Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine Issue 36
Demo Derby
Game Mess Mornings 04/22/24
GrubbSnax
8-4 Play 4/19/2024: LEAVE IT TO BEAVERS
8-4 Play
The Community Spotlight 2024.04.20
The Community Spotlight 2024.04.13
Community Endurance Run XIV - April 12-14
Game » consists of 3 releases. Released September 1994
Sure, these days have almost every game sporting the newfangled 3D, but way back when, everyone had to live with plain old 2D. 2D, or two dimensions, limit the game to scrolling backgrounds, but some games even now make use of this basic concept.
Belt scrolling is a 2D perspective, side-scrolling action with downward camera angle. The character is able to move not only sideways, but also vertically within a limited area, giving pseudo-3D depth. Mostly used by beat 'em up brawlers, this term is mainly used in Japan and comes from the conveyor belt like viewpoint.
A marketing term coined by Sega in 1992 to advertise the Genesis console's faster performance compared to the rival SNES. Sega originally coined the term to refer to the high-speed bandwidth and fillrate of the Genesis VDP graphics processor's DMA unit. The term is also often used to refer to Sega's advertising campaign for the Genesis in the '90s.
A boss fight is a culminating challenge that pits the player against one or more enemies representing a greater threat and/or difficulty than those previously faced. These scenarios typically feature unique antagonists.
Some characters have purely white eyes, some have eyes that radiate light, some have no eye-sockets at all. This is a page for all the occularly impaired.
Climbing is a common tradition in games, particularly platformers. There is often a particular type of surface that can be climbed, and it has a recognizably different look than other surfaces in the game. Climbing ladders or stairs doesn't count.
Cartridges are typically one specific color for a particular console. But, on occasion, a game is released with a different color either for a limited edition, special occasion, or for marketing.
Typically found in fighting games, combos are a series of strung-together moves.
Comic book or manga characters who are also in video games. There are tons of games with superheros such as Batman and Spider-Man out there.
The cutscenes are nothing but the pages of a comic book. Audio is usually dubbed over to give them a little more life.
The main line of distinction between victory or failure in video games, death is the process of a biological being ceasing to be alive.
Used as a last ditch effort the desperation move is often a single, powerful attack that hits multiple enemies on screen. The attack is executed at the cost of a percentage of the user's total hit-points.
Earning an extra life, either by collecting a 1up or by hitting a certain score.
A plot device where the story appears to be heading to a conclusion, but in reality there's still more to the story. For example, just when you think you've saved the world, the true final threat reveals itself. Often appears in Japanese RPG and visual novel titles.
A game has "faux credits" when the credits start rolling, making the player think the game is over but then suddenly get interrupted to continue the game.
That bad guy looks awfully familiar... probably because it's you. This is for games where you fight yourself or an evil version of yourself
Game Over originally appeared in pinball machines, and later, arcade machines. When players lose at a game, it is game over.
Video games that are based on comic books, manga and graphic novels.
Players or enemies whip their hair back and forth to do damage to their opponents.
Health is a value that gauges how much damage players can take in a game before they die or pass out. Also known as life in some games. Health is usually represented by a bar or a percentage instead of an exact amount. Found in most non sport games
It's arguably the one move that symbolizes the medium to those outside it. The ability to jump, be it onto a building, a platform, or a skull, is one of the all time most important abilities ever put in a video game.
These games are based off of established licenses, such as movies, comics, or TV shows. Examples are the James Bond 007 and Spider-Man franchises.
This concept is for games in which at least one of the main characters is male.
From Beat-em-ups to fighting games to modern FPS, one dude hitting another has made an enjoyable pastime.
Sometimes one playable character just isn't enough.
Never 'just' a nosebleed. Nosebleeds in video games have stories behind them, indicating symptoms of serious illness, drug abuse, the onset of mysterious psychic powers, or (in Japanese games) sexual arousal.
A pseudonym is a fictional name that is different from the owner's real or legal name. They can be pen names, secret identities, or even alternative names because their real name is unpronouncable or shouldn't be said.
A person leading a double life. Many comic book characters have one and sometimes the plot of their stories is keeping their secret identities a secret.
Side-scrolling games present the world as viewed perpendicular to the direction the characters are facing on screen. With a heavy focus on lateral movement, objectives are often met by moving from one end of a stage to the other.
Strength beyond normal human bounds, i.e. lifting cars, bending metals, shattering a street with one's fist.
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