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Table of Contents

Inaccurate history

New Game Plus

Claim: Chrono Trigger (Square Co., Ltd., 1995) was the first game with a New Game Plus mode (Oliver, 2020).

Chrono Trigger was the first game to implement a “New Game+” mode, a feature reused in many, many later games that allows players to restart the game’s story while retaining progress and items they have accumulated in a previous playthrough.

Renegade or Paragon?: Categorizing Narrative Choice in Video Game Storylines (2020-02), 82

(Probably) False. Chrono Trigger originated the terminology, but earlier games had features to replay the game.

Research

However, do these earlier games let you keep equipment/levels/whatever, or do they just make the game harder?

  • Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei (Atlus Co., Ltd., 1987): "Five minutes after the word "END" appears on the screen after the ending, the player can begin a new cycle with the Spring of Healing and Cathedral of Shadows missing from Micom Town." (New Game plus, 2022)

To investigate

Multiple endings in games

Claim: Ogre Battle (Quest Corporation, 1993) "was the first game to include multiple endings with meaningful differences." (Oliver, 2020)

Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen, released in 1993, was the first game to include multiple endings with meaningful differences.

Renegade or Paragon?: Categorizing Narrative Choice in Video Game Storylines (2020-02)

This feels very likely to be false. Surely some earlier RPG had meaningfully-different multiple endings. Ultima maybe?

Planting trees for a marriage license

In the 17th century in many European countries, a young man had to plant at least nine walnut trees to obtain a marriage license. This, to help increase the wealth of the nation!

Bibliography

Atlus Co., Ltd. (1987). Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei [Nintendo Famicom]. Namco Limited.
New Game Plus. (2022, January 16). Megami Tensei Wiki. https://megamitensei.fandom.com/wiki/New_Game_Plus?oldid=449692
Oliver, G. (2020). Renegade or Paragon? Categorizing Narrative Choice in Video Game Storylines. Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy, 7(1), 78–89.
Quest Corporation. (1993). Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen [Nintendo Super Famicom]. Quest Corporation.
Square Co., Ltd. (1995). Chrono Trigger [Nintendo Super Famicom]. Square Co., Ltd.
Title Type Date Platform Names Characters Series