As a seasoned gamer with a heart full of nostalgia and an eye for innovation, UFO 50 has left me utterly spellbound. This isn’t just another retro collection; it’s a treasure trove of forgotten gems, a time capsule that’s been unearthed from the dusty corners of gaming history.
UFO 50, a collection of 50 retro-styled games with diverse offerings ranging from intense twitch action to puzzlers and RPGs, might initially appear to evoke nostalgia, but it offers more than just a throwback to the past. While it certainly borrows elements from classic games like Snake in Magical Garden or blends aspects of Kid Icarus and Downwell in Valtress, UFO 50 goes beyond mere imitation. Instead, it embraces the creativity born from game jam culture that thrived in the 2000s, as well as the original spirit of the NES itself.
From my perspective, UFO’s 50’s retro style serves two key functions. Initially, it ensures the games are economical in terms of resources. Each game is minimalistic in design, frequently lacking comprehensive tutorials. The majority of games feature just six controls to interact with. This mimics the enigmatic operations and continuous evolution of arcade games, but without the coin-operated system. The size of each game is intentionally limited to avoid overshadowing others. Instead, the emphasis is on mechanical depth and intricacy, a type of replayability that arises from thoughtful design rather than an abundance of content. The experience feels more like setting up an emulator filled with cult favorites compared to remembering Christmas as a child when you received your first 8-bit console.
In the second instance, these retro-themed games emphasize the unique choices and concepts within each title. For example, some UFO 50 games such as Campanella, its sequel, and The Big Bell Race share clear connections, while others like Waldorf’s Journey and Avianos seem to originate from distinct realms. Despite their differences in appearance and gameplay, all UFO 50 games appear to be constructed from the same basic elements: pixels, programming code, and a limited number of buttons. However, this simplicity opens up vast possibilities, making each new maneuver feel extraordinary.
Among the standout titles from the 1985 video game collection UFO 50, Mooncat stands out as a unique two-button platform puzzler. Initially, most of your time is spent figuring out how to maneuver the game. You control a mooncat-like creature with just two buttons, and mastering its movements requires understanding the intricate combinations and timings between these buttons. The actions include jumping, ground pounding, dashing, and moving left or right, but they are not executed in traditional ways, making conventional gaming knowledge obsolete. The graphics are quirky and somewhat sinister, with serene green fields inhabited by cute creatures transforming into ancient tombs filled with massive skeletons and barren deserts under a threatening red sky. Mooncat appears almost unbelievable as a commercial product even for 1985. Its inclusion among more conventional games highlights UFO 50’s experimental nature, as it often strays from established gaming genres.
Suitably, UFO 50’s storyline revolves around uncovering a forgotten library of games instead of revisiting popular titles from the past. The game begins with a scene depicting members of the UFO 50 team stumbling upon the game’s fictional console in an old storage unit, which is not a common find in gaming history or something you’d typically discover at your local vintage store. Instead, it has been overlooked. Unlike retro collections like The Sega Master Collection, where the main menu resembles a childhood bedroom, UFO 50’s main menu emphasizes the games themselves. The cartridges are displayed, but they are not neatly arranged on a shelf; instead, they are covered in dust and cobwebs. Choosing a game you haven’t played yet clears the dust from it. While this may seem charming, it creates an atmosphere of discovery rather than a typical basement setting.
Essentially, UFO 50 appears more like an exploration than a revisit to the past. Its aim is for you to discover, rather than rediscover, as there’s no past to return to. Even within UFO 50’s fictional universe, you’re experiencing these games in the present, not in some fictitious 1980s. The focus on exploration has a twofold benefit: it makes these games seem dynamic and encourages you to evaluate them based on their unique qualities, not just as replicas of the past. It strikes a balance between being fresh, respectable, and enjoyable.
Although I’ve significantly reduced the number of UFO 50 games, I find it still quite abundant. It comprises 50 full games! Each could be elaborately discussed on its own merit. However, its abundance lies not just in quantity but in the variety it presents. Compared to most big-budget video games that often repeat similar tasks and work towards a common goal, UFO 50’s games offer unique experiences each. Completing every game would require over a hundred hours, yet each stands as a complete experience by itself.
As a fervent admirer, I find a touch of wistfulness in the unique niche occupied by UFO 50. Critic Liz Ryerson characterizes UFO 50 as embodying a sense of lost purity in games, representing what they once were before they transformed into a colossal cultural powerhouse. Nowadays, video game business, or at least its major aspects, is rather confined to specific genres. Open-world games have devolved into Ubisoft’s bloatware, while live-service games strive for the commercial integration of Fortnite or the expansion of Genshin Impact. For over a decade, Call of Duty has ruled the first-person shooter domain. Mainstream games have shed their innovative spirit. UFO 50, in all its grandeur, perhaps represents the maximum scale an experimental game can encompass – though it’s still relatively modest compared to the mainstream.
Regardless, UFO 50 deserves recognition. I’ve frequently expressed my disappointment about the scarcity of Martin Scorcese-like figures in video game development. I don’t yearn for more crime stories or recurring themes of Catholic fear, but instead, I crave developers who appreciate video games’ history. I want creators who reference the past not as a mere fashion statement, but out of respect and a genuine desire to learn from it. They should seek to enrich our connection to the past, not to replace or enhance it, but to broaden and intensify our understanding of it. UFO 50 is a modest yet bold and thrilling step towards this goal.
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2024-12-22 19:39