There are only five

[Pitfall Harry]

There are only 5 unique videogames:

 

1. Pong

2. Space Invaders

3. Adventure

4. Video Chess

5. Pac-Man

 

All other videogames, from Channel F to X Box, are merely variations on one or more of these fundamental five.

 

Ben

[Noble Kale]

what about car racing games?

[Pitfall Harry]

Car racing games are Pac-Man. You race around a track(maze) while trying to cover the entire course(dots) and outracing your opponents(ghosts).

 

Car Racing games are also a little bit Pong. Avoid missing the turns for higher score.

 

Ben

[NE146]

What is Donkey Kong then? Adventure?

[Pitfall Harry]

Yes, Donkey Kong is mostly Adventure.

 

There's an element of Space Invaders to it, too, as Mario must also evade enemy fire(barrels) and sometimes shoot(with hammer) at advancing ememies.

 

Ben

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Am where would you put simulation games (M.U.L.E., Elite, SimCity, ...)?

[welshleo]

Err ... Probably under Chess. It's a simulation of a board game.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

quote:

---

Originally posted by David Wyn Davies:

Err ... Probably under Chess. It's a simulation of a board game.

 

---

Hm, then Pac-Man is a simulation of a labyrinth game, Pong is a simulation of a tennis game, Adventure is a simulation...

 

So, there is only one unique videogame!

[Viso]

Here's another fun one to categorize: the Japanese simulation game where you pilot a 747 and take passengers from one airport to another and have to do it on time. It is a Playstation 2 game. Silly Japanese

 

Plus, how about those games that revolve around music, like Frequency? Are they Space Invaders shooting notes?

 

I suppose networked capture the flag type games, like BZFlag, are Pac-Man + Video Chess games? The strategy is totally unrepresented in the five categories as is the requirement for teamwork.

[Nukey Shay]

How about that PS game where you control a little cutsie Nintendo-ish character and smack bad guys with your testicles?

 

Strange lot, those Japanese.

[Joel D. Park]

How about Mangia' ?

[Pitfall Harry]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Nukey Shay:

How about that PS game where you control a little cutsie Nintendo-ish character and smack bad guys with your testicles?

 

Strange lot, those Japanese.

---

 

Never played it. But it sure sounds an awful lot like a ball and paddle game to me.

 

Pong.

 

Ben

[Room 34]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pitfall Harry:

Never played it. But it sure sounds an awful lot like a ball and paddle game to me.

---

 

How do you translate a drum rim shot into text?

[Krytol]

Let's expand the "palette" a bit:

 

1. Pong

2. Space Invaders

3. Adventure

4. Video Chess

5. Pac-Man

6. Night Driver

7. Boxing

 

Tempest = Space Invaders+Night Driver

The Adventures of Lolo = Adventure+Video Chess

Battlezone = Space Invaders +Night Driver

Sky Jinks = Night Driver

Double Dragon = Boxing+Adventure

Donkey Kong = Night Driver + Adventure+Pac-Man

Metroid = Adventure+Pac-Man+Space Invaders

 

It's an imperfect theory.

 

[Chris++]

Well, any "perfect" theory wouldn't be worth discussing, now, would it!

 

I would suggest the addition of Robotron: 2084. Think about it: None of the generalizations include free movement while shooting and looking for things. The exploration part could be an Adventure derivative, sure; but Robotron and its ilk have inspired, with a different player perspective, everything from Wolfenstein 3-D and Doom to the newer things like Max Payne.

 

CF

[liveinabin]

I think you'd also have to add populous (or sim city, whatever) and definitely Tetris. Collosal Adventure has the text adventure bit sewn up too.

Oh yeah, strategy games...um...Archon?

Though I do generally agree, there aren't really many games in the world.

[Pitfall Harry]

You people are taking this thread too literally. I meant "only 5 unique games" as a general statement of how small the set of videogame fundamentals actually is. I don't have an exact number. This is videogames, not Bohr's Atomic Theory.

 

Nor are the five games I chose as fundamentals necessarily the earliest examples of their kind, but rather the most easily identified.

 

Yes, the "pallete" should be expanded a little. Hand-to-hand combat is quite a lot different from shooting at enemies from a distance a la Space Invaders. But think about it. There really aren't that many games, classic or modern, which cannot be categorized as elaborations on a very small set of fundamental genres which trace their roots back to simplistic Atari 2600 games. The Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time is an absolute marvel of modern gaming technology... but what is it really if it's not Adventure taken to spectacular heights?

 

Utilities like Clone Spy, while quite excellent at revealing blatant rip-offs, also tell you that Ms Pac-Man is an "original" game. But how original is it to take Pac-Man, stick a red bow on top of his head and publish a new title? Do you really sense the "originality" of Eggomania or Music Machine after you've played a few rounds of Kaboom!? 500 "unique" Atari 2600 videogames? I don't think so.

 

Drawing the line, determining where "uniqueness" begins and ends, can and will be debated differently by every classic videogame enthusiast until the end of time. For me, it is one of the leading reasons why I find them so compelling to collect.

 

Ben

[Chris++]

I almost forgot to mention that there are, fundamentally speaking, only five of Bohr's Atomic Theories:

 

(Just kidding.)

 

CF

[Thomas Jentzsch]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pitfall Harry:

Utilities like Clone Spy, while quite excellent at revealing blatant rip-offs, also tell you that Ms Pac-Man is an "original" game. But how original is it to take Pac-Man, stick a red bow on top of his head and publish a new title? Do you really sense the "originality" of

Eggomania

or

Music Machine

after you've played a few rounds of

Kaboom!

? 500 "unique" Atari 2600 videogames? I don't think so.

---

You are right, there are far less than 500 games with unique ideas. CloneSpy is only analyzing the code base and can tell that there are about 500 unique programmed games. And I think that was the original question of the other thread.

 

BTW: Music Machine isn't considered unique by CloneSpy, it "borrowed" more than 50% of code form Kaboom.

[ubersaurus]

Space War rules, just not the atari version ;p go with the arcade, or the vectrex, or even the old PDP-1 version.

[Pitfall Harry]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Thomas Jentzsch:

BTW:

Music Machine

isn't considered unique by CloneSpy, it "borrowed" more than 50% of code form

Kaboom

.

---

 

Heh. You would think the creators of a videogame purported to teach a christian audience the joys of leading a virtuous life would not have plagiarized half their code, especially from a game involving a homicidal maniac bent on blasting his victims to kingdom come.

 

"Thou shall not steal."

 

Ben

[Lastblade]

What about FMV games?? But i can see the influence of Adventure on Halo, LOL

[Room 34]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lastblade:

What about FMV games??

---

I am either ignorant or having a brain fart. What is FMV?

[Marco(2)]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Thomas Jentzsch:

You are right, there are far less than 500 games with unique ideas. CloneSpy is only analyzing the code base and can tell that there are about 500 unique

programmed

games. And I think that was the original question of the other thread.

 

BTW:

Music Machine

isn't considered unique by CloneSpy, it "borrowed" more than 50% of code form

Kaboom

.

---

 

Now who else finds it a creepy idea that a program tells us how many unique games we have? Silly tech boys are taking over this hobby!!!

 

More on this here.

 

Cheers,

 

Marco

[liquid_sky]

fmv = full motion video... like alot of mid 90s games.. or the laserdisc craze of days past.

 

I think the most interesting thing about that list is that many moidern games may incorperate an element of each of those into it.. like an action rpg for example.