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Friday, July 28, 2023

Video Games and Preservation

 Video Games and Preservation

This post is gonna be a little different from some of my other posts, but I wanted to use whatever small platform I have, if any at all to spread awareness about something I'm passionate about. It is no surprise if you've read any post on this blog that I love video games the history of them. Video Games as a medium for entertainment are still a generally new concept when compared to other forms of entertainment like literature, music or movies. However, the medium of video games has a rich history behind it, and its still recent enough that my parents were alive and were able to experience the rise of video games in the entertainment industry. Last year in 2022 the video game industry as a whole made $220.79 billion and is expected to hit the $500 billion mark within the next few years. With an industry that has changed so much over its lifespan of 50 years or so in pop culture, why is it so hard to view or experience the steps that were taken to get to where we are today? Recently, the Video Game History Foundation conducted an excellent study as far as how many classic games were available on the market today. I highly recommended checking the study out for yourself as its really insightful, but of the games that they researched for this study they found that around 13% of them were playable in some way on modern platforms today. To put that into perspective this is comparable to the percentage of pre-WW2 audio recording availability (10%) as well as the survival rate of American silent films (14%) which to me is just insane. Imagine if movies or TV shows were in a similar state where a majority of them weren't viewable outside of very major releases. I understand that games are a unique medium because unlike film, games have their own formats and consoles that can make experiencing them tricky. Emulators solve a majority of the problems that accessing old games have, but the industry doesn't approve of and actively fights/lobbies against them. Just recently Dolphin, a GameCube and Wii emulator, announced that it was going to get released on Steam. Nintendo advised Steam to not release the emulator citing DMCA as a reason not to release, and thus Steam refused Dolphin to have a store page. Once the industry stops lobbying and starts allowing emulators to be used on a wider basis is when we will see some classic games become more available. Video game remakes and remasters don't solve the issue either, especially for historians who need the original hardware and its limitations. Personally I say enjoy video games however you can, emulators and the retro aftermarket has made things much more accessible than in the past. 

I've included some links with sources along with additional resources that dive deeper into this topic, and I highly recommend reading the Video Game History Foundations post in full for their summary of findings. Thanks for reading!


Dolphin Emulator and Steam

Video Game industry worth

Video Game History Foundation initial blog post

Full Study

Game Developer Conference Emulator talk 2016 

Game Developer Conference Emulator talk 2019 

Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Star Soldier: A Preview of What's to Come

Why Should We Remember Star Soldier?

That's a serious question by the way. Of all games to be underappreciated, it makes sense that it would be a space shooter. The genre has evolved so much since Space Invaders, and is still innovating even today. But Space Invaders came out in 1978, over 40 years ago so it makes sense that the genre advances. With that history it also makes sense that some steps would be looked over along the way. Enter Star Soldier. For most people Star Soldier isn't a game on anyone's radar. Most mid-level NES games of this era and vintage if they don't have an explicit reason to go back or they aren't touted as a classic. Now if you are familiar with the genre, you may be familiar with some of the later games in the franchise released on the PC-Engine/TurboGrafx like Soldier Blade or Super Star Soldier. You might not have realized that this original game existed, but don't feel like you're missing out. The future games in the franchise expand on so much gameplay wise and presentation wise, so outside of curiosity there isn't much reason to go back. So if the game itself isn't impressive today and its sequels are similar but just better overall, then why should we remember the original Star Soldier? To understand this we need a little history lesson


Star Soldier was created by and published Hudson Soft originally for the Nintendo Famicom in the summer of 1986, then getting published in the US later in 1989 for the NES. The game itself is a spiritual successor of sorts to the game Star Force, which Hudson published in 1985 to home systems but was developed by Tehkan, an early name of the company later known as Tecmo. Star Force as an arcade game and early space shooter was a decent success and ended up spawning some sequels later on, but once Hudson actually published Star Force this gave them the idea to do their own space shooter. Hudson then went on to partner with electronics company NEC and helped co-develop the PC-Engine console, so it made sense that the future games would release on that console. In later years the game saw several different re-releases on virtual consoles as well as a Gameboy Advance in Japan as part of their Famicom Classics line of games. With that being said what makes Star Soldier notable? 

To understand Star Soldier's story you have to understand the context of its release and the promotion centered around the game. Like I said earlier, Japan has always had more of an appreciation for space shooters. Xevious was still one of the biggest releases at this point and countless games took what made that work and stole that for their own games and Star Soldier is no exception. Also keep in mind that for the time when Star Soldier came out on Famicom it was considered graphically impressive. Keep in mind that in 1986 the Famicom Disk System had come out a few months prior, and people were used to the limitations of early Famicom games without the add-on chips that were more frequent in later releases on the system. Hudson was also had the advantage of being one of the earliest 3rd parties to release games on the Famicom, and so they had a decent pedigree when it came to their releases. All of this would've made for a great game upon release in Japan, but the thing that stands out in my mind that contributed to Star Soldier's success was the promotion around the game. 

Hudson had these events held in Japan known as Famicom Caravans, where they would travel across the country and hold competitions and activities where people could come and compete for high scores and play upcoming games. For 1986 it was way ahead of its time and a genius way to attract business for Hudson, but what was even smarter was that they filmed the events and had broadcasts about what went on at the events for people that weren't able to go in person. These videos also included a recurring character of sorts which was the game master himself Takahashi Meijin. Takahashi was known for his impressive skill at Star Soldier which was shown on the broadcasts giving viewers new strategies and secrets on how to get bonuses and high scores. He also was known for his incredible button pressing ability of around 16 times a second. With this button pressing along with game knowledge its no wonder how he was able to achieve such high scores. Takahashi went on to be a sort of mascot for Hudson in Japan not only in appearing adverts for Star Soldier, but also appeared in games like Adventure Island. In Japan, Adventure Island is actually known as "Takahashi Meijin no Bouken Jima". The story of Takahashi goes on after Star Soldier as well, where he goes on to help develop the idea of a turbo button on controllers as well as later becoming an executive of Hudson. 


This idea of promoting the game through live events with hands-on testing along with tips and tricks from one of the games best players has evolved so well in the digital age. Now if you want to play a game before it comes out, a lot of the time they'll either have demos available to download or they're out in early access so that you can show your support for a game while they're still tweaking it. Takahashi today would be the equivalent to an esports player or notable streamer where he's known for his gameplay skills first and you are able to learn from actually watching his gameplay. Hudson was also ahead of its time here as well. While not necessarily a full blown esport by this stage, you can see the inspiration start here with a company that supports its upcoming or current game by having competitions. Hudson in my mind is the first step in the evolution of major events like Capcom Cup or the International for Dota 2 where people can tune in and see people compete. Takahashi would also have an influence on the immediate future on the idea of a game guru of sorts. Nintendo and even Sega would have something similar in the states with hotlines where kids could call in to get advice from a game expert. These phone calls along with gaming publications like Nintendo Power or Gamepro were good for giving kids tips and tricks, but these weren't anywhere near the caravans that Hudson held that were televised. Keeping all this in mind its important to remember Hudson, Star Solider and Takahashi and their influence whether intentional or not on games today.

 With that being said, unfortunately the game didn't see as much success in the states. When the game was released in '89 so many more games graphically more advance and gameplay innovations evolving at such a rapid pace, Star Soldier was already outdated by the time it came out. For example games like Life Force, Section Z, and Zanac were all already released in '87 and '88, so what does Star Soldier offer in comparison to those games? Well nothing really, compared to those releases Star Soldier is lacking in content and not as impressive presentation wise. That doesn't mean that Star Soldier is a bad game. You control your start ship and kill pretty stereotypical enemies as you try to make your way to the end of the stage and fight a boss. Star Soldier does do a few things in order to stand out. For one, its scoring system is a little more advance than other games at the time with bonuses everywhere for you to find by shooting areas to make them appear, or shoot specific enemies in specific ways. For example at the end of every stage there are 2 eyeballs that you can shoot to make them shut and then explode, and if they both explode at the same time you get a major bonus. Star Solider also has you interact with the background in stages as well. Several times throughout stages you can go underneath the background to fly underneath it and avoid enemies. However this mechanic isn't implemented to the best of its ability because you can't tell which parts of the background you'll fly over or fly under. Lastly, the bosses are pretty repetitive with the same boss appearing for 3-4 stages in a row before a larger boss appears that you have to defeat. If you don't defeat the boss within an unspecified time limit, the boss will fly away and you'll have to replay the stage in order to get another shot. Barring a few annoyances of older game design, like the aforementioned background issues and the lack of an in game turbo, Star Soldier is still a good time. Enemy patterns are varied and the challenge is still there especially without a turbo button.


Star Soldier today doesn't hold a ton of merit in terms of a game worth replaying today compared to other games of its era. However the real value of Star Soldier today comes from looking at the game comparatively to when it came out. Takahashi Meijin was not only big during his time, but also influenced the industry in ways that we are still feeling the impact on today. Stories like this are part of the reason I love video games and their history. If you're interested in trying out Star Solider, its available on Nintendo Switch Online and I recommend giving it a try to see a little bit of history. 

Thanks for reading!