So hey there. It's been quiet here since I finished talking about Enterprise. I've mostly been experiencing media that's neat, but not quite neat enough to devote essays to. Also actual real-world stuff. Also a few half-formed essays that didn't go anywhere but might be poked at in the future. Since I'd like to put something out there before Halloween, and this is on the mind, here it is. The reveal of one of the idea seeds growing in my head. This is, I suppose, an announcement for a project called Gotcha!. A Brief Foray Into The History Of Masocore Games. What's a masocore game? Well, the definition is broad and there's a lot of "I know it when I see it" in play, but generally it defines those games that are single screen challenges with infinite lives, where the obstacles are instant death and either laden all over the place or used as surprise traps to be memorized. Gotcha. See? Get it? This definition, of course, is nowhere near the specifics we're going to have to get into, but I want to leave the proper defining of masocore to the actual project itself when I work on it. That being said, we're going to be playing jazz with it a lot. This is nowhere near a definitive history of the genre, and it's also going to venture to territory that's not really masocore but that I feel fits the spirit of the project and the story I want to tell about the evolution of this game style.
Still, I may have overlooked something, so in announcing this I'm going to throw out my rough draft chapter list for you. That includes the things in the maybe pile. If you lovely readers out there notice some glaring omission that I'm a buffoon for not noticing, I would be thankful if you pointed it out for me here. Regardless, here's the general outline I have so far. All subject to change, of course, but these words you're reading are literally the first ones jotted down about the project. So the ball is still very much in the air. I hope you enjoy it, if and when it actually gets out there!
Gotcha! Chapter List:
80's PC Grab Bag (Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy, C64 Hercules)
Super Mario Bros. 2 (JP)
Takeshi's Challenge
NES Grab Bag (Contra, Mega Man 2, other formative and inspiring hard NES games)
Battletoads
SNES Grab Bag (I have no idea what will go here but I need something between 1991 and 2004)
The Big Adventure Of Owata's Life
I Wanna Be The Guy
Syoban Action
Kaizo Mario World
Dark Souls
Super Meat Boy
1001 Spikes
Battle Kid
AVGN Adventures/AVGN II
Celeste
The "maybe" pile:
Dragon's Lair
Jumper
Give Up Robot
VVVVVV
Bullet Phaze
Life Of Pixel
Mega Man 9/10
