Do You Want A Franchise With That?
Games franchises, the good, the bad and the ugly.
Look at some original games from yesteryear like Urban Chaos, Final Fight, Fighting Force, and Altered Beasts. I enjoyed all these games and they were great on their respective consoles. What the companies decided to do after they had attained a status (in my case) of wistful nostalgia was violate them in front of my eyes. The companies used the title of the game to sell something detached from the original. Games like Urban Chaos: Riot Response, Final Fight: Streetwise, Fighting Force 2 or Altered Beasts (PS2).
They used a ‘brand’ in this case to imbue a product with a certain expectation-that it will be good. In my case when I played these games it was like someone had given me a large shiny present and I had opened it in fervour only to find the recipient had taken a dump in it. I was not pleased.
Companies also use this trick not only to make a ‘sequel’ to a game but also to create spinoffs. The most established franchises have done this to death with many incarnations. Mario and Sonic have birthed many ‘special’ gaming nephews like Dr. Mario and Sonic Pinball. Dead or Alive have also thrown their hat (or more aptly, bikini) into the ring with DOA: Beach Volleyball and a new title named Paradise for the PSP. In Paradise you assume the role of a voyeuristic man hiding in a bush gawking a hot pixelated side-boob. I think the real challenge will be how I plan to play the game with one hand and pleasure myself with the other while riding the train to work.
There are obviously some exceptions to the rule and I can think of a few games franchises that have delivered and matured like a fine wine over the years. Ones that stand out for me would be Nippon Ichi’s turn-based-strategies (Disgae, Grim Grimoire etc) and the Tales series (Symphonia, Vesperia). The development teams of these games strike the right balance between the drooling fan-boy and evolving their game with each incarnation.
So franchises are what you make them to be, you can sell out and have your protagonist doing anything from saving the world to cracking open Pikachu’s head ala Super Smash Bros. Fans expect a games quality to increase in each version while keeping its identifiable core. Franchising equates to success which means money and some companies can value it over integrity.
There is also one resounding element we have to think about and perhaps it’s the most powerful. The ‘fan-boy’ factor. This is developer gold in gaming; we’re all guilty of being one. We all get misty-eyed and moist mouthed when the prospect of a new game comes out. Take Pokemon for example, they change tiny things each time but still people (myself included) go and purchase these games. There usually isn’t even that much deliberation because the power of the franchise surpasses all conscious thought. The second it’s released it’s like a trigger word for a Russian assassin. You don’t know anything is wrong until you’re standing in a hotel room with blood on your hands. The corpse of a Peruvian dictator on the floor with a fork stuck in his throat.
Or, in a games case, sat on your bed staring blankly into a screen, emaciated and covered in your own filth. It convinced you that you don’t need food or to relieve yourself, just Pokemon-just one more badge.
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Apr 8, 2010 13:45:58 (Apr 8, 2010 13:45)
