first game in this influential 4X (explore, expand, exploit and (optionally) exterminate) turn-based strategy series features a pretty detailed general encyclopedia called the Civilopedia, which includes information on all 28 military units (including ones with no attack like the diplomat) and can be accessed at any point during a game. These feature detailed artwork and descriptions (which also manage to have some educational value) on one screen, while a second screen shows the unit's stats, cost and technology requirements.

Aretha: The Super Famicom (1993) - In this JP only (but fan translated) RPG's monster encyclopedia, you can see an image of each monster, its basic stats, and Soul drop (these are used for crafting new equipment). Once you get it from a character called Jack near the beginning, you can open it by selecting the item in the Special Item menu.

X-COM: UFO Defense (1994) - Here's an example of using a bestiary combined with game mechanics to convey world-building and storytelling. To get a bestiary entry on an alien species, one of them must be stunned and captured in battle, then contained in a certain building and researched on using your employed scientists. Alien corpses can be researched for separate autopsy entries. The encyclopedia entry gives you a general description of an alien species' strengths, weaknesses and behavior, while autopsies provide more info on their anatomy and sometimes their origins. Research on captured alien commanders can also give access to new technology, as well as unveil the alien invaders' plans, ultimately leading to finding out how to completely stop them.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997) - Probably the game (or series) that popularized the term and concept for console games, along with Pokémon. Symphony of the Night features a massive bestiary of 130+ enemies which is accessed through the master librarian, an NPC found in Dracula's castle. It shows an enemy's stats, an image of its in-game sprite, what item(s) it can drop (after you've made it drop one of the item), and a short sentence describing it in some way. To fill it in, enemies must be encountered and either hit or killed.

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What is your favorite memory involving a unique or memorable creature from a Bestiary or Monster Encyclopedia? Share your thoughts and experiences!

This week, let's explore a classic mechanic that many RPG enjoyers but also Open World enjoyers tend to love: Manual Stat Allocation on Level Up. In the world of classic RPGs, the concept of manually allocating attribute or skill points upon leveling up adds a strategic layer to character development, while increasing the player's say in how their character develops, if not personality- or story arc-wise then at least stats-wise. It is also left in the player's hands through their entire adventure, not just during character creation if that exists. With this innovation, they can tailor their characters based on individual playstyles and preferences, or to fit a backstory they thought up and can tweak based on major events in the game so as to roleplay character development. It not only enhanced the roleplaying experience but also deepened the connection between players and their in-game avatars.

The roots of manual stat allocation seem to have begun growing in 1978 with the game Beneath Apple Manor (AII), a recurring game in this series. It's a groundbreaking Dungeon Crawler RPG and proto Rogue-like. While there is no character creation, players can distribute points across the attributes strength, intelligence, dexterity and "body" by trading in gained experience points that are rewarded for taking gold from chests. This simple yet revolutionary feature set the stage for future RPGs, although it's hard to say how influential this particular game was on future games besides Rogue.

Some More Retro Game Examples:

Ultima III (1983) and Ultima VI (1990) - The third Ultima included various interesting features for the time such as fast travel, avoidable encounters and tactical, top down view battles, and of course manual stat allocation. Stats are gained by going to Ambrosia and donating at the shrines there (in Ultima VI you also raise stats at shrines). Each shrine raises a specific attribute and each multiple of 100 gold donated will raise the respective attribute by one point. The maximum value each stat can have depends on the character's race. In Ultima VI, players also have to think about which shrines are the most useful to them and thus should be freed first as they are more spread out.

Zelda II (1987) - In the only Action RPG in the main Zelda series, Nintendo devised a fairly unique system which is deceptively simple. When leveling up, players can choose to increase either Life (defense), Magic (decreases the cost of spells) or Attack (damage dealt), and each requires a certain amount of experience points depending on the stat and which level they're currently at, where Attack is the most expensive to level. There is more nuance here however, as players can also choose not to level up a stat and save the points for later, focusing on one stat for several levels for example. Yet another layer is provided from the fact that canceling sets a pointer in the level up menu to a more expensive stat (after the most expensive it cycles back to the least expensive), and the shrines found after the boss of each temple fully level the player up. So if you canceled to set the pointer to the next stat, you also get more out of these level ups.

Ultima VII and Serpent Isle (1992/1993) - Here, gaining levels also grants training points – three points per level. These points can then be used in training sessions with the various trainers in the game to gain stats, and each trainer trains a number of attributes equal to the number of training points they require. The attributes that can be trained include the primary attributes of strength, dexterity and intelligence, alongside the secondary attributes of combat and magic (interestingly there is also a rubber band effect to combat based on how far below dexterity it is). You need a certain amount of training points to start training, but if a stat in question is already maxed out, then the point is not wasted, and instead returned to the pool of points.

Final Fantasy V (1992) - This one's a little different and more complicated to explain. By choosing to master specific jobs/classes (which level up through separate ability points rather than experience points and max out between levels 3-7), players have limited control over the gains on their main stats/attributes in that certain classes gain bonuses to certain stats but also a decrease to one or more stats. However, the default Freelancer (aka Bare) job gains all the highest stat increase(s) for mastered jobs to its job only, while any negative modifiers aren't applied, giving players detailed control over stat gains for each party member. That job also has two ability slots for choosing abilities gained through leveling up the different jobs, since they learn all of a job's innate abilities besides Berserk and don't need to equip them. For example it can inherently dash and see hidden passages (thief), avoid traps (geomancer) and wield two weapons in battle (ninja). There is also the Mime job, which works the same except it replaces the Fight and Item commands with a Mime one and has three empty ability slots, but can't equip Dancer gear such as ribbons.

Heroes of Might and Magic II-III (1996/1999) - Starting with the second game in this seminal SRPG series, players choose between two secondary skills at a time when leveling up, and they can also find NPCs that hand out a skill, sometimes as a quest reward. Skills include diplomacy which affects how likely neutral creatures are to join your army, logistics which affect movement on land, mysticism which increases MP regeneration per day and scouting which increases how far a hero can see on the overworld/adventure screen. The secondary skills can be upgraded two times each.

Fallout 1-2 (1997/1998): Fallout took the concept to a post-apocalyptic setting and elevated it to new heights for WRPGs, allowing players to customize their character's skills during character creation and through the leveling system. Three main skills are picked from a big list: three ranged+melee weapons as well as unarmed and throwing skills for combat, first aid, doctor, sneak, lockpick, steal, traps, science, repair, speech, barter, gambling and outdoorsman. Players can choose to strengthen their main skills or any of the other skills when leveling up and the amount of points they can distribute is determined by their Intelligence stat, but also Perks. Perks provide additional bonuses to stats and/or skills (oftentimes they can be upgraded twice as well), and the player gets to choose one of these every third level, increasing the customization of their build even further.

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What are your favorite examples of this mechanic in retro RPGs and ARPGs? Which games handled it the best, or the worst? Share your thoughts and experiences!