The fantasy genre is a vast one, and the epitome of this style of story telling lies in the form of “high fantasy.” Basically the battle between an obviously good force and a blatantly evil one, where in video games you take on the role of the good guy to defeat the bad guys in an epic setting. In literature high fantasy can be seen in classics like The Hobbit and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In film, the Star Wars trilogy is a perfect depiction of high fantasy. And in video games the best examples are Shigero Miyamoto’s own Mario and Legend of Zelda series’s.
The Legend of Zelda has been a classic example of high fantasy since it’s original incarnation. A young boy battling against great odds to save a kingdom, and more specifically a princess, from an evil wizard bent on world domination. The reason why this series has managed to keep so fresh over the years is because each game isn’t really as much following the last as it is a retelling of the story with a different twist (ocarina, seasonal change, Waterworld, wolfman, scary moon colliding with the earth) on the tried and true formal. Every time you play The Legend you get that old familiar feeling along with a new experience.
The Super Mario Brothers have had their share of epic adventures as well. Yet they almost always seem to have the same high fantasy goal, save the princess from the bad guy (Bowser, King Koopa…Gamera). The lowly plumber (…and his brother, making him less lowly) battles through hordes of baddies to save the day, reestablish peace among the land, etc. These games, more-so than Zelda, have no real connection to one another. Each one is a fantasy adventure on its own, making for a familiar but epic journey every time. Much like tLoZ, Mario also resorts to new gimmicks with every game, whether they be mounts, 3D graphics, waterguns, turn-based combat, giant Mario destroying downtown Mushroom Kingdom, or some very strange gravity, the changes in gameplay manage to keep the series fresh and fun.
(I’m just sayin’…)
Outside of Nintendo’s reach are a few good high fantasy games as well. On the Xbox 360 one may find Fable 2, where despite the choice of being “good” or “evil” the main objective is to overthrow some villain much more evil than you really can be. Games from past generations like Kid Icarus (…Nintendo’s), the original few Final Fantasy games (…on THE Nintendo), and Sonic the Hedgehog (HA! Not Nintendo) fit nicely into the high fantasy genre.
So if you have a love for operatic heroism and happy endings, there’s no shortage of Nintendo properties.
