Dark Souls - Plays Like a NES Game

[Myrthos]

In a blog post at Gamasutra the author of this article state that Dark Souls feels and plays like a NES game used to feel and play.

This is something that gets thrown around a lot regarding Dark Souls. I never paid much attention to it - it's just something people say. (The same sort of people who think any game with pixel art is "8-bit") But when my friend who grew up on games like Castlevania 2, Rygar and Battle of Olympus said that I paid attention. The game made him feel the way NES games did. There's a lot to talk about with the design of Dark Souls so this is my angle: what are the specific design decisions that make it feel like an NES game? (Or alternately: unlike a modern game).

The author looks at different aspects of the game to support his statement.

More information.

 

[TheMadGamer]

I've never correlated Dark Souls to NES games specifically. But I have thought that Dark Souls plays much like a platformer in that you have to successfully negotiate various stretches of the game world (aka levels in platformers) before you can preserve a new point of departure.

 

[Nephologist]

That's actually a pretty good article. I hadn't thought of Dark Souls that way before but after reading that it definitely makes sense.

 

[joxer]

Excuse me for my ignorance but what is NES?
For all I know Dark Souls plays like a common neverstopping grinder game.

 

[TheMadGamer]

Excuse me for my ignorance but what is NES?
For all I know Dark Souls plays like a common neverstopping grinder game.

NES = Nintendo Entertainment System

 

[ChienAboyeur]

A japanese game playing like a japanese game... Who could have expected that?

 

[JDR13]

Yes, because all NES games were from Japan.

 

[irongamer]

Playing Dark souls makes me think of Battletoads on the NES at times. To be more fair though dark souls feels a lot more like a stiff version of (the more "modern") Severance: Blade of Darkness… I played the stuffings out of that title.

 

[Ryder]

Rygar was a cracking game on the C64. That is all.

 

[ChienAboyeur]

Yes, because all NES games were from Japan.

In those days, Nintendo had a tight publishing policy. Games had to meet various criteria. And their policy was driven by japanese motivations.

 

[Pessimeister]

An interesting read, though not an especially coherent or overall cogent argument as to be fully convincing. This is probably because the idea of "like a NES game" is too loose and broad a concept and many other seemingly random games are also compared.

However, I do connect with it on one level: The satisfaction of overcoming obstacles.
I remember playing the original Castlevania religiously on the NES for a couple of weeks until I finally managed to beat it. Cue raising of arms in joy. This is quite similar to my first Dark Souls experience. The manner in which challenges are introduced to the player is such that you are given many cues and tools to tackle them. Both games were emotionally gripping and immersing for me, despite the obvious differences in scope and style.

 

[wiretripped]

Good article. Very well thought through, I felt.

 

[lackblogger]

I'd go even further and suggest they play like traditional Arcade games (which is kind of NES'ey I suppose). You have died! put in more quarters to continue 5... 4... 3... 2... *fumble fumble fumble* ... aaaand, you're back in the game.

 

[vurt]

This game definitely had the old school vibe to it, to me it was basically down to that you die a lot more often than in modern games + it had a great feeling of accomplishment, also rare these days.

The gameplay was also extremely addictive (like i used to feel when playing games on the C64 or whatever), it doesnt give you the "meh, this sucks, i'll give up", this was my main concern before buying it).