Platform games

[Eö Telrúnya]

I miss platform games. I love games like Super Mario Bros, Sonic the Hedgehog, Dynamite Headdy and Ristar ... but nobody seems to be making any 2D platform games these days. It makes me sad. I know technology has to advance, and people really like 3D platform games, but I think more 2D platformers should be released.

What do you think? :/

[edczxcvbnm]

I think platformers suck for the most part. There are just as many good 2D as there are 3D.

[Captain Maxx Power]

There's nothing wrong with doing a 2d scrolling game in 3d. Look at Duke Nukem Manhattan Project...k, not the best example. But the likes of Metroid are still very much alive and kicking, although they're mainly to be found on handhelds. Heck to me a platform game is only enhanced when it's brought into the 3d realm. It certainly allows for more complex environments, nifty action and general "check out all the jumpiness ma!" that makes platforming great.

[Del Murder]

I also like the 2D ones. Check out GBA, they still make some, like Castlevania, one of the best 2D game series ever.

I'm not thrilled with the evolution to 3D. Sure, Mario and Jak have some fun times, but I miss the big 2D Mario World type games.

[SomethingBig]

Viewtiful Joe's not much of a platformer, but it is a side-scroller, and an extremely fun one, at that. Check that out for the GC.

[Pure Strife]

With current techonoloy they could probably make an enormously-overgigantic-huge 2d Sonic game that would take three lifetimes to beat. Except they'd put save points everywhere and put different difficulty levels in. Might not sell well, but I'd buy it. Now the new Nintendo thingy is coming out I'll probably pick up a cheap GBA eventually just for all the 2d games.

[Maxico]

With current techonoloy they could probably make an enormously-overgigantic-huge 2d Sonic game that would take three lifetimes to beat. Except they'd put save points everywhere and put different difficulty levels in. Might not sell well, but I'd buy it. Now the new Nintendo thingy is coming out I'll probably pick up a cheap GBA eventually just for all the 2d games.

You want to design 3 liftimes worth of levels?

[Pure Strife]

Good point, they could have trouble finding a good balance between reasonable game length and people's expectations of how long a next-gen game should be to the point where they can't decided and it's the whole "which sweater should I wear for my date?" thing all over again. Very interesting point you made there.

[Eö Telrúnya]

I also like the 2D ones. Check out GBA, they still make some, like Castlevania, one of the best 2D game series ever.

I'm not thrilled with the evolution to 3D. Sure, Mario and Jak have some fun times, but I miss the big 2D Mario World type games.

I'll check out the Castlevania ones - thanks! I forgot about some good recent platform games like Pandemonium 1 & 2 on the PSOne (which were okay) and the Klonoa games for the Playstation 2.

[Lord Chainsaw]

I consider 2D platformers and 3D platformers to be entirely different animals. Platforming is one of a select number of genres where gameplay actually changes in transition from 2D to 3D, so it's as if they are two different genres altogether. It's harder to compare them when you think of them this way, but it is easier to contrast. It is also easier for me to say that I prefer 2D platformers to 3D ones, because it is just the same as saying I prefer RPGs to fighting games.

I'd about say the genre is dead too, which is a shame. Now that we're getting portables with 3D capabilites, the final front of the 2D game is close to its demise. Cherish these final days of the 2D platformers. By the next portable system we may see an almost complete disappearance of the 2D game.

[Xander]

I am missing them! I love those games especially the Sonic ones, although I sucked at most. =D I'm not too bothered about more being released though..most stores still sell retro games for stuff like the SNES and Megadrive, etc. And you can buy the consoles still too. So if 2d platforming is your thing, it's easy enough to buy a lot of the old games still. That's what I did, when I wanted to play more old games I just built up my Megadrive collection. n__n

[edczxcvbnm]

Castlevania is not a platformer. Just because you can jump doesn't make it a platformer. Mario is a platformer and so is sonic. Those are all about timed jumps where as in castlevania it isn't. There are a few instances of it but for the most part it is and action/adventure game.

There really are not that many actual platform games out there. Mario is still true to its roots others have not really followed.

2D<>Platformer.

[Del Murder]

Does that mean Ice Climber also isn't a platformer? :( I think that's the first and last time I'm ever going to use that word. It's ugly.

I just miss 2D games in general.

[Yamaneko]

The old Castlelvania games have more to do with timed jumps than any Mario or Sonic game. Platformers are fun, but repetitive. How many times can you revolutionize that genre anyway? I welcome the 3D world with open arms.

[edczxcvbnm]

But in Castlevania there isn't that grave of a penalty for missing a jump. Pit of spikes? I got life. Mario at least made you pay more than half the time for a http://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/lovesmile.gifhttp://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/lovesmile.gifhttp://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/lovesmile.gifhttp://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/lovesmile.gifed up jump. Sonic...well near the end it was one huge pay back.

You don't even need to jump that often in castlevania. I would say besides the clock tower there are very few jumps. Just a bunch of stairs to climb up. I don't really remember too much else. The newer ones are anything but a platformer.

[Yamaneko]

You'd die and start the level over if you missed a jump in Castlevania.

[Del Murder]

Those medusa heads sucked butt.

[Lord Chainsaw]

There are plenty of instances in Castlevania where you'll be doing platforming. I see your point though, because I agree that platforming is not the main focus of the game.

Platformers are associated with tricky jumps. The early Castlevanias do have platforming elements, but because the jump system is horrendous (I even think they did it on purpose in Super Castlevania IV), you really aren't going to go acrobatic in these games.

However, I can easily counter my own argument with Super Ghouls N Ghosts, which IS a platformer and has the same nasty jump system. So I really don't know where I stand on this issue.

I'll make one thing clear though:

These games where you can't control your jumps are SO http://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/lovesmile.gifhttp://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/lovesmile.gifhttp://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/lovesmile.gifhttp://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/lovesmile.gifING HARD.

[Calliope]

I miss 2D games. Joe is playing Zelda, which makes me want to play Alex Kidd, except as that is currently impossible I'll just force him to hook up the genesis so I can play Sonic 2 instead.