Module Two "Chapter One Book Work"

Chapter One Book Work

Question 2 Game play mechanics across different platforms.

Page 30 GALAGA

The look of the game as it travels across the different mediums may be the same, but as it leaves the 200 lb shell of the standing coin-op arcade game and takes on the form of a handheld game or one that uses the controllers of a platform game, the feel of it can change entirely. I will be using the game Galaga as an example. Falling in love with this game in 1984 I can remember waiting all week for my parents to take me to the restaurant on the weekends that had this game. My father and I would pump quarter after quarter in and play for hours while my mom rolled her eyes at the booth. Galaga has held a special place in my heart ever since, so naturally as I grew up I picked up the title on each of the platforms I have had, from the Atari to the PS3. Each port of the game, while looking and playing the same was missing something. Moving from a large joystick to a small hand held joystick with one red button of the Atari or to ergonomic thumb controllers of the later platforms just didn't seem to work for me, was the magic gone? I wasn't about to think so. While searching Craig's list last year I found and interesting title "Moving Arcade games for sale" after opening the my eyes quickly found the word GALAGA and promptly called. Luckily the listing had just went live and before long I was on my way to purchase the full size coin-op of my favorite game. After getting it home and setting it up in my office I quickly realized what was missing from all the later incarnations of the game, the tactile sensation and emersion of walking up to an unmoving monolith of entertainment that dazzled the senses with a marquee light, sounds that made you curious and pulled you into the experience that is interfacing with a full size coin-op. No other platform could capture this, the hand held was to small, the platforms allowed you to sit in a comfortable position some feet away from the screen removing the over all feel of a confrontation, nothing could capture what the designers of the original game had designed into the "Arcade Experience" Walking up to a game dropping a quarter in and expecting the challenge, as large as the player it felt like a wild west show down, you and the machine, taking the full size stick in hand and large buttons being pressed franticly, you were in the moment. In conclusion some games even though the graphic and game play mechanics are the same on each port, can loose the overall experience of the original game, each incarnation after the first was an attempt to capture and preserve the nostalgia of the arcade, but could not pull it off because the fundamental experience had changed.