For generations, Japanese games have been one of the most played games over the world. This evolution begun during the early 70’s where there was nothing else but video games as entertainment.
Team Super Sugoii have listed down few of the popular Japanese Games and its evolution.
1. Space Invaders — 1978
Considered as a pioneer, this video game was developed by Tomohiro Nishikado. This was an arcade game of the 70s which drew inspiration from other popular games like Breakout and Gunfight. The storyline is based on science fiction similar to The War of the Worlds and the colossally popular Star Wars. Space Invaders was one of the best-selling video games and a highest grossing entertainment product of its time.
Source: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Space-Invaders-Arcade-Game-Mouse/dp/B01F1CGVQI
2. Pac-Man — 1980
Who has not heard of the simple trendy game Pac-man? Namco, the Gaming Giants, had first released this game in Japan as PUCK-MAN. Designed by Toru Iwatani this game is till now considered to be one of the icons of 1980’s pop culture. It created a whole new genre and is one of the highest grossing video games of all time.
Source: https://goo.gl/images/AwUXvQ
3. Donkey Kong — 1981
Are you a fan of fantasies? Right from the format to the trendy music, Donkey Kong by Nintendo in 1981 ended up being one of the most important games from the golden age of arcade video games. Shigeru Miyamoto, the mastermind behind this game, drew his inspiration of games like Popeye, Beauty and Beast and King Kong. The success of this game helped Nintendo gain dominance over the video game market of 80s.
Source: https://goo.gl/images/a7eDNp
4. Mario — 1985
Mario oh Mario! How could we miss you? More often than not, if somebody is asked a question ‘Do you play Video Games?’ it is followed by the response ‘Yes, I love Gaming! Especially Super Mario!’
This cult game is considered to be one of the greatest video games ever created. Developed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka Super Mario Brothers helped in popularising side-scrolling video games. It is by far one of the prominent aspects of pop-culture today. Till date, this game has sold more than 40.24 million copies which is considered to be one among the all time top grossing video games of all time.
Source: https://goo.gl/images/mYZSXi
5. Street Fighter — 1991
More often than not, the depiction of gaming culture of 90s is immortalised by a face-off sequence between the characters of Street Fighter. The first ever competitive game created by Capcom, Street Fighter has sold more than 40 billion software copies and 500,000 hardware copies during it’s run. Often considered to be one among the top played fighting games of all time, Street Fighter was not only a huge hit but also provided to be an inspiration for other companies to dig into the genre of competitive games.
Source: https://goo.gl/images/xJFrge
6. Sonic the Hedgehog — 1991
Drawing reference from Super Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto for SEGA and was known for it’s faster gameplay. The characters in the game were first designed as a mascot for SEGA which was later developed into a full fledged game. This game proved to be an inspiration for many clone games and mascot game genre in the future. It has proven to be one of the all-time favourites in the gaming segmant.
Source: https://goo.gl/images/tsXZJS
7. Mario Kart — 1992
Riding on the success of Super Mario, another version of a game using their characters was created in the 90s. This time, it was the first ever kart racing game by Nintendo. This game went on to be the 4th best selling game in the SNES market.
Produced by Shigeru Miyamoto and directed by Tadashi Sugiyama and Hideki Konno, The speciality about this game was that it did not just have racing mode but also had a ‘battle’ mode which made the game even more competitive for the gamers.
Source: https://goo.gl/images/YpRK2t
Encouraged by the evolution of games, multiple gaming brands started producing games along the similar concept of the above mentioned games. With the technological advancement, companies are taking the user experience to a whole new levels through artificial intelligence and virtual reality amongst other things. But one must never forget the origin of all of these games. Sometimes walking down the memory lane and remembering nostalgic gaming sessions as kids with your friends is the best memory ever.
