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Games whose titles consist of a single word.
Games released coinciding with new hardware.
When the artwork on the game's box in no way correlates to the game's actual look and feel.
Games which feature copyright infringement, or contain the tools to make infringing material. Usually seen in games with user generated content.
A branch of the United Galaxy military, the UGSF also represents the elaborate backstory linking together countless Namco-Bandai games, such as Galaxian, Galaga, Bosconian, and even Dig Dug.
Famicom Disk System games that were only available via a disk writing service available in many Japanese game stores. As such, they have no official box art and are harder for collectors to find.
These games take the select button literally. Pushing up and down (or any other button) to select an option will do nothing.
Palette-swapping are sometimes used to denote the different strengths and abilities of your adversaries.
8-bit can be a reference to actual computing power, or it can be a retro look for videogames that want to recall a bygone era.
The original helicopter.
These are games you don't need a console to play. You plug in a controller to the TV and you're ready to play.
Games that can be played with a CGA monitor and graphics card. CGA, Color Graphics Adapter was the first generation of color graphics for the IBM PC.
What lies ahead, and is distant from the present.
"Comic Book Included" is for video games that have an actual physical comic book that come with them (See "Comic Book" for comic books in the games themselves). Sometimes the comics help the player play the game, sometimes they're just a fun diversion.
The concept of purchasing media and having it delivered over the internet. No physical representation of this content is given, and although the content resides on the user's hard drive they are typically granted a license to the product, rather than ownership of it.
Not all bosses can handle the player by themselves. Many use waves of lesser enemies to fight for them while they rest, and some even let these minions do all the work.
Vertical scrolling is when the screen scrolls along the y-axis. In a vertical scrolling game the player usually starts from the bottom of the screen and moves up. They are also almost always presented in a top-down perspective.
A boss fight is a culminating challenge that pits the player against one or more enemies representing a greater threat and/or difficulty than those previously faced. These scenarios typically feature unique antagonists.
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.
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.
Porting is a term used when a game designed to run on one platform is converted to run on a different platform. Quality varies, though some titles are packaged with extras.
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.
Whether it be a close up shotgun blast, far away sniper rifle, explosive, or backstab, the "one hit kill" is a popular kill strategy. Usually hard to master and even harder to avoid, the instant kill is loved and hated by gamers everywhere.
A two-dimensional image or animation overlaid into a scene. The foundation of early 2D games, making up everything from props to the player-controlled character.
A concept where the game must be restarted if you are killed. It is a mechanic found in most arcade games, but the term is usually used in reference to the RPG genre where the mechanic is less common, particularly "roguelike" games as well as strategy games such as Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics where characters die if they are defeated in battle. Often used as a significant plot device.
The opposite of open-ended gameplay, linear gameplay uses scripted events, Quick time events, cut scenes, and a restricted path to tell a story exactly how the writer intends, and control elements of the action.
The concept of lives in video games evolved to let the player get a second chance after failing once. The most recognizable symbol is the heart.
In many games there is a ranking system, the players with the highest point value are listed in a "high score" table.
Bosses are enemies that fight you at the end of a level or at a significant point in the story.
Artificial Intelligence, or AI, commonly refers to the programmed behaviors of NPCs in a game, whether it's the fact that a soldier takes cover behind a wall in Gears of War, or that townspeople cheer upon your arrival to their village in Fable.
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