PlayStation 2 can't compare with old school Nintendo
By Jeff Baltruzak
Short Circuits
During vacation, I played "NFL Madden 2001" while in "party mode" at another institution of higher learning known as UCLA.
This "party mode" made me both more relaxed and confident that I could judge just how fun PlayStation2 is, especially for potential players in my condition.
My friend Jeff, who was also "feelin' groovy," picked up the PlayStation controllers with me. We immediately tried to find the A and B buttons, and Select and Start if possible. But we couldn't.
What led to our confusion? There were lots of buttons on the controllers, in lots of colors. They had weird symbols on them like an X, a circle and a triangle, but no A button or B button.
Once Jeff and I finally made it past the opening screen, we had to make countless choices about the game we were going to play. Choice after choice after choice concerning difficulty level, the stadium and the weather conditions.
We started to play, and I had to pick almost 100 plays every time. I just wanted to run up the middle on third-and-9 in honor of my personal hero Bob Davie, but I couldn't find the play.
The sharper graphics of PlayStation2 didn't really do anything for me, because it was all blurry anyway.
Not surprisingly, I don't remember who won, and I didn't care. We quit after a half because it took forever. It just wasn't fun for someone who "didn't know when to say when."
We returned to Jeff's dorm and decided to play an old classic, "Tecmo Super Bowl" for the good ol' Nintendo. I had to blow on the game for a while, and fidget with the Nintendo, but it eventually worked.
Unlike the high-tech PlayStation2 games, "Tecmo Super Bowl" has eight plays and uses only two buttons. The graphics look like a first grader drew them with his left hand. Most of the players featured in the game are now retired and selling knives door to door.
When you score a touchdown, "Tecmo" shows the same animation every time. There is no instant replay. You can't go for two. The quarterback for the Raiders is Jay Schroeder. Oh, and that's the Los Angeles Raiders.
But despite having too much "nectar of the gods" that night, I could still play Tecmo like a champ. Bo Jackson ran for 200 yards. I laughed when I scored, I cried when I lost (not really), but most importantly, I had a great time.
"Super Tecmo Bowl" is the most fun game I've ever played. Its simplicity makes it fun. You can actually talk (or slur) to someone while you play. It doesn't consume all your attention like "Madden 2001" and kill your "fun buzz."
I believe that in many cases, video game designers design the fun right out of their games. With each extra button, they make the game that much more complicated and that much more difficult to master.
The majority of today's games are marketed at hard-core video game players that find new ripples as personal challenges.
But many people just want to pick up the controller and have fun, not spend time trying to learn how to play the game. These are the people that don't get video game magazines, or go on the Internet to find out how to beat a level.
For those of us who like these kind of fun games and who traded their Nintendo for an autographed Ron Powlus football, I also suggest "Mario Tennis" for the Nintendo 64.
"Mario Tennis" is really simple and really fun. It has easier levels that can be mastered quickly, and much more challenging modes for those hard-core folks trying to fill their time in between Dungeons and Dragons tournaments.
"Madden 2001" is a good game, so good you might confuse it with an actual NFL game. But there comes a point where if you want to become that real and that in-depth into football, you should just get nine friends together and go play in the park.
Or revert back to the days of Nintendo. Sometimes simple 8-bit graphics and old school players are just more fun.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Scene Stories for Wednesday, February 7, 2001
