UPDATE: I'm changing this into the first entry of my Analyze this series, where I take a deeper look into games and their concepts.

A lot of Power-Ups found in Retro-Games can still be found in Modern-Games, like the grappling hook, unlimited ammo for a certain time or a damage-modifier. But one Power-Up seems to have a bit disappeared out of videogame culture, even though it's one of the most impressive ones: invincibility or ,as I might call it, temporary immortality.

When we take a look at the first games that use such power ups, we can already see a certain tendency: More often than not, you can find this particular item in old-school Jump and Runs. In fact, Mario and Sonic always used them in almost every single game of their main franchises and sometimes even in their many side-games, like the Mario Kart series. So, it still has a certain place in these franchises.

But why do gamers need this immortality? Is it there in order to make the game easier? Or should it only help the gamer to let of some steam?

If you take a look at the places where you can get this one power up, you'll find out that these aren't very often the most difficult parts in the games, so it would be rather logical to argument that they are achievements of some kind to the gamer, rather than a big helping hand reaching out to them. It's the one part in the game, where the gamer can in fact do, whatever he or she wants to do, because it is nearly impossible to die, as long as you avoid these pits.

Thinking about it, could it be that temporary immortality is somehow an early version of the Sandbox design, nowadays to be found in GTA? Run around and do everything you want? True, there were many limitations to be had in those generations of games, but it's evoquing somehow a phase of relief and pure joy as soon as this power up shows up on the screen.

Thank you for reading this article!