Boiling down games to their barest essential elements can yield results that are illuminating, jaded, fascinating and just plain misanthropic. Here are a few examples:
Mario is a game about going right.
So is Sonic, Mario 3, and the Lost Levels.
Pacman is about eating everything on your plate.
Oregon Trail is about how life isn't fair.
Batman Arkham Asylum is actually just Rock Paper Scissors.
Mostly, though, Mario had the best premise. It's no surprise that Mario was a success when you consider how easy to understand it was. It started with a surprising lack of opportunities .
1) Go left. This worked for a few steps, but really, no-one even tried this.
2) Jump. Great option, but it only really gets interesting in conjunction with the first goomba, the brick blocks, or the ? block.
3) Go right. Unlike the other verbs, this one actually moves the screen. AWESOME!
The first level also lets you go DOWN some pipes, but this is optional.
3D games suffer for this reason. I'm not sure that they are capable of the saturation that "go right" style games are capable of. In a 3D game, all goals are much more nebulous and understanding intensive. "Defeat King BoBomb" or "Free the Chain Chomp" are good examples. Fun, but comparatively cerebral.
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