Welcome Back!

Well that was a fun break. I don't have a whole lot to say about it, but here's what you missed.

-- Still looking for "the job." Shnikes.
-- I don't want to eat another egg for AT LEAST another week.

And in an interesting twist, I thought of a GREAT example of innovation within a game: X-Men for the Sega Genesis. This game doesn't really perk up ears when you mention it, but it's easily the first (and one of the few) games to break the 4th wall.

At the end of the level "Mojo's Crunch," Professor X appears with a time limit and tells you to "reset the machine." Normally, this would mean hitting a switch in the game, but in reality, you need to hit the RESET button on the Genesis itself in order to progress! After hitting the reset button, the screen does some Matrix-esque binary, and then continues to the final level. Genius!

Some other great examples of breaking the 4th wall:

--Eternal Darkness: Should the "Sanity Meter" drop below a certain point, the game will start creating images that confuse the player, such as a "fly on the screen," or it will even pretend to delete all your save files. Easily my favorite, as it is cruel to the player :-)

-- Metal Gear: A character names "Psycho Mantis" reads the save files from your memory card! When you fight him, he says things like "I can read your mind...I see that you like Castlevania!" and also checks how many times you've saved and fights accordingly. Also, at one point, he yells "Blackout!" and makes the TV look like someone hit the TV/VCR button to change inputs. Very clever.


Seriously, why can't there be more games that do this?