Modem
ph33r teh hammy!
Some of those games you mentioned are indeed just copies of great games... the thing is that you can only do so many things with a sidescroller. Some weren't so much copying eachother as they were *trying* to improve on a already good thing.
Take Mario/Sonic. By the time the first sonic came out, I believe they already had at least 3 or 4 Mario games. Sonic was ment to be a more fast paced and harder game than the Mario series up to that point. Not much in common with Mario other than a sidescroller. Earthorm Jim as well. The only thing it has in common with the other sidescrollers (as all do) is powerups. That game is ment to be a funny and entertaining sidescoller. Not anything more than that, really. People, including reviewers in magazines, loved EwJ 1&2 on the genisis. And that one even spawned a good cartoon that lasted a couple years (as of course, did Mario and Sonic, haha).
Bubsy and Coolspot are good examples, however, of copying. They came out at the point when sidescollers were popular, and they weren't given much thought other than decent graphics for it's time.
My point is that not *all* (most yes, but not all sidescolling games) were crappy copies. You just chose a couple of gems that the only thing they really did have in common with other sidescolleres, is that they ARE sidescollers. You can only do so many things with sidescolling games.
P.S.
AlphaWolf, I understand you there somewhat. There are a few games that's easy to get into and keep playing for years (Halflife (PS2 & PC), Final Fantasy series to name a couple.), but most, do indeed get boring. But the conclusion I've come up with after thinking about it for a while is that, as we get older, our tastes get better, so it's harder for us to keep entertained with the smallest things that were so easy to get into when we were little. Quite a few NES games I used to love as a kid I don't really like anymore. But there are still more games than not that I like.
- Modem
Take Mario/Sonic. By the time the first sonic came out, I believe they already had at least 3 or 4 Mario games. Sonic was ment to be a more fast paced and harder game than the Mario series up to that point. Not much in common with Mario other than a sidescroller. Earthorm Jim as well. The only thing it has in common with the other sidescrollers (as all do) is powerups. That game is ment to be a funny and entertaining sidescoller. Not anything more than that, really. People, including reviewers in magazines, loved EwJ 1&2 on the genisis. And that one even spawned a good cartoon that lasted a couple years (as of course, did Mario and Sonic, haha).
Bubsy and Coolspot are good examples, however, of copying. They came out at the point when sidescollers were popular, and they weren't given much thought other than decent graphics for it's time.
My point is that not *all* (most yes, but not all sidescolling games) were crappy copies. You just chose a couple of gems that the only thing they really did have in common with other sidescolleres, is that they ARE sidescollers. You can only do so many things with sidescolling games.
P.S.
AlphaWolf, I understand you there somewhat. There are a few games that's easy to get into and keep playing for years (Halflife (PS2 & PC), Final Fantasy series to name a couple.), but most, do indeed get boring. But the conclusion I've come up with after thinking about it for a while is that, as we get older, our tastes get better, so it's harder for us to keep entertained with the smallest things that were so easy to get into when we were little. Quite a few NES games I used to love as a kid I don't really like anymore. But there are still more games than not that I like.
- Modem
