May of 2007 to May of 2008 was very much about the future of videogames. Even when nostalgia was clearly fueling some of last year’s biggest announcements — Capcom’s dual announcements of Bionic Commando and Street Fighter IV were targeted at a pretty specific audience after all — they were defined as contemporary efforts, game’s built on something familiar to sell something new. The past, as an entity, has been a whole lot more vocal in the past few weeks. Two announcements in particular have gotten the entire gaming world in a state of frothing enthusiasm, and nostalgia is almost the only fuel behind the fire. Chrono Trigger DS and Mega Man 9 are opposite sides of the retro-pandering coin. Here’s a look at Chrono Trigger:
And here’s Mega Man 9
CT:DS is… just Chrono Trigger. The art, the music, the battle system. It’s the same beautiful and functional work it was thirteen years ago, devoid of any apparent, unnecessary manhandling (it seems like even the ill-advised animated sequences from it’s Playstation release have been excised.) Mega Man 9 is… just Mega Man, but at the same time, it’s more. It’s just a peek at what’s to come but the second most important part of a successful Mega Man game is already in place: the music kicks ass.
Related links:
The Chrono Trigger Port: Are You Excited or Disappointed?
OST: Chrono Cross
Don’t Call it Retro: Mega Man 9 and Design Resurrection
Mega Man 9 Goes Back to Your Roots. Way Back.
Our thanks to GoNintendo and Kotaku for the first looks.