A strange little side quest
The fun part of looking behind Halloween Zombie Run is seeing how many older ideas are still alive in modern play. Donkey Kong arrived in 1981 with a character called Jumpman, who would later become one of gaming's most recognizable figures: Mario. A second detail makes the picture even better: By 1987, fantasy role-playing had become a major computer-game direction, with Zelda, licensed Dungeons & Dragons games and other story-led adventures expanding the form. That long chain of experiments is part of why platform games still feels fresh when a game finds the right twist.
