The Growth of Gaming

The growth of gaming in the 1980s seems exponential. The graphics went from this:

   (Donkey Kong 1981)

To this! :

(MGS 1998)

Games began to become more like the blood bathes we witness today.  Mortal Kombat’s (1992) commercial as described by The Register - "It features a boardroom scene in which a Mr Linn, the mysterious trouble-shooter at a sales meeting, instructs two men to fight. Punches lead to a pen being stabbed into an arm; then a water jug is smashed over an executive's head – before his heart is ripped from his chest. Mr Linn concludes proceedings by decapitating another executive with his hat."

In 1994 ratings systems were introduced. Wonder why…

Nintendo released the Game Boy - the first and best handheld console I have owned – and Nokia gave us the pleasure of Snake on its phones. We now have gaming in our pockets! Back in the comfort of  home, I have fond memories of  Golden Eye on the Nintendo 64. I remember playing multiplayer for hours on end, and had always believed that the 3D graphics were breath taking. I played it again a couple of months back, and couldn’t help feeling disappointed at how broad Natalya’s shoulders were.

 

Oh how we have grown!

After Tetris, I managed to get my grubby little hands on a Game Boy. This yellow brick lit the fires of my gaming passion. Really. I had only two games, Mario and... Mario. One was an early version, they had yet to develop the technology to stain Mario red, he was a basic shape and the music was rather simple. That music gave me years of joy. The second edition (Golden Coins) gave Mario his crimson hues, and the monsters smiled while they killed you. I much preferred the first edition, it was a simple game but the levels were trickier. When Golden Coins came out, he had grown plump and commercialised, too many mushrooms perhaps.