When I kicked off Handheld Month in August, it was something of a bit: review a bunch of handheld games other than ones on the PSP, with the final game being a review of the Wonderswan Color port of Wizardry- Proving Ground of the Mad Overlord. A bit of a joke where I say, “yep, I’m writing about Wizardry again!” and then cover some of the differences in that version of the game. But I ended up not writing it on schedule, mostly due to real life making me busy. But the night I sat down to actually cover the game, I heard the news: Wizardry’s co-creator, Andrew Greenberg, passed away.
I was really bummed out hearing that. Not much of a secret how much I love the Wizardry games. Hell, I even had a period of time where I would mention Wizardry in posts that had nothing to do with Wizardry. Games as we know them would not be the same without the impact that Wizardry created. Name any video game you have ever played, there’s a good chance it was influenced by Wizardry in some way, even if it’s not an RPG. It’s a very important series, not just for games as a whole, but for me personally. As odd as it may sound for anyone who has actually played any of these games, I have spent a number of nights navigating the depths of these wireframe dungeons while trying to calm down from some anxiety or give myself something to do during a bad state of depression where dragging myself out of bed was itself an accomplishment. This difficult, stressful game would somehow get me to relax. Dungeons full of traps and ninjas that can immediately behead an entire party and yet, I was comforted. White lines drawn across a black void stretching on forever, pulling me in for another hour.
got these wonderswan screenshots, i may as well use them
A real tragedy to lose a true artist like this. At the very least, he leaves behind a tremendous legacy of changing a small part of the world for the better. Wizardry will live on forever.
Comments