Video Games: Everything Old Is New Again

(Presented this week as a transcript of our podcast conversation, available on our July 15th edition of Arbitrage Weekend) 

JOSH: We're here with David Grantham, our tech guy. He's still our Costco Wizard, but tech guy this week. David, everything old is new again. 

DAVID: Right. Yeah, I've been reading a lot of articles about 2D side scroll and I've been like, what, 2D side scroll? I thought this was the year of VR and augmented reality and more 3D and the more 3D. And I just see this spate of, hey, we're gonna do 2D side scrollers. 

(ED NOTE: For the uninitiated, a 2D side scroller is where the character you control in the game is in a 2D environment, moving in that space.) 

D: (cont) the big guys like Nintendo (and Activision), you know, they're doing their new side scroll, a new Mario called Mario Wonder. It's coming out and it's a side scroll, it's like 2D and I'm like, really? Really? Ok. The first new non-3D installment for a decade, due for release on Switch in October, will introduce the Wonder Flower, a four-player co-op feature - and Mario will be able to turn into an elephant. So, and then Prince of Persia is gonna have a 2D side scroll. So I'm like what gifts! Prince of Persia The Lost Crown is the first new Prince of Persia game in over 13 years, and according to GameSpot who went hands-on with the game, it's being developed by Ubisoft Montpellier, the team behind Rayman Legends. 

J: So, here's the interesting thing, David and I have, you know, I was in this market for years, as I said in segment four. And the thing is that side scrollers or 2D side scrollers have never really gone away. 

J: (cont) The independent market picked up a ton of side scroll, Undertale, Hotline Miami, just some really, really interesting titles that people have taken and run with. But now there are some nifty, nifty ones that are coming out. You didn't mention the one that I was really, really looking forward to with Randy Savage on the title page, WrestleQuest. WrestleQuest isn't your average wrestling game. Remove any ideas of No Mercy or Def Jam from your head, and come at this like it's Final Fantasy 6 or Chained Echoes. While you're still putting opponents through tables and performing acrobatic finishers, this is a turn-based tactics RPG with more akin to Pokemon than WWE. That is, unless you understand the references. 

D: So, yeah, the one that caught my eye, it's like, hey, let's have a blend of WrestleMania and Final Fantasy Six. I'm like, really? Oh, do tell and it's basically turn based RPG 2D mixed with wrestling. And I'm like, wow, so you have like crowd hype levels, you have different skills like you would in an RPG and you know, is there an audience for the blend? And I ventured to say yes, there is. 

J: Oh, absolutely man. Come on. Wrestling has never really gone away from the public view. I mean, it's still going on strong with the WWE and AEW now getting into that fray. Matter of fact, AEW just released their brand new video game which is something really weird called Fight Forever. And, that's a nifty one as well if you want to take a look at that. But it's there and wrestling fans kind of already are in that vein of wrestling games but this is unique. 

D: Yeah, I can't wait to see what the uptake is on this and maybe a slightly new genre or a blended genre. Kind of the overarching thing is retro gaming is back.

J: Yeah, absolutely. And, we'll take a look at more of this on the blog at arbitragetrade.com/blog.