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The platformer (or platform game)

Etymology

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The term "platformer" or "platform game"[1] was only used as a video game genre after the release of early titles like Donkey Kong (1981).[2] For a time, several generic descriptors were used such as "climbing games", "jumping games", "level games" and "ladder games" or simply "Kong-style games."[3]

The name platformer derives from the innumerable amount of platforms players must land upon and depart during gameplay.[4]

Characteristics

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Game genres are commonly conceptualized and occasionally named after, specific sets of control schemas, mechanics, player goals, and narrative structures.[5] Academics involved in game studies such as Juan J. Vargas-Igelsias and author Peter McDonald found platformers to be a form of action game.[6] [7] Vargas-Igelsias specifically described these types of games as to a competitive goal, with rigid gameplay that emphasizes a players motor skills through simple and one-way oriented, irreversible actions.[8] Vargas-Igelsias added that despite research in game studies, various forms of a minimum consensus impossible, as previous studies have resorted to "a certain randomness" in the selection of variables in their attempt to reach stable definitions.[9]

In his book The Medium of the Video Game (2001), Mark J. Wolf found the platform game required movement through a series of levels by jumping, running, climbing or other means of locomotion.[10] Similarly, McDonald said that players can often do many actions in platform games, ranging from running, ducking, shooting, punching, grappling, while highlighting that "nothing captures the spirt of platformers like jumping."[11] Sebastiano Cossu in his book on game development, added that the action of jumping in particular would become so connected with the genre, that jumping on platforms is sometimes called "platforming" in video games.[12] While an overview in Retro Gamer stated that some games described as platformers do not feature jumping such as Space Panic (1980) or Bionic Commando (1988) or replaced jumping with other effects like gravity manipulation in VVVVV (2010), despite it being a characteristic of the genre.[13] [14] Peter McDonald, author of Run and Jump: The Meaning of the 2D Platformer (2024) commented that games that also did not feature jumping like BurgerTime (1982) resembled the maze game Pac-Man (1980) where a player moves on a horizonal and vertical access to avoid enemies.[15] He said that as the game still features the advantage of being "higher up" than the enemies as they can sabotage them by actions related to a platform, that this small difference in 2D games made it a platformer.[15] McDonald wrote that platforms allowed game designers what he described as the other element beyond jumping that lent the genre "much of it's character."[16] Platforms in these games provide boundaries or open paths to control traversal. They all offer some sort of support for the player by staying stationary or moving back and forth, while others may attempt to attack a player's avatar.[17]

McDonald said the arrival of 3D games challenges definitions emphasizing visual elements or gameplay mechanics as suggesting a profile point of view or side-scrolling as games like Banjo-Kazooie (1998) "actively work to dissolve the 2D platformer and put a new definition in its place."[18] McDonald continued that defining platformers to be the only games that had jumping mechanics was problematic, as other game genres often feature jumping in 3D spaces such as first-person shooters or action-adventure games.[18] McDonald proposed that for platformers, the actions related to jumping allocated meaning that rippled across the genre since its inception.[19] [20] He said that the the upward motion of jumping signifies energy, power, escape from the law, rebellion, and freedom as surmounting obstacles by rising over them is presented as valorous in platformers.[21] Jumping allowed unique forms of exploration and progress, such access to new or unseen areas or revealing an invisible block.[20] Wolf added that platformers games often involve players to have their character conflict with, or navigate around computer-controlled characters.[10] McDonald added that enemies in these games can sometimes hover or patrol the air or cannot jump as either challenge to the players unique control of jumping or gravity or highlight the player's own freedom respectively.[21] The enemies in these games often either try to fly, run or swim towards the player in a fixed pattern to slam into them or shoot projectiles to damage the player's character.[22] On defeating an enemy in a platform game, the player is often rewarded with health, an in-game currency, experience points, or collectables but most commonly the exchange between the player and enemy is to obtain spatial progress towards a goal.[23] In contrast to other genres, collectables in platformers can often have little benefit or reward in terms of gameplay. This ranges from having to collect 100 coins in Super Mario Bros. (1985) to gain an extra life, or the surfaces layered with dirt in Dustforce (2012).[24] Other times, collectables such as the bananas in Donkey Kong Country (1994) are placed to guide a player to commit to jumping in or moving in certain actions such as rushing forward without fear of enemies.[25]

McDonald found that falling after an initial ascent signified the player vulnerability to enemies in platformers, as these games often feature bottomless pits or similar design choices where the penalty of falling is a character death.[26] [27] The falling in the games also can emphasize a player's craftiness. Such as Mario jumping over a Koopa Troopa being easier than jumping on it, but with the difficulty comes a reward as it could send a shell sliding across the platform.[28] Other examples of this are seen in manipulating a descent even without jumping are present in the "Veni Vidi Vici" sequence in VVVVV (2010) or Quick Man's stage in Mega Man 2 (1988).[28] Video game journalist Jeremy Parish wrote similarly about H.E.R.O. (1984), a platformer that did not feature jumping, but an ascent where the player had to carefully manipulate their actions and movement during a descent.[29]

  • Platform games also often feature some character, object or reward for an ending to provide narrative motivation.[10]
  • Wolf continued that the games often involved avoiding dropped or falling objects. Platform games also often feature some character, object or reward for an ending to provide narrative motivation.[10]

History

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Early 1980s

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Platformer games emerged in the early 1980s.[30] Early platformers were primarily about climbing ladders and navigating through small levels the size of a single screen.[12] Chris Crawford described Space Panic (1980) as "the grandaddy of all platform games."[31] The game took the front view of a game field consisting of several tiers connected by ladders. The player's character is pursued by enemies, which can be evaded by moving up and down ladders and digging holes.[31] Some games drew from this style of gameplay such as Crazy Climber (1980) and Donkey Kong (1981), with the latter game including the ability for the character to jump over gaps in platforms and obstacles.[32] [33] Video game journalist Jeremy Parish wrote that while Donkey Kong may not have been gaming's first example of a platformer, "it was the first to matter."[29] Mia Consalvo echoed this, saying that the game created the conditions for other developers to experiment and iterate upon, building a genre from a successful game with particular mechanics and rules.[34] Other arcade games would expand on Donkey Kong's jumping mechanics in their gameplay, such as Jump Bug (1981) which had the player moving with an unstoppable forward momentum which added side-scrolling to platformer gameplay.[35] Joust (1982) added the ability of jumping as a tool of multiplayer combat, while Jungle Hunt (1982) would feature bottomless pits.[35]

Home video games took the jumping mechanics in other directions, with what McDonald described as a slower pace and a game that unfolded over dozens of screens.[36] [37] Richard Stanton, author of A Brief History of Video Games (2015) said Miner 2049er (1982) contributed to the popularity of platform games on early personal computers (PCs) like the ZX Spectrum.[38] It influenced early popular titles such as Matthew Smith's Manic Miner (1983), one of the first major British hit computer games.[39] [37] Harvey Kong Tin of Page 6 magazine commented on the rise of popularity of these game mechanics, writing in 1983 that "jumping has become part of computer games" with titles as varied as The Pharaoh's Curse (1983), Shamus: Case II (1983) and Jumpman (1983) and Miner2049er.[40] Other games, such as Pitfall! (1982), Loderunner (1983), Jet Set Willy (1984) and Pac-Land (1984) had platform games become about the pleasure derived from the exploration of 2D space and moving towards a narrative experience that "transcends the moment-to-moment drama of the arcades."[35] The latter game, was the first platformer to incorporate scrolling backgrounds in place of single screen transitions. Parish compared the game to Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. (1985), saying that "Pac-Land had to codify the ideas that Nintendo would perfect."[29]

Parish expanded on this, saying that Pitfall! allowed that action games could take place in settings rather than in isolated scenarios and Pitfall II: Lost Caverns (1984) would give players even larger non-linear areas to explore, which in the style of similar styled platformers to come such as Metroid (1986), dropping into a pit or falling from a height did not mean the player lost health, but to other areas of the in-game map.[29] Smith's Jet Set Willy had what Parish described as "setting the template" for Microcomputer-based platformers for years with its set of non-linear platformers that were set in a somewhat logically arranged architecture. He found these ideas were shown in other later titles like Montezuma's Revenge (1984), Metroid and the Castlevania series.[29]

1985-1997

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On July 21, 1983, Nintendo released their first cartridge-based video game console in Japan, the Family Computer or Famicom for short.[41] The Family Computer was designed specifically to have the ability to play Donkey Kong.[42] The author of the book I Am Error: The Nintendo Family Computer (2015) said that while the Family Computer was engineered to be able to play Donkey Kong, it was designed to play the game Super Mario Bros. (1985), which would push the specs of the console to their technological and creative limits.[43]

Super Mario Bros. was released in Japan on September 13, 1985 and became Nintendo's breakout hit on video game consoles, spawning one of a video game franchise getting the Japanese company accepted into the American marketplace with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).[44] [45] Nathan Altice said that Super Mario Bros. made the platformer genre as "the NES genre par excellence" which spawned "a chain of look- and play-alikes that continue even today."[44] While other genres would grow to be popular in Japan, such as many similar adventure games that followed the release of The Portopia Serial Murder Case on the Family Computer in 1985, the game was never released in the United States and role-playing video games (RPGs) such as Dragon Quest were not nearly as financially successful as they were in Japan on their belated release.[46] [47] Altice said that it marked "sophisticated platformers-not Japanese RPGs-marked the NES's coming of age."[47]

McDonald wrote that Super Mario Bros. had the game enter applied innovations made from earlier platformers such as scrolling backgrounds, enemies that respond to the player, power-ups and an unfolding story, the said it was the first to "establish connection among these different elements", which in turn was the root of a new sense of platforming as a genre.[48]

The NES had the platformer enter what McDonald called "a golden age of platforming games". Mascot characters from the platform games would come to define the identity of several consoles such as Mario for the NES, Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Nintendo 64 while Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Genesis, Bonk on the TurboGrafx-16 and to a lesser extent, Crash Bandicoot on the PlayStation.[48] The Super Mario and Sonic titles in what Retro Gamer magazine described as a "staggering number" of platformers which often featuring cartoon anthropomorphic animal characters. These games borrowed from the visual style and gameplay of both series, with the publication saying "some were good (Rocket Knight Adventures , and Jazz Jackrabbit )" while a large portion were deemed either "uninspired" or "dreadful".[49]

1997-2008

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Early 3D platformers

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Prior to the release of consoles like the Nintendo 64 and the PlayStation in the mid-1990s there were early attempts at adapting the platformer game into 3D. Mathias Fuchs in his book Phantasmal Spaces: Archetypical Venues in Computer Games described Alpha Waves (1990) as an early attempt bringing the 2D platformer into a 3D-world with interactions like moving and bouncing off platforms.[50] In their book Vintage Games (2009), authors Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton said that similar "jumping-centric" 3D platformer games be released with similar gameplay such as Jumping Flash! (1995) and Montezuma's Return (1998).[51] Kyle Hilliard of Game Informer wrote that while Alpha Waves was a pioneer in 3D platform games, Nintendo's Super Mario 64 (1996) was the innovator of the genre.[52] Jacob Gaboury said while some genres lend themselves to a 3D perspective such as flight simulators, Super Mario 64 (1996) was the first complex 3D platformer to introduce visual techniques directly into the game's diegesis. This was through a player controlled camera. In the game, its principal character is Mario, while the camera is the first to be introduced through Lakitu, a character who floats on a clouding holding a fishing rod where the camera is suspended. The camera can be controlled by the player at will.[53]

Retro Gamer found that towards the end of the 1990s, some of the contemporary PlayStation and the Sega Saturn no longer had platformers as their highest selling games.[54] Gregg Mayles, a designer on Banjo Kazooie said that 3D platformers introduced new difficulties into development, this including judging height and distance accuracy which he described as "a bit like walking around in the real world with one eye closed" as well as working out what people can and can't see of the environment which the his team highlight different areas and environments for different reasons.[54]

Sales decline and early independents

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Daniel Boutros of Game Developer wrote that while platformers had a 15% share of the video game market in 1998, and considerably more in the 16-bit era, by 2002 they had dropped to 2%.[55] He continued that while companies like Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games had given the PlayStation 2 well produced platform games as well as continuing new Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog games on Nintendo's Gamecube, they all have "failed to match the astronomical sales success enjoyed by their predecessors."[55] Boutrous continued that by 2006, 3D platformers still had largely imperfect camera system when the player changes direction quickly or jumped from room corners.[55]

McDonald responded that 2D platformers vanished after their popularity in 1998 was a misnomer, as they were many released for handheld game devices such as the Game Boy Advance.[56] The public available of video game emulation by 1997 allowed for audiences to explore an archive of games in an accessible and free format while editing the ROMs of these games allowed enthusiasts to alter them. The released of Macromedia Flash, a popular tool for early browser games would allow developers to create their vector graphics in to 2D movement. Following the release of the game Alien Hominid (2002), numerous independent 2D platformers were released which McDonald described as ranging from "crass, half-baked, and experimental." These games included Cave Story (2004), La-Mulana (2006), Within a Deep Forest (2006) and Knytt (2006).[57]

Genres

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Several new genres were devised during following the release of Super Mario Bros. (1985).[48] Retro Gamer suggested that various hybrid genres were due to the platformer genre's growth in popularity during the early 90s.[58]

The run and gun with games like Contra (1987) and Metal Slug (1996).[48] Shooting gameplay mechanics are added to these games that interact in novel ways with the avatar's vertical position and the timing of their jumps.[48]

The metroidvania, a portmanteau of two archetypal video games: Super Metroid (1994) and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997).[59] [60] The term only began to see popular use by video game journalists such as Jeremy Parish of 1up.com in the early 21st century.[59] The genre refers to two-dimensional platformer games that map out sprawling mazes in which players can progressively discover new abilities and evolve their player character over time.[48] [61]

Puzzle platformers would have the movement of platforming games placed into situations that require deliberation and planning. This was seen in games such as Solomon's Key (1986) and The Lost Vikings (1993).[48]

Cinematic platformer

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The cinematic platformer originated in the late 1980s with Prince of Persia (1989) being the earliest example of the form.[62] Prince of Persia had lifelike animation which Alan Wen of Wireframe magazine said made the various dangerous surrounding the player's character feel more immediate. Lorne Lanning, the creator of Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (1997), which was influenced of Prince of Persia, said that the animation "made you feel like the guy was more alive. e reaction that the whole room had when you fell onto the spikes - there was a real punch that was different than when you failed at other games."[62]

Alan Wen said defining the genre was "somewhat tricky" suggesting that it may be better to describe as 2D platformer with a focus on storytelling. The cinematic platformer originated in the late 1980s with Prince of Persia (1989) being the earliest example of the form.[62] Prince of Persia had lifelike animation which Alan Wen of Wireframe magazine said made the various dangerous surrounding the player's character feel more immediate. Lorne Lanning, the creator of Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (1997), which was influenced of Prince of Persia, said that the animation "made you feel like the guy was more alive. e reaction that the whole room had when you fell onto the spikes - there was a real punch that was different than when you failed at other games."[62] Other early games such as Another World (1991), Flashback (1992), and Heart of Darkness (1998).[63]

Discussing the game The Last Night in 2016, an anonymous editor described the cinematic platformer as being "missing from the gaming landscape for quite some time."[64] Wen wrote in 2020 that contemporary cinematic platformers placed a greater emphasis on the player's vunerability in hostile and unforgiving enviornments.[62] This is seen in titles like Inside (2016) Black the Fall (2017), and Little Nightmares (2017).[65] Wen believed that Oddworld had originally brought these themes of oppression into the sub-genre.[65]

Legacy

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By 2022, the 2D side-scrolling platformer has been perennially popular form of gameplay since the debut of Super Mario Bros. (1985).[66]

References

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Footnotes

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  1. ↑ Altice 2015, p. 118.
  2. ↑ Kohler 2005, p. 38.
  3. ↑ Altice 2015, p. 57.
  4. ↑ Goetz 2023, p. 29.
  5. ↑ Camingue, Carstendottir & Melcer 2021, p. 2.
  6. ↑ McDonald 2024, p. 12.
  7. ↑ Vargas-Igelsias 2020, p. 172.
  8. ↑ Vargas-Igelsias 2020, p. 166.
  9. ↑ Vargas-Igelsias 2020, p. 159.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Wolf 2001, p. 128.
  11. ↑ McDonald 2024, p. 21.
  12. 1 2 Cossu 2024, p. 244.
  13. ↑ Jones 2013, pp. 68–69.
  14. ↑ Jones 2013, p. 75.
  15. 1 2 McDonald 2024, pp. 54–55.
  16. ↑ McDonald 2024, p. 52.
  17. ↑ McDonald 2024, pp. 51–52.
  18. 1 2 McDonald 2024, p. 14.
  19. ↑ McDonald 2024, p. 38.
  20. 1 2 McDonald 2024, p. 42.
  21. 1 2 McDonald 2024, p. 39.
  22. ↑ McDonald 2024, p. 87-88.
  23. ↑ McDonald 2024, p. 94.
  24. ↑ McDonald 2024, pp. 111–112.
  25. ↑ McDonald 2024, p. 112.
  26. ↑ McDonald 2024, pp. 39–25.
  27. ↑ McDonald 2024, pp. 39–40.
  28. 1 2 McDonald 2024, p. 41.
  29. 1 2 3 4 5 Parish 2014.
  30. ↑ Fuchs 2020, p. 69.
  31. 1 2 Crawford 2003, p. 19.
  32. ↑ Crawford 2003, p. 94.
  33. ↑ Jones 2013, p. 68.
  34. ↑ Consalvo 2015, p. 192.
  35. 1 2 3 McDonald 2024, p. 6.
  36. ↑ Jones 2013, p. 6.
  37. 1 2 Jones 2013, p. 69.
  38. ↑ Stanton 2015, p. 73.
  39. ↑ Švelch 2022, p. 11.
  40. ↑ Tin 1983, pp. 16–17.
  41. ↑ Altice 2015, p. 12.
  42. ↑ Altice 2015, p. 79.
  43. ↑ Altice 2015, p. 4.
  44. 1 2 Altice 2015, p. 160.
  45. ↑ Altice 2015, p. 117.
  46. ↑ Altice 2015, p. 208.
  47. 1 2 Altice 2015, p. 232.
  48. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 McDonald 2024, p. 7.
  49. ↑ Jones 2013, p. 70.
  50. ↑ Fuchs 2020, p. 70.
  51. ↑ Loguidice & Barton 2009, p. 6.
  52. ↑ Hilliard 2015, p. 17.
  53. ↑ Gaboury 2016, p. 363.
  54. 1 2 Jones 2013, p. 74.
  55. 1 2 3 Boutros 2006.
  56. ↑ McDonald 2024, p. 8.
  57. ↑ McDonald 2024, p. 9.
  58. ↑ Jones 2013, pp. 70–71.
  59. 1 2 GamesTM 2011, pp. 148–149.
  60. ↑ Andiloro 2023, p. 566.
  61. ↑ GamesTM 2011, p. 148.
  62. 1 2 3 4 5 Wen 2020, p. 29.
  63. ↑ Wen 2020, p. 29-30.
  64. ↑ Play 2016, p. 10.
  65. 1 2 Wen 2020, p. 30.
  66. ↑ Jaćević 2022.

Sources

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  • Andiloro, Andrea (July 2023). "Understanding Genre as Atmospheric Assemblage: The Case of Videogames". Television & New Media . 24 (5).
  • Gaboury, Jacob (2016). "Perspective". In Lowood, Henry; Guins, Raiford (eds.). Debugging Game History: A Critical Lexicon. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. ISBN 9780262034197. LCCN 2015039706.
  • Švelch, Jaroslav (2022). "Manic Miners of the World, Unite!". In Lovejoy, Alice; Pajala, Mari (eds.). Remapping Cold War Media: Institutions, Infrastructures, Translations. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253062208.
  • Tin, Harvey Kong (September–October 1983). "Arcade Action . . . Miner 2049er". Page 6 . No.5. ABACUS. ISSN 0952-4967.
  • Walker, Nick (November 1985). "Atari Collection". Computer Gamer. No.8. United Kingdom: Argus Press.

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