If you love video games, such as "Donkey Kong" and other games with lots of jumping activities, you hear the "hup" sound that the characters make when jumping from one obstacle to another.
Visitors play the retro game "Pong" at the Video games trade fair Gamescom in Cologne, western Germany, on August 21, 2019. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP)
Although modern games, especially shooting titles, focus on other sound effects, such as gun noises, sword clashing, and other action sounds, the jump sound is not that of a priority.
But, the "hup" audio is still one of the most iconic in-game sound effects there has ever been.
Game Jump Sound: How 'Hup' Started
According to Wired's latest report, the "hup" sound effect was first used in the 1996 game called "Quake."
The video game "Doom 3" is displayed on a computer and game store shelf August 4, 2004 in New York City. "Doom 3", the $55 sequel, hit stores nationwide August 3 and quickly sold out at many retailers. The game typifies the first person shooter genre pioneered in the early 1990s with the original "Doom," "Quake" and "Wolfenstein 3D" games.
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John Romero, a popular American game developer, and designer explained that the jump sound is actually not a product of conscious design.
This means that they didn't exert that much effort when it comes to the audio's integration into "Quake."
"We didn't spend that much time putting the sound into Quake. The thing that's important in game design is you put sounds in as early as you can because you will know if you hate it," he explained.
The game developer added that the "hup" audio is like the sound when you do a wall humping. Romero even shared that they had fun when making the sound.
John said that during the sound making, there was a guy sitting in front of a mic, making the sounds "humph," hurnk," and "hurp." After that, they finally decided to use "hup."
Now, many games still have this popular audio. These include "Pong," "Amid Evil," "Dead Templar," "Sprawl," "Selaco," "Hedon," "Nightmare Reaper," "HROT," and "Hellbound."
However, the jumping sounds in these popular titles were already adjusted.
Other Iconic Sounds in Nostalgic Games
Game Developer said that some in-game sound effects will certainly bring nostalgia to many players.
These include the coin sound effect in "Super Mario Bros" and the gobbling-dots audio on "Pac-Man." All these sound effects play an important role in making these titles more memorable.
If you want to see other nostalgic video game sounds, you can visit this link.
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Story posted on GameNGuide
Written by Giuliano de Leon
