How To Do Your Video Game Homework

By Wallace Truesdale  |  August 4, 2025 | 2:00pm
Video Games Features retro games
How To Do Your Video Game Homework

It started when I was reading a review of Death Standing 2: On The Beach. I mostly appreciated the review, save for its description of the game’s main ship that was based on a Metal Gear  reference. This left me cold not because it was a bad description; it might be perfect for all I know. I wouldn’t know though, because I haven’t played a Metal Gear game (unclutch your pearls, we all have blind spots). 

This, as well as conversations around video game preservation, genre formation, and other perennial hot topics, has brought me to one thought: video games are old. Not in a tiresome way, not in a past-its-glory-days way, but in a “Wow, we are only getting farther away from the foundational works” way. Simply put, several of the major series started before the current millenium, so knowing the blueprint for many games today requires some homework for younger players.

This isn’t a new revelation, but it doesn’t hurt to re-approach addressing this knowledge gap. The easy answer is go play old games (which granted people are, but with a forever-game catch), to which I say, yes! Look for an arcade in your area, see if there’s a local community of private collectors in your region, or attend retro game conventions like California Extreme and the Southern Fried Gaming Expo. If you can find one of the staggering amount of old games considered endangered, or know someone forward-thinking or sentimental enough to keep some around with the original console, then grabbing a controller will always be my first recommendation. 

Plus, credit where credit’s due, Atari has taken steps lately to share its history and make their old games playable for modern audiences, the Arcade Archives series releases a rediscovered arcade game every week, a Nintendo Switch Online membership grants access to a few hundred games from Nintendo’s pre-Wii consoles and handhelds (and the Sega Genesis, too), and many of the major publishers regularly release compilations or remasters of their classic games. And that’s not to mention the decades of work done by communities who emulate old games despite some publishers’ best efforts to shut them down.

Under ideal circumstances, games would be as easily experienced as they were originally made to be by their developers. But ideal circumstances are hard to come by nowadays—or ever. You can’t always play the game. So, how does a person do their video game homework without playing the game? Here are a few suggestions:

Read Old Reviews

Whether you agree with a final verdict or not, reading multiple game reviews of the same title can help paint a picture of how it landed initially. And despite their constant turmoil, many game sites still hold libraries worth of takes. Plus, thanks to the efforts of the Video Game History Fouvndation, anyone interested in criticism and reporting before the Internet swallowed it whole can find several bits of old games media to pore over. 

This comes with the caveat that the space wasn’t (and kind of still isn’t) independent of a major defining issue found in many industries, i.e., that a majority of the coverage was done by cis straight white men. The opinions of several demographics on a medium enjoyed by literally all types are noticeably missing from larger outlets. That said, these old magazines still provide a great opportunity to see not only how games were perceived at release, but also in what ways the space itself has grown—and stalled—in its approach to discussing games. 

Brush Off Your Eyeballs and Pick Up A Book

It turns out that players don’t just like playing games. When given the opportunity, many have taken the time to create riveting books about the medium and how it affects lives. Whether it be deep dives on single games like the projects at Boss Fight Books and Lost In Cult’s Design Works series, short argumentative works on mechanics and intention like MIT Press’ Playful Thinking series, or independent ventures from developers, journalists, long-time enjoyers, and others, there is no shortage of books on games to digest.

This might be my personal favorite given the form of delivery. Magazines are great but tend to fit in many different stories and topics, often meaning if something’s not the cover story it’s likely not getting a granular piece. Videos are also awesome, especially for a visual-heavy medium like games, but risk passive engagement since they don’t require page-turning, or any kind of input besides hitting play, to be consumed. A book requires a level of attention that demands you read every word, and has the space to get into the atoms of a game should it so choose. 

No reading? Fine, watch a playthrough or a video essay (in that order)

I know video just caught a stray, but YouTube playthroughs and video essays aren’t a bad way at all to brush up on video game history. While watching a video won’t translate the feel of landing a jump after multiple attempts, solving a puzzle after mulling it over yourself, or any of the ways a game can reflect your specific legwork, it still allows you to experience a story, a soundtrack, and the other various bits that come together to make an engaging work—often for free! 

Additionally, watching a playthrough before a video essay might be beneficial. Contrary to the above suggestions that are explicitly invested in or can’t be detached from an author’s bias, playthroughs are as close as you can get to experiencing a game strictly on its terms without playing it, promotional materials notwithstanding. Make no mistake, a viewer’s perception of the game can still be affected by how the player and video editor present it, but it’s an easily accessible way of learning a game’s story and basic gameplay. Following that, video essays make great chasers so viewers can come in with their own ideas before hearing someone else’s. 

Attend a games jam or exhibit

This might seem like an odd entry given it doesn’t lend itself to learning about specific games like previous suggestions, but I’d argue that there are no better people to learn about the history of a medium from than those involved in its continued production and preservation. Game jams, events where you create a game on an expedited timeline based on an event’s rules and themes, are great ways to learn about creators’ inspirations (and their inspiration’s inspirations). The folks you can find there and at exhibits are often walking encyclopedias of game trivia.

There should also be a clarification in what “exhibit” means here. I do not mean massive media events like Gamescom, Geoff Keighley’s Game Awards or Summer Game Fest, or the like. While no doubt an important part of gaming history, these events are first and foremost promotional events aimed at getting consumers to buy a product. They can pay homage to games and game developers of the past with varying levels of sincerity, but that is remarkably different than a substantive conversation that breaks down why a game was important in the first place. Think more along the lines of what you could find at New York’s Strong Museum of Play, or even ones focused on more alternative games like SEQUENCEBREAK//.

This list is far from exhaustive, but hopefully sparks some ideas on where people can start looking should they find themselves scratching their head at a reference or two. It’s never too late to learn the weird turns in gaming’s history that led to your current Game of the Year.

Wallace Truesdale is a writer who loves games and much of what they come into contact with. He’s written for Unwinnable, Stop Caring, PopMatters, and more. When he’s not ruining himself with sweets, you can find him blogging at Exalclaw, or hanging out on Bluesky and Twitch.

 
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