You may remember them, the arcade machines. In a corner of the cafe. Against a wall in the pub. In the kiosk on the square.
It was “Space invaders”, it was “Galaga”, it was “1941”. The titles were different but it was the same kind of game – you get shot by thousands of digital bullets and should not be hit.
I remember one in particular, it was called “Raiden”, came out in the 90’s and was developed by Seibu Kaihatsu. You piloted a spaceship that flew over tanks, warships and, of course, enemy aircraft. Everyone shot. It was important to shoot back, shoot everything, avoid being hit and pick up power-ups, ie reinforcements for your own ship.
You could be hit once, then you lost everything you had painstakingly gathered together; you had maybe three lives, possibly four or five if you accumulated extra lives.
The beginner might know play for a minute, while an experienced player could get through it all in 37 minutes. I probably never got further than 24 minutes, even though I played it for maybe ten years. And the vast majority of games ended with a sloppy hit after maybe seven or eight minutes.
And then there was nothing to do but go through the pockets and see if there were any coins left to dig out.
I just got the video game “Returnal”, produced by the Finnish company Housemarque. It is provided with a warning text: This is a difficult game, it says. I do not even understand what they mean. All games are difficult before you learn to play them, right?
It’s exactly like “Raiden” once was, though thirty years of technological development later: Enemies that shoot bursts of bullets, paths to get through, hits make you lose your power-ups, you have the equivalent of three or four extra lives. And if you die, as you always do, you have to start from scratch.
And the technical upgrades are ambitious: you can move in three dimensions, the sound is part of the game and not just a soundtrack, and then the hand control hums so that it is felt throughout the body.
I read reviews online and find that many of the young men of our time are weak. They complain that you have to start all the time. They complain that you can not always start again from the point when you have come the furthest. They call for changes in the game. They think it’s wrong with the game and not with their own patience. They obviously want to be curled up even when they are playing.
All I have to say is: Welcome to a real video game.
Read more kåserier by Augustin, like this when he leads in proof that we are stuck in a time loop from the 1980s or when he points out that eating cutlery is overrated.