A history: Video games to board games
If you think video games based on movie licenses are bad, did you ever check out board games based on video game licenses? Professional blogger Yehuda has compiled a great little trip through the land of video game to board game conversion.
He begins with the early games like Berzerk, Pac-Man and Donkey Kong (pictured). Quick recap of a few of those game's gameplay mechanics: In Berzerk you would flick the back of your guy and his arms would swing up knocking over the bad guy in the next tile; Pac-Man you pressed as hard as you could over marbles to make them pop into the protagonist, and in Donkey Kong there was actually a rubber band inside the arm to drop barrels -- if you got through a full game without a malfunction you were very lucky.
Yehuda takes us all the way from the strong beginnings in the '80s to the modern seventh generation in gaming. Definitely a gasp-inducing bit of nostalgia for any kid whose parents thought buying the board game was a reasonable equivalent to the video game.
[Via Raph Koster's Website]
He begins with the early games like Berzerk, Pac-Man and Donkey Kong (pictured). Quick recap of a few of those game's gameplay mechanics: In Berzerk you would flick the back of your guy and his arms would swing up knocking over the bad guy in the next tile; Pac-Man you pressed as hard as you could over marbles to make them pop into the protagonist, and in Donkey Kong there was actually a rubber band inside the arm to drop barrels -- if you got through a full game without a malfunction you were very lucky.
Yehuda takes us all the way from the strong beginnings in the '80s to the modern seventh generation in gaming. Definitely a gasp-inducing bit of nostalgia for any kid whose parents thought buying the board game was a reasonable equivalent to the video game.
[Via Raph Koster's Website]












Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ethan Rom @ Jan 30th 2008 9:48AM
I had that Donkey Kong board game and the Pac-Man board game. Neither were that much fun at all and didn't work right most the time. I wonder if I still have them somewhere. I might get a few bucks on Ebay for them.
Dustin @ Jan 30th 2008 10:12AM
Wow, that's actually pretty cool. I have the Nintendo edition of Monopololy, and I thought I was just the bee's knees. Going to have to pick up some of these games, now.
Draken Stark @ Jan 30th 2008 11:44AM
I can't say the transition of Monopoly from board game to video game was as popular as the Mario Party game series. However the same goes for the Mario Party card game/board game with the compatibility of the e-reader thingy majigy.
jsn @ Jan 30th 2008 10:21AM
the doom board game is actually pretty fun.
Gene Platt @ Jan 30th 2008 11:43AM
While the Doom game is fairly well designed, it received some well-deserved criticism for being too unforgiving. The mechanics in that game were later refined (and the difficulty balanced) in a fantasy hack-n-slash game called Descent (no relation to the old PC game). If you enjoyed Doom, I recommend you give Descent a try.
Gerwurztraminer @ Jan 30th 2008 11:29AM
I remember having the Pac-Man game when I was a kid. At the time I think I thought it was fun, but I don't really remember. I think I destroyed the game with Bazooka Joe bubblegum. I might give a few bucks on Ebay for it.
PhrawzT @ Jan 30th 2008 11:45AM
I had the Pac Man board game, though I lost some of the marbles. That game took forever to set up.
Draken Stark @ Jan 30th 2008 11:47AM
@Gene Platt
lol Hold on a sec while I turn the A/C on in hell...
Dahk @ Jan 30th 2008 1:17PM
I saw a Starcraft board game in the toy store a couple floors below where I work.
Someone go buy that board game and let me know how that goes =P.
plyx @ Jan 30th 2008 3:10PM
Holy crap I used to have that and didn't remember it until I saw that picture. Thanks for ruining 5 years of therapy, Joystiq!
scooterbaga @ Jan 30th 2008 7:36PM
Hell ya! Just ordered me some Nintendo Uno...
Jennifer @ Jan 31st 2008 1:38PM
When I was a hardcore video gamer, my most favorite game was Donkey Kong, and the fact that they made it a board game, which I am also a finatic of, is a very exciting fact. This is the first I have heard of them making it a board game and if I were to have heard about it when it first came out I'm sure that I might have been one of the first people to get that game. But I am very disappointed to hear how poorly they have made these games and now that you all are saying that it rare that you can get through a whole game without it breaking that makes me very upset. I am very glad to have heard of this now and not before so now my money can go into a better investment than to be disappointed in a game that would have started malfunctioning within the first time I played.