As stated in my previous Gaming B.I. column, the How To series of books have been among my favorite for quite some time. Even though it could get quite hokey at times, such as the classic Nyntendough bit, it actually did have information that was actually useful for players unfamiliar with a game or just starting it out. Also, whether or not you agreed with the Rovin stance on a game's review, he wasn't afraid to lay his opinion on the table. Most importantly, though, when I pick up a How To book for my hard-earned $3, I don't expect vague ramblings. This brings me to a great little tome from 1989 - The Hot Games by Randi Hacker.
To bring back an example from my original post, to slap together a video games book back in the '80s, seemingly all you had to do was point out the obvious. For example, the title of the book alludes me at the moment right now since my collection is spread over four different places, but this is seriously a tip given to players that they spent money for:
"Q: Are there any codes in this game?
A: No."
See, it's easy. However, The Hot Games takes it one step further with complete ambiguity:
"BONUS SEGA EASTER EGG TIP: Play around with the buttons. Press them in the right combination and in certain games you'll become invincible."
"BONUS SEGA EASTER EGG TIP: By pressing the right combination of buttons on the control pad, you can listen to the music from all levels of the game you're playing."
And you also get game-changing secrets for games such as Zelda II: The Adventure of Link like "Don't let the Octarods get you!" and let's not forget that in Castlevania, "Don't worry about Frankstein. He's harmless."
Accuracy comes in to play here as well as the book states that Kirk Cameron said "he's rescued the princess in Super Mario Brothers 2 'a million times'!" I suppose saving the princess in that title is pretty easy, though, considering she is a selectable character that follows the cast around for the entire game. On the next page, someone also claims to have a near 10-million score in Super Mario Brothers 2, a game that has no scoring.
But let's not hark too much on the annoyances of this book, as there are some merits to found in this publication. First and foremost, the book does have an interesting comparison of hardware between the NES and Master System and gives readers an "advanced" look at upcoming hardware and peripherals. The games strategies do provide some decent passwords and codes that would be a hot commodity in a world before GameFAQs and in actuality, I don't recall seeing too many books back during that time, which dared to combine the topics of Nintendo and Sega. And while it seems cheesy today, there is a chapter dedicated to social gaming and game exchange clubs - the stuff of dreams way back when.
The book even dares to go behind the scenes and look at the industry from the standpoint of the developers and publishers themselves, leading us to an interview with this trio:
One of those gentlemen looks pretty familiar ...
The book catches up with Bill Kunkel and Arnie Katz as part of Subway Software while they work on the NES title Ringling Brothers' Circus Games.
"Q: What goes into designing a video game?
BILL: Well, first there's the brainstorming session. That's great. We, at Subway Software, all just sit around and think up ideas. We just let our minds go wild. We say "What if ..." and try to come up with situations that might make fun video games.
Q: What else goes into designing a game?
BILL: Well, we have to draw storyboards. A storyboard is a series of detailed drawings that show exactly what each screen will look like. The drawings that show exactly what each screen will look like. The drawings show the position of objects in a screen and how the characters will move. The storyboard shows the programmer what action to program."
The chapter has a bunch of interesting items about Subway Software such as developing for Beverly Hills Cop, Bill's time working on comics and more.
Overall, the book is 79 pages of '80s gaming goodness and even though the tips and secrets might be quite lame, the book takes people into the industry a little more than most books of its time that consist of nothing more than strategy and cheat codes. Here's hoping for some good stories from Bill on this one ....
No comments:
Post a Comment