First video game to have cutscenes?

2008-08-19 11:06:03 am

Just watched that latest Ninja Gaiden run and it got me thinking:
Was Ninja Gaiden the first game to have cutscenes in it?

If so, it's great that such an early game with cutscenes actually allowed you to skip them.

Thread title:

In_Pieces

2008-08-19 11:12:55 am

...?

What about the cutscenes in super mario bros. 1, where at the start of an underground level(such as 1-2) you see mario walking into the pipe...?

JDHyatt

2008-08-19 11:41:34 am

I'm the guy who complains yet never submits XD

After level 2 in pac-man there is a little cutscene of the pac chasing ghosts

andrewg

2008-08-19 11:52:31 am

Hi! I'm andrewg!

Pong has cutscenes. Wink

haha, not really but yeah even pac-man had cutscenes. I think there were many titles before ng to have cutscenes.

Zurreco

2008-08-19 12:53:39 pm

Just call me the cynicism machine

Breakout/Alleyway/Arkanoid all had mini-cutscenes. If you mean with plot development and whatnot, SMB1.

sunburstbasser

2008-08-19 02:13:31 pm

Silver Hawk!

SMB1 has plot development? Grin

I guess you can look at it that way!

Wiki says earliest were in 1985:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutscene

Zurreco

2008-08-19 02:42:21 pm

Just call me the cynicism machine

"I'm sorry but the princess is in another castle" sounds like character establishment and rationale for a longer game. That, and "you are in a cave because you used a pipe to get down there" scenes help.

Enhasa

2008-09-03 08:29:23 am

everybody wanna tell you the meaning of music

Quote from Gob_Bluth:

If so, it's great that such an early game with cutscenes actually allowed you to skip them.

It's great, 20 years later and developers have finally pretty much figured out that this is a good idea again.

Tons of plot development cutscenes before SMB1.

drewiestewie

2012-09-14 05:54:47 pm

the first game to have a cutscene was packman

Svenne

2012-09-14 06:27:39 pm

Smörgåsbord

oregon trail

PJ

Edit history:

PJ: 2012-09-14 09:04:10 pm

2012-09-14 08:59:30 pm

Is PJ

Quote from drewiestewie:

the first game to have a cutscene was packman

Hahahaha. This is very true! Err wait, did the original Pac-Man have cutscenes? I know Ms. Pac-Man did.

Edit: I read threads in reverse order. I just saw that others already mentioned Pac-Man and confirmed the cutscenes. Ignore me. Tongue

Aftermath

Edit history:

Aftermath: 2012-09-15 12:57:47 am

2012-09-15 12:57:25 am

Quits halfway

Quote from sunburstbasser:

SMB1 has plot development? Grin

I guess you can look at it that way!

Wiki says earliest were in 1985:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutscene

Not sure how you got 1985 out of that article... If you ctrl+f for it there's 0 results. The first paragraph of the history section is quite well-written, though.

"The first game to feature an intermission between gameplay was the 1979 shoot 'em up title Space Invaders Part II (also called Space Invaders Deluxe), where at the end of each level, the last invader flies off on a spaceship that broadcasts an SOS message. The first game to feature cut scenes in the form of animated interludes between certain game stages was the 1980 hit Pac-Man, which featured brief comical interludes about Pac-Man and the ghosts chasing each other around during those interludes, resembling simple entertaining silent-film type scenes. The following year, Donkey Kong took it a step further by using simple cut scenes to advance a basic narrative that unfolds during the game. In 1983, the laserdisc video game Bega's Battle introduced the use of animated full-motion video (FMV) cut scenes with voice acting to develop a story between the game's shooting stages, which would become the standard approach to video game storytelling years later."

[quote="sunburstbasser"]SMB1 has plot development? ;D  I guess you can look at it that way!

Wiki says earliest were in 1985:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutscene[/quote]

Not sure how you got 1985 out of that article... If you ctrl+f for it there's 0 results. The first paragraph of the history section is quite well-written, though.

[i]"The first game to feature an intermission between gameplay was the 1979 shoot 'em up title Space Invaders Part II (also called Space Invaders Deluxe), where at the end of each level, the last invader flies off on a spaceship that broadcasts an SOS message. The first game to feature cut scenes in the form of animated interludes between certain game stages was the 1980 hit Pac-Man, which featured brief comical interludes about Pac-Man and the ghosts chasing each other around during those interludes, resembling simple entertaining silent-film type scenes. The following year, Donkey Kong took it a step further by using simple cut scenes to advance a basic narrative that unfolds during the game. In 1983, the laserdisc video game Bega's Battle introduced the use of animated full-motion video (FMV) cut scenes with voice acting to develop a story between the game's shooting stages, which would become the standard approach to video game storytelling years later."[/i]

Mercury.Com

2012-09-15 01:04:11 am

Sea of Green

That post is from 2008. Maybe the article (incorrectly?) said something about 1985 at that time.

Sir VG

2012-09-15 01:35:00 am

Fucking Weeaboo

Quote from Mercury.Com:

That post is from 2008. Maybe the article (incorrectly?) said something about 1985 at that time.

Surprisingly, no. A 2009 edit did, but nothing in the last revision (according to the history) has mention of that.

Nitrodon

2012-09-15 12:45:22 pm

The latest revision as of that post did indeed specify 1985. Note that "Cutscene" redirected to "Cut scene" at the time.

Anonymous

2018-05-23 06:36:19 pm

If you are talking about a cutscene with lengthy storylines, then I believe the first (Nes game) to have them was Golgo 13 top secret episode. That came out a year or two before Ninja Gaiden did.

Bob

2023-04-20 08:20:14 pm

Space invaders part 2