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Game » consists of 1 releases. Released Oct 09, 1988
Sure, these days have almost every game sporting the newfangled 3D, but way back when, everyone had to live with plain old 2D. 2D, or two dimensions, limit the game to scrolling backgrounds, but some games even now make use of this basic concept.
Anthropomorphism is the concept of an object, concept or character that has human qualities or traits, such as speech, a level of intelligence similar or higher than a human's and self consciousness. "Anthro" means "of human" and related to the concept of humanity.
Apes are primates that lack tails. They swing from tree to tree and sometimes fling poo. Not to be confused with monkeys (who have tails).
Some game characters just cannot swim. This usually means automatic death as soon as they hit the water.
Climbing is a common tradition in games, particularly platformers. There is often a particular type of surface that can be climbed, and it has a recognizably different look than other surfaces in the game. Climbing ladders or stairs doesn't count.
The ultimate pressure feature. Players have to complete the task at hand, be it defeating opponents or cutting the right wire, in the allotted time.
The concept of a helpless female character in desperate need of rescuing by the protagonist, in most cases from a villain, or from a form of impending doom.
The main line of distinction between victory or failure in video games, death is the process of a biological being ceasing to be alive.
Why are bad guys on so many game covers? Perhaps the developers secretly think they're cooler than the good guys.
Game Over originally appeared in pinball machines, and later, arcade machines. When players lose at a game, it is game over.
Gravity is a physical phenomenon, specifically the mutual attraction between all objects in the universe. In a gaming setting, gravity determines the relationship between the player and the "ground," preventing the player or game objects from flying off into space, and hopefully acting in a predictable/realistic manner.
In many games there is a ranking system, the players with the highest point value are listed in a "high score" table.
A situation where the player-controlled character loses their life immediately. The quickness of that demise is often a stark departure from the balance of power, and sometimes the rules, established by the developers during the rest of the game.
An intermission is a little scene shown between rounds to give the player a break. It may advance the storyline or just be humorous. The intermission can be seen as a grandfather to the cutscene, as they often featured humerous animations that weren't necessarily related to the gameplay at all.
It's arguably the one move that symbolizes the medium to those outside it. The ability to jump, be it onto a building, a platform, or a skull, is one of the all time most important abilities ever put in a video game.
Kidnapping is often used in videogames as a motivation for the protagonist to venture into unknown worlds and fight seemingly hopeless battles.
First Donkey Kong, then Mario!
A type of primate with tails; often monkeys are depicted as causing havoc the moment they are encountered.
Platforms conveniently moving you towards your destination to allow the crossing of large expanses which would otherwise be impossible to cross.
Never Ending Games is a self-explanatory concept in which a game is unbeatable and never ends, due either to the game having no true ending or because the game is not saved (or truly continued) after the last section of the game.
Nitpickers are the avian adversaries of Donkey Kong Jr.
Any game that does not have any written or spoken dialogue in it, regardless if it has characters or not. This includes any text or recorded dialogue that is spoken by a character or narrator, but not text such as "Press Start".
A level in which everything is displayed on-screen at once, with no scrolling, flip screen, or 3D movement. Many '80s games consist entirely of single-screen levels.
For some reason, some games are named after the opposing person. Sometimes it's because the bad guy is cooler than the good guy.
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