Lanny's Rants Number 2: For The Love
of Pete, Why Hasn't This Happened To Acclaim?
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A rather saddening event in the gaming
industry motivated me to write this article. This was posted
on SNK's website the other day.
Dear All NEOGEO fans/customers,
It is with deepest grief that In the Autumn of 2001, SNK will
close the company history in its business. It was all of your
favor and encouragement which made our passion running to
make better games for SNK fans. We'd like to take this opportunity
to thank and everyone of you for your continuous help and
assistance rendered to SNK since its incorporation in Japan
July in 1978.
Without your support, SNK
Corporaton would not have been possible throughout 23 years
of operation. With all our heart-felt gratitude, thank you
once again!
And that's it. For all those who think
this is just another inevitable, uneventful closure of some
game company, I want you to sit back and think. The company
that made the Neo Geo, is gone. All those Neo Geo games, they
didn't just appear. People put damn hard work into em, and
now the company is gone. But you may say "Big deal, I'm
NES for life, G!"
Crystalis. Crystalis. Crystalis. Crystalis.
Crystalis. Doesn't it sound like a funeral bell tolling? SNK
made Crystalis, idiots. As of now, there will NEVER be a Crystalis
sequel, because the whole company is dead and gone. There
will never be another game like it, and I think it deserves
respect when any company dies. There'll never be another Crystalis.
There'll never be another Baseball Stars. Another Little League
Baseball. Another POW.
Loyalty in the scene to a particular
brand of game or system is extremely fleeting. NES gamers
express loyalty to both Zelda and Crystalis, while simultaneously
drooling over Panesian pr0n, and reading this article on a
PC with a Microsoft OS, thinking about how much X-Box sucks
and how PS2 rules, all the while thinking about the next Super
Smash Bros. and reading some article about the death of SNK.
Do you see what I'm getting at? If there's anything I preach,
it's no more than simple appreciation for what's there, what
was there and what was lost. So have a little self respect
the next time you diss Nintendo, clothed in a Zelda bedsheet
toga... oh wait, that's me. Nevermind. :-)
But this sends me off on a completely
different, but equally important tangent. A lot of gamers
go on and on about respect for retrogaming and the 8-bit systems.
"Blah, blah, blah, 8 bit gaming is classic, Crystalis,
Zelda, oh oh oh Final Fantasy!". And then they go and
play PS2 for a while. Don't feel bad, I do it too. But why
be so vehemently egotistical and fanatical? The answer: don't
be. I'm sick and tired of all the idiots who denounce anything
remotely new, and claim every NES game out there rules. Face
it, for every SNK, there's a hundred Acclaims who publish
nothing but utter shit, and even for the NES. There's a lot
of really bad stuff out there, even for the so called "classic"
8 bit systems. I'm gonna admit something right now. Although
I like the NES more than any other system in my collection
right now, I play PS2 and Dreamcast a little more. Why? Cause
they have great games too. True, some of the stuff *IS* garbage
(Tomb Raider 16, anyone?) but I pity the hapless human being
who hasn't discovered the grace and fun of Tony Hawk's Pro
Skater or SSX. It's like those people who go around with anti-N64
banners on their websites. What the hell is up with that?
It's no better than some fool on a newsfroup trolling about
how much "X-Box rulez j00r ass". Take those systems,
give em a try. They're the NESen of the future, wether today's
8-bit fanboys want to admit it or not.
I'd like to close off this rant in
a slightly lighter tone. I know I'm hurt just as much as any
other SNK fan following the closure of the company, but why
dwell on it? For every company that closes, a new one opens
up a dramatic new chapter in the world of games. There's gonna
be some real classics on the newer system, and I can't wait
to see what the next year holds in the world of PC and console
games. Maybe 10 years from now, we'll all be talking about
the classic RPGs of the 2000's. Till then, enjoy it, drink
one for SNK, and keep gaming!
