Marble Madness

Year: 1984
Developer: Atari Games
Publisher: Atari Games
Platform: Arcade (originally); ported to numerous platforms; currently available on PC, iOS
Metacritic score: Not available
VGChartz sales to date: Unknown

WHAT MADE IT GREAT
Life is full of simple pleasures and gaming is no exception.  The gaming industry loves to get worked up over big AAA titles and the drive for greater immersion in games, but there's plenty of what we now deem "casual" titles vying for our attention.  There's a tendency to view these games with scorn, citing their simple mechanics or limited depth as evidence that our hobby is being dumbed down to appeal to players lacking the skills to play "hardcore" games.  To those people, I humbly present Marble Madness.  This is a game without story, plot or even any characters and whose gameplay is based on a simplistic board game popular since the 19th century.  With only six levels and no save feature, it's a game designed specifically with casual play in mind and a skilled player can beat it in under 5 minutes.  It's also one of the most challenging video games ever created and is probably responsible for an entire landfill's worth of broken controllers.

You'd think watching your marble shatter from too high a drop would be a warning to treat your controller well, but it only serves to further enrage you

Developed in the wake of the Great Crash of '83, Marble Madness wasn't exactly meant to be Atari's next killer app, but to push their new emphasis on more lucrative specialized controllers and simultaneous two-player gameplay.  Marble Madness fulfilled both these goals by making use of Atari's new trackball device and allowing two players to compete with each other at the same time.  Luckily the head designer was Mark Cerny, lead system architect on the recently revealed PS4, and as a result gamers got a game that was both challenging and addictive in it's brilliantly executed simplistic design.  Players take control of a marble and try to race through a simple isometrically viewed maze before the timer runs out.  You're given 60 seconds to make it through all six levels, but each time you finish a level you get some time added back onto your total.  The levels themselves are 2D polygonal drawings heavily inspired by the work of M.C. Escher to give the illusion of 3D graphics.  The levels are populated with various traps and enemies (and possibly a second player) that can impede your progress or bust your marble, causing a significant time penalty.  Speed is the name of the game here, as a faster finish rewards you with a higher bonus score and more time to take on the remaining levels.  Since you only have a set amount of time to complete the whole game, each level is a nerve-wracking battle between your desire to get there as quickly as possible while patiently navigating the course to avoid costly time penalties.  With a second marble thrown into the mix and a 5 second bonus going to whoever wins each race, two-player mode can ruin a friendship if you succumb to the marble's madness.

Roving pools of acid will dissolve your marble to dust, costing you precious seconds while you regenerate

Despite the humble origins, Marble Madness stands as a notable entry in the history of gaming.  It was one of the first games to use stereo sound and had a composed soundtrack.  It was the first Atari game programmed in C, whereas most games were written directly in assembly up into the 1990's.  It was also one of the first games to use 3D elements convincingly by combining perspective drawings with ray tracing to create levels that gave the illusion of depth and height.  When it first debuted in arcades, Marble Madness generated so much interest that the trackballs would break down from overuse.  Ports were launched on every system imaginable, including the NES version most of us are familiar with that has some of the weirdest credits of any video game.  Milton Bradley (yes, that Milton Bradley) got the license from Atari through their quasi-legal subsidiary Tengen, which is why their name appears in the title credits.  Even though they aren't credited anywhere, the game was actually developed by Rare who would go on to make the similar Snake, Rattle n' Roll for the NES.  Other ports of varying quality were produced for the Apple II, DOS, Sega Mega Drive, Genesis, Windows, Amiga, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Gameboy (and later Gameboy Advance) and many more, most of which were published by Electronic Arts (who currently holds the rights).  While most of these ports were forced to ditch the trackball in favor of the inferior d-pad controls standard to most consoles, they at least gave players a bevy of ways to get their marbles rolling.    

WHAT WENT WRONG
A short but impossibly challenging game is the perfect recipe for arcade success, but in 1984 the arcade scene was in its death throes.  The Atari 2600 signaled the rise of the home console domination of the market, giving the first taste of a future where video games could be enjoyed from the comfort of your own couch.  While most arcade ports to the 2600 were vastly inferior to their arcade counterparts, it was still clear that soon the technology would catch up enough to close the gap.  When the NES arrived Stateside in 1985 that promise would be fulfilled, but in the meantime Atari was still focused on the arcade.  They sold over 4,000 Marble Madness cabinets in the first 6 months while interest peaked and the game became the highest-earning cabinet in most arcades.  But then demand suddenly dropped as gamers grew bored of the limited number of courses.  

Though few in number, the levels got progressively harder by adding more challenging obstacles and increasing the complexity of the mazes

The desire for fresh games may represent one of the earliest impacts of the growing impact of the home market.  Arcade games had traditionally been very short and incredibly hard since they were specifically designed to scam kids out of their quarters.  Donkey Kong was just 4 screens that repeated until it overloaded the memory and glitched out, but it still made over half a billion dollars in it's first two years of release saving Nintendo of America from insolvency.  But by 1984 gamers weren't content playing the same few levels for years on end and the arcade profits dried up.  That same year, Atari was split in two with the gaming division taking over existing rights and software development while the hardware division began producing new consoles.  They released a flurry of consoles and home computers over the next two years, some of which competed against each other but the crown jewel was supposed to be the $1000 Atari ST.  That went about as well as you'd imagine, but it was the only Atari system to get a port of Marble Madness.  Ports on other systems saw better sales but most of those were published by Electronic Arts and developed by outside studios so Atari only would have received a flat licensing fee.

WILL WE SEE IT AGAIN
Definitely, but don't expect developers to race the clock in bringing it to market.  Atari released the game on iOS as part of a massive collection in 2011, but shows no interest in a standalone title.  EA was developing a spiritual successor to the game that also included the original levels, but quietly slipped passed it's 2010 release and has been unheard of since which could suggest licensing disputes.  It's too bad, because the trackball controls and gameplay mechanics are a great fit for tablets.  New levels with updated designs would greatly add to the games appeal, you could even incorporate tilt-based controls to give more depth to the mechanics.  But given how many different studios released various ports over the years it wouldn't be much of a surprise if the game turns out to be a legal hornets nest.  

Other versions of the game that have already been released are available on PS2, Xbox, GameCube and PC in the form of the Midway Arcade Treasures collection.  The title is misleading since it actually contains multiple games never published by Midway, including Marble Madness.  And while that port was developed by an outside studio Midway had contracted, it was actually just a compilation of three arcade collections the studio had developed earlier for SNES, Playstation and PC.  At the time Midway owned both Williams and Atari, but since then Atari has been sold and resold multiple times and just last month filed for bankruptcy.  Don't mourn too long, because the brand has already died many deaths and will likely be resurrected once again.  But when Lazarus rises again from his pit, it's unclear if he'll bring Marble Madness with him.  

Choose the right path and you will shave a little time off your run, but choose poorly and you'll be stuck in development hell while lawyers wrangle over your publishing rights.  

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Jet Set Radio

Year: 2000
Developer: Smilebit
Publisher: Sega
Platform: Dreamcast (originally); now available on Game Boy Advance, PC, PSN, XBLA, Android and iOS
Metacritic score: 94 (original DC version only)
VGChartz sales to date:  Unknown

WHAT MADE IT GREAT
Some games are are bogged down by their idiosyncrasies, letting their quirkiness and unique kinks distract so much from the actual gameplay that they can be more enjoyable to watch then play.  It's a rare game that can embrace those idiosyncrasies without being overwhelmed by them, and Jet Set Radio is just such a game.  Originally released as Jet Grind Radio in the U.S. because of copyright issues, the game was quick to grab attention from both the press and gamers when it was first revealed.  With it's bright cel-shaded animation, funky soundtrack loaded with catchy beats and fast-paced graffiti tagging gameplay this is a title that definitely stands out from a crowd.  Graffiti tagging is really the soul of the game, but it's focus on constant motion through grinding and pulling off tricks adds a welcome dose of frenzied action to the equation.  Jet Set Radio is in many ways a great game because of it's flaws, not in spite of them.

Developed by Sega's in-house studio Smilebit, JSR wasn't technically the first game to use cel-shading, but it was arguably the first to do it well and it set a standard still felt in games like No More Heroes and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.  At the time there was nothing else that looked quite like it, combining traditional polygons with a style of flat animation that gave the impression of a comic book come alive.  This style perfectly matched the game's focus on graffiti art and made for a natural connection between what your character was doing onscreen and how you experienced it.  Despite the stern warning screen on startup, graffiti tagging isn't seen as a crime but a form of artistic expression which was a fairly radical idea back before anyone heard of Banksy or Sheperd Fairey.  Skating around collecting spray cans and tagging the level doesn't deface it, but adds more color and vibrancy to the area.  Smaller tags can be sprayed while performing tricks, but bigger murals trigger a series of analog stick gestures you need to match.  Screw up and it will cost you extra paint, while getting the rhythm of it right will net bigger scores.  Completing the package is the truly enjoyable soundtrack composed of a fun mix of funk, hip hop, J-pop, rock and jazz elements.  The Tony Hawk series may have given you licensed tunes, but the huge number of in-house tracks found in JSR prove to be far less annoying and repetitive over an extended gaming session.                

This is gonna take a lot of paint

The story takes place in the city of Tokyo-to which for some reason is described as an "unknown Asian country" in the introduction's English translation, despite most of the in-game billboards being in Japanese and advertising prices in Yen.  Within this country that is totally not Japan, young punks called "Rudies" are put down by the fuzz for just wanting to express themselves through skating, graffiti and some really kick-ass tunes.    In Jet Set Radio's version of the world, inline skating is still cool and street gangs mostly limit themselves to acts of vandalism and public disturbance.  Despite the noticeable lack of drive-by shootings and crack dealing, the authorities take the rather extreme response of sending in everything from riot police to attack choppers to try and shut down all the dangerously youthful self-expression going on.  As the founding member of the GG gang, your goal is to grow your gang, defend your turf and spray over tags from rival gangs, all of which is helpfully narrated by Professor K, DJ of the eponymous Jet Set Radio which acts as a sort of gangland Walter Cronkite, not unlike the DJ from the classic film The Warriors.  Also there's some complicated backstory involving a magical record and a greedy businessman trying to take over the world, but I might have been hallucinating that aspect of the game given how little impact it has.

Look I know it must suck for the guy whose car you just tagged, but I think this is a little overkill

The game starts off with you controlling main protagonist Beat as he recruits new members Gum and Tab in a brief tutorial.  Each stage consists of a few square blocks of city streets comprising a variety of landscapes that include surface streets, parks and sewer systems.  Each of the three city sectors have their own feel with your home turf Shibuya-cho being a typical downtown cityscape while Benten-cho is a late night entertainment district and Kogane-cho is a seaside town at sunset.  Playing as any unlocked member of your crew, your goal is to find and tag the designated spots before the timer runs out.  Attempting to thwart your wanton destruction of property is the trigger-happy Captain Onishima and he won't hesitate to call in the big guns for backup as you tag more spots.  There's no way to fight back, but you can outrun them by grinding on rails and other environmental objects and using your speed boost.  The boost has a limited amount of juice, but can be recharged by pulling tricks by jumping while grinding.  If you take too many hits it can end your run early, so keep an eye out for health pick ups that (confusingly) look just like spray cans.  Unlike the paint, these health kits don't respawn so try not to spend too much time eating pavement.  

Make sure you get some distance on the goon squad chasing you before starting a tag, they aren't about to politely wait until you finish

WHAT WENT WRONG
Raise you hand if you owned a Dreamcast?  If the five of you who raised your hands would like to form a support group in the comments please go right ahead.  As we've previously discussed there were a number of factors that conspired to limit sales of the Dreamcast.  That's a damn shame because Sega's swan song was an incredibly fun console that foreshadowed much of today's gaming landscape.  It also means that a lot of gamers missed out on a lot of really great titles that were Dreamcast exclusives, including Jet Set Radio.  Reviews at the time praised the game for it's style and concept, but also raised some criticism over the somewhat wonky physics and the simplistic controls. Reviewers cited both these issues, comparing them unfavorably to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater which debuted the previous year.  This may be why even accounting for the limited install base, JSR didn't sell as well as other hit Dreamcast games.    

While most reviewers didn't let the control issues impact their overall impressions too strongly, this is one area where the game hasn't aged gracefully.  With just one button to perform tricks there's little depth and it can be hard to chain grinds together because of hiccups in transitioning from one object to another.  It's a shame because the level design lends itself naturally to free-flowing and continuous grinding when the controls don't get in the way.  Aside from this shortcoming, my only real gripe with the game is when a passing car hits you and you land on it's hood, forcing you to watch helplessly you're zipped out the level's exit.  Experiencing this again triggered flashbacks of hurled controllers, quite a danger with the Dreamcast especially when they were fully loaded with two VMU's.

You could do some serious damage with one of these bad boys

WILL WE SEE IT AGAIN

It's safe to say anyone with a JSR itch can find plenty of ways to scratch it.  When Sega quit the console business for good in 2001 they wisely opted to continue profiting from their existing software lineup even though it meant doing business with their former rivals.  This has been a boon for all those long-distance admirers of JSR because after many long years it's now available on just about every platform out there.  A downsized port came to Game Boy Advance in 2003 but was a far cry from it's namesake.  It wasn't until 2012 that we got a proper HD remake available on PSN, Xbox Live Arcade and Steam along with mobile versions for iOS and Android.  Though still saddled with cumbersome controls (and some bugs reported in the mobile versions) the game has never looked so good.  While some older cartoon-styled games like Sega's own Crazy Taxi look dated, JSR still looks fresh and eye-popping despite being released around the same time.
  
It's not all happy fun times though, as JSR has been absent from new titles outside of a few cameo appearances in other Sega games.  There was a sequel that came out for Xbox in 2002 but it sold poorly despite good reviews.  Smilebit now exists as Sega Sports Japan and mainly churns out Mario & Sonic Olympic tie-in games.  If we do see another Jet Set game it will need to reinvent its mechanics without harming its unique style.  There have simply been too many good skating games released to ignore the improvements they've made in physics and trick controls.  But Sega has shown a willingness to dip into their catalog before, so maybe if the HD remake does well the series will get another shot.  Surely they can find a better use for Beat and Gum then just mash-up sports games, right?      

Er...right.  Moving on then...

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