The 1982 film “TRON" tells the story of hacker Kevin Flynn, portrayed by a young Jeff Bridges. His character is absorbed into a computer and forced to compete in a series of digital bloodsports. The film was a modest success for Walt Disney Pictures, but its most important legacy came from a flashy arcade cabinet.
Accompanying the release of “TRON," legendary arcade publisher Bally Midway released one of its most beloved cabinets. "TRON”, the video game, consisted of four minigames based on various sequences from the film. The most beloved of these games is probably "Light Cycles," inspired by the first of many competitions Flynn faces in the film. In "Light Cycles," players race on bikes that leave behind trails of light. Bumping into those trails causes the bikes to explode, like a more involved Snake Game.
40 years later, no one has ever recaptured the magic of the original "TRON" cabinet, but it's not for lack of effort. There have been plenty of attempts to modernize "TRON" as a video game. In 2003, Monolith Productions headed up a first-person shooter called TRON 2.0, which was intended to be a direct sequel to the original film. It was a hit among critics, but no one was ever especially enamored by the plot of TRON, so the narrative follow-up became a bit of a financial disappointment.
A few years later, TRON: Evolution was released, a tie-in action-adventure game based on 2010's TRON: Legacy. Like TRON 2.0, Evolution served as a stark reminder that no one cares about TRON's story. Unlike 2.0, Evolution was lacking in decent gameplay to prop up its so-so plot, and it financially underperformed once more.
A true successor to the "TRON" arcade cabinet wouldn't come until 2016's TRON RUN/r, an arcade-ish action game in which the player runs, flings discs and rides light cycles. It seems like the perfect "TRON" game: there's no pesky story getting in the way of the slick gameplay and flashing neon lights. Unfortunately, TRON RUN/r misses out on one very fundamental element of “TRON": the light cycles suck.
Bad light cycles are the fundamental issue with the last couple of decades of “TRON" games. When discussing Bally Midway's “TRON" cabinet, you'll notice that I didn't mention any of the other minigames. That's because nothing in “TRON" matters except the light cycles. There is absolutely no reason to play any “TRON" game except to see its take on the light cycles, and most of them are very bad.
There's something incredibly charming about the simplicity of the light cycle minigame mixed with the absurd maximalism of “TRON," but recent games simply don't understand that charm. They're too concerned with narrative, perhaps the least important element of a TRON project, and innovation.
It's high time to return to the good old days of zooming around a little screen and watching tiny sprites slam into the walls you've created. Disney is expected to announce a new slate of games at an upcoming D23 presentation, and one can only hope that a light cycle racer will be among the new titles.
Sorrel Kerr-Jung is a sophomore studying virtual reality game development at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnist do not reflect those of The Post. Do you agree? Tell Sorrel by tweeting her at @sorrelkj.
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