This sounds pretty interesting, I was also recently thinking how cool it would be to see some uniquely new titles based around the old gameplay style and mechanic.
One thing I found about these old games is some of them had an interesting risk/reward mechanic. For instance on Octopus you could choose to stick it out for a longer time standing next to the treasure chest collecting coins, but the longer you stayed, the greater the risk of losing a life, whereas if you chose a slow and steady collection rate there is less risk but also less reward. I think that this aspect needs to be included in games to make them truly fun.
Totally agree. And Octopus is one of my top three from the series.
I think when these simple mechanics just get thrown into a game as one of a hundred others, they obviously lose their import. Minimalism as a concept attempts to bring our focus back to maybe one thing at a time... as in one note, or one shape, or taste, etc. We have forgotten what's it's like to really taste something when we are cramming many flavour into our mouth at once, and quickly swallowing.
I kind of feel that only after we appreciate each note independently can we properly begin to build up chords and melodies and so on. Going back to the basics really opens up larger possibilities that we wouldn't see or appreciate otherwise.