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Mini-Review #4: Pong, the Grandaddy of Madden

Pong (1972)


     When I was a young boy, fresh to the world of video games and well-equipped with a single copy of Wii Sports, my dad had explained to me the concept of (what he had called) the first video game: a tennis game named Pong. He had explained to me that this game had incredibly simple controls and was a two player game. Now, as a child who had been spoiled with the visually superior graphics of Wii Sports, I had had high hopes for Pong. In my mind, it resembled something close to what I later discovered to be Tennis for the NES:

This, in my young mind, was the most primitive game that I could imagine

     So, imagine my surprise when some years later I was introduced to the REAL Pong, in all of it's glory:
Gorgeous.

     Now, in modern times, I know better. I know that my expectations were set way too high for one of the most simplistic and basic video games known to man, and I can accept that. Pong has a place in history as one of the first introductions to the medium of gaming, and I can appreciate it as a piece of history. It may not be pretty, or complicated, or even very interesting, but I sure can say that it works. It's simple enough to understand and I can definitely imagine it being mind blowing to someone who has never heard the words "video" and "game" next to each other before, so in that regard it holds up. It's not like the game is unplayable now, but I can't see it being anybody's first choice or favourite game either (except for maybe nostalgia purposes). It's....alright.


     The one thing that I actually DO like about Pong is something that has almost become lost in the modern age: local multiplayer. With the introduction of MMOs and Battle Royale games like Fortnite, online play has become so prevalent that it's nice to just go back and play a game on a couch with someone. I know that there was no Internet when Pong came out, and it was frankly just easier for them to have a second player than it was to create some sort of CPU, but it's still a nice experience that's becoming increasingly rare in these times. 

We won't even duct tape our friends to the ceiling at LAN parties anymore! Times sure are a-changing.

     While newer games with better graphics (or any graphics, really) have made simple pleasures like Pong rather obsolete, it can sometimes be refreshing to step away from video games where you can count the arm hairs on your main character and just revel in a game of long white rectangles touching a smaller white square. Pong is classic, and that's really all that it's got going for it, but I'll love it anyways.

I've also played Pong more than the one time that I've played Madden. So take that, Madden.


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