Online Journalism final

The Death and Return of King Koopa

by Phil Banker

phil.banker@gmail.com

On any given Thursday night in the fall of 2004, you could hear the commotion all the way outside of Bruce Hall. The commotion was the din of fingers rushing across buttons and joysticks, Bruce Hall residents and guests driving their pixelated characters to digital victory. These were the sounds of Bruce Hall’s King Koopa night, sounds that have now all but faded into history.

King Koopa night, named after the reptilian antagonist from the Super Mario series of video games, is an event hosted by the Bruce Hall Association. Keith Hermes, current president of the BHA, said that the gaming event started with a focus on older games but eventually came to encompass all games.

“King Koopa night is, basically, we try to get old consoles and game systems into the lobby, hook them up, and play really old games,” Hermes said.

Hermes said that the event is made possible by Bruce Hall residents bringing their own consoles to the lobby from home to the event.

“This fall, we had a guy bring up an Atari 2600 that his dad owned, and we played football on that,” Hermes said. “Playing football on an Atari 2600 is not the easiest thing in the world.”

King Koopa night is but one example of the growing popularity of retro gaming. Retro gaming, also known as classic gaming, is described as an affinity for playing and collecting games that were made around the time of video gaming’s inception in the 1980s.

Gamers usually play the old games either on the original systems they came on, or re-released ports to newer systems. Nintendo’s Virtual Console service allows players to download copies of games from its extensive back library for play on the Nintendo Wii, for a cost. Nintendo executive Satoru Iwata announced in a press release that over ten million Virtual Console titles have been downloaded. Microsoft’s Xbox Live Marketplace offers a similar service, in addition to selling independently developed games as well. Video games can also be downloaded for free online, albeit illegally.

Hermes said that as time passes, what counts as a retro game is changing.

“When the event started, the Nintendo 64 just came out, and we were trying to get away from it… but now people are growing up with the Nintendo 64 being their first system,” Hermes said.

In Fall 2004, King Koopa night was held almost every Thursday night. These days, however, it is only held once a semester. Hermes identified funding issues as well as enthusiasm as reasons for scaling the event back.

“I think it was just the repetition,” Hermes said. “If you do it just once people get hyped up about it, people bring their old systems up from home and play them for a night, but trying to doing that over and over again…”

Hermes said that he doesn’t regret the scaling back of the event.

“When you do it every week it becomes routine, if you do it once a semester it becomes more special,” Hermes said. “When you do it all the time, it loses its value.”