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Look back at the game industry 30 years ago
In 1991, the popular horse Emperor Tokai in the popular mobile game "Horse Racing Lady Pretty Derby" won the Gao Yue Award and the Japanese Derby Championship in this year, and won the titles of Representative Horse of the Year, the Best Male Horse Over 4 Years Old, and the Best Father's Domestic Horse. And around the world, the collapse of the behemoth, the Soviet Union, became the headline that shook everyone.
In the gaming industry, MD's peripheral hardware "Mega CD" was officially released on December 12, 1991. By adding "Mega CD", MD will be able to read CD-ROM discs with a larger capacity than traditional cartridges, and will be able to play original soundtracks containing songs and voiceovers, allowing it to better display the thick BGM and large lines in the game. In addition, the hardware is well received as a purely music CD playback device.
What were some of the things that drove gamers crazy in 1991?
30 years ago, in 1991, which games were the most sought after by gamers? The following will be based on the "91 Most Popular Game Awards" project published by Fami Tong at that time, and combined with the editors' own most impressive works, we will briefly introduce the most topical game works of the year.
The "1991 Best Game Awards" is a project for Fami Tong readers to vote for the most popular games from December 1990 to November 1991, and its final list is as follows:
Final Fantasy IV (SFC)
The fourth installment of Square's (now Square Enix) RPG masterpiece, the Final Fantasy series, was released on July 19, 1991. As the first game in the series to land on an SFC console, its rich colors, exquisite graphics and high-quality sound effects have enchanted countless players.
The game contributes to the protagonist Dark Knight Cecil's arduous journey to become a paladin, the betrayal of his friend The Dragon Knight Cain, the sacrifice of Parom and Polom, and many other thought-provoking classic bridges. In addition, the setting of the Four Heavenly Kings of Gobez is also memorable.
In terms of combat, the ATB system, which has been used since then, was first used in this game, changing the traditional command-based turn-based combat of the previous games to a mode that requires real-time operation and sequential control of character actions, making the battle more tense.
Kombat Whirlwind (SFC)
The action game became popular after the arcade version on December 14, 1989, and was officially ported to the SFC platform on December 21, 1990. As a side-scrolling action game that constantly defeats the enemy to advance the level, this game will be set in the super-crime city of Metro City, where players need to control the martial arts highly skilled Cody and the mayor Haag, who was once a street wrestler.
The refreshing combat experience created by powerful and individual characters, colorful action moves, and a variety of available items has left countless players addicted to it. Although there are hardcore techniques such as "swinging fists" in the game, the basic operation is very simple, and even children can fully enjoy the fun of this game. Unfortunately, the SFC version of Kombat Whirlwind only supports single-player play, which reminds me of the grand situation of queuing up to play this game in the past.
In addition, since the SFC version does not include the arcade version of the popular character Kay, Capcom launched the kombat whirlwind Kay on SFC on March 20, 1992. It is worth mentioning that Kay also appeared in the Street Fighter series.
Sonic the Hedgehog (MD)
The most popular game character alongside Mario and the first appearance of Sega's mascot Sonic was in the MD action game Sonic the Hedgehog, released on July 26, 1991.
Sonic means the speed of sound in Japanese, so this game is often referred to as the "Sonic Hedgehog". This feature is well demonstrated in the game, after all, the biggest selling point of this game is to control Sonic to fly at a speed that is difficult to see in a wide range of scenes. With an unparalleled thrill and complementary BGM, the game has achieved great success in overseas markets.
The following year, the game released a sequel, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (I like Terces was even more impressed with it), and in the 30 years since its inception, various genres have been released. To this day, Sonic is still popular, and the latest open-world style "Sonic Unknown Frontier" is also expected to be officially released in 2022.
SimCity (SFC)
The SFC version of SimCity, a business simulation game that caught fire on PC. Released by Nintendo on April 26, 1991, the game adds a number of additional elements to the PC version, and players will play the role of the mayor of a city, seeking to develop the economy and build the city into a megapolis with a population of more than 500,000.
Players need to build various buildings on the map while focusing on factors such as industry, transportation, and natural disasters that affect urban construction, and create their ideal city. In 1991, when regional suppression strategy games were popular, the gameplay with free city construction as the core selling point was an epoch-making design.
As an addition to the SFC version, players will be able to enjoy the changes of the four seasons in the game, such as cherry blossoms in full bloom in the spring and heavy snow in the winter. In addition, the "Monster", one of the natural disasters, is also a new element unique to the SFC version, and the classic villain of the Mario series, Kuba, will appear in the game to wreak havoc on the city. I believe that many players were deeply shocked by this novel performance at that time.
Saga 2 Game Boy
This is Square's RPG title launched on the Game Boy platform on December 14, 1990. As a work that inherits the mantle of the previous game "Demon World Tashi Shaga", the game adds a new controllable race machine to the original human, superpowers and monsters.
The distinctive elements of the previous game, such as the vastly different cultivation systems between different races and the attack methods that limit the number of uses, have been inherited, so the "Legend of Saga 2 Treasure" that has further optimized and polished the playing experience is definitely a new work of orthodox evolution in the series. Although the character "Teacher", who is very familiar to fans of the series, is a monster, he will appear as a school teacher and show his fists in battle, which makes people laugh.
The game was later released as a remake of Saga 2 Goddess of Destiny on NDS on September 17, 2009, and was included in the NS ported version of the Saga Collection on December 15, 2020.
Other notable hits from 1991
Next, we will introduce other works with high topicality in 1991 selected by the editorial board of FamiTong. It is worth mentioning that the "Legend of Zelda: Triangular Power of the Gods" cassette kept in the information room by the editorial office also has the signature of "Fami Tong", which is very commemorative.
The Legend of Zelda: The Triangular Power of the Gods (SFC)
Released on November 21, 1991 on SFC, Nintendo is the third in the series to follow The Legend of Zelda and Link's Adventure. I don't know if it was because the release date was too close to the end of the year, so this game did not rank among the top in the list of the most popular games selected by readers, but the editorial staff at the time gave the game a very high evaluation and rated it as the best action RPG game.
The reason why this game can receive such a high evaluation has a lot to do with the hardware platform being replaced by SFC, and the game has achieved a significant evolution in both the graphics and Link's action moves. Players can maneuver Link's adventures in what seemed to be the most beautiful scenes and dungeons at the time, and can use a variety of rich moves such as slalom chops and sprint chops with only one sword.
In addition, there are a variety of props such as bows and arrows, boomerangs, bombs, etc., and many items in the scene can be picked up, thrown or pushed and pulled. By using these operations to solve the puzzles in the scenes and dungeons step by step, the gameplay experience that advances the story is even more exciting.
New 3D Golf (SFC)
When it comes to golf games, many people may think of "Popular Golf" released on the PlayStation platform on July 17, 1997. But on April 5, 1991, six years before the game's release, a work that touched the hearts of the editorial board members of Fami Tong and Japanese golf fans appeared. It's the new 3D golf simulation game ported from PC to the SFC platform.
Developed by T&E SOFT, this game uses 3D polygon technology to recreate a golf course with a strong sense of realism. Through the change of camera angle, the scenery that players can enjoy is also different, which makes this game give players a very different and immersive experience from other golf games at that time.
In addition to the graphics, the swing operation in the game is also very hardcore. After determining the direction of the blow, the player can pick the club to swing and adjust the posture of the blow. After deciding on the force of the blow, it is also necessary to choose the specific position of the hit, and then the golf ball will take off and fly into the distance. Because the design is very hardcore, the difficulty of the game is also very high, but as long as the golf game is mentioned, this game is definitely a work that cannot be ignored.
Grand Strategy: Lightning Strike (MD)
This game is a war strategy game launched by Sega on June 21, 1991 on the MD platform. In 1991, when the theme of modern warfare was the most popular, the game "the boldness of choosing World War II as the theme" impressed the editorial board of Fami Tong and named it the best strategy game of the year.
The system of completing the evolution of weapons by accumulating experience points seemed very novel at the time, and players were even able to develop weapons in the game that did not appear in World War II, which can be said to be both highly innovative and reproduce many historical battles.
The difficulty of the game was also very high, and the editorial board of Fami Tong commented on the game at the time that "the essence of this game is to experience the aesthetics of destruction, even if the weapons are strong, in the face of the overwhelming numerical superiority of the Anglo-American coalition, the German army can only collapse... Honestly, after 1944, players simply can't have any chance of winning." Therefore, this game can also be seen as a symbol of the era when the game was generally difficult.
Confused Egg (FC)
The popular Sunsoft mascot of the 1990s, Hibi, is a magical creature with a knitted hat and a body as white as snow. Four-panel comics featuring them have been serialized in game magazines, and Sunsoft has also launched a number of games with these mascots, so many players may still have an impression of them.
Hibie's first appearance in the game was in the FC action game Dumb Egg, which was released on September 20, 1991. Players will play as "Hibi" in the game and explore other worlds with their companions. At the beginning of its release, this game caused a lot of discussion with its unique world view and humorous character setting, and gradually won the love of more and more players in the future.
We'll be bringing you a review of the annual Talk Games from 20 years ago (2001), so stay tuned.
Compiled 丨 Bluestoon
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