However they’re classified, are looked at and are designed and discussed one can’t ignore this very fact: video games are the new big media. A multibillion dollar industry it’s ingrained in our cultural psyche. Adult have fond memories of playing Super Mario Bros. as much as they do great movies and television shows they grew up with. Mainstream newspapers and magazines often have small sections devoted to video game technology and reviews. Recently Entertainment Weekly posted their “50 best New Classics” of movies, films and books of the last 25 years. Video games, barely up to the 30 year old mark, also had a list.

It always seemed odd to me that why hasn’t the world of video game writing evolved with the medium. The majority of video game blogs and journalist deal with the now, the present, and the reviews of new games. Few talk the culture the medium has developed and what in the past helped shaped that. My blog will be mostly about that. While I will veer off topic once more or less the history and concepts and ideas in video game culture is what we’ll touch on here.

Which brings me to the sites pet project: The Cult of the Game, a weekly look at cult hit video games of the past. To me if we’re to believe that video game is a major pop culture tent pole (or dare I bring up the taboo topic of video games being an art form) then we’ll have to understand how the video game sub and counter cultures work. All pop culture mediums, be it book, movie or music have always had lesser known works with rabid fan bases. Usually from these subcultures we have changes within the medium.

One example of this was the boom of independent game developers in the late 1990s. Thanks to higher speed internet, open APIs for PC development and easier tools for programmers and artists, most notably then Macromedia Flash, hobbyist programmers had the opportunity to have their work tested by literally millions of potential players. The independent game boon has a direct effect on us now; in the form of the X Box Live Arcade, Playstation Network and Wii Ware. The early efforts of those developers have allowed major distributors to give “smaller” games a chance and we can see now with games like Everyday Shooter, Braid and Castle Crashers this has become both big business and a breeding ground for new innovative game play.

Taking the cultural aspect away though I do feel it’s also a good chance to highlight some great games that few people have a chance to play. These games are absolutely gems and deserve a second, third and fourth chance for someone to discover them and realize how great they are.

A few things to sort out before we get into our first game

1.) To me cult is not synonymous with age. We will be looking at newer games as well as the old.
2.) We’ll be avoiding popular games with large cult following. I don’t care how many Sephiroth cosplayers complain about this
3.) Definitely would like people to have them tell about their favorite cult hits so I can procure them through legal channels (of course!) and weigh in on them.

I’m starting with No More Heroes because it’s one of the most recent examples of a game that has all the qualities of a great cult game that has garnered already a strong following. With No More Hereoes producer Suda 51 and its developer Grasshopper Manufacture set out to develop a game that flies in the face of conventional game design in the current era. While some may argue that it’s far too early to give No More Heroes the title of a cult game I’d argue that it had no destiny but to become one. With its roots deeply seeded in pop culture, off beat self referential humor and pulp movies. The game has obvious nods to spaghetti westerns (Suda 51 says himself that the game was inspired by movie El Topo), Quentin Tarantino and HK and Japanese bullet operas it works on a bed rock of, well, cult culture from other mediums.

You won’t have to look further than main character Travis Touchdown, one of the most ingenious protagonists ever created for a video game, to notice that the makers of this game have decided to go against the tide. Neither the jack ass testosterone filled meat head like Master Chief or Kratos nor the whiny sissy boy found in so many RPGs Travis is nothing more than a dark caricatured reflection of his audience. A young male far too obsessed with things he should’ve let go after turning 18, among them girly anime, wrestling and video games, he’s down on his luck, poor and urged on to become the top “UAA Assassin” by a shapely French girl by the name of Sylvia Christel. After winning a Star Wars-eque beam katana from an online auction Travis spends part of his time now slicing heads off people for profit. Despite Travis’ look, his motorcycle and his awesome beam katana he is in fact a nerd, something that Sylvia Christel constantly reminds Travis through a series of cell phone calls (played through the wii mote’s mic to be held to your ear like a phone) and in essence his assassin missions are no more like a game of D&D or an hour of Grand Theft Auto for a “normal” person.

Part of the beauty of No More Heroes is how it plays into the concept of fantasy vs. reality that many young “nerdy” males, the primary target audience of this game, must experience in their video game conquests and anime viewing. One minute Travis is slicing heads, killing assassins, speaking with attractive but deadly women. It’s as if he’s living a hyper kinetic Japanese yakuza movie. However between assassinations the cold harshness of the real world; need for cash, training and better weapons, forces Travis to partake in part time jobs that range from collecting coconuts to mowing lawns In the world of Santa Destroy, Travis’ hometown, his assassination jobs are his escape while he still needs to return to the real world once in a while.

Stylistically the game grabs you by the balls so much so that you’ll forgive it’s technical issues like crappy frame rate and frequent pop up in the “sandbox” over world the game takes place in. The menus have a pixilated 8 bit aesthetic that has become popular amongst the nostalgia starved modern gamer. Meanwhile the games low poly models are boosted by a healthy dose of amazing graphic design. Pallets are kept simple and vibrant, heavy shadows accent the surroundings and the character animation is absolutely superb. Musically the game is top notch with an amazing soundtrack that compliments some of the most bone crunching sound effects and blood curdling screams. No More Heroes boasts one of the best voice over casts ever in a video game, where everyone is down pat with their performances of their over the top characters.

However all this works in favor of a gameplay experience that is both next gen and retro at the same time. No More Heroes is essentially a beat ‘em up in the vein of something like Double Dragon. There is a little variety such as deflecting bullets, dodging, high and low blocking and a hilarious powerup system based on a roulette wheel but all in all the game is won through mashing the “A” button. However the variety of enemies, sheer numbers and level design prevent this from becoming boring and the visually gratifying blood spurts and head explosions that are prompted by a swing of the wii mote will make you want even more waves to come. The boss battles are a thing of beauty, having the old school 16 bit “pattern” aspect with new style trickery and design they’re the most enjoyable part of the game.

In the end though it’s the humor that’s No More Heroes greatest strength the absurd premise brought over the top by numerous cultural references, digs on the gaming community and “wink at the audience moments” abound. The final soliloquy delivered by the final boss is fast forwarded to as quoted “jack up the age rating of this game even further” (and reveals itself to be quite dark and twisted when slowed down, see below spoiler filled video if you wish to see yourself) and the endings (both “real” and “fake”) will elicit a hearty laugh out of anyone.

No More Heroes is a game that’s much more than the sum of its parts. In the wrong hands this would’ve been a simple button mashing beat’em up with some half hearted motion control thrown in. However with it’s over the top style you can’t help but feel that for the developers this was a game they had just as much making as the players do playing with the true testament for that being the planned sequel to be released in 2010. If there’s a game that’s screaming for a continuation it’s definitely No More Heroes.