Trendsetters: 7 Games Responsible For The Common Gameplay Mechanics We Have Today

Gaming is an interactive medium. You press buttons and some stuff happens, that much is elementary. What might not be so obvious however, is just how that "stuff" is governed. Sure, videogames occupy realms of near limitless possibilities in theory - like flying around the galaxy, going to war, or simply wearing dungarees while jumping a mushroom - but in practice all of this can only be achieved within a strict amount of input commands. You can't, for example, be running around on Call of Duty and suddenly decide you want throw your gun at a useless teammate, or change your underwear or whatever. There's no button for that. No option in the menus.

Ciaran Utting Feb 24, 2014 2:47 pm2014-05-11T21:20:12-05:00

3) Regenerating Health

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First seen in: Punch Out!! – Arcade (1983)

Regenerating health can be seen in many RPGs and basically every modern shooter there is. And I know what you’re thinking, Halo is responsible for it. And here’s why you’re wrong, idiot. Firstly, it was nowhere near being the first game to have recharging health and secondly, it didn’t even have recharging health. It was your shields that recharged, but you still needed to find a health-pack for the fleshy bits underneath. OK, OK, maybe it was responsible for popularizing the regenerative concept in shooters, but still…

So in actual fact it’s Nintendo yet again (have you written them that thank-you letter for ‘jumping’ yet?) for giving us this love or hate mechanic. Punch Out!! was not only cool because it had two exclamation marks in the title, it was cool because of its unique features and memorable characters, such as the iconic Glass Joe. It’s not held in the esteem of Mario or Zelda, and it hasn’t been subject to the endless sequels that they have, but it is still up there as one of Nintendo’s finest hours. Of the sequels it did get, though, Mike Tyson did endorse and appear in one, which is hella cool.

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