Spaceworld Speculations: Part 1

00-08-21 - Dave - 

With Spaceworld just around the corner, we've decided to play a little game.  The staff here at GBD (all 2 of us) are each going to write a quick editorial on what we think Spaceworld will bring.  After the whole thing is over, we'll look back and see how we did.  Let the speculations begin!

We've got 12 games announced already, most with at least one screenshot available.  Is that enough?  In the days before the PSX, I would have said it's more than I ever could have dreamed of...but now things are different.  I predict that tons of games will be on display.  (whee! isn't that a surprise?)

The side-scroller genre, despite the protests of....everyone everywhere, is here to stay until the portable gets full 3-D capabilities.  At least the 1st gen. side-scrollers will be decent, and the graphics will be impressive enough to help us overlook the flaws.  But after that 1st wave?  I predict we'll be seeing, once again, complete and total misuse of the genre as a panacea for popular licenses combined with lazy (or, to be fair, under-paid and under-appreciated) developers and short development times.

This will be the return of the RPG. I believe in it.  I know it.  There is no way that true, turn-based, save the world from the evil dude, can not triumph on the GBA.  Anyone who knows anything about gaming can tell you that the SNES was the golden age of RPGs (perhaps even of gaming in general), with masterpieces such as Final Fantasy 2 and 3, Chrono Trigger, and Earthbound, along with great Action-RPG hybrids like Illusion of Gaia, Secret of Evermore, and Secret of Mana.  And now, the GBA is being heralded as a portable SNES.  Can you see my visions of this RPG heaven?  If you can't now, just wait a few days, till we get tons of info on Golden Sun and other, yet to be announced RPGs.

Puzzle games are the obvious choice for any handheld system. Period.  As much as I anticipate those RPGs, puzzle games, when done correctly (a la Tetris, Bust-a-Move, and Hexcite) have limitless replay.  And since Hexcite X has already been announced,  I'm willing to bet we will see more of this genre than we ever did before.  But...puzzle games are very difficult to market, and despite relatively low development costs and no real need for any licenses, I predict that publishers will still have a tendency to shy away from this sometimes risky genre.  But...who know...maybe we'll have screenshots of the next Tetris before the week is over.

As a side note:  I doubt all this ado about connectivity.  While the idea is very very intriguing and very very interesting and very very exciting, I think that the cost of buying both the Cube game and the GBA game, which could easily approach $100, will mostly negate any extra features.  If Nintendo is smart, we might start seeing package deals...selling the GBA and Cube games in one big box, or putting the 2 separate boxes together and inserting a key chin (whoop-dee-doo-da-day!).  Honestly? I don't see that happening.  I can't recall a single instance of a retailer selling a 64 game and it's GBC counterpart together at a lower cost...and why should they if consumers will continue to buy them separately at higher costs?

That's my speculation and I'm sticking to it...but not very strongly.