Patrick Hickey - The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews with Cult and Classic Video Game Developers

STUDIES IN GAMING

The Play Versus Story Divide in Game Studies: Critical Essays (Matthew Wilhelm Kapell, editor, 2016)

Player and Avatar: The Affective Potential of Videogames (David Owen, 2017)

Responding to Call of Duty: Critical Essays on the Game Franchise (Nate Garrelts, editor, 2017)

Speedrunning: Interviews with the Quickest Gamers (David Snyder, 2017)

Storytelling in Video Games: The Art of the Digital Narrative (Amy M. Green, 2017)

The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews with Cult and Classic Video Game Developers (Patrick Hickey, Jr., 2018)

The Postmodern Joy of Role-Playing Games: Agency, Ritual and Meaning in the Medium (Ren Reinhold Schallegger, 2018)

FORTHCOMING IN THE SERIES

Teach Like a Gamer: Adapting the Instructional Design of Digital Role-Playing Games (Carly Finseth)

Foreword by Brett Weiss

STUDIES IN GAMING

Series Editor Matthew Wilhelm Kapell

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina

Each photograph of an individual was provided by the individual shown therein. All illustrations of games and box covers were taken from the games official site, thecoverproject.net, from the developer or from capturing live gameplay, with the exception of the following: illustrations for The Suffering, Pro Wrestling X, Voodoo Vince, Squids, ToeJam and Earl and Mutant League Football were provided by the developer.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE

BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE

e-ISBN: 978-1-4766-3123-3

2018 Patrick Hickey, Jr. All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Front cover images from iStock and authors collection

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com

To my wife, Melissa, and my daughter, Josie.

Its no small task being married to and the daughter of a man that teaches college full-time, runs an entertainment website, freelances and runs retro gaming tournaments and now, writes books. My wife was six months pregnant when the idea for this book came to me. When everyone told me I was crazy to even think about doing this, Melissa told me simply just do it. Talk about supportive. Adding this book to my already exhaustive schedule was a dream come true though. But it was also one that was an emotional and intellectual journey. One that I was sometimes not prepared for. Melissa, thank you so much for understanding and just listening, even when you had no idea who or what I was talking about. Throughout the six months that it took to write this book, I know that while I never slacked in the foot massage and home responsibility department, my mind was often heavily concentrated on video games and not more adult responsibilities. I know there were late night feedings and dog walks I complained about too. You always handled it with patience and resolve. Thank you.

And Josie, while youre too young to understand, I want you to know that this book was not only for me, but for you as well. Throughout my life, Ive heard the credo from my parents that their goal was always to make sure I had it better than them. My goal is so much more than that. I want to be a person you can look up to. To be someone of strong mind, body and spirit. The publication of this book allows me to accomplish one of my biggest dreams and to now focus on being the parent you need so you can dream and aspire for your own successes.

Melissa and Josie, thank you both for loving and accepting this big dork for who he is and will always be, a gamer and a journalist that loves you both with all of his heart.

Id also like to thank the following peopleEsteban Sosa, Ben Fong and Andy Flores and the crew at Brooklyn Video Games for giving me access to their collection and minds for the sake of research, as well as Sulaiman Larokko, Brad Hopkins, Anthony Frisina, Christopher Saenz, Thomas Henrich, Devin Harner, Joakim Morales, Leonard Herman and my nephews Kevin Dalton and Frankie Asta, as well as anyone else that let me bounce ideas off of them while writing. As well, Id like to give a special thank you to my former student Koyuki Inoue for her expert translation for the Wonder Boy in Monster Land chapter and publicist Emily Morganti for helping me get sources for the Voodoo Vince and Maniac Mansion chapters. This book could have taken anyone else three times as long without all of you being there and supporting this crazy endeavor.

And lastly, thanks Mom and Dad. Allowing me to stay home from kindergarten every few days and play Contra ultimately created a monster.

Are video games important? Everyone knows theyre fun, but are they important?

Good question.

If youre just talking about pushing buttons and staring at a screen, video games arent much more important than bouncing a tennis ball off the side of your house or twiddling your thumbs.

But were talking about much more here.

Recently, I solicited stories from people about some of the video games that were, yes, important to them, for a Super Nintendo book Ive been working on. The stories ranged from receiving a special game for a birthday to Saturday night marathons with friends to bonding with a grandparent over a favorite title. Phrases like dear to my heart and remember it fondly in conjunction with words like amazing, awesome and happy were batted around like the ball in Warlords for the Atari 2600.

One physically challenged contributor to my SNES book wrote at length about how F-Zero let her compete on an even playing field with her able-bodied friends and siblings.

To put it mildly, the better responses were awesome and even life-affirming.

Video games are important in numerous ways. Weve all heard about the vaunted improvement in eye-hand coordination one can gain from video games, and of course they are an excellent way to blow off steam and relieve stress at the end of a tough day. The artistic and interactive story elements of games have been touted as well.

With The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews with Cult and Classic Video Game Developers, Patrick Hickey, Jr., focuses on the people and the stories behind the making of the games, and anyone whos not a sociopath knows that people and the stories they tell are important. Stories are the most interesting way we communicate with one another, and with future generations. Tell someone a list of dry facts, and theyre eyes will likely glaze over. Tell someone a storya good and interesting story, that isand theyll sit up and listen.

The Minds Behind the Games is filled with good, interesting stories about such lore-ridden titles as Yars Revenge, Night Trap and Road Rash. These are important (theres that word again) games that influenced the industry far beyond giving gamers a different sequence of buttons to press and more images to watch. The book also sheds light on such lesser-known titles as