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You're a GameDev and travel back in time to 1990, What game do you make?

MegaSackman

MegaSackman

Member
Oct 27, 2017
17,815
Argentina
You're a developer from this era and somehow you go back in time to 1990, you have the opportunity to make a game either for NES, SNES, Sega Genesis/Megadrive, or any other system from the time, but technology is as it was back then, you cannot change that.

What game do you make? something original? Would you adapt a game from our time to those systems?

I haven't decided yet but wanna see what people would make.

Edit: Let's make it either 1990 or 1996, you cannot go over the N64.
 
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GamerJM

GamerJM

Member
Nov 8, 2017
15,743
I'd make a rhythm game, something like DDR. There's a homebrew game that does this, and Konami themselves made a DDR game on the Gameboy. It wouldn't be too difficult to do, could very obviously be done on the hardware, and would probably be a huge hit. Especially since arcades were more alive at this time than in the late 90s/early 2000s when DDR was big.
 
RedSwirl

RedSwirl

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,102
Just dropping this in here, I think 1995 or 1996 would be more interesting. It would be interesting to see how much of today's 3D game design would've been possible on PS1 or N64 if developers knew then what they know now.

Though with 1990 I guess you could include 1990 arcade machines and PCs.
 
DECK’ARD

DECK’ARD

Creator of Worms
Verified
Nov 26, 2017
4,904
UK
1990 is when I started making an artillery game which over the next 5 years became Worms, so I'd stick with what I did then!
 
Rover_

Rover_

Member
Jun 2, 2020
5,204
daheck, i make a freaking card game or something like slay the spire and get really really rich and live the rest of my life as CEO of the studio or big time producer like Myiamoto.
 

dedge

Member
Sep 15, 2019
2,431
If I can pick Game Gear, then I develop Pokemon on that and watch the world burn.
 

LCGeek

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,897
Something in vein of crusader no regret or no remorse, another desert strike type game or another general chaos.
 
OP
OP
MegaSackman

MegaSackman

Member
Oct 27, 2017
17,815
Argentina
RedSwirl said:
Just dropping this in here, I think 1995 or 1996 would be more interesting. It would be interesting to see how much of today's 3D game design would've been possible on PS1 or N64 if developers knew then what they know now.

Though with 1990 I guess you could include 1990 arcade machines and PCs.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

You make a valid point but I cannot change the title of the thread anymore lol.
 
Boy

Boy

Member
Apr 24, 2018
4,602
Zelda Link to the past with the Ubi open-world experience.
A level up tree like most open world games these days and hunting to upgrade your items.
The dialogs with npcs will be like skyrim/fallout where which ever one your choose changes the outcome of things.
 
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RedSwirl

RedSwirl

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,102
Serious answers:

1) A Super NES port of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. The version that came out on the MSX2 in 1990 is probably one of the most sophisticated 8-bit games ever and included pretty much all the same gameplay as MGS1. After playing it I feel it could've made for an amazing SNES game at the time and would've deepened westerners' perception of the Metal Gear series.

2) Actually complete and release the SNES, Genesis, and Game Boy ports of Elite (possibly with the Super FX chip). Elite first came out in 1984 for the BBC Micro and let you fly through space in thousands of procedurally generated solar systems. It was a very basic version of the gameplay you see in No Man's Sky (and an early inspiration behind that game). An NES version came out in Europe in 1990 that had wireframe 3D graphics, and they were working on ports for the SNES, Game Boy, and Genesis (you can even download GB and Genesis demo roms). The Genesis and SNES versions would've added color and basically looked like Star Fox 1 but with open-world gameplay on a cosmic scale. Having something like that actually come out on mainstream game platforms in the early 90s could've had a massive effect on the gaming landscape.
 
louisacommie

louisacommie

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,595
New Jersey
I'm assuming as apart of this magic that time travels my conciessness to this new adult body of mine with a birth certificate and social security number
And also magically gives me game development skills
I also magically have intricate knowledge to recreate the source code of any game from the original timeline I'm aware of
 
UnluckyKate

UnluckyKate

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,601
I'd invest heavily in motion capture technology, animation blending and real time 3D rendering.
I'd invest in voice synthesisation and fund heavily in huge and dense storage capacity to fill it with voice acted lines.
Now everything will be ready for my magnus opus, a master work of a game that will shake the industry and sells billions worth of yens, Shenmue !
 
Ishaan

Ishaan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,702
I would take the chance to make fighting games more accessible. I'd introduce limited auto-combos sooner and better tutorials as well. Both of which could be achieved within the RAM and space limitations of the SNES and Genesis.

In theory, this would help lead fighting games down a very different path, to where they don't feel quite as intimidating all through the late 90s and early 2000s, which was a period that did a great deal of damage to the genre in our timeline.
 
Snefer

Snefer

Creative Director at Neon Giant
Verified
Oct 30, 2017
340
2D Deus Ex, but only because I can't make 3d Deus ex. :D

DECK'ARD said:
1990 is when I started making an artillery game which over the next 5 years became Worms, so I'd stick with what I did then!
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Hold up, that is cheating, you win this thread :D Absolute legend!
 
DoradoWinston

DoradoWinston

Member
Apr 9, 2019
6,327
if anything I would just invest in different companies

I as a singular person would not be able to really create games that were initially made with large teams of talented and experienced devs so I would be better off being an early investor in the tech I know those companies will end up using.
 
rdaneel72

rdaneel72

Member
Oct 27, 2017
317
An SNES port of Origin's 1985 action RPG Autoduel.

So that we are playing Autoduel 7 on modern consoles now!
 
Freshmaker

Freshmaker

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,946
I can think of some games I would've liked to have seen sooner in 1996.

Shame the gaming press at the time would've completely destroyed them as would Stolar.

Though introducing SOTN ahead of RE and labeling it Survival Horror would be really fun. Metroidsurvivalhorrors...
 
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louisacommie

louisacommie

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,595
New Jersey
Undercut rare and make a deal for Nintendo so I make the dkc trilogy on snes

Only difference no kiddy kong
Donkey and dixie for 3

Diddy kong racing a launch title on n64
 

giapel

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,635
Step 1: figure out how to put micro transactions and loot boxes in offline systems.
Step 2: profit
 
inner-G

inner-G

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
14,473
PNW
SNES localizations for Dragon Quest V and VI

Or start early development on the world's first Battle Royale to be a PS2 launch game
 
skobuffs

skobuffs

Member
Mar 21, 2021
527
Pokemon. It would run easily on the systems from that era and it is now the most valuable entertainment brand of all time. I just need to get the cards and show made as well. I could even just release the exact same game since gen 1 was a Gameboy game.
 
Paertan

Paertan

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,440
DECK'ARD said:
1990 is when I started making an artillery game which over the next 5 years became Worms, so I'd stick with what I did then!
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Haha casually dropping that in here. Thanks of hours and hours of great times with my friends!

I´ll go and start creating Liero then. See if people enjoy Real time over Turn Based!
 
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