The Platformer: A Dying Genre

Super Mario Galaxy is coming out in less than a week, and I think it's safe to say that it will be a candidate for Game of the Year in many people's eyes. I was talking about Galaxy with some of my friends and they all apparently think it wouldn't have a thing on Halo. I was recently talking to the same group of friends about wanting to get a PS3. My reasoning behind this was that Metal Gear Solid 4 will be a PS3 exclusive, as will other games such as Killzone and Ratchet and Clank. My friends then proceeded to tell me that Ratchet and Clank was a terrible game series, so in turn, I said this:

"You all just hate platformers, don't you?" They all drew a blank. They had NO IDEA what a platformer was. Because of this, I have decided to list some popular platformers that have defined gaming.

MARIO- When he isn't playing tennis or racing against other people on go-karts, he is jumping on different surfaces to get to the end of a level (or, more recently, to collect stars). The very definition of a platformer. This was the first video game of the modern age in my opinion.

SONIC- Sega's way to combat Mario's success is one of the most memorable games, series, and characters to ever appear in a game. While incorporating speed into the mix, you jump from surface to surface, collecting rings, and freeing wild-life. That's a platformer.

CRASH BANDICOOT- This is really the "oddball" of all popular platformers, mainly due to the face that it's 3D and 2D at the same time. While many people didn't like this game, it was still fun and memorable. I popped in Crash Bandicoot 3 a year ago, and it's stlll a satisfying game. Nevertheless, it's a platformer.

RATCHET AND CLANK- While combat is more prominent in this game than other platformers, it is still a platformer at heart.

METROID- In all metroid games, there is heavy exploration involved, and in most cases, exploration and platforming go hand in hand, with the Exception of Elder Scrolls and Grand Theft Auto. This one is also very uniquesince, in the case of the Prime series, it is the first and only first person platformer to my knowledge.

CASTLEVANIA- While the main premise of these games is killing Dracula and his minions, there are many platforming elements. In fact, the most challenging things in the game are platformer-related. Remember the hallway of pitfalls while the medusa heads are coming at you? Also, with Symphony of the Night, you transform from form to form in order to do things you couldn't normally get to as your humanoid form, which is a very frequent platformer characteristic.

SPYRO- This one may have fallen in quality over the years, but the original game was an exciting, well designed game at its heart. It was also a platformer.

Did any of you happen to notice a pattern here? Nearly every popular system ever made has had a platformer as its flagship series, with the exception of Xbox, which is obviously Halo. Super Mario Brothers was the first step into modern gaming. That's evident today to the fact that while Pitfall and Space Invaders came beforehand, they died quickly, while Mario is coming out with yet a new game that's said to not only be a great game, but one of the best that the plumber has put out. If you take a look at the list, four of the most popular and purely greatest game franchises fall into the category. Those are Mario, Sonic, Metroid and Castlevania. In my personal taste, my two favorite games are Super Mario 64 and Symphony of the night. As you can see, I love platformers.

I post this because the identity of the platformer is being gilded by countless cartoon video games and movie games that use the style to make half-baked games that sell well because of the license. These things are driving people away from the truly great platformers that we have. In all truth, it wasn't Gears of War's third-personshooter style,Halo's first-person shooter style, Dynasty Warrior's beat-em-up style, or Final Fantasy's RPGs that ushered in the golden age of gaming that we have had since the late eightie's. It was an 8-bit plumber in a red cap named Mario that did it all, and guess what? That was a platformer.

These are some good thoughts. You definitely have a point.
I used to love platformers back in my teen days and I still do somehow (unfortunately they have become way too derivative nowadays). I always loved Mario Bros and I never liked Sonic. Crash Bandicoot was great. As for the first person platformer: there was an awesome game on the Playstation called Jumping Flash (1995) which was a real FPS/platformer hybrid.

By the way, if you like castelvania, you may want to play this freeware game: Cave Story. It's top quality stuff for platform games fans.

Um...Metroid is NOT a platformer. Castlevania isn't either. Especially not Metroid Prime. Just because these games have jumping around doesn't neccessarily classify them as a platformer. It's NOT a accurate description. Halo has jumping. Half-Life 2 has jumping, so does games like Tribes Vengeance and God of War. These may have platform elements but it's not a pure platforming game like Mario.

I would disagree.

While it is true games like Gears, CS, Half-Life have jumping, they are not extensive as the use in Metroid of Castlevania. Well I suppose the Xen levels do count a bit...

But anyway, the focus on those games is shooting and aiming. Quite the opposite in MP/Castle games.

Metroid has you jumping platform to platform, opening doors, using morphballs, swinging on lasers, etc. This is very much like a platformer. Put a first person camera on Mario.

Castlevania, well the 2D ones are also similar in this respect. You get items that let you access new areas. There is a lot to explore and such. However, the challenge of the game isn't really the level design, but I suppose, knowing where you have to go, like Metroid. Castle however dabs into RPG flavors with level ups, item collecting, etc.

Platformers? Well, in that you explore vast levels. However, castle does focus a lot more on the combat system with items, spells and such. Metroid... well, boss battles.

I don't see a problem with those labels.

What is a platformer? I don't mean that I don't know what Mario or Sonic are, but, what defines a game as a platformer?Epoq

A platformer is a game where the player's character must navigate something through a series of acrobatic feats, usually involving jumping. The main focus of the game is on these acrobatic feats, and collecting something is also a heavy aspect.

A couple of points here I'd like to comment on, just as matters of discussion:

As to the definition or categorization of games into genres, my personal feeling is that it is a matter of individual choice in definition. A few people felt that some of the games the OP included in his list were not platformers. If I had to categorize Castelvania and Metroid, platformer would not be my choice either. But I do not think anyone can define what genre a title slots into for individual users. You either ascribe to the philosophy that the popularly accepted mass opinion is what defines a game's genre, or you fall on the side of the fence that you define them for yourself. I am not saying either side of that fence is right or wrong. I am just saying which side I fall on. I personally lump FPS/3rdPS and what I term action titles into one category. So while Gears of War, Halo, and Max Payne do not have the exact same game mechanics, for me they are part of one genre. By the same token, I place Squad-based Tactical Shooters into this same genre, but consider them a sub-genre of that category. A game has to have specific elements for me to consider it an RPG, but those specs for me are just not the same as they are for everyone else. Add to this issue that there is so much genre element crossover that I find myself hard-pressed to categorize titles these days without using terms like"RTS w/RPG elements" or "RTS with Turn-based strategic map".

As to the conversation with your friends, I have to admit that I'm with them. Not in that specific game franchises are horrible because they are platformers, but simply because I have never had an affinity for this genre, and have not based my console system selection on the exclusive platform titles that that system will have. I can only really remember playing Crash Bandicoot: the Wrath of Cortex on the original Playstation, and maybe one of the Gex titles, and I have Daxter for the PSP now. Since the days of Super Mario, I have just never found these games fun for more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time. One design aspect that turns me off is that most (I know, not all) of them do not have a "save anywhere" feature, and you predominantly have to start over from some point you have run through already once you die a certian number of times or re-load the game. I know this is not an absolute, just seems to me to be a predominant characterstic.

Add to that the character types have just never won me over. My favorite characters have been Max Payne and others of similar ilk. I have never bought a Sonic title. It's just not me.

Still, I would be interested in seeing a platform title of maybe a little darker subject material. And I guess Tomb Raider could be considered to have platform elements.

Still, it is nice to hear someone passionate about a specific genre. I typically find myself spread across so many genres and titles that I have never been able to place myself firmly in one niche camp, although I have frequently thought, "Man, I wish I had more time to play just shooters, or sims". While I often say that gamers should just be gamers, and have often looked askance at gamers who are die-hard ensconced in one genre or another, asking myself whether they can really be called gamers or just "someone who plays games", I have since grown from that mindset.

In short, if you love platformers, more power to ya'. Keep the faith, and if that genre drives your system purchase, and if this mentality actually has an economic impact on the industry and hardware sales, it is definitely something I will have to look at further.

- Vr/Gull.>

The Platformer is not dying, it's just not dominating the industry like in the 80's/90's.

We still have a great platforming franchies like Mario, Ratchet, Jak, and Sly Cooper.

Tomb Raider is an action-adventure game, somewhat like Zelda.

What defines a game genre is the most recurrent action the player must perform. Halo is a shooter, not a platform game, although it involves some jumping, because the main action in the game is shooting. Same but opposite goes for Super Mario, where you can shoot fireballs, but it's like 10% of the time, while the rest is running and jumping and this makes it a platformer.

Castelvania switched genres and went back again: it started off as an action-plaftomer, focused more on fighting than jumping. Then it had two disappointing iterations on the N64, where it has been turned to n action-adventure game, with no platform elements whatsoever. Now, as far as I know, it's back to the classic 2D sidescrolling platform-adventure game.

It's not the camera perspective that defines a game genre (though on the new metroid games -Prime and on- I'd hesitate in calling them platformers).

Platform games are a victim of tecnology, at one point in time they higlighed the pinacle of gamign tecnonlogy. Now systems are more powerful games can closer replicate real world scenarios and these games are infinatley more popular.

You can still make silent movies but they are no longer as popular as when they were pretty much the only option, a poor analogy maybe but you see my point.

In regards to the original TC, I think people just don't know what the genre really is. But mention Mario, Sonic, Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, etc., any person who plays games casual or hardcore would know.

The platformer truly is my favourite genre, and a lot of the games you mention are what went towards making me a lifelong gamer. I have also been worried about the state of the platformer, but one thing gives me hope ...

Super Mario Galaxy!!

I just hope that this game is so hugely successful and enjoyable (I think this is safe to assume) that it brings about a new golden era for the platformer, the same way Mario64 did on the N64. We know there's also going to be a new Banjo for which I have great hopes. I hope this brings about a revival of sorts for the platformer.

Aside from the technology aspect I mentioned above, anothe rreason is as the average ageof the gamer continues to rise the interest in platform games will continue to fall.In comprison to movies platformers are like cartoons.

Aside from the technology aspect I mentioned above, anothe rreason is as the average ageof the gamer continues to rise the interest in platform games will continue to fall.In comprison to movies platformers are like cartoons.

JackSherbak

That's a better comparison than to silent movies. Platformers can be hugely advanced from a purely technical standpoint, much the same way cartoons can.

I guess if you mean platformers are like cartoons in that they can be colourful, imaginative and fun then that's fine by me (it's no wonder I prefer animation to normal films)

I guess if you mean platformers are like cartoons in that they can be colourful, imaginative and fun then that's fine by me (it's no wonder I prefer animation to normal films)

bugsonglass

Yea man! However, I think we're in the minority. I was just reading through the comments on the news report about the 360 outselling the PS3 in Japan. After weeding through all the fanboy comments, it seemed that the one thing people were agreeing on was how weird it was that those sales were driven by Ace Combat 6, not Halo.

I think a lot of people game for reasons other than to play a fun game. Now, it seems a lot of peopleplay "mature" games because they are rated so. And that's where platforming fails. It seems that most platformers have a colorful pallette, fun and imaginative creatures, and no blood, gore, and foul language. I'm sure that alone scares a lot of these players away.

The Xbox had Psychonauts, Conkur Live & Reloaded, Blinx, and well crap that might be it :?HiResDes

So basically the Xbox has Psychonauts. :)

While I hesitate to call Metroid Prime a platformer, I definitely think the 2D Metroid and Castlevania games fit the genre.

Hopefully Super Mario Galaxy will help bring interest back to the genre.

[QUOTE="bugsonglass"]

I guess if you mean platformers are like cartoons in that they can be colourful, imaginative and fun then that's fine by me (it's no wonder I prefer animation to normal films)

Grieverr

Yea man! However, I think we're in the minority. I was just reading through the comments on the news report about the 360 outselling the PS3 in Japan. After weeding through all the fanboy comments, it seemed that the one thing people were agreeing on was how weird it was that those sales were driven by Ace Combat 6, not Halo.

I think a lot of people game for reasons other than to play a fun game. Now, it seems a lot of peopleplay "mature" games because they are rated so. And that's where platforming fails. It seems that most platformers have a colorful pallette, fun and imaginative creatures, and no blood, gore, and foul language. I'm sure that alone scares a lot of these players away.

I agree, well of a fasion I think every gamers intention,no matter what genre, is to play a fun game, however what a person deems fun is a completely differnt story. I deem fun being shooting lots of human or alien type creatures with a vast array of weaponry others find thought provoking point and click adventures the way to go, many think fun is comanding a minature army into many different battle scenarios, I could go on, but the basic fact is when platformers were at the pinacle of gaming it was because the other genres did not exists or existed in a format that was only accesable toa small minority.

Um...Metroid is NOT a platformer. Castlevania isn't either. Especially not Metroid Prime. Just because these games have jumping around doesn't neccessarily classify them as a platformer. It's NOT a accurate description. Halo has jumping. Half-Life 2 has jumping, so does games like Tribes Vengeance and God of War. These may have platform elements but it's not a pure platforming game like Mario.

ASK_Story

back in the day it was an action platformer...since you had to jump from platform to platform...just as contra was and mega man. not all platformers had a cute or kiddy character

I have also been worried about this. It think it's because most gamers these day like "mature" games like gta, gears of war, god of war etc. I don't see how someone would make a "mature" platformer. The only "mature" platformer i can think about is Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. But I didn't like it. I preferred the way the other prince of persias were. Ubi made it the wrong way. They tried to make it "mature" by filling the game with women with barely anything on, blood, gore, violence and swearing. My point is that it's a genre that is hard to make into the type of game that the majority of the current gamers will like.TeZhI

Sad thing is it's only like this in America really(Europe maybe too).

American gamers are too focused on realism, gore, etc. instead of games with great stories and fantasy worlds like in Japan. Look at most American games, they try too hard to be realistic, focus on mindless killing/shooting, etc. Games like Jak and Ratchet are exceptions though. You rarely get an American made game that has a good story.

I really wish there were more new platformers coming out these days.:( Sure,there are a handful of good,if not,great platformers (Super Mario Galaxy being the most recent one out),but not as many as there were in the "old days".Well,at least I can tap into some platforming joy with the Virtual Console...VGobbsesser

The DS also has lots of platformers doesn't it? New SMB, Yoshi's DS, Super Princess Peach etc. So there's hope for the genre in the DS I guess.

It's not the fact that my friends didn't like platformers. They don't but that wasn't my biggest problem. What I was concerned about was that they had no idea what a platformer was. It's the core video game genre, and so called "gamers" didn't know what it was.

Another comment made by my friends was "It's only good if you have the opportunity to blow someones head off." I really didn't know what to think of that. Being a gamer whose favorite game series is Zelda and favorite game is Super Mario 64, I couldn't comprehend what they meant. Games as a whole are becoming increasingly violent, which happens to suit the needs of the first gamers, who had NES's as kids. But since whenwere cartoony or non-violent games kiddish or not fun? I can give a good example of this that's outside the realm of game. I'm 16, but I still have agood time when I watch Monsters Inc. or Toy Story. There are tons of people in their thirties that can still watch Lion King and have a good time. However, one of my all-time favorite movies was Silence of the Lambs. A little diversity never hurt, but single-minded gamers such as my friends are trying to kill that diversity by denouncing all things not blood-coated.

It's very depressing to me, since the only truly memorable games that I've played aren't violent, other than the first Halo, Perfect Dark and the Metal Gear Solid games. We all say things like "the SNES was my favorite system. It had some of my favorie games on it." Those same people are completely denouncing almost all games that came out for it. In reality, the videogaming world can't survive without these "platformers." What would video games be without Castlevania, or Mario? They would be nonexistent.

[QUOTE="VGobbsesser"]I really wish there were more new platformers coming out these days.:( Sure,there are a handful of good,if not,great platformers (Super Mario Galaxy being the most recent one out),but not as many as there were in the "old days".Well,at least I can tap into some platforming joy with the Virtual Console...TeZhI

The DS also has lots of platformers doesn't it? New SMB, Yoshi's DS, Super Princess Peach etc. So there's hope for the genre in the DS I guess.

Not really, going by Gamerankings there are less then a dozen platformers for the system.

back in the day it was an action platformer...since you had to jump from platform to platform...just as contra was and mega man. not all platformers had a cute or kiddy character

jsmoke03

I always thought they were called side-scrollers.

Well, most 2D platformers are also side-scrollers. And there was indeed platforming in Contra and Mega Man, whether or not you want to cIassify them as "platformers".