The one thing I love most about Okami and Braid
Posted by John on July 18, 2009 (permanent link to this entry)
Not their art.
Not their unique gameplay mechanics.
Not their storytelling.
Not their music.
It's the fact that both were reactions to other specific videogames. Okami's take on the Zelda franchise wasn't an attempt to cut into Zelda's audience and steal it's market. It's director, Hideki Kamiya, admired Zelda and wanted to make one of its games, but since that was impossible he created his own version of it. Its similarities are in tribute rather than to just “knock it off.” Braid is different in how it more transparently uses older games like Super Mario Bros. to meet its ends, while Okami tries to stand on its own as well as it can. Braid does openly what Okami does secretly. Both games however are rare in the way they are founded on specific past games.
So why does this matter? Well it should matter to lots of people, mainly those who want games to be “legitimatized” as an entertainment business and hobby. Whether or not Saints Row's creators (just to pull a random example) copied Grand Theft Auto because of GTA's creative value, the main reason it was published was because GTA makes a lot of money and THQ wanted in on that market. Games are commercial products so there isn't anything naturally wrong with this, but no legitimate entertainment medium is pure business. The more Okamis and Braids that are made, the more legitimate videogame culture will be.
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