Nick Thorpe’s 1998 - Part 3
Nick Thorpe had quite the 1998 when it came to gaming, as you can read about in Part 1 and Part 2 of this interview. Spanning a range of consoles from Master System to Mega Drive to Sony PlayStation he had a nice cross section of a decade or more of gaming. However, what of the games that were released in 1998? There’s no shortage of titles to choose from, but in the opinion of a long time gamer and games journalist, what were Nick’s picks?
We already talked about the excitement we both had for Sonic Adventure in 1998 (also covered in a showcase here), and no prize for guessing that Sega’s flagship Dreamcast title made the list; “[Sonic Adventure is] a game that I so much love for. I think when people assess it these days, they tend to think of it in the context of the GameCube release in 2003. And by that point, the game was already five years old (!), and it would look more dated compared to what was out [in 2003]. [When you consider it came out in 1998, and compare it to] contemporary things like Banjo-Kazooie, the scale and ambition of [Sonic Adventure] was just enormous! And it's hard to appreciate that without the context of the time. And you know, obviously it has its occasional technical errors, but to be honest, show me a 3d platform game of that era that doesn't.”
Dreamcast Magazine #1 gives Sonic Adventure a very positive 90% score.
Another game we’ve already covered in loving detail on this website is the legendary Metal Gear Solid which also left a lasting impression on Nick, partly because a certain infamous nuance of the game caused him to hit a major brick wall in progress; “Metal Gear Solid only came out in ‘99 in the UK, but hoo-boy, there’s a funny story for that one. I rented it the first time I played it, and they sent it in a rental box [instead of the full retail box]. And you can probably tell where this is going…” For those not aware, Metal Gear Solid requires players to look on the back of the game box to find a radio frequency. This radio frequency calls a character that is essential for completing the game. Getting the game in rental packaging meant that it wasn’t possible to find the radio frequency! “I had to go back to the shop to look [at the original box] to make progress! But that was a completely different type of game for me to experience, like I'd never played anything with a prominent stealth element before. Just the level of production value that Metal Gear Solid had! The voice acting was, like, competent! Which was not nearly a given for that era! The cinematography was something else. I mean, I can remember my mum being impressed by it, because when Snake was outside, you could see his breath in the cold. That was that was a massive deal! That was one of my favourite games from that year.” Indeed Metal Gear Solid has attention to detail that still impresses 25 years later.
Yes, you needed to look at the back of the box to get an essential piece of information. It was very unlikely you had the internet in 1998 to search for it if you didn’t have the box handy!
As Nick looked for some inspiration, he went through his collection and found a Sega Saturn swan song; “I'm just looking at some of the stuff in my collection now, like Burning Rangers. I have a lot of love for [Burning Rangers], I think if there's any game from 1998 that I would like to see remade, Burning Rangers is it.” Nick says that a remake is for this particular game is something of a controversial take though. “Burning Rangers is special because of what it made the Saturn do, [but also,] you can see the Saturn is straining under the weight of what it is being asked to do. There's a lot of polygon drop out, and some points at which it really chugs, performance wise. It would be lovely to see it given a fresh coat of technological paint as it were, because I think the core concept of the firefighting is always interesting to me. When you have an enemy that isn't a directed enemy, a deliberate enemy, [but rather] is a natural phenomenon. Which is why I like games like Burning Rangers, Fire Heroes (2004), Raw Danger! (2007), stuff like that. I played Burning Rangers a year or two ago on stream and had a great time with it. I still think it's very good. I would love to see it remade all the same.” If you’d like to read more about Burning Rangers, we also covered it in a showcase here.
Burning Rangers was a beacon of light when Sega Saturn releases were drying up. It also served as a showcase of what the console could really do when pushed!
As we ran down memory lane, a handful more titles came to mind and rattled off some memories back and forth.
“Crash Bandicoot 3 (AKA Crash Bandicoot Warped, also covered on this very site!) is very good. But I actually didn't play it as much as [Crash Bandicoot 2 (1997)].” Nick attributes this to not picking up Warped until well after he’d been lured to a Sega Dreamcast console. Well, it’s never too late to enjoy a good game!
“Although it was released in 1997 [in Japan], Gran Turismo came to the UK in 1998. And that was a big deal. Because the breadth of that game was unlike anything else at the time. And also, like, visually, it was on another level as well. And now I'm looking at it a game that I didn't appreciate in 1998, or indeed until years later, was Guilty Gear”. Unlike Gran Turismo which became a darling of the video game press, Guilty Gear wasn’t entirely universally praised. “I remember [Guilty Gear] getting an absolutely horrible review score [in a magazine]. Something like three out of ten! It was savaged! And it's [a game] where it's messy, and I understand it's not as polished as something like the Street Fighter Alpha games, or even Mortal Kombat Trilogy (1996) [...] but the concept is strong enough and the execution just about good enough, even if the AI is super un-fun to fight against. I have really grown to appreciate Guilty Gear over the years.”
Guilty Gear gets a very middling 3/5 in CVG #200.
Another game from his Saturn collection catches his eye, although it’s a series that Nick appreciates not because of, but despite its theme of undead monster slaying; “I don’t like zombies. But I do have the Saturn version of The House of the Dead…” The Sega Saturn port of The House of the Dead came out in 1998, and despite not being arcade perfect, was a pretty damn fun game considering the limitations. 1998 was also the year the exceptional sequel, The House of the Dead 2 was released in arcades! “I've always liked The House of the Dead games. Because they give me a sense of agency. Resident Evil 2 is a fantastic game! But I don't enjoy playing it because the survival horror mechanics combined with the context of zombies kind of stresses me out. With The House of the Dead, I've got as many bullets as I can possibly want. And have a feeling of agency in a sense that I'm not being overwhelmed. And you know, I don't ever make it to the end of the [The House of the Dead] games, although I used to be able to get pretty far on one credit. But I do like both of those games because they're exceptionally well constructed light gun games.”
Resident Evil 2; Amazingly good game, but also one that can be incredibly stressful!
Nick also would be remiss to not include a game that showcases his love of off-road, metal twisting, car crash excitement (in video games, of course. It’s much less messy and expensive in the virtual world) by mentioning the funk-tastic Vigilante 8. “I really liked vehicular combat games. I really enjoyed Twisted Metal 2 (1996), and Vigilante 8 kind of felt like that but more refined, and was a bit more wacky [in personality] rather than the fairly dark theme that Twisted Metal had. I can't say it's the best game ever, or anything like that, but did I have a lot of fun with it? Heck, yes, I did!”
Vigilante 8 is pure carnage (no pun intended). Play it today!
Finally, there’s a game from 1998 that has a very special place in Nick’s heart, as it was a game that launched something very special for him; “A more offbeat [game] would be No One Can Stop Mr. Domino!”. A PlayStation puzzle game with a bizarre premise and addictive gameplay. “No One Can Stop Mr. Domino! is actually a special game for me because I first experienced it on the PlayStation demo disc. Didn't get it until years later, like 2013 I think I picked it up. And when it came time for my first interview with Imagine Publishing for the Retro Gamer job, they gave me a couple of sort-of ‘test’ exercises. One was to proof a page from GamesTM, and one was to write a short 400 word piece on a retro game of my choice. I wrote about [No One Can Stop Mr. Domino!, and] how Mr. Domino terrorised everyone in his path up until the climax of the game where he makes it to the top of a tall building, and there's nowhere for him to go but down. It was a little bit weird and dark. It got me the job! Yeah, that one was a big deal for me.”
So, there you go, not only did Nick enjoy the games of 1998 for recreation, but one special game, one that might slip under the radar of most gamers, actually landed him a very long-lasting job at one of the best-selling gaming mags around! Hopefully this inspires others (present company included) to check out some of the lesser-known games of your favourite era, there’s endless quality titles to be found.
If you’ve enjoyed this interview, please do make sure to check out Nick’s Twitch channel where he regularly streams both new and old games at https://www.twitch.tv/hkt3030.
And if you enjoy reading about classic games, be sure to check out his and others’ amazing work at Retro Gamer magazine. Follow them on social media at https://twitter.com/RetroGamer_Mag.
Who knew such an unassuming title could inspire such creativity in writing?