By Nelson Schneider - 05/18/13 at 04:56 PM CT
We are the few, the proud, the old-school. We have been gaming since the third-generation or earlier. We have seen the evolution of videogames from crude and poorly-executed concepts into well-refined and polished genres. We have also lived through a time of great turmoil in order to see our closely-held beliefs vindicated: We are the Survivors of the 3D Revolution.
The term ‘3D Revolution’ has nothing to do with the trend of the past few years to return 3D glasses to movie theaters. Nor does it have anything to do with Nintendo’s latest handheld and its stereoscopic 3D gimmick. No, the term ‘3D Revolution’ refers to a generation-spanning phenomenon during which game developers became so enamored with their ability to push the graphics envelope with vector-based polygons rather than raster-based sprites that they transitioned as many games as possible into using the newer image-generation method, whether they needed it or not. The 3D Revolution began in the 5th Generation, continued unabated through the 6th Generation, and ended in the 7th Generation, providing one of the 7th’s few bright points.
While the switch from rasters to polygons was, itself, somewhat questionable, mainly due to the primitiveness of those early polygonal graphics that resulted in beautiful and artistic LEGO-esque 16-bit sprites being replaced with blocky and DUPLO-esque character models covered in blurry textures that inhabited nearly empty skybox environments, the true crime of the 3D Revolution had nothing to do with graphics. I don’t truly understand why – perhaps it was in a vain effort to justify the use of polygonal graphics, perhaps not – but during the 3D Revolution, perfectly established videogame genres had their rules thrown out the window in order to shoehorn-in untested 3D gameplay mechanics where proven 2D mechanics once ruled. The 5th Generation saw the rise of the 3D Platformer and 3D Fighting genres… but not only did those genres rise, they completely supplanted their 2D predecessors. While these two new genres displaced existing ones, other genres morphed and distorted until they were nearly unrecognizable. The top-down, side-scrolling, and isometric camera perspectives that had served so well in action/adventure games and RPGs were universally replaced with third-person trailer cameras. And of course, due to the lack of experience on the part of the developers creating these new 3D mechanics, the cameras, movement, and – heaven forbid – attacking and jumping mechanics were rough and barely usable.
There was no translation of existing videogame skills to these new genres, but instead it was an experience that I can only imagine to be akin to an adult having to relearn basic childhood skills after having a stroke. It was a painfully agonizing experience, and one I would not have voluntarily endured were it not for the waning, but still present 2D games that used the new hardware of the 5th Generation for more than just pushing polygons. Out of the Big Three consoles of the time, the Sega Saturn was designed to push 2D, while the Nintendo 64 could only create the most hideous of sprites since its focus was on pushing 3D. The PlayStation, however, was a much more balanced piece of hardware, able to push polygons that were only slightly more hideous than Nintendo’s while also allowing for true 16-bit-successor 2D games, even allowing developers to easily forge palatable unions between the two styles. While Nintendo led the charge into the 3D Revolution, we Survivors took refuge within the loving arms of Sony or, in desperation, setup lean-tos in Sega’s bombed-out ruins.
The 3D Revolution didn’t end with the 5th Generation, however. It persisted and, indeed, became even more endemic in the 6th Generation. As polygonal graphics became significantly cheaper to create than sprites and the results significantly less hideous than the previous generation, even those 16-bit-successor 2D holdouts switched to 3D (or perhaps it was due to pressure from the new influx of 3D graphics whores among their customer base). And after a generation of grudging acclimation, we Survivors of the 3D Revolution were left with no choice but to deal with it. Developers discovered ways to refine camera controls – or just gave full control to the player – while the newer hardware allowed for less pop-in and more populated skyboxes. The promise of 3D graphics that was made – and broken – in the 5th Generation was redeemed in the 6th. We Survivors may not have been as happy as we might have been had our favorite 2D genres not been driven to extinction, but we were at least able to finally appreciate the improvements that 3D brought to certain genres that actually needed it: Driving games and First-Person Shooters experienced significant refinement during the 6th Generation that made them far more playable than the Mode-7 racers and whatever-the-Hell-engine that powered “Wolfenstein 3D” that served as awful 2D stopgaps for genres that were clearly envisioned as 3D experiences from their inception. Not only that, but the 6th Generation saw the two new usurper sub-genres from the 5th Generation finally come into their own and provide us with a single solid franchise for each that lived up to the quality we Survivors had come to expect in our 2D games: ‘Ratchet & Clank’ for 3D Platformers and ‘SoulCalibur’ for 3D Fighting.
As the 7th Generation began, we Survivors of the 3D Revolution expected more of the same: The polygons would become less hideous (indeed, describing polygons based on their ugliness became obsolete midway through the 6th Generation), the controls more refined, and more developers would catch-on to the concepts that make gameplay in a 3D world tolerable: well behaved camera controls, acknowledging the imprecision of jumping in 3D, a small dose of aim correction/lock-on, and a wide enough field of view to prevent tunnel vision and disorientation. What we Survivors didn’t expect was for the seeds of 2D gaming that had lain dormant upon fallow soil for a decade to suddenly spring back to life. Perhaps it was caused by a generation of Survivors graduating from technical colleges and going on to work at game companies. Perhaps it was the same members of that college cohort disdaining the yoke of Big Gaming and striking out on their own to make the games that had been absent for so long as Independent developers. Perhaps it was simply caused by existing developers realizing that playing certain types of games in full 3D environments can be confusing and not very much fun (one can dream). Whatever the cause, the 7th Generation saw an unprecedented resurgence of 2D Platformers and 2D Fighting games – a resurgence so powerful that the 3D usurpers have been driven to the brink of their own extinction. While some companies, like Nintendo, have been able to successfully revive their 2D Platformers alongside their 3D counterparts, others, like the tenaciously-clinging-to-life Sega, have sound the greatest success with 2D. Even new franchises, like “LittleBigPlanet,” have come into existence built on 2D ideas rather than 3D. Namco-Bandai, the biggest name in fighting games has returned ‘Street Fighter’ to 2D, while smaller companies have created new 2D Fighters like “BlazBlue” and “Skullgirls.” Whether the graphics are 2D or 3D at this point doesn’t matter, as the vectors and rasters have finally reached technological parity and are blended so frequently as to be inseparable. What matters is that the gameplay behind an entire generation of children’s love of videogames has returned.
The lesson that we Survivors of the 3D Revolution have learned, and that we should hope the developers and publishers that keep videogaming alive as a hobby have learned, is that change for its own sake is disruptive and provides significantly delayed gratification. Instead of abruptly waging all-out war on 2D gaming in the 5th Generation, software and hardware makers should have built-in a compromise – to introduce new mechanics gradually, while keeping well-loved traditions alive. One need only look at the most recent, non-gaming-related example of this kind of behavior to see that this lesson still holds true: Microsoft has experienced significant backlash from users over the abruptness of the changes to the user interface in Windows 8… so much so that they are returning the Start Button in a service pack. Comparing the leap from Windows 7 to Windows 8 with the leap from “Super Mario World” to “Super Mario 64” makes the Windows users’ complaints seem laughable. But in both cases, new mechanics require time for adaptation on the part of users and refinement on the part of developers. In the case of an operating system, users NEED to learn it to continue working. Games, however, are recreation. If they cease to be fun, people will stop playing.
