Minus World

The concept of having something to collect in video games has existed almost as long as video games themselves. Many arcade games and classic console games make collecting items an important aspect or even the main objective of the game. Iconic series such as the Mario or Sonic games have had us collecting coins and rings respectively for many years. However, as time has gone by, the things we collect in video games have changed and even the rewards for collecting have shifted fairly drastically. When you’re looking at designing a game and what incentives there are to progress, collectibles are often the “go-to” choice for many developers.

The term “collect-a-thon” stemmed from a fast-growing library of 3D platform games in the late 90s that had a heavy focus on collecting various objects. This is when collecting things in video games took a sharp turn from being a ‘bonus’ to a requirement. The most popular 3D platform title of the time, Super Mario 64, shifted the Mario series’ focus away from simply reaching the end of a level – the core goal in almost every previous Mario game up to that point – and put the focus on exploring each level multiple times and with multiple different approaches in order to collect ‘Power Stars’. Collect enough stars and you can open the way to more levels, in which you can collect more stars to progress and continue the process. A similar trend can be seen in Spyro the Dragon, Banjo-Kazooie and the infamous Donkey Kong 64. Sometimes these games would also offer incentives for collecting 100% of a required item, like finding Yoshi in Super Mario 64 or getting the “extra” ending in Spyro the Dragon, wheras some games just required you to obtain a minimum amount of a certain collectible to progress.

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