5 Games that Attributed to Mark Cerny's Success

To follow up on my article "The Man Behind the PS4," -- > here: http://tinyurl.com/kxrwvnr. I'll be describing 5 games that attributed to Mark Cerny's success in chronological order. Although, he has many credits to his name. Mark Cerny, whom has had prominent roles, and has been involved in the inception of hit games such as Uncharted remains an important industry figure today. The 5 games include:







Marble Madness

The year was 1984, and Cerny's Marble Madness was a platforming game released for the Atari System 1. The game utilized true stereo sound, and a track-pad for gameplay; and was developed in the C programming language. Indeed, Mark Cerny desired simplicity, and a uniqueness in the way players interacted with the marble and obstacles. In Marble Madness, you're a marble that traverses isometric-maze-like courses, designed as obstacles to prevent you from completing courses in time. And yet, Marble Madness' first imagined conceptions consisted of a racing game, however hardware limitations at the time didn't allow for such gameplay. As a result  the race against time gameplay derived much from earlier conceptions. Bob Flanagan and Mark Cerny both led production of the game with Mark serving as the programmer, and Bob serving as software engineer. M. C. Escher inspired Mark Cerny to draw up more abstract courses and level designs. The game also drew inspiration from miniature golf and racing games.




Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Next, in 1992, Mark Cerny served a role on the Sonic the Hedgehog series as producer/ programmer with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Sega Genesis. Mark Cerny worked with Sega for years before making his transition to Universal Studios as Vice President, then the President of the publisher house. The second iteration in platforming series was known for its development taking place in the United States (outside of Japan,) under Sega's Technical Institute. Although, Sega's Japanese Sonic Team  alumni: "Yuji Naka" and "Hirokazu Yasuhara"; whom served as lead programmer and game planner for the original Sonic the Hedgehog, respectively were brought on. As a result of this collaboration, the game was a critical success, and boon for the Sega Genesis platform.




Disruptor

Then in 1996, Mark Cerny served as executive producer and designer for Disruptor, a first person shooter that would cement insomniac's status in the video game industry. Consequently, they would go on to work more with Cerny on other hit video games such as Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet and Clank, Resistance: Fall of Man, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, and Resistance 2. In Disruptor, the player has special abilities in the game such as draining powers, healing powers, shock, and shield powers via "Psionics." Which are similar to telekinesis  Another video game published by Midway, Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy is similar to Disruptor.





Crash Bandicoot

Again, in 1996, Mark Cerny served as the executive producer for the Crash Bandicoot series. Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin -- two Naughty Dog founders were previously responsible for developing Way of the Warrior for Universal Studios (now defunct Vivendi Games.) Accordingly, Mark Cerny liked what he saw in Way of the Warrior, and,Naughty Dog were subsequently picked up by publisher Universal Studios for three additional games: Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, and Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. He would serve as programmer for the first Crash Bandicoot project code-named: "Sonic's Ass Game." Naughty Dog's long-running franchise has to date sold over 40 million units.

Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy 

Lastly, in 2001, Mark Cerny served as programmer for Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, a platform game released for the PS2. Mark Cerny's talents and expertise is still a commodity in the video games industry, as evident by his role as "Design Consultant" on 5 top-selling PS3 games. And as the Director for his own upcoming IP: Knack for the PS4. That is to say, Marky-boy has already been knee-deep in the industry for thirty years, and is showing no signs of slowdown. We look forward to seeing what he has to say at E3 next week. Check out our full list of games that attributed to Mark Cerny's success -- > here: http://tinyurl.com/m7ws9dh. Did you like this article? Check out our other articles -- >