Fandom High School

"Hey guys, last class of the semester," he said, frowning just a bit. "I hope you've had as much fun as I have and you guys have liked the video games I've chosen. Today, we're gonna play one last video game. It's not gonna be anything I grade for your final though. If you've been here and you've tried, you pass in my opinion."

Easy A's for everyone!

"Today, we're gonna be playing a classic of classics. The Oregon Trail is the big game for education. It teaches you and educates you while also making you laugh and making your curse because your ox runs away or your friend gets brain fever and dies. It's not always easy but man, it's fun. So, let's see who can get to Oregon without people dying along the way!"

Riley got the game going and it was time to play!

"Morning everyone," Riley said, giving them all a wave as they settled down. "We're getting closer and closer to the end of the semester so hopefully I can end off the last few weeks with a few good games for you. Today, we're going to be playing Mike Tyson's Punch Out."

Aw yeah, get ready to beat up on Glass Joe!

"It's basically exactly what it sounds like: a boxing game but it's beloved because it had character, funny characters and took some skill to really master. Mike Tyson is, of course, the big boss you wanna get to but there's a lot of fun in dealing with the other characters too. King Hippo was always my favorite. Anyway, get to boxing!"

"Today, we're going to be playing God or Goddess or some combination of the two," Riley said, standing at the front of the room. "That's because today's game selection is Sim City."

Ah, the city building simulation that had caused Riley to curse and throw things in the past. He was over that now. Really.

"Sim City is an open-ended city-building computer and console video game series originally designed by developer Will Wright. It is published by Maxis. The game was first published in 1989 as Sim City, and it has spawned several different editions sold worldwide. The player, which is you, must define zones, each having limits on the kind of development that can occur there. Development of the zones is not performed directly by the player, but happens when certain conditions are met, such as power supply, adequate transport links or acceptable tax level. The residential zones, in green, provide housing for Sims; the commercial zones, in blue, provide shops and offices; and the industrial zones, in yellow, provide factories, laboratories and farms."

Riley's big problem had always been pollution when he'd been into the game. "As the game progresses, the player must provide such things as healthcare, public safety, educational buildings, parks and entertainment buildings. And you have to do this while maintaining a fine line of taxing the citizens enough to earn money but not enough to tick them off. Oh, and watch out for natural disasters. Time to play Sim City!"

Lecture done, Riley and his lack of eyeglasses left the students to play Sim City.

"Good morning," Riley greeted, coffee in hand because he was having some trouble getting going this morning. "Today, we're going a little more modern with our video game. We're gonna be taking a look at the original Tomb Raider. Tomb Raider centers around English archaeologist Lara Croft. The Tomb Raider series has expanded into movies, comic books, novels and theme park rides. So, it's a very, very lucrative series which a lot of people didn't think could happen when the game was helmed by a female protagonist. The gaming community is sometimes dim. She's now considered an icon of the video game industry having been inducted into the Walk of Game and she has a place in the Guinness Book of World Records."

He nodded. "Anyway, the game we're going to be playing was a huge hit and a major title responsible for the Playstation's early success. The player controls the female archaeologist Lara Croft, in search for the three mysterious Scion artefacts across the world. The game is presented in third person perspective. Lara is always visible and the camera follows the action from behind or over her shoulder. The world she inhabits is fully drawn in three dimensions and characterised by its cubic nature. Ledges, walls and ceilings mostly sit at 90 degrees to each other, but sometimes feature sloping planes."

Riley got to work on getting the gaming stations set up so they could play while he finished the lecture. "The object of Tomb Raider is to guide Lara through a series of tombs and other locations in search of treasures and artefacts. On the way, she must kill dangerous animals and other creatures, while collecting objects and solving puzzles to gain access to an ultimate prize, usually a powerful artefact. Gunplay is restricted to the killing of various animals that appear throughout each stage, although occasionally Lara may be faced with a human opponent. Instead the emphasis lies on solving puzzles and performing trick jumps to complete each level. So, today we're gonna play an iconic game and see how well we do! Have fun!"

Thankfully, Riley listened to the radio over the weekend so he knew the island was up to its funny tricks and he knew to plan for possibly having some extra people around.

"Morning everyone, including anyone who I've never seen before," Riley greeted. "Today, we're going to look at a game that is fun for all ages and won't scar little eyes either. Donkey Kong is a classic. It follows a large gorilla who is named, of course, Donkey Kong. The games of the first genre are mostly single-screen platform/action puzzle types, featuring Donkey Kong as the opponent against Mario in an industrial construction setting. The original Donkey Kong game was the first appearance of Mario, Nintendo's flagship character, pre-dating the well-known Super Mario Bros. by four years. Donkey Kong first made his appearance in the 1981 arcade machine called Donkey Kong while going against Jumpman, who was later renamed Mario. The second, the Donkey Kong Country / Land series, featured Donkey Kong and his clan as protagonists in their native jungle setting versus a variety of anthropomorphic enemies, usually against the Kremlings, a clan of crocodiles, and their leader King K. Rool."

That was about it for his lecture so Riley smiled briefly. "And now, it's time to play some Donkey Kong. Uh, if you have children here with you, make it a game between the two of you, see who can do better. If you don't have children with you, I still hope you enjoy playing."

With that being said, Riley got the arcade simulation going and it was time to play video games.

It was time to play some video games in the Danger Shop once again.

"Morning everyone," Riley greeted once everyone had arrived. "Today, we're gonna be playing another classic. Pac-Man was first developed as an arcade game by Namco way back in 1980. Immediately upon its release, it became hugely popular and, even now, it's pretty iconic. When people think of video games and video game characters, Pac-Man tends to be right at the top of that list. Pac-Man succeeded by creating a new genre and appealing to both genders. Pac-Man is often credited with being a landmark in video game history, and is among the most famous arcade games of all time. It is also one of the highest-grossing video games of all time, having generated more than $2.5 billion in quarters by the 1990s."

So, Pac-Man was a pretty damn big deal.

"The game is simple. You control Pac-Man through a maze and you go around eating pac-dots or pellets. Once you eat all the pellets, you advance onto the next level. Of course, it's not that easy because while you're eating the pellets, you have to avoid Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde, the ghosts who are chasing you. If you're caught, you die and you lose a life and have to start over. So, let's try to avoid those guys while we play today."

The Danger Shop came alive and the arcade was in front of the students again. Time to play Pac-Man!

Class was going old school today. To make that happen, Riley had sent an email to all students that told them to come to the Danger Shop for class. When they all arrived, they were going to find themselves in what looked like an arcade. The only difference between regular arcades and this one was that all the arcade games here were the same.

"Today, we're going to be playing Pong. Pong is one of the very first arcade games and it's widely thought as one of the very first to reach mainstream popularity. It was a big deal in the gaming business. Pong quickly became a success and is the first commercially successful video game which led to the start of the video game industry. It earned around thirty five to forty dollars a day which was big stuff back then. So, without Pong, who knows where we might be today?"

The video game industry would have still gotten started but things could have taken different trajectories. "Pong is very simple. It's a tennis based game where you control one block and someone else or the computer controls the other block and you bounce a ball between the two of you. The objective, of course, is to get the ball past the other person. Easier said than done in some circumstances. So, step up to an arcade and start playing the game that pretty much started it all!"

The arcade music came on and the games came to life. Time to play Pong!

Even though he'd made the decision to stay, it still surprised Riley when he walked into the classroom to teach another class in another semester. He truly thought he'd be one and done but no. Apparently, a part of him liked this place. Go figure.

Once the students had arrived and Riley had hooked up the consoles they'd be using for today's video game, he got started on the brief lecture.

"Hey guys, welcome to what I think is the first class of the new semester," he said, half smiling. "Yeah, it's a little early which means it's a little cold but hey, you're all here now. Today, we're gonna take it easy and get the introductions out of the way but we're gonna play a video game too. For those that don't know, this class is about classic video games. Each class, we'll take a look at video game from the past that you played on a console that is no longer relevant. Now, I know some of you might come from different worlds were tech is a little different and video games might be either more advanced or not even invented at all. For this class, though, we'll be concentrating on this world's video games since that's what I know and I'd love to sound like the smart person in the room."

He knew there was one or two people who might make that hard. Kids were so smart these days.

"So, intros. Easy peasy. Just let me know your name and what type of video game you like. Puzzle, adventure, role playing, simulation, anything. You can give me an example of a video game you really like too, if you want. After that, I've got some Atari consoles hooked up -- "

Yes, Atari.

" -- so we're gonna play some Pitfall. Let's get started!"

Ah, nerdism. Riley was in his element.