Every once in a while the good folks at Resetera take a break from their usual schedule of complaining about video game journalists getting all their news from Resetera and publish Thing Of Beauty. For example: this is thanks to member Resetera AstralSphere that I know about Alistair Aitcheson Retro Emulation Tools Magic Box and BizHawkwhich – among other things – lets you play ancient Sonic the Hedgehog games in parallel mode, switching between them every time you get a ring.
If you have even the slightest familiarity with Sega’s spiked pinball games, you know that changing games every time Sonic collects a ring is a recipe for panic and confusion beyond Dr. Robotnik’s wildest, wettest dreams. That was certainly the conclusion that the streamers participating in the latest episode of Random Number GenerationGames Done Quick, a program dedicated to random mods and their communities (beware of rapid screen flickering during transitions).
But the thing is, I used to play a lot of Sonic and when it comes to certain Sonic levels, I think I could keep up with that. Specifically, Green Hill Zone and its counterparts, of which I have such deeply etched muscle memories that they will be evident as shimmering threads in the swirling tissues of my spirit if and when the Good Lord sends me to my own personal 16-bit heaven.
More importantly, I think switching between games based on certain actions would be a great way to sort out your backlog, by randomly combining games. Imagine: you’re digging a pumpkin patch in Stardew Valley and suddenly your hoe becomes Bloodhound’s Fang, and the pumpkin patch is a cauldron of Putridness, and there’s a stinking golden lady with substantial hair doing butterfly combos on you. You duck past her and, damn, you just attacked Karaz Ankor and Thorgrim Grudgebearer is absolutely furious.
After hours of hard-fought campaign and grueling combat at the foot of Everpeak, you manage to defeat the High King, which is no great consolation when you’re trapped in a closet in Amnesia: The Bunker. Forget about mods: this should be an official platform feature. A certification requirement, perhaps. Imagine that, a gaming industry built like the TV show Quantum Leap, with games full of hidden wormholes to other games. Pacing issues would become irrelevant, and today’s arguments about skill would fade away, because no one would have any idea what the hell they were playing, or what the hell they were going to play next.
If Alistair Aitcheson seems like an RPS guy, it may be because (as I’ve just discovered) our former deputy editor Alice B went to school with him. His other work includes Book Ritual, in which you destroy books that “think they’re human” – the loose idea being an exploration of your attachment to a physical object. The Magic Box and BizHawk tools seem to do the same thing.
