The popularity of video games is at an all-time high, and South Africa’s gaming market is expected to see a 12% growth in the next year alone. This success is mainly down to the expansion of the market. Home consoles are now readily available, and each one features a slew of different games for players to try. Let’s also not forget the possibilities that have opened due to the introduction of online gaming.
However, the success of some genres has meant the downfall of others. Not every title has been able to thrive and adapt to this growing market, which is why some video game series and genres have slowly faded away. If you are of a certain age, you may remember some of the following genres.
Side Scrolling Beat ‘Em Ups
Modern game developers will never understand the limitations of creating a title for an arcade machine. Games in this era had to be clever with how they utilised the limited space available, which is why the side-scrolling beat ‘em up became such a mainstay of early gaming.
This genre of gaming featured the most combat that many young players would ever experience. The player would face a few enemies at a time and, once all enemies were vanquished from this part of the screen, they could move on to the next sequence. It was a fairly limited experience, but these 2D fighting games could include an entire cityscape one loading screen at a time. Sadly, modern tech has removed the need for these limited game engines, and current consoles can render a full open world and its inhabitants in real time. This means that there is no longer any need for the side-scrolling beat ‘em up in today’s gaming landscape.
Platformers
The 90s were a competitive time in gaming. Every major console company needed to try and recreate the success of Super Mario on Nintendo, which meant that each developer was forced to release the next platforming mascot for kids to gravitate toward. Some of these became household names like Sonic the Hedgehog and Crash Bandicoot. However, other console mascots were not as fortunate. Does anybody remember the likes of Croc or Bubsy? Probably not.
As with the side-scrolling beat ‘em ups, there is no longer a need for console developers to force these critters down our throats anymore. What’s more, the average age of the modern gamer has skyrocketed. This means that companies are trying to make video games for this generation, rather than appeal to kids with a mascot led platform game.
Casino Games
While casino games may be more popular than ever, the way in which players engage with these games has changed significantly. There were times when you could boot up a demo version of solitaire or roulette on your PC; however, things have changed.
Almost every casino game in existence is available on a site like Play Live Casino in 2022. You can play slots, blackjack, poker, bingo, or any other type of betting game and you should use this useful guide to find out how to work specific slot games. Casino games may not be a genre that is fading away, but it is one that has changed to become almost unrecognisable from how it once was.
Point And Click Adventures
There was a time when video games didn’t feature any moving images at all. The player would be presented with some text on the screen and had to use their imaginations to conjure the visuals themselves. These games mainly took the form of point-and-click adventures and saw the player answering a series of questions to progress the story.
As you can imagine, these titles went the way of the dodo once the like of the Atari and SNES made use of pixel art. However, these point-and-click games still have a place in the hearts of many original PC gamers.
Licensed Games
Whenever a movie was released in the 2000s, you could be sure that a licensed tie-in game would follow. These games were released to promote and capitalise on the success of said movies, so why don’t we see these types of video games anymore?
Sadly, these video games were rarely any good. This is because the developers were forced to create the game in a small window of time with very little information about the movie on which the game was based. This left a lot of fans dissatisfied, and word soon spread about the quality of licensed video games. Therefore, movie studios choose to skip releasing these titles for consoles and will make a cheaper title for mobile phones instead.
Conclusion
It is a shame to see some of these gaming genres disappear from public consciousness; however, there are some that lasted longer than they probably should have. Fortunately, these genres have faded to make way for the gaming landscape we have today, something we are sure no one wants to change.
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