March 27, 2012 article “brought back” on the occasion of its translation into Japanese and English.
Recently, I read an article discussing the role of water in video games, the first in a series announced to focus on elements in video games. The topic is fascinating, and upon reflection, it struck me that another “fundamental” of our universe holds a place in our microcosm at least as significant as water, earth, wind, or fire: time. The manipulation of time for gameplay or narrative purposes is indeed one of the tropes of game design, with the chronological factor even becoming the central element of certain video game universes. Let’s look back at some games that have become timeless…
Time as a gameplay element
It all probably started with the introduction of the “time limit,” primarily designed as a difficulty enhancer. In Prince of Persia, the player has just one hour to rescue the princess. And older gamers will surely remember the stress triggered when the music in Mario Bros. changes tempo, signaling the approaching end of the timer and an imminent Game Over. Under pressure, players instinctively speed up their gameplay, making progression even more challenging. The time limit, a staple of most 8/16-bit games, thus helped maintain a relatively high difficulty level by enforcing a certain gameplay rhythm on users without the need for complex scripts and with limited technical resources.
However, this “player speed regulator” aspect was soon overshadowed by a scoring dimension: the player no longer aimed merely to finish the level before the time limit expired but to do so as quickly as possible to earn bonus points. High-score enthusiasts even reversed this logic: superplayers of Metal Slug would deliberately reach the end of the time limit to “leech” indestructible enemies and rack up points!
The temporal factor in video games remained confined to this timekeeping function for a long time. The revolution came (as is often the case, I dare say) from Nintendo in 1998, with the legendary Ocarina of Time. The player is invited to travel between two eras via the aptly named Temple of Time. This alternation between two temporal spheres quickly becomes a playground for designers, who succeed in surprising even the most seasoned players with increasingly inventive ideas. For instance, a bean planted by Link in his childhood will have grown a few years later, serving as a platform, while the gravekeeper from Kakariko Village will have passed away and returns to guide the adult Link. And who could forget Epona, who becomes the adult Link’s steed after being tamed during his childhood? All of this is further enriched by the day/night cycle, which alters enemies, characters encountered, and accessible locations.
The use of time in Ocarina of Time primarily serves the narrative, as we will see later. This is not the case for its indirect sequel, Majora’s Mask (in my humble opinion, the best entry in the Zelda series!), released in 2000. The entire game system focuses on time: much like in the excellent Groundhog Day, Link is forced to endlessly relive the same three days. Like Bill Murray, the Kokiri eventually learns every event set to occur within this interval, even receiving a schedule to log them. What follows for the player is the resolution of a grand puzzle: aligning the various pieces of this intricate temporal enigma correctly to save this small universe from a tragic end. Magnificent!
With the two Zelda games on the N64, Nintendo demonstrated that time, when used effectively, can become a gameplay element in its own right. This lesson was not lost, much to the delight of players. In 2001, the talented folks at Remedy Entertainment released Max Payne, a dark, atmospheric action game that left a lasting impression thanks to a clever idea borrowed from the Wachowski siblings: “bullet time.” This mode allows time to slow down or even freeze, providing Max with optimal shooting conditions. The result? Spectacular and intense gunfights, intelligently moderated difficulty, and maximum gameplay enjoyment. The manipulation of time proved to be an excellent idea, one that would be reused many times in the future, from the outstanding Stranglehold to the highly controversial Red Steel!
If Max Payne borrowed from The Matrix, it was only to be plundered in turn by another video game giant: in 2003, Ubisoft revived the legacy of Prince of Persia with The Sands of Time, the first installment of a trilogy destined for greatness. This game is bursting with ideas, but let’s focus on the Dagger of Time (once again, the designers didn’t strain themselves naming it…). This true innovation allows clumsier players to rewind time by a few seconds, just enough to retry an unfortunate jump. Combined with flawless controls and environments designed for the most daring acrobatics, this magical dagger helps create one of the most memorable gaming experiences of the 2000s. It’s no surprise that Microsoft adopted the concept in their charming Blinx.
Since The Sands of Time, it’s clear that no major innovation related to time has revolutionized gameplay systems. Bullet time has been reused, developed, and even extended to the cars in Burnout, while Link experimented with some new ideas in the Temple of the Ocean King (Phantom Hourglass on the NDS). But overall, things remain very classic. However, classic doesn’t mean bad—far from it! The timed levels in Super Mario 3D Land are among the most engaging parts of the game!
Time as a narrative tool
It took until technology developed enough to truly talk about storytelling in video games. I’m not talking here about the story that serves as a pretext for a generic fighting game or the one told in a linear fashion in a text-based RPG; no, I mean interactive storytelling, the kind that can alter the gaming experience, offer a coherent but non-linear world, and even change according to the player’s actions. But once developers had the tools necessary to express their creativity, this type of storytelling became increasingly common.
Of course, just as with gameplay, time quickly emerged as a way to push narrative creativity further. The legendary Chrono Trigger (1995) for the SNES is most likely the pioneer in this regard: in this Japanese-style RPG, the player controls a team of world saviors (for a change…) traveling through time. For the first time, the player is invited to explore the same world, altered by the passage of time. And it’s this temporal modification of a familiar setting that constitutes a small revolution, far more than the time travel itself, which is ultimately quite classic in our microcosm (even the Vikings get lost in space-time rifts, after all…). With the groundwork laid by Chrono Trigger, all that was left was to build on it. This was accomplished with Ocarina of Time: in addition to the gameplay elements mentioned earlier, Nintendo’s masterpiece managed to evoke a sense of melancholy by presenting a society devastated by Ganondorf’s grip: the bustling market square, alive with activity when Link is a child, is now a cursed place overrun by ghouls, with the exiled villagers barely surviving in a nearby village. Similarly, Link faces the ghost of the gravedigger and the aging of his platonic love, Saria… The examples are numerous, but they all contribute to providing the player with an iconic image of Hyrule, and in doing so, offer an additional motivation to save this polygonal, textured world from its unfortunate fate.
In the field of temporal storytelling, Majora’s Mask surpasses its predecessor. As time passes, an evil moon draws closer to the world in which Link is trapped, signaling its impending destruction. The characters, initially carefree and joyful at the start of this fatal countdown, gradually become consumed by fear and despair, while Link watches helplessly. As the player progresses through the adventure and completes their tasks, they get to know these characters better and grow emotionally attached to them, making their tragic fate difficult to accept and motivating the search for a happy ending. A true demonstration of narrative talent!
The Sands of Time also allows the player to go back quite far to rebuild impressive structures ruined by the ravages of time. At its core, this is primarily a gameplay element, effective but without a true narrative depth, even though the reverse-time sequences often leave one pondering…
Games like Chrono Trigger or Majora’s Mask are rare, and time is most often just a neutral element in an (im)posed universe. For instance, the Fallout series and more recently RAGE simply immerse the player in a post-apocalyptic future scattered with remnants of the past, without any connection between the two temporal spheres. The Resistance trilogy on PS3 offers an interesting alternate history but lacks any real gameplay significance. Lastly, the surprising Darksiders provides an example where the passage of time serves to differentiate the dimension of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse from that of humans: while War gets scolded by his superior in his dimension, several decades have passed on Earth. Is this a reflection on Eternity?
To conclude
I have no intention of giving an exhaustive presentation: that would be pompous and tedious, and the topic is so vast that I’d inevitably forget things along the way… Instead, I preferred to reflect on a few memorable experiences from my gaming past in an attempt to find a common thread by grouping a few works that were genuinely shaped around the concept of time. Time is indeed often used by developers in a brief, illogical manner. It’s often fun, but rarely makes much sense! I particularly remember that a session of Dungeon Keeper (Rhhhaaaa… what a game!) played between midnight and 1 a.m. on a full moon night would unlock a special level…
In any case, it’s a shame that developers haven’t focused much on this subject lately. In recent years, innovation has been more about graphics, especially color usage (such as in Okami, Twilight Princess, Madworld, The Saboteur, etc.), rather than temporal manipulations. Yet, I still dream of reliving the adventure of Majora’s Mask, but on the scale of our current machines!
Bob Dupneu
By the way
The preservation of video game heritage is a concept that has been steadily progressing over the past few years, greatly benefiting from the recent surge in retro gaming. Proof of Europe’s dynamism in this area, a European federation bringing together the main players in the field has just been established. So, welcome to EFGAMP !
