September 13th was the 35th anniversary of the Super Mario franchise and Nintendo decided to celebrate by announcing Super Mario 3D All-Stars, a collection of 3 3D Super Mario games, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy. A variety of other products and events were also unveiled and this got me thinking about video game anniversaries in general and their significance.
The video game industry as a whole is still pretty young with the first commercialised video game only being released in 1971 (which, interestingly, makes 2021 the 50th anniversary of the video game industry!). I suspect that this adds gravitas to many of these anniversaries as the industry celebrates its heritage.
Not only is 2021 the 50th anniversary of the video game industry but it is also the 30th anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog. First appearing in the game of the same name in 1991, Sonic has remained a powerful figure in popular culture (as evidenced by the box office gross of the recent film). While Sega has been pretty quiet on how they are going to be celebrating, a recent article revealed that they intend to release new games, digital content and hold events throughout 2021. My hope is that Sega continue their PC push and decide to port some of their older Sonic titles (Sonic Colors in particular although I know some people wish to see Sonic Unleashed ported).
Final Fantasy has been around since 1987 and has celebrated its 20th, 25th and 30th anniversaries with remakes, ports and events. One of the coolest and more unique ways that Final Fantasy has celebrated their anniversary was when they re-released the first Final Fantasy games with a Thai translation. I love the idea of celebrating a game series by translating titles for a new audience and I only hope that this translation (along with the game itself) finds itself on Steam someday (I’m sure the Thai audience which, as of this article, makes up 1.06% of Steam players would appreciate it). While I found the 30th anniversary a little lacklustre, I’m still looking forward to the 35th anniversary in 2022.
These celebrations are not restricted to the larger video game franchises. A relatively small series (although one that I’m fond of), Danganronpa has been celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Along with a variety of merchandise and media releases, it was also announced that Danganronpa, Danganronpa 2 and Danganronpa V3 would be ported to Android and iOS. The anniversary will also extend to the first half of 2021 and I’ll be very interested in seeing if they announce a new main game in the franchise.
It isn’t just video game series that celebrate their anniversaries in the video game industry. Back in 2016, Xbox celebrated its 15th anniversary by sharing various statistics such as their number of players, total hours spent gaming, number of achievements unlocked etc. They also decided to hold some livestream events and in-game giveaways and events such as in their Halo and Forza games. It will be interesting to see how they will celebrate their 20th anniversary next year.
I’m always fascinated by the significance that video game anniversaries have and I enjoy the enthusiasm that many of these companies have to celebrate their history. Let me know what some of your favourite video game anniversaries have been, which ones you are looking forward to and why you think the video game industry places such emphasis on these events.
Thanks for reading and if you wish to seek any of the titles I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs! Also feel free to follow my curator page on Steam “JRPG Reviews” for thoughts and opinions on any JRPGs that I play and my YouTube channel “Victory Achieved Gaming” where I guide my friend through challenging games.