What games popularized certain mechanics?
What games popularized certain mechanics?
I was trying to think of which games created certain mechanics that became popular and copied by future games in the industry.
The most famous one that comes to my mind is Assassin’s Creed, with the tower climbing for map information.
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This might be a little on the side of the main topic but there was always something cool about Crash Bandicoot 100 Apples > 1 Life, and you could grind more to make some levels more forgiving, like semi-adjustable difficulty level based on your previous approach.. And later on — warp zones, you get to choose from a few options so the progression has variation.
Another thing that comes to mind, not sure if a first game to do it, THPS for unlocking movies and later cheat codes, modes and characters for finishing the career. Plus the whole gap marathon for Private Carrera.
Oh, and chanting from Oddword where it had various uses, for saving friends or for changing into enemies, or using special abilities. This definitely was something, because I still remember thinking as a kid, “how cool is that this one ability has so many different uses”.
100 Apples > 1 Life, and you could grind more to make some levels more forgiving, like semi-adjustable difficulty level based on your previous approach.. And later on — warp zones, you get to choose from a few options so the progression has variation.
100 coins = 1UP and warp zones? And... you think they're from Crash Bandicoot?
Well, when I was writing that, after midnight I will add, I had this feeling that Mario was doing this thing earlier but for me Mario stands as an icon for the first level design overall as a golden standard for introduction to mechanics and really efficient use of memory for data, and one of the first uses of dynamic music.. So you are totally right, Mario brought a lot of things, I’ve just played Crash much more.
Fair enough.
My point is that the reason you played this game so much is that it existed because of Super Mario.
Thus the answer to OP's question in relation to this would be Super Mario Bro's, from which Crash is derived.
Well then.. To stay true to the history, we probably would have to go back to Galaxian from ‘79, which introduced 1-UPs / additional lives, bonus stages and player upgrades, plus simple summary / statistics for hits and misses.
See but the question isn't "originated".
It's "popularised".
Which Mario clearly did, outpassing both "Galaxian" and Crash in terms of popularity.
I know that Crash is bigger for you, but in the big picture, comparing Mario to Crash is like comparing Pokemon to Digimon.
https://vgsales.fandom.com/wiki/Mario
The main core series, Super Mario, began with the platformer game Super Mario Bros. (1985) on the Nintendo Entertainment System. The main games consist of Mario trying to rescue Princess Peach from the villain Bowser and saving the Mushroom Kingdom.
As of June 2024, the Mario video game franchise has sold more than 900 million units worldwide, making it the best-selling video game franchise of all time. The main Super Mario series alone has sold more than 495 million copies worldwide.
Super Mario Bros. 1985 NES, estimated revenue $1,652,300,000
Have to scroll quite far down this list https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_game_franchises to find Crash.
See, you are right and that’s exactly why I started with “This might be a little on the side of the main topic”..
Hmm. Fair enough, fair enough.
You've likely listened to the same or similar lectures I have on level design and I seriously apply those lessons to every single game and UI I have influence over!