Benjamin Brandall

I love this as a history of influential fantasy games. I’ll use it to go back through the genre and give myself a more complete education. As for attributing the creation of Final Fantasy to Tolkien, though, I think Shakespeare is being overlooked. For me, FF shares more with Shakespeare as far as storytelling and themes goes than it does with Tolkien.

I’ve not owned a Nintendo console since the original Wii, but I’m hoping to get one of these. Disregarding most of these factors, I’d say the most important thing for me is whether the major franchise games (Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Pokemon) stand the test of time.

There have been a few forgettable releases in that department in the past, but I’m holding on to a new classic coming out way.

Great piece. It’s also interesting you bring up tourism in relation to hyperreality. It made me wonder how public misremembering and misconception shapes tourists reactions to well known places when they visit for the first time. I’m wondering how many react to the Mona Lisa like I did when I first saw it: “Surely this isn’t the _real_ one? It’s too small.”