East versus West Retro Games

[HC_O]

Just been reading the Amiga thread and got me thinking that personally I've never been a fan of Western originated games only thing I can think of were the Lucas Arts games, I really got into gaming in the late eighties on discovering Japanese games at the very start of the grey import scene in the UK, not only were the actual games much better but the game packaging on the imports was gorgeous.

Anyone else have a similar experiance?




Compared to william shatner...

[HC_O]

on the subject of bad game artwork I've just been reading this article:

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3158260

[Team Andromeda]

I really got into gaming in the late eighties on discovering Japanese games at the very start of the grey import scene in the UK, not only were the actual games much better but the game packaging on the imports was gorgeous.

I simply disagree with that . Has someone that started gaming with the Zx Spectrum I thought the West owned Japan through most of the 8 bit years , I don't agree with the notion that Japan was way out in front during the 16 bit years either .I've have a ton of Mega Drive games produced in the West, that are as good as anything that came from Japan , in fact in many ways Western developers pushed the machine harder than Japan programmers
I think many see it as more cool to be a fan of Japanese , than Western .

Also as a Big Dreamcast fan , I thought SEGA America BoxArt and pictures on the in-side lables , was better than the standard Japan DC BoxArt and cases by quite a large margin too

[Baseley09]

I have a penchant for game art like that western Strider one, I think that is quite good.

I'm not convinced about gameplay being better on either side of the pond, for instance Robocop on my Amstrad was the best looking, sounding and playing thing I'd ever had at the time, though in general I'd recomend that the art direction within games was better from Japan.

[HC_O]

I really got into gaming in the late eighties on discovering Japanese games at the very start of the grey import scene in the UK, not only were the actual games much better but the game packaging on the imports was gorgeous.

I simply disagree with that .

apologies I worded that badly I should of stressed this was just my personal taste in games, and its not a fact that east is better than west as everyone has different opinions on what they like.

[rmoxon]

The guy on the western cover actualy looks exactly like Gary Barlow, were Take That about back in 1990?

Maybe Capcom were trying to get teenage girls to buy Strider.

[Team Andromeda]

The guy on the western cover actualy looks exactly like Gary Barlow, were Take That about back in 1990?

Maybe Capcom were trying to get teenage girls to buy Strider.

I think its more that the Arist in question was given the wrong breif by SEGA west . It doesn't look anything like the Sword used inthe game for starters .
Speaking of Box Art, While most seem to hate them , I thought the Percy Pal Master System Box was the best . I loved the whole simple nature of them all . Classic in my eye's

[Baseley09]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bkFIPLIOGL8/RokKtCc429I/AAAAAAAABU0/8qGPToGxKlc/s1600-h/HardyJenns.jpg

[nakamura]

For me western devs owned the computer market in the west and eastern console devs owned the console market. Naturally there are exceptions, many great western console games etc but until certainly the current gen western devs at least I think Japan had the console market.

[Silanda]

apologies I worded that badly I should of stressed this was just my personal taste in games, and its not a fact that east is better than west as everyone has different opinions on what they like.

Personally I agree with your original assertion, to an extent anyway. The best Japanese arcade and platform style games on computers and consoles were better than their Western equivalents on the whole, and I don't care what anyone says. Western devs didn't seem to be able to produce a good scrolling shooter to save their lives (the much vaunted Xenon 2 sucked IMHO), and a lot of Western platformers relied far too much on using trial and error gameplay mechanics to add difficulty rather than simply making the game enjoyable. To be fair a lot of Japanese games were overly frustrating too, but it seems that more got it right than in the west. It just feels to me that for traditional games the Western dev houses didn't seem to move on very quickly from the way the earliest games played. It tended to be the Japanese devs that actually pushed gameplay design. I still go back and play Japanese games that I liked from years ago and enjoy them, on the other hand I never play the Western games I enjoyed anymore as virtually every time I have I've just been left thinking "This is crap". I've just found that a lot of old C-64 and Amiga games were great in my memories but play badly now, so I don't want to spoil any more memories.

In some other genres however, such as simulations and sports games, I feel the Western devs were far, far, ahead. Also there are no real Japanese equivalents to games such as the Lucasarts PC games, which I view as masterpieces. RPG's are a bit of a tie IMHO. I didn't really like the early Western or Japanese ones that much, but I did tend to play the Western ones more.

[JazzFunk]

^Excellent post, probably because I almost completely agree with you 100%(!)

I was kind of spoiled, I grew up with very regular trips to the seaside and incredible access to 80s arcade games, I was brought up on Capcom and Konami and SEGA (when they were still SEGA). Despite some top-notch games by Atari and Bally Midway, the absolute cream of the crop arcade titles were pretty much exclusively Japanese in origin.

When Atari got it down pat in gameplay terms, their games - though many of which were and still ARE incredible - resorted to repetition and ever-increasing difficulty (Asteroids, PaperBoy, Gauntlet, Star Wars etc.) whereas if you were playing a Jap-programmed game of the same period, you would experience a progression throughout levels, there would be different backgrounds, enemies, music, bosses, and this is what made those games feel so special, you couldn't wait to see what would come next, and these games just looked, sounded and felt more stylish, more progressive.

MD Strider VS MD Strider 2 is a perfect example of the disparity between the Eastern retro ethos and the Western retro ethos.

As for point n' clickers, Japs be **** at them. Us Westerners are the masters.

Plus, in regards to Xenon 2.... I hated it when it came out, I hate it even more now, and Bomb The Bass were a ****e band. A truly rubbish, jerky, flabby, uninspired shooter, can some fellow haters please emerge from the woodwork?

[nakamura]

Plus, in regards to Xenon 2.... I hated it when it came out, I hate it even more now, and Bomb The Bass were a ****e band. A truly rubbish, jerky, flabby, uninspired shooter, can some fellow haters please emerge from the woodwork?

Sure, I thought it was rubbish! Same with Project X as well.

[CMcK]

Xenon 2 was pish. Jerky movement and laggy controls. A far cry from the arcade shooters of the day. And Project X while quite easy on the eyes was unreasonably difficult by design.
But X-Out was a euroshmup that was good. Even on the C64.

[samanosuke]

Xenon 2 was pish. Jerky movement and laggy controls. A far cry from the arcade shooters of the day. And Project X while quite easy on the eyes was unreasonably difficult by design.
But X-Out was a euroshmup that was good. Even on the C64.

Add Apidya and Uridium to those exceptions but not the rule.

[ShadowDancer]

The guy on the western cover actualy looks exactly like Gary Barlow, were Take That about back in 1990?

Maybe Capcom were trying to get teenage girls to buy Strider.

You sir have made my day (you are bloody right too)