As a general rule, I like it when musicians cover somebody else’s songs. Oh, sure, it’s a bit of a crap shoot – I can think of dozens of mangled, horrible versions of songs, usually performed by somebody with no understanding of what made the original work, and there will always be mediocre, unheard of bands trying to take the easy to fame by releasing totally hilarious versions of well known songs. But good covers, like !!!’s take on ‘Get Up’ by Nate Dogg or the entire output of R&B/Soul cover band the Detroit Cobras, can take a song and completely reinvent it, digging out the core of the thing and holding it up at a different angle to be appreciated as something new.

So where are the cover versions of games? I’m not talking about remakes – those are a dime a dozen, clogging smaller game channels like the 360’s Live Arcade with scrolling shooters that are more xeroxes than new works – or games built on mechanics first proven by another title, I mean actually covering an older game, building it from the ground up as shot through your own personal filters. Take, for instance, the difference between the original version of ‘Walk Away Renee’ by the Left Banke and this cover by Billy Bragg. As amazing as the original’s teen romance gone wrong is, the cover personalizes it, exploring the same territory through Bragg’s particular brand of urban folk/heartbroken city kid storytelling. It’s not a remake or standing on the Four Tops’ collective shoulders; the song is its own creature, every bit as powerful but for different reasons. So why not take the same approach to games?

There are plenty of obvious reasons why it’s not very practical – games are hard to make, for one, typically taking longer and costing more to produce than Ted Leo blending ‘Since U Been Gone’ and ‘Maps’ to fantastic effect. It’s also a young medium, compared to the likes of music, and very much still fighting for cultural acceptance and significance while still lacking a clear idea of where its boundaries are. Why look back where there’s still so much new to explore?

Because of the paths not taken by the original designers. Because of the chance to learn from their work by breaking these games down to their component pieces to see how they work. Because it’s fun. And with the resurgence of smaller, individually developed games on the PC (such as experimental-game-a-month developer and winner of the Seamus McNally prize at IGF this year Petri Purho), it’s much more of a realistic notion than you might think. Imagine Super Mario Bros. covered by the kids at thatgamecompany, or a puzzle game like Tetris or Bejeweled as seen through the eyes of the bunch at the Kokoromi Collective. It’s the sort of thing that fills me with with the burning need to make something and my own frustrations at not having the time, energy, or single ounce of programming knowledge necessary to create games all on my own. Quick, dirty covers of older games both famous and obscure, like an alternate history of the medium. Why not?

Edit: Turns out the Four Tops covered ‘Walk Away Renee’ as well, and the original was by the Left Banke. Thanks Patrick for the correction.

Filed under: talk about games, Then I bought me a Walkman, thinking outloud