Dixon Wu emigrated from Hong Kong to Canada with his family in the 1980s, when he was four. He took with him the Famicom Disk System, one of the first video game consoles.
The red-and-white machine was a big part of his childhood. Now he is an adult, he feels nostalgic for the simple joys of playing games with his brother and friends.
"At that time, playing video games was a way of socialising, because people had to meet to play games together," he says. "Technology has brought many benefits, but some advantages of old games have disappeared."
Dixon has founded a group called Retro.HK. The group preserves classic Hong Kong video games. "Retro" means something which is old-fashioned but still good.
He held Hong Kong's first tournament on retro consoles and arcade games in 2015. Last month, the seventh edition of the event took place. It aimed to educate people about the beauty of old games
Video game designer
As a child, Dixon spent endless hours dismantling consoles to figure out how they worked. He also collected merchandise to understand the artists who designed the games.
"Maybe because I was not skilful enough to win the games, I enjoyed understanding the ins and outs of the games more," he says.
Later, he studied game design in university, and he became a game designer. One question stuck in his mind: "How do I create a fun game for everyone?"
"For me, a fun game is about simplicity – everyone should easily know how to play it," he explains.
Compared to his classmates who focused on how a game looked, Dixon cared more about a game's plot.
Retro game archive
Dixon returned to Hong Kong in 2007. Eight years later, he decided to start playing his old video games again.
"I was shocked to learn that Hong Kong had never held any events on retro games. Such events are common in most cities in the world," he says. So he started the event himself.
This year, the event wanted to show video games' historical importance to Hong Kong and Asia.
"We assembled some Hong Kong-themed games made in other countries, as we hope to understand how Hong Kong looks in foreigners' eyes," says Dixon. "They might see some beauty of the city that we had missed."
He says that many foreign games included Hong Kong scenes and people. For example, the game Super Street Fighter II has a level that is set in Hong Kong and a character inspired by Bruce Lee.
"Video game backgrounds need to be vibrant and eye-catching. Hong Kong's old districts are a good fit because they were crowded and chaotic," he says.
Dixon says that it is essential to build an archive of games made in Hong Kong. This involves keeping old games, consoles and related things like magazines and soundtracks.
"If we don't have an archive, how can we encourage the young generation to produce games?" he says. "We need to pass the skills and knowledge on to the next generation. If we only preserve the game and the device, but no one knows how to play, it's meaningless."
Fun facts
Playing action video games can train you to make correct decisions faster. Surgeons who regularly play video games work faster and make fewer mistakes than other surgeons!
Quick questions
- Does Dixon think Hong Kong streets are a good background for video games?
- Which word in the article is another way to say "storyline"?
- Besides video games, what other things can be retro?
