Philips Magnavox Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution Trigger Happy - Manual (Page 322)

Trigger Happy
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Dance Dance Revolution and Beatmania are very
literal applications of videogame rhythm. But rhythm is
also important in games that are not explicitly
predicated on musical interaction. Giving the keynote
speech at the 1999 Game Developers’ Conference in
San Jose, Shigeru Miyamoto emphasized this point
exactly: “I feel that those directors who have been able
to incorporate rhythm . . . in their games have been
successful.” We can break this idea down into three
components.
First, nearly all action games rely on the player’s
basic ability to use tactical timing, by which I mean
pressing a certain button to produce an action at exactly
the right time. Many old platform games such as
Miyamoto’s own Super Mario Bros, for instance,
demand great accuracy in jumping and in controlling
your character’s skids so he doesn’t fall off platforms.
A racing game such as Sega Rally demands tactical
timing in manipulating the joypad or wheel so that the
player’s car rounds a corner in a controlled skid. A
beat-’em-up such as Soul Calibur rewards tactical
timing if we begin our attacking move just at the
moment when our opponent is in a vulnerable stance.
T a c t i c a l t i m i n g a l s o i n c o r p o r a t e s
d e m a n d s o f h i g h s p e e d r e a c t i o n : i n t h i s
w a y , w e r a p i d l y t a k e a c c o u n t o f