Treat yourself to the 90s club aesthetics of the Wipeout games | Hacker News Reader

Treat yourself to the 90s club aesthetics of the Wipeout games

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52 pointsglitcher22 comments

A prototype version of Wipeout appeared in the seminal 1995 film "Hackers" [1]... the very same film that involved future Shaggy actor Matthew Lillard sporting a red Motorola pager and a pre-"Tomb Raider" Angelina Jolie declaring that "RISC architecture is gonna change everything". What a fantastic (in the literal and figurative senses of the term) film.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATlszssL-eI

A fantastic film indeed, and personally quite important to me as it well and truly inspired my deep interest in networks and computing when I first saw it as an early teen years after it came out. No film that I’ve seen since managed to capture that sense of exploration and freedom in computers that Hackers did, and for that it will forever be one of my favourites.

Not to mention, it too had a pretty amazing soundtrack..

Have been listening to the film's soundtrack for the past few weeks while programming. It might be that the OST is hardcoded into my brain and that's why I found it so appropriate to listen to it while coding - but it's great to get into "the zone". I was looking for something like that to listen - without much luck so far. Will give a try to Wipeout's tracks. They look promising :)

It's obvious now you say that, but I'd never made the connection before. The gameplay is just that little bit different, and the whole scoring-scene is completely different.

Thanks for sharing!

> the whole scoring-scene is completely different.

Hollywood, amirite?

Still my #1 movie of all time.

A longer video of the demo Psygnosis produced for the movie: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ix35c_8DEXk

Includes lots of footage not seen in the movie.

it's just not the same without underworld's cowgirl playing in the background :)

There is something I can’t explain that is missing from today’s games that I see in older games. I’m going to go on an unorganized ramble here hoping someone can pick what I mean.

90s games were more advanced than 80s by a lot but still immediately competitive, no long story to get into, quick play, simple menu, no config, just straight into the game, same settings for everyone and 100% ability comparison. The high score thing grew into profiles with badges now and no one cares anymore.

The creativity put into the games made them a cult too, I mean we are talking about a 1995 game in 2021. I think it is unique to its time, games like these define that 90s futuristic grunge subculture that lingered to show up in The Matrix although a bit modernized.

What do the 2010s and 2020s have in regards of this unique and define culture characteristics? Loot boxes? We don’t have as much fun anymore. Maybe it’s the decline of arcades? The closest I can feel to those 90s gaming tournaments or high score races is playing Mario kart or smash, everything else feels like it takes 30min just to get started. Lobbys, learning rules of the game, loading screens, intros, Blehg just put me in a high intensity game right away and let me blow up some stuff as I race a made up ship!

> There is something I can’t explain that is missing from today’s games that I see in older games

That'd be the fun.

Buy a Nintendo Switch.

Single-player oriented games IMO have more attention to detail in this regard. Back then games came on a disc in a box. Now it's almost assumed by default that a studio will push out a game and fix the bugs later.

"Multiplayer" at the time really meant split screen with friends. It was assumed that a good chunk of time would be spent playing the game solo. So they couldn't slack on that part of the game.

Now it's all multiplayer-first, and instead of paying a one-time fee for the game, warts and all, you're nickel and dimed endlessly for "season passes", "custom skins" and other eye-rolling 'bonus' content.

> 90s games were more advanced than 80s by a lot but still immediately competitive, no long story to get into, quick play, simple menu, no config, just straight into the game, same settings for everyone and 100% ability comparison. The high score thing grew into profiles with badges now and no one cares anymore.

> The creativity put into the games made them a cult too, I mean we are talking about a 1995 game in 2021. I think it is unique to its time, games like these define that 90s futuristic grunge subculture that lingered to show up in The Matrix although a bit modernized.

We're in a different era, different technology and culture conditions, etc. agreed—however I'll say that there are games which hit on these points, they're just not going to be in the same sentence as Mario Kart or Smash

e.g. Cruelty Squad [1], released this year: experimental art game, excellent mechanics—behind somewhat intentionally deceiving (postinternet?) aesthetics—maybe best described as quake-hitman-immersive-sim, building cult fanbase, suprisingly high reviews from mainstream for what it is [2][3]. (goty for me so far, actually)

[1] https://store.steampowered.com/app/1388770/Cruelty_Squad/

[2] https://www.polygon.com/reviews/22596014/cruelty-squad-immer...

[3] https://www.nme.com/reviews/game-reviews/cruelty-squad-revie...

Ah man the breaks in this mix. I got into electronica (mainly trance, progressive and DnB) around 2004, but then found breaks around 2005-6. Adam Freeland and stuff. It's such a different vibe. But I always felt the craziest part was, after you recognize the breaks stuff, you then realized it was there all along among the various Oakenfold or Paul Van Dyk or Judge Jules or LTJ Bukem mixes you downloaded off of LimeWire or BearShare. It's an eclectic sound that is all around you, hollow and futuristic, and so good!

I still laugh at the fact that we called everything "techno" back then. What is this "repetitive, onntz oontz oontz" stuff. Then it grew on me! I've been a bass head ever since. Shoutout to Wipout for introducing me to FSOL!

All the graphic design/branding was done by The Designer's Republic: https://www.thedesignersrepublic.com/

Direct link to Wipeout: https://www.thedesignersrepublic.com/wipeout

I love the Wipeout series, despite finding the game very hard beyond the first few tournaments. I recently began playing Wipeout Pure (2007, PSP) on my phone via emulator, and it's remarkable how modern it still looks.

Wipeout is one of the few games that stuck with that '90s vision of what 2097 would look like. Everything from the design language, menu transitions, music choices and AI voices fit that theme in all games from 1995-2009. I believe Wipeout Fury HD for PS3 was the last game made by the original studio.

I highly recommend the "Zone" mode of Wipeout, where your ship goes faster and faster as you complete each lap. The course colors change into psychedelic combinations with each lap. The sensation is truly unique.

The OST also has some deep cut techno/breakbeat tracks from artists that didn't get released as singles, or at all.

1. Chemical Brothers - Leave Home (Underworld Remix 1)

2. Orbital - P.E.T.R.O.L (also on 1998's Pi OST)

3. Fluke - V Six

4. The Prodigy - Firestarter (Instrumental ver.)

Still my #1 game of all time, the design, sound, mechanics, it's the ultimate racing game.

I wonder why this genre kind of faded away.

Most likely sales of course, but I always thought Wipeout had a cult like following.

Things moving too fast to sell DLC skins for them.

You joke but this is undoubtedly some exec's internal calculus when the topic of another Wipeout game is broached

It was a Playstation exclusive and probably enjoyed peak popularity on the PS1 and PSP. I think Wipeout HD for PS3 is the best one, but it was almost definitely a fan service title.

Fast and Furious movies in the early 2000s made street racing and crash-based racing games more popular. So cross-platform games like the Burnout series succeeded, as did NFS:Most Wanted, where you had to outrun patrol cars in officially licensed supercars from Ferrari, McLaren etc.

On the underground side, NFS:Underground and the Midnight Club series were king.

This was the best thing I’ve seen on the internet for months! Thanks for sharing!

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