18
SUPER MARIO 64/TOMB RAIDER (1996): THE THIRD DIMENSION
So far in our journey through the greatest and most influential games of all time—a list compiled with no small apprehension by your humble and well-meaning authors—we have yet to cheat. But, alas, we at last come to a tie that neither of us could break: was it Super Mario 64 or Tomb Raider that finally established 3D as the new standard for videogames? Which of these two best-selling, trend-setting games can really be said to have rendered 2D obsolete? Unable to decide between Mario's mustache or Lara Croft's … pistols, we finally decided not to decide. Both of these critically acclaimed games established paradigms that are still guiding the industry today.
A scene from Atari's 1983 arcade game, I, Robot, which was the first commercial videogame with flat, shaded 3D polygonal graphics. Though ostensibly a shooter, I, Robot was a hybrid that featured maze and platforming (jumping) elements.
Clearly, Super Mario 64 and Tomb Raider are two very different games, but still have much in common. They both, for instance, featured or came to feature two of the industry's most recognizable and beloved characters. Both games were widely praised and sold millions of copies, establishing or extending massive franchises that extended to Hollywood. Perhaps most importantly, however, is that these games offered some of the best 3D gameplay ever seen to that point. They demonstrated, conclusively, that 3D was the future of videogames.
Adding a new dimension to a game like Super Mario Bros. (Chapter 19, “Super Mario Bros. (1985): How High Can Jumpman Get?") wasn't just a matter of graphics; the real challenge was the interface. How could players accustomed to the 2D games learn to move a character in three dimensions, particularly in situations that required very precise control? In short, could the run-and-jump gameplay that practically defined the NES and Super Nintendo eras survive the transition to 3D? What sort of interface and controller setup would best accommodate these new games? Would novice and child gamers be able to cope with the added complexity?
Super Mario 64 consists of a number of highly diverse worlds, which Mario enters by leaping into paintings like these. Each world has its own theme and special challenges, making for highly varied gameplay.
Perhaps the biggest problem was “camera control,” or perspective. This hadn't been an issue with 2D platformers, as the screen could simply scroll left and right (or occasionally up and down) as the character moved along the X (horizontal) and Y (vertical) axes. The third dimension meant that now characters could move along the Z axis, toward and away from the camera. This feature made the gameworlds feel much more realistic and immersive, but it came at a cost. The groundbreaking 3D game Alone in the Dark (see Chapter 1, “Alone in the Dark (1992): The Polygons of Fear”), for instance, was slow and sometimes difficult to navigate. The game was set up as a series of prerendered rooms or scenes, each with a “fixed camera.” Although the arrangement worked well for a horror-themed game like Alone in the Dark, it certainly wouldn't have accommodated a fast-paced, cheerful run-and-jump game like Super Mario Bros., where fast movement and accurate collision detection were critical. Furthermore, gamers now expected the backgrounds as well as the characters to be rendered on the fly, as they were in first-person shooters.
A more specific consideration is that the third dimension made jumps much harder to estimate; players might need to study the situation from several angles to properly aim and time a difficult leap. All of this hadn't been a problem with first-person 3D games such as id's Doom (Chapter 5, “Doom (1993): The First-Person Shooter Takes Control”), where the camera behaved as if it were the character, though more like a disembodied eye. Jumping had been limited in these games anyway and was not necessarily seen as a key inclusion, as in Star Wars: Dark Forces (LucasArts, 1995; Apple Macintosh, PC, Sony PlayStation). Such sequences called for third-person perspective; the player needed to be able to see the character and ledge from a distance. However, such a feat required a more dynamic camera than those seen in first-person shooters. In short, players would need an easy way to control both the character and the camera. As we'll see, though still working towards mastery, game developers found clever ways to make these cameras “smart,” automatically maintaining a useful perspective and requiring fewer adjustments from the player.
Richly interactive 3D games like Super Mario 64 and Tomb Raider were obviously quite demanding from a technological perspective, and by the mid-1990s the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis were clearly not up for the challenge, even with extra hardware added inside cartridges like Star Fox (1993; Nintendo) or Virtua Racing (1994; Sega) to give them the ability to process small numbers of polygons. However, the major console developers seemed hesitant about placing their bets on 3D graphics technology. Were 3D games simply an expensive fad? Would they catch on with console gamers as they had with PC gamers?
Sega, which seemed to pride itself on beating its rival Nintendo to the latest technological standards, hedged its bets in 1994 with the Sega Saturn.1 This system had originally been intended as the world's most powerful 2D console with modest 3D capabilities, but the plans changed after Sega learned of Sony's decision to enter the market with its PlayStation. Sony's device was said to feature powerful support for 3D games, and Sega certainly didn't want to seem behind the times. The Sega Saturn ended up as a hodgepodge of 2D and 3D technology that proved difficult for developers to contend with. The system would end up flopping miserably outside of Japan, and the stigma carried over to Sega's final console, the Dreamcast.
The Sony PlayStation, built from the ground up as a 3D machine, would be amazingly successful, soon putting Sony in the enviable position of the world's biggest console producer. Nintendo, meanwhile, waited a year after the release of the PlayStation before launching its Nintendo 64 in 1996. However, the surprising decision to rely on cartridges instead of CD-ROM technology hindered its ability to compete squarely with Sony's juggernaut; though cartridges offered quick access, cost and storage capacity were serious issues. Nevertheless, the Nintendo 64 would see several successful and influential 3D games besides Super Mario 64: Nintendo's Wave Race 64 (1996), Rare's GoldenEye 007 (1997), and Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998; see Chapter 21, “The Legend of Zelda (1986): Rescuing Zeldas and Uniting Triforces”).
Besides added support for 3D graphics, the newer consoles offered controllers with features that made them a better fit for 3D games. Perhaps the most important addition was an analog stick and extra buttons for adjusting the camera. Controllers with just a “d-pad” were limited to four directions: up, down, left, and right, and their diagonals, with no intermediate values. The analog stick allowed for nuanced, fluid movement in all directions and greatly improved the control of 3D games like Super Mario 64. We should note that neither the Sony PlayStation nor the Sega Saturn originally shipped with such controllers, but both would eventually have analog controllers as an option.2 The Nintendo 64’s controller was the only one equipped with an analog stick and buttons designated specifically for camera control from the beginning. It was designed with Super Mario 64 in mind, which Nintendo knew would be its surest bet for promoting the system.
In short, the mid-1990s were the turning point from 2D to 3D, and it soon became obvious that the “best system” was the one with the best 3D games. The challenge was manifold—the system itself would have to be capable of handling the high demands of 3D gameplay, but a console with even the finest hardware would sit on the shelf without innovative games to harness its power. Fortunately, two such games were just around the corner.
The worlds in Super Mario 64 are richly detailed and fun to explore, though getting a handle on the 3D control scheme might be a bit challenging at first for those more familiar with the 2D Mario games.
Perhaps the first major 3D platformer out the gate was Jumping Flash!, a game developed by Exact and Ultra and published by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) in 1995 exclusively for its new PlayStation. This highly innovative game didn't go unnoticed, but was all but forgotten after the arrival of Super Mario 64 and Tomb Raider.
Jumping Flash! is one of only a handful of platform games depicted in first-person perspective.3 Players can move the avatar (a robotic bunny named Robbit) in three dimensions and control the camera as they see fit. The bulk of the gameplay consists of Robbit leaping from platform-to-platform in fully rendered and quite colorful 3D worlds. As we'll see in Tomb Raider, the developers of Jumping Flash! were able to give the impression of extreme heights—no doubt, players with acrophobia found the game quite unsettling.
As we mentioned earlier, one of the big problems with jumping in first-person games is accurately judging the distance and aiming at a suitable landing spot. Jumping Flash! admirably solved this problem by automatically pivoting the camera down during jumps and showing Robbit's feet and shadow as he fell toward a landing platform. The game was successful enough to warrant a sequel in 1996, but even with its improved graphics, could not compete with Nintendo's Super Mario 64, particularly as it was difficult to identify with the mostly unseen character. It's disheartening to think that Jumping Flash!’s innovative interface may never return, because it offers extraordinary possibilities for first-person games. GameSpy selected both games as part of its “25 Most Underrated Games of All Time” list, a well-deserved placement if there ever was one.4
Jumping Flash! was a very playable first-person platform game with several innovations. Perhaps the best is allowing players to see the character's feet and shadow to help guide his landings.
On September 26, 1996, North Americans got their first taste of the game that would come to define the 3D platformer: Super Mario 64. The game was unsurprisingly a smash hit for both the Mario franchise and the Nintendo 64, which certainly benefited from the game's sensational publicity (understandably, it was also set up for play on countless in-store kiosks). The game is still widely admired and played today,5 and was named as one of GameSpot's “15 Most Influential Games of All Time,” arguing that it “set the standards for how 3D space would be navigated within video games,” a bold claim, to say the least.6 Contemporary reviews raved about the game. Matt Casamassina of IGN called it “possibly the greatest videogame achievement ever,” though others seemed reluctant to give any cartridge-based game full scores now that CD-ROMs had become a standard.7
What made Super Mario 64 so super? Besides the vivid graphics, memorable music, and meticulous attention to detail that defines all of Nintendo's Mario and Zelda games, it's really the interface that stands as the game's greatest achievement. The integration of the analog stick was particularly impressive. Depending on how hard players pushed it one direction, Mario would either tiptoe, walk, or run. Although the camera would sometimes automatically switch to the “recommended view,” players were “cinematographers” as well (to quote from the manual), utilizing the controller's four “c” buttons. Mario was followed by Lakitu, a camera “crew” that flew around on a cloud. The player could move the camera closer or further (zoom) and around to get a better view of the scene. Players could also see what Mario himself was looking at, a useful technique for spotting Power Stars and powerups.
The Power Stars, by the way, are what Mario needed to collect to win the game. The Power Stars, which protected Princess Peach's Mushroom Castle, have been stolen by Mario's famous nemesis, Bowser. It's up to Mario, of course, to find the stars. This meant traveling into a set of magical paintings, which were self-contained worlds full of puzzles and monsters.
These worlds are quite diverse, bringing welcome variety to both the aesthetics and challenges of the game. They also give Mario a chance to show off his many abilities, such as swimming, climbing, flying, and even launching himself from cannons. Mario also has a bevy of jumps and leaps available, such as wall kicks, long jumps, and side and back somersaults—in short, the skills of a master acrobat. In addition to his classic squashing technique to destroy enemies, Mario can now punch and kick them as well. Although all of these moves might seem intimidating, the game introduces them gradually, mostly by reading text on signs sprinkled throughout the worlds. Although it's naturally more difficult to control than the classic 2D Mario games, Nintendo streamlined the 3D interface to the point where even a child could master it with little struggle. Nintendo had brought 3D gaming to the public the right way.
Nintendo followed up Super Mario 64 with several sequels and spin-offs. The first was Super Mario Sunshine in 2002 for their GameCube console. Besides the expected graphic enhancements, the game offered a new spin jump and FLUDD, a water tank that let Mario spray water or hover in the air. Although Super Mario Sunshine sold well, it didn't have quite the same critical impact as Super Mario 64.8 The next game changed that, Super Mario Galaxy, released to a rousing critical reception9 in 2007 for the Nintendo Wii. It features levels that take the form of galaxies filled with a variety of minor planets and worlds, and gameplay is affected by gravity and new powerups.
Screenshot from Sega's Sonic Adventure 2 on the Dreamcast. Despite Sega's best efforts, Sonic has not had the same successful transition from 2D to 3D like Mario or Link has.
If Super Mario 64 was cute, family-friendly, and full of bright colors and bouncy music, Tomb Raider was sexy, dark, and hip. What it lacked in polish it made up for in spit—that is, the drool flowing from the mouths of so many men who found themselves in love with Lara Croft. Super Mario 64 is to Tomb Raider what Kool-Aid is to Budweiser. Tomb Raider seemed to cater to every stereotypical male desire: guns, gold, and gazongas.
Lara Croft, guns drawn, running through traps in an early scene from the Sega Saturn version of Tomb Raider.
Let's start, then, with the topic most often raised in any discussion of Tomb Raider: Lara Croft's boobs. When Lara first bounced onto the scene in November 1996, critics seemed to expect a strong backlash from feminists and female gamers. IGN's review of the game, which awarded the game an “Outstanding” score, ran under the byline “IGN Staff,” as if no individual critic wanted to be held responsible for praising the game so highly. The opening line of their review read, “Tomb Raider is bound to stir up lots of trouble with the feminists. Lara Croft's unrealistic proportions can only lead to further gender stereotyping and objectification of women.” With these disclaimers out of the way, the staff went on to call it “one of the best games of 1996.”10 A similarly “anonymously” authored review in The Economist began with the question, “WHAT man could resist a creature like Lara Croft? This ravishing British heiress divides her time between acrobatic workouts in her stately home and dangerous expeditions to exotic ruins. She wears shorts everywhere, which show off her sprinter's legs, and a tiny waist draws attention to her gravity-defying bust. Then there is the small matter of the twin automatic pistols she straps to her bare thighs.”11
Was Tomb Raider simply a sexist game that pandered to horny boys? Though some might think so, others point out that since the game put players in the role of a woman—and a strong, self-assured one at that—it perhaps did more to dispel sexist stereotypes than reinforce them, despite attempts to market the character in a sexual manner. In an interview with Forbes magazine, Eidos’ spokesman Gary Keith argued that “it used to be that when we played videogames, it wasn't cool to be a girl,” and suggested that Lara and her imitators had reversed the situation.12 Although the game was ostensibly targeted at 18- to 35-year-old males, plenty of women enjoyed the game as well. “There was something refreshing about looking at the screen and seeing myself as a woman,” said Nikki Douglas, a female gamer interviewed by Justine Cassell and Henry Jenkins for their book From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games (MIT Press, 1998). Other female gamers and critics were less pleased. Even if Lara were a strong female character in a genre dominated by male characters (and weak women), she still presented a physical stereotype that ordinary women could not (and should not) equal. Espen Aarseth, one of the world's foremost game scholars, found the whole subject irrelevant: “When I play, I don't even see her body, but see through it and past it.”13
Lara Croft in a temporary state of repose in the Sega Saturn version of Tomb Raider.
The game may have had some feminists gnashing their teeth, but it certainly had millions of gamers mashing their controllers. It certainly put its developer Core Design in the spotlight, and generated millions in earnings for publisher Eidos Interactive. Incidentally, these two companies were both based in the United Kingdom. The international success of Tomb Raider was a welcome boon to the United Kingdom's gaming industry, which had lagged behind that of the United States and Japan.
Although the game was better known on the Sony PlayStation and PC, it actually debuted on the aforementioned Sega Saturn platform.14 This version, though one of the best-sellers on the platform, is understandably overshadowed by the later releases, which offered slightly better visuals15 and a larger user base. All versions offer third-person perspective and a camera that follows along behind Lara (or over her shoulder). Like Mario in Super Mario 64, Lara can perform a wide variety of movements—walking, running, jumping, side-stepping, and swimming. She can also grip onto ledges and climb up, a feature that makes leaping from platform to platform much easier to master. Lara makes frequent use of her pistols to kill beasts or human enemies, but most of the gameplay is focused on avoiding traps and solving puzzles. Lara can push or pull objects, throw switches, and use items that she collects during the adventure. The game is a great deal more violent than Super Mario 64, with several grisly ways for Lara to meet her end, including being impaled by spikes.
Perhaps the most important feature from a gameplay perspective is its superb control and response. There is no free-roaming camera, but players can force the camera immediately behind Lara and then use the direction buttons to look around (essentially seeing what she's seeing). This feature came in handy whenever the built-in camera was stuck at an awkward angle.
As the title implies, Tomb Raider is set in an ancient ruins, a theme comparable to that of the Indiana Jones movies. Like Indy, Lara is a brash adventurer, more than happy to risk her life in pursuit of some archaeological treasure or another. Indeed, the game's fast-paced plot reads very much like an Indiana Jones script, with plenty of intrigue, double-crosses, history, and travel to exotic locales (Peru, Greece, Egypt, and ultimately Atlantis).
Screenshot from the tutorial “gym” mode that takes place in Lara's home in the Sega Saturn version of Tomb Raider.
Another feature worth mentioning is the in-game tutorial system. Rather than thrust players directly into the adventure, Tomb Raider let players experiment first in a special level that takes place in Lara's home. Players could use Lara's home to familiarize themselves with the controls before embarking on the adventure. Later Tomb Raider games would elaborate on this concept, eventually offering lengthy in-game tutorials that not only taught players the controls, but filled them in on the back-story along the way. Perhaps the best example of this is seen in Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (1999; Sega Dreamcast, Sony PlayStation, and others), the fourth game in the series. This game begins with Lara as a rather spunky teenager. Lara accompanies her mentor Werner Von Croy to a set of ancient ruins, where the experienced adventurer guides Lara through a series of traps and tests of agility. Along the way, Von Croy offers instructions and tips, but Lara needn't follow his directions to the letter. Indeed, deviating a bit can actually earn her some bonus points as well as the chance to try more difficult (and perilous) training sequences.
Tomb Raider may well have made more impact on the industry than Super Mario 64, if for no other reason than it was so much more widely available. It was a best-selling and definitive title for both the Sony PlayStation and the PC, and Lara's celebrity status seemed to ensure a grand future for the franchise. However, the series seemed to generally decline with each sequel or spin-off, which either lacked the originality or polish of the original. The worst offender was the sixth game, Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness (2003; Apple Macintosh, PC, Sony PlayStation 2), which critics lambasted for its glitchy gameplay and cumbersome control scheme. The seventh game, Tomb Raider: Legend (2006; Microsoft Xbox 360, PC, Sony PlayStation 2, and others) was developed by Crystal Dynamics, a California team. This game seems to have put the franchise back on track. The company also worked on Tomb Raider: Anniversary (2007; Apple Macintosh, Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation Portable, and others), an enhanced remake of the original. Tomb Raider: Underworld (2008; Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3, and others) offers the typical audiovisual improvements, but its most interesting feature is a gameworld that reacts dynamically to Lara's actions in a persistent manner—mud will stick to Lara until washed away by rain, enemies will remain where they were killed, and any environmental destruction is permanent.
The influence of Super Mario 64 and Tomb Raider on both console and PC gaming has been immense. Indeed, it's hard to know where to start. Seemingly any 3D action-adventure game—particularly any with a third-person perspective—owes a debt to these trailblazers. It's also tempting to say that any later game featuring a sexy female avatar was probably inspired by Lara Croft. Would we have Joanna Dark of Perfect Dark (Rare, 2000; Nintendo 64), Cate Archer of The Operative: No One Lives Forever (Eidos, 2000; Apple Macintosh, PC, Sony PlayStation 2), Rayne of BloodRayne (Majesco, 2002; Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, and others), or Nariko of Heavenly Sword (Sony, 2007; PlayStation 3) without Lara Croft? There's no doubt that the number of games with female main characters swelled after Tomb Raider.
Perhaps the three games that seem to have followed most closely in Nintendo's wake are Sega's Nights into Dreams … (1996; Sega Saturn), Naughty Dog's Crash Bandicoot (1996; Sony PlayStation), and Rare's Banjo-Kazooie (1998; Nintendo 64). Nights into Dreams … is an intriguing game from Sonic Team packaged with an analog controller that unfortunately arrived too late to save the Sega Saturn. It is essentially a “rail” 3D plat-former, meaning that while the graphics are rendered in 3D, the movement of the player's character is constrained to preestablished paths. Nevertheless, it was an impressive achievement, and remains one of the finest games ever made for the system. Crash Bandicoot is one of the best-selling games for the PlayStation, and its eccentric central character became a mascot of sorts for the platform, though many of the sequels and offshoots would come to appear on other platforms. As with Nights into Dreams … the character's movement is a linear, “railed” game with intense jumping action. Perhaps Crash Bandicoot’s greatest claim to fame is its polish and ability to capture a 2D side-scrolling platformer feel in 3D. Rare's Banjo-Kazooie is a closer derivative of Super Mario 64, with nonlinear 3D worlds. However, Banjo-Kazooie expanded on the concept. The characters can transform into different creatures, for instance, and learn new moves as the game progresses. All three of these games are of course important and influential in their own right.
Two screenshots from Eidos's Tomb Raider: Underworld, which again upped the ante on the popular series.
Screenshot from Crash Bandicoot for the Sony PlayStation, a character who appears to have been inspired in many ways by Sonic—complete with comical attitude.
Screenshot from Sega's cult favorite, Nights into Dreams … for the Sega Saturn.
Taken together, Super Mario 64 and Tomb Raider represent a paradigm shift from 2D to 3D. They demonstrated not only that such games were technologically feasible, but that they could be intuitive and easy even for novices. After these games, any 2D game—even “railed” 3D games such as Nights into Dreams … and Crash Bandicoot—would suffer the unflattering comparison to Super Mario 64 or Tomb Raider. Naturally, the success of 3D platform and action games seems all but certain to continue well into the next decade.
1Released in early 1995 in the US.
2Few games on the Sega Saturn would support its analog controller, but a large number of games for the PlayStation came to support its famous DualShock, which eventually shipped as the default controller with all new systems (there were revisions before this model that were quickly discontinued).
31997’s Montezuma's Return from Utopia Technologies for the PC was another. The game was a well-received spiritual sequel to the classic Parker Brothers multiscreen platformer from 1984, Montezuma's Revenge, released for most contemporary platforms.
4See http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/september03/25underrated/index9.shtml.
5Nintendo DS (2004) and Nintendo Wii Virtual Console (2006) versions were also released to critical acclaim and robust sales.
6See http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/15influential/p15_01.html.
7See http://ign64.ign.com/articles/150/150606p1.html.
8See, for example IGN’s review at http://cube.ign.com/articles/368/368539p1.html.
9For example, IGN’s review: http://wii.ign.com/articles/833/833298p1.html.
10See http://psx.ign.com/articles/150/150097p1.html.
11Anonymous. 1997. The Economist. 2/22/97, Vol. 342, Iss. 8005, p. 74.
12See Forbes, 1/12/98, Vol. 161, Iss. 1, p. 39.
13See “Genre Trouble: Narrativism and the Art of Simulation” in First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game (MIT Press, 2004).
14Apple Macintosh, Pocket PC, and Nokia N-Gage versions would be released later.
15The PC release came in versions supporting software-only and hardware-accelerated 3D rendering, as the latter was not a standard feature at the time. Naturally, those with supported 3D cards had the best-looking versions.