Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Santa Monica Studios’ God of War: Ragnarok recently launched to critical acclaim (including a glowing review from our good friends at Push Square), and its director Eric Williams recently shared some of the gameplay that the they inspired and influenced his career.
Speaking with IGN (thanks, GoNintendo), Williams listed five classic NES titles that informed how he approaches various aspects of game design, including combat, stats, and day/night cycles. As you might expect, some of their choices may seem pretty obvious to many of our readers here, but there are a couple that might come as a bit of a surprise.
The first game listed is of course The Legend of Zelda. While not exactly a high-profile game in Nintendo’s Zelda franchise these days, the impact of its introduction on the NES cannot be overstated. Williams states that “being from the Midwest and playing in the woods as a kid made this game feel so familiar and fantastic at the same time.”
The second is Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest. The second entry in the Castlevania franchise, Simon’s Quest is often overshadowed by both its predecessor and immediate sequel, but Williams is a big fan of the game’s “city, day/night, secrets crazy” and “the monster”. mythology”.
Next up is Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!, a game we recently covered in the regular Box Art Brawl feature. Williams is a huge fan of the combat on display here (as are we!) and claims that “the patterns, mechanics, techniques, and challenge of this game informed all of my early notions of what a ‘good “combat system”.
The fourth game is Baseball Stars, an SNK game that was particularly successful in the US when it was released in 1989. It was well received by critics at the time for its gameplay, but Williams found more inspiration in the economic mechanics of the game, stating that “this game had a salary system that taught me the basics of statistics and economic systems”.
Finally, the last game listed by Williams is River City Ransom, a title that the director claims influenced his approach to themes within video games. He states: “The theme is very important to me and the theme of this game of being a ‘boy’ was very strong. Playground gangs, sports, guns, comics to learn skills, even the low money limit looked like lunch money or actual benefit values at the time.”
So there you have it! It’s always nice to see the creators of some of the world’s most critically acclaimed games find their inspiration. While NES games may seem a bit primitive to youngsters these days, there’s no denying the varying influence they had on modern gaming. Nice, SON!
Have you played Ragnarok yet? Do you agree with Williams’ ratings of these five NES games? Let us know!