In this ongoing look at significant moments in the history of video game design, we have already taken a look at Bungie’s Halo & Halo 2, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, Nintendo’s Metroid and several others. The goal of this series is to go beyond simple gaming magazines and iPhone Apps reviews, and take a closer look at what defines memorability and quality in game design. In this sixteenth part of the series we will examine some more of those classic moments where video game designers undoubtedly got it right and delivered a memorable, enduring and progressive gaming experience.

Mad Dog McCree (Arcade) – This light-gun, laserdisc based arcade hit from the early 1990s was progressive in many ways. Interestingly, it was one of the very first arcade titles to charge a full dollar to play. In an era where even fifty cent games were a rarity, Mad Dog McCree was certainly testing the financial limits of the typical arcade gamer. That aggressive pricing strategy was, however, more than merited due to the unique experience the game provided.  Arcades across the world had never seen a game like MDM before, as the characters and settings in the game were made up of real people in actual locations. Taking place in the Old West, MDM put the player in the shoes of an unnamed cowboy – The Stranger – on a classic mission to save the damsel in distress.

MDM begins with an instructive tutorial, to give the player a sense of the style of game play that awaits them and a chance to master the games reloading maneuver.  As the story unfolds, the player must successfully complete various shootouts and gunfights in order to proceed. The only interface the player has with the game is through a handgun, which serves to heighten the immersion factor immensely. All decisions in the game are integrated so as to allow for the choices to be seamlessly made with the handgun, and movement through levels is taken out of the player’s hands to ensure that all they need focus on is gunning down the bad guys. This process was made all the more arduous depending on the particular difficulty setting of the game. While most arcade locations were set at a more forgiving level, some less merciful arcade managers saw fit to crank up the difficulty levels and force the players to truly channel their inner gunfighter.

MDM deserves a spot in this pantheon of progressive video games because it was one of the very first titles to prove that video games need not strictly reside in the world of pixels.  If the laserdisc had not allowed for such quick seek times, the game simply would not have worked. Instead it reacts almost instantly to player input and creates a rewarding, nearly real-time interactive experience. Arcade players the world over were stunned at this technical accomplishment, and the game’s staggering financial take only cements this notion.

MDM deserves praise because it absolutely defines the term ‘progressive.’ The game was the polar opposite of just about every arcade game of the time, yet still managed to deliver a quality gaming experience. For pushing the envelope into an entirely new universe, forever changing what people expected of video games and, perhaps most importantly, bringing new types of players to the video gaming space, MDM deserves its place in this series and among the all-time greats.

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