What’s a Let’s play?
Yeah, what the heck is a “Let’s Play”? Big question, hun? Well the answer is actually not that complicated. A “Let’s Play” is a video or a series of multiple videos in which someone plays a videogame to show how it’s played, it’s mechanics, story and whatever else the game has to offer.
Usually the gameplay is accompained by a “commentary” in which the Let’s Player speaks trying to teach and explain what’s going on on the screen, ginving informations about the gameplay in general. This in very important on YouTube, where you might think contnents about a videogame is restricted due to copyrights. However YouTube states in its rules that, if the gameplay is accompained by a commentary with teaching/educational purposes, the contenent can be posted without problems of copyrights.
The main objective of a Let’s Play is to give the viewers a good impression of the game as though they were playing it themselves. Of course, there is not only one way to do it. There are many many kinds of Let’s Play you can find around the internet. Here I’ll show you the three mail types of Let’s Plays that you may find:
Normal Let’s Play
A normal Let’s play is when the player knows the game beforehand, he’s played a few times before and know all (or most) of its mechanics and so on, so that he’s capable of giving a lot of informations about the game. Usually normal Let’s plays are planned beforehand.
Let’s Players use to write lists and notes about what they need to do, what they need to talk about, and which data of the game they need to consider while playing. Planning takes a lot of time, but I can assure you, it’s also a fun thing to do.
Personally, this is my favorite kind of Let’s Play, and that’s the type of Let’s Play I’ve done the most.
Blind Play
A Blind Play it’s the opposite of a normal Let’s Play. The main difference is that the game isn’t planned. Players approach the game “blindly” without knowing what’s going to happen, or what are the characteristics of the videogame.
Blind plays can be really fun to watch since they can lead to fun reactions of the Let’s Players, but at the same time they risk of being boring if the Let’s Player is stuck in one point for minutes and minutes, trying to find their way forward, because they don’t know what to do.
Co-op Play
As the word says, this kind of Let’s Play has more than one player in it. Players cooperate of challenge themselves in order to proceed forward. Those might be the hardest to plan though, since it usually need the cooperation and coordination of multiple people.
Want to know more?
It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t mention some of my favorite Let’s Players from which I got inspiration. But first, if you really want to know more, I suggest you to check out my Let’s Plays: I’ll even give you a list of them down there. Have fun!
List of my Let’s Plays (in order from the oldest to the newest)
LP #1: Super Mario 64 Star Road
LP #2: Bomberman Hero
LP #3: Pokémon Emerald
LP #4: Jazz Jackrabbit 2
LP #5: Peggle
LP #6: Feeding Frenzy
LP #7: Earthbound
LP #8: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team
LP #9: Electronic Super Joy (Blind)
LP #10: Super Mario 64
LP #11: Brutal Doom
LP #12: The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time
LP #13: Wonder Project J2
LP #14: Pokémon Glazed (Blind)
LP #15: Rayman 2: The Great Escape
LP #16: Sheep Dog ‘N’ Wolf
LP #17: Cave Story
LP #18: Metal Gear Solid
LP #19: GTA: San Andreas
LP #20: Secret Of Evermore
LP #21: Mother 3
LP #22: Undertale
LP #23: Brutal Doom: Hell On Earth (Blind)
LP #24: Mortimer Beckett Trilogy
LP #25: Turtle Bay
LP #26: Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear To The Rescue
LP #27: Feeding Frenzy 2: Shipwreck Showdown!
LP #28: Frogger 2: Swampy’s Revenge
LP #29: Exhumed
LP #30: Back To The Future (Blind)
LP #31: Plants Vs Zombies
LP #32: Bugs Bunny And Taz: Busters In Time
LP #33: Croc 2
LP #34: Final Fantasy VI (Blind)
LP #35: Starfox 64
LP #36: Kirby Nighmare in Dreamland
LP #37: The Tuttles Madcap Misadventures
LP #38: Final Fantasy VII
LP #39: Minecraft Skyblock Revolution
LP #40: Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc
LP #41: Xenogears
LP #42: Pandora’s Tower
LP #43: Advance Wars
LP #44: Pikmin
LP #45: The Wonderful 101
LP #46: One Shot
LP #47: Theia: The Crimson Eclipse (Eng)(Hard)
LP #48:Shadow of the Colossus (PS4)
LP #49: Ys I
LP #50: Xenoblade Chronicles
LP #51: Kingsway
LP #52: Bayonetta
LP #51: Ys II
These are the Let’s Players I got inspired from:
And here below, a very interesting video of the king of Let’s Plays, Chuggaaconroy, explaining all the work behind his Let’s Plays.