Compared to other forms of popular media, it’s easy to forget that video games are still a relatively recent form of entertainment. Looking back, it can start to feel like the industry has only really started to get video game creation down to a science in the last few years, but even so, there’s still plenty of experimentation.
From the inception of video games up until the present day, we’ve survived wave after wave of fads. While a lot of these are hardware-related, others are more software-focused, but no matter the variety, it’s fun to look back at them and wonder what we were thinking.
93DS AR Cards
Into The Real World
Packed in with Nintendo’s early-2010s handheld, the 3DS AR Cards were admittedly one of the best things to do with the console if you don’t have any games yet. Using augmented reality tech, the3DS had built-in gamesthat would utilize the camera to transform the world around you into the setting for a few brief minigames.
Unfortunately, however, the AR tech used in these cards was utilized sparingly after the 3DS launch window. Most notably, Kid Icarus: Uprising had a massive collection of cards, even if they were pretty hard to buy, and had limited implementation in-game. While it was a fun distraction, with so little effort from Nintendo to push the feature post-launch, it’s no wonder that AR cards are largely forgotten.
8LABO
Cardbored
The Switch era was a massive success for Nintendo, especially when compared to the Wii U that came before it. The Switch years were consistent, if not lengthy, and Nintendo seemed to be insistent on winding back the gimmicks, but a clear exception to this was Nintendo LABO.
Most prevalent between 2018-19, LABO was a series of foldable cardboard kits that would be assembled to create complex accessories to be used in compatible games. The premise showed some merit, but it was just so undeniably gimmicky that the transient enjoyment of the games was quickly overshadowed by the hunks of cardboard that you now had lying around.
7PlayStation Move
Wii Promise It’s Not A Rip-Off
Motion controls workedfor the Wii. As divisive as they were, the strange remotes were a large factor in why the motion-controlled console managed to have such a cultural chokehold for almost an entire generation. Transcending fad-hood, the side effect of this popularity was inspiring a wave of imitators, and none as shameless as Sony’s Move controllers.
The wand-shaped accessories might’ve had light-up spheres on the end, but that did little to distract from their clear inspiration. On top of this, waiting until 2010 to launch meant that the Move, even if more technically advanced, still felt behind the times. With no killer game to sell the controllers for, it’s almost admirable that Sony managed to find some usefulness for them for the first-generation PS VR.
6Toys To Life
Plastic Microtransaction
We wonder ifthe creator of Spyroknew that the charming purple platforming dragon would be responsible for an epidemic of game store-clogging figurines, and if they did, if they have any regrets. Popularized by the Spyro spin-off Skylanders series, the success of toy-interactive games dominated the first half of the 2010s.
The most popular imitator was Disney Infinity, and while not technically a series of toys to life figures, Nintendo’s amiibo feel similar enough to justify comparison. Even though the popularity of Skylanders and Disney Infinity has dwindled to practically nothing, Nintendo’s amiibo at least still remain, even if they’re almost entirely used as figures rather than an actual in-game feature.
5Instrument Accessories
Ultimate Dust Collectors
Rhythm games, for the longest time, felt like a genre that would never enter the mainstream outside of Japan, but that all changed with the release of the original Guitar Hero. The fact that you were playing a rhythm game was cleverly masked thanks to the use of hulking plastic instrument-shaped controllers, making you feel like you were doing something akin to actually playing an instrument.
It’s an entertaining enough gimmick, and thanks to the solid line-up of licensed tracks, the series thrived for a few years. However, it was all a bit too much, with new game releases being poorly paced, and a seemingly endless supply of spin-offs (even if it was just Band Hero and DJ Hero). After a while, the collections of giant controllers started to feel like single-use plastics.
4VR
It’s hard to notice the fad-like nature of VR thanks to just how high the barrier of entry is. Unlike most other gaming fads, VR tech still isn’t a casual purchase, often costing just as much as a normal console, for what is usually an accessory that will then require buying specific games. Because of this, not enough people have tried VR to realize how niche its appeal is.
Compared to other gaming fads, VR definitely has the most potential, but it can’t help but feel gimmicky thanks to how high effort the whole ordeal is. Closing yourself off from your surroundings, keeping your entire space clear, and potentially getting headaches after longer play sessions - it’s not the type of play style that is tempting to return to on a regular basis.
3Wii Fit Balance Board
Insecurity Express Lane
For a few years during the Wii era, it felt like video games were pushing to be the next step in fitness, and it all comes back to the iconic Wii Fit Balance Board. The plastic slab hidden under many a TV stand was the central accessory needed to play games like Wii Fit, and its whole range of knock-offs.
There was some fun to be had with the minigames in Wii Fit, but the game itself often felt just as focused on poking fun at the player too. Humbling displays of your Fitness age, and transformative Mii weight displays, Nintendo truly weren’t pulling any punches.
2Kinect
Smile, You’re On Camera
While PlayStation’s attempt at riding the Wii’s motion-controlled coattails at least had the decency to fizzle quickly, the same can’t be said for Xbox’s Kinect. What was originally just an accessory for the Xbox 360, the camera device was then built into the next-generation Xbox One.
The premise of motion controls without a controller is interesting, but proved impractical after not too long. While some games like Just Dance thrived with the system, for most casual gamers, the thought of the Kinect constantly watching was more unnerving than anything else.
1Live Service
Gacha Gacha Find Out
The industry has gotten to the point now that physical accessory-based fads are much harder to justify, and instead, fads are now much more present in the design trends within games themselves, and the one that sticks out as the most frustrating is the insistence on live service games.
A culmination of a multitude of gaming’s worst (freemium models, gacha mechanics, lootboxes, excessive microtransactions, season passes, bloated game design), while these games might be optimized to drive the most profit, the fun factor unfortunately doesn’t translate. After seemingly every developer has tried their hand, and a recent wave of high-profile failures, it seems, luckily, like the pendulum is finally swinging back.
