Santa Monica Studios' God of War: Ragnarok recently launched to critical acclaim (including a glowing review from our good pals over at Push Square), and its director Eric Williams has recently shared some of the games that inspired him and influenced his career.
Speaking with IGN (thanks, GoNintendo), Williams listed off five classic NES titles that informed how he approaches various aspects of game design, including combat, statistics, and day/night cycles. As expected, a few of his choices might seem pretty obvious to many of our readers here, but there are a couple that might come as a bit of a surprise.
The first game listed is, of couse, The Legend of Zelda. While not exactly a game that ranks highly in Nintendo's Zelda franchise these days, the impact of its introduction on the NES cannot be overstated. Williams states that “being from the Midwest and playing in the woods as a kid made this game feel so familiar and fantastical all at the same time.”
The second is Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. The sophomore entry to the Castlevania franchise, Simon's Quest is often left in the shadow of both its predecessor and immediate sequel, but Williams is a big fan of the game's “town, the day/night, the insane secrets”, and "the monster mythology."
Next up is Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, a game that we just recently covered in out regular Box Art Brawl feature. Williams is a big fan of the combat showcased here (as are we!) and states that “the patterns, mechanics, techniques, and challenge of this game informed all of my early notions of what a “good” combat system should be.”
The fourth game is Baseball Stars, an SNK game that became particularly successfull in the US when it launched in 1989. It was well received by critics at the time for its gameplay, but Williams found more inspiration from the game's economy mechanics, stating that "this game had a salary system that taught me the fundamentals of stats and economy systems.”
Finally, the last game listed by Williams is River City Ransom, a title that the director states influenced his approach to themes within video games. He states, “theme is very important to me and this game’s theme of being a 'kid' was so strong. Playground gangs, sports, weapons, comics to learn abilities, even the low money cap felt like lunch money or allowance values true of the time.”
So there you have it! It's always nice to see how the creators behind some of the world's most critically acclaimed games find their inspiration. Even though NES games may well seem somewhat primitive to youngsters these days, there's absolutely no denying the varying influence they had on modern gaming. Nice one, NES!
Have you played Ragnarok yet? Do you agree with Williams' assessments on these five NES games? Let us know!
[source ign.com, via gonintendo.com]
Comments 35
The man has good taste, no doubt about it.
I just got Ragnarok from my wife and I look forward to diving into it.
@Freek you shall not be disappointed. I am 20 hours in and savoring every moment, from the scenery to the lore, everything is just monumental in this game. Not looking forward to beating it.
@nymbosox
Awesome to hear.
I loved the 2018 version so I'm sure I will enjoy this.
That would explain his amazing art direction, I want more developers to share what inspires them, so they can inspire others!
@Freek I highly recommend a 4k tv that supports 120 gHz or higher to get the best performance. To date, No game on PS5 looks this gorgeous.
"While not exactly a game that ranks highly in Nintendo's Zelda franchise these days"
Whatcha talkin bout, Ollie? 😲
That Legend of Zelda thing was fine. They should try to make a modern sequel.
@Quarth https://www.nintendolife.com/guides/best-zelda-games-of-all-time
The Legend of Zelda ranks 19th out of the 23 games listed here.
Enjoyed all the games in this series. The final part in the original trilogy was spectacular, but the 2018 reboot-quel was among the best of the last gen. Ragnarok is the next game I'll be buying.
River City Ransom is an often forgotten gem. Everyone loves it but it rarely gets mentioned
He got inspiration on NES games? That's explain why current days God of War games has a playtime as long as a 32kb NES game.
@TheCrabMan 😒😒😒 There's always one.....
Punchout as the underlying basis for a combat system is so interesting. I had never thought about its mechanics as part of something bigger where you can, like, move around and stuff.
The man has good taste in games.
I've been replaying the 2018 god of war before diving into Ragnarok and i remember early on it was being compared to Metroid and zelda. It's just so good! It's the ultimate way to revitalize a series that good as it was had started to become stale and predictable.
Now that they've said this won't be a trilogy i have to wonder what's next? Will we end up playing as Atreas for the next game with his own story or will kratos travel to a new land fighting some other type of mythological creatures? Possibly go back to a Greek setting? It'll be interesting to find out.
Baseball Stars was a great game! Cool to see it mentioned as something Williams remembers and continue ms to draw inspiration from to this day.
GoW Ragnarok is goty for me. TotK will likely win 2023
@Truegamer79 I hope it won't be atreus going forward kratos is god of war for me don't think I'd be interested in the games without him
@Eagly Thing is the Romans worshipped many of the same gods as the Greeks, just under different names, and Kratos already killed all of them haha. Kratos interacting with ancient Romans would definitely be interesting though.
If they do another one, I have a feeling its going to deal with the Egyptian gods. I had heard when GoW 2018 was initially in development it was going to be set in Egypt, but they ended up going with Norse mythology instead. There's even a little easter egg in the the first one, when you're in Tyr's temple you can see some Egyptian artifacts lying amongst other treasures.
Really interesting to see his inspirations. Some obvious classics but what a game MT punchout was!
Only 10 hours into GOW ragnarok but already my GOTY, story, setting, graphics and the combat is just brutal. Nintendo and Sony have spoiled us this year.
@Would_you_kindly
Very true. As much as Atreas has grown on me Kratos is the god of war.
@Bobb I wouldn't say RCR is too forgotten. It has had multiple sequels/spinoffs in recent years, with one just around the corner. Seems like it was very much an under-the-radar game when it came out but it picked up a big cult following (myself included) that spread the word over the years.
I would love a remastered, retranslated Castlevania II. Still 2D pixels and everything, just maybe add some fun lighting effects... but it REALLY needs better localization.
Simon's Quest is such an awesome game. Love to see it get home love.
@Quarth
It’s obviously the wand of gamaleon. I mean, what other Zelda game could it be.
@Rafie sad but true. They’ve probably not even played it either!
Most of the best game developers were either NES fans or heavily influenced by the console. I still believe the NES and the SNES was Nintendo at its best, and they never quite reached those levels since (though they've gotten very close with the Switch).
Awesome list! Played and loved em all, although Castlevania 2 I just could never get into. I got so lost
@Olliemar28
yeah, that list says a lot more about your flawed polling than anything about the way people actually feel about Zelda 1. 🙄 but I suspect you knew that already.
I had a dream of GOD OF WAR being available for the next nintendo console. Such a nice dream.
Its definitely an age/generational thing, but Zelda '87 holds up very well for me personally.
@Rafie There's usually a few. Surely you've sat down with a highly acclaimed game, and thought "I don't get it, this sucks".
@TheCrabMan everyone’s entitled to their opinion yet the general consensus is that it’s a superb game. Those you linked to are probably massively outnumbered by those that enjoy the game but haven’t commented.
@Ploppy Actually I've never done that. Like ever. I'll use a personal example. Most gamers say that Persona is one of thee best RPGs ever. Now while I despise turn based rpgs, I never say that it sucks just because it's not my cup of tea. I can respect that a good majority loves the mainline games. That includes the old FF games as well.
@Branovices Castlevania 2 is unplayable without a guide. I feel it deserves the REMAKE treatment.
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