To be able to answer this question, understanding of what elements make up a fairy tale and what a fairy tale actually is must first be understood. These two quotes describe a fairy-tale quite succinctly – with the later by Fantasy writer J.R.R Tolkien perhaps digging into the Coherent world’s side of a fairy-tale:
“A tale of some length involving a succession of motifs or episodes. It moves in an unreal world without definite locality or definite creatures and is filled with the marvelous. In this never-never land, humble heroes kill adversaries, succeed to kingdoms and marry princesses." The characters and motifs of fairy tales are simple and archetypal: princesses and goose-girls; youngest sons and gallant princes; ogres, giants, dragons, and trolls; wicked stepmothers and false heroes; fairy godmothers and other magical helpers, often talking horses, or foxes, or birds; glass mountains; and prohibitions and breaking of prohibitions” - The Folktale, 1977, Thompson
"It is at any rate essential to a genuine fairy-story, as distinct from the employment of this form for lesser or debased purposes, that it should be presented as 'true.' ...But since the fairy-story deals with 'marvels,' it cannot tolerate any frame or machinery suggesting that the whole framework in which they occur is a figment or illusion." – Tolkien (On Fairy-stories, 1947) 
The Folktale’s list of individual elements is extensive and this additionally covers many archetypes of a video game plot – be it modern or old. The concept of having a princess in peril in a fantasy land was the core narrative of the video game Super Mario, where the plumber “Mario” would have to travel through various worlds, fighting various minor adversities/ creatures before having to fight the evil Koopa overlord “Bowser”. Despite the lack of more identifiable features like ogres or fairy god mothers, the game can still contains core elements of a Fairy Tale.
Similarly with the Nintendo classic Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, the player must overcome many obstacles in order to save the Princess Zelda from the evil clutches of Gannondorf. The game’s locations are much more archetypical of a fairy-tale, featuring Castles and enchanted forests in the world of Hyrule that the player must explore to complete their quest. Furthermore magic and magical beings are an important part of the Zelda universe, with a magical Fairy, Navi, acting as Link’s guide and magical aide, while at points the Princess Zelda will use magic in order to aid the player in overcoming obstacles that are beyond the realm of the player’s abilities. Additionally, should the idea of transformation be considered an element of a fairytale (Frogs turning into Princes, Cinderella’s Carriage) then Ocarina of Time also addresses this in that the character Link, is forced to undergo a transformation to become an adult from a child in order to truly be able to fight the evil that has swept across the land.
A much more modern example of Fairy-tale elements in a game is Fable. While the narrative of the Fable franchise always can be heavily linked with fairy-tales (becoming a “Hero”, fighting Trolls, Hobbes (goblin like creatures), wielding fearsome magic) an interesting factor about the Fable games is how alike the game is stylistically to what one might consider a fairy-tale in video-game format to look like. In the first game, crafted storybook like panels are displayed as crucial plot narration happens. The players character is spoken about in the third person (referred to as “the boy” or “the hero”) much like a fairy tale character, while in the second game just by initiating a new game, Theresa (a wise sounding female voice) states “And so our story begins…”. The game characters appear to be chronicling the player’s adventures as the way one would if writing a fairy-tale.
There are many more games that include elements of a fairytale, be it the adventure of the boy Sora in Kingdom Hearts as he attempts to flee his island (prohibited action) before getting swept up into saving a number of fantasy realms – often directly from fairy-tales, from the forces of evil, with the ultimate goal of saving kidnapped princesses and reuniting with lost friends. Or even the parody occurrences such as in Naughty Dog’s Crash Bandicoot, where on a particular level a frog enemy will defeat the player leaping onto and kissing Crash, before subsequently turning into a prince.
I think there are likely to be many reasons why Fairy Tales are often influences upon the video game worlds we experience. One such might be due to their inclusion of so many sought after narrative features which would be at home in any game (mythical worlds, dangerous conflicts, magic and positive yet succinct endings). Another reason might be as they are something we ultimately experience as we grow up; they are a safe area to explore – something which we subconsciously tie ideas of fantasy down to and thus react positively when given a chance to explore these worlds in books or video games. Returning to Tolkien’s initial quote as a further reason, perhaps, from the point of creating a coherent world, the Fairy-Tale offers a blueprint of how it can and should be done. In a Fairy-Tale the audience is presented with a world that cannot be true, creatures that do not exist and a narrative which is almost too unbelievable. Yet that world is coherent in that the audience do not reject a fairy tale world but rejoice it, and ultimately become immersed in the world until Happily Ever After ends the relationship between the two agents (that ending itself acting as a clever closing device as most would not be able to ask any internal questions and demand more).
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(12/10/2011)
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