Where have all the Platform Games gone?

[Chips]

I was walking past a gaming store the other day and thought I might have a quick look to see if there was anything interesting. I own a 360 myself so I headed off to that section to see what was there.

I stood there vaguely looking over titles and was finding myself extremely uninterested in most of the games on for sale. It suddenly dawned on me why I wasn't interested in these games. I was craving a platform game. Through all the first person shooters, sports games and general violent ones I couldn't find anything. Closest I could get was a bunch of D grade Disney games based of recent popular movies.

Which got me thinking of the days I used to crack out games like Jack and Daxter or Banjo Kazooie and spend countless hours running, jumping collecting and kicking some ass while enjoying comical story lines and equally comical characters.

When I first heard of the new Banjo Kazooie game I nearly flipped out. But was dissapointed with the almost complete lack of platforming that I loved from the first two.

My main question is, do you think these kind of games are a dying breed? Being dropped for violent action game or sport simulation?

I understand that there are other consoles that probbably could have an abundant of platforming games (ie Nintendo), but in my area I just couldn't find anything that took me back to those days. To be exact I was looking for a game much like Jack and Daxter with the adventure style platforming with tongue in cheek humour.

Anyone else feel the same? If you guys do know of many please post them here so I can try and suss out some good ones. I probably didn't make much sense there, but I tried to explain it best I could.

[SchwarzerRitter]

What are you talking about? Tomb Raider came out on your 360. You need a lot of humor to play that game untill the end.
And those games are not dying, they just took shelter on the Wii.

[Tyler_Legrand]

Did you play Braid

[Dauntasa]

What are you talking about? Tomb Raider came out on your 360. You need a lot of humor to play that game untill the end.
And those games are not dying, they just took shelter on the Wii.

Tomb Raider isn't a platformer, it's just shit. And, Chips, the Xbox 360 is not a platformer friendly console. It's for casual gamers who aren't children or housewives. You want platformers, go for the Wii. And, by the way, Have you played Jak 2 and 3? You mentioned the first one like it didn't have any sequels.

[BreakTheWalls]

True, platformers haven't been as abundant as they used to be, but I see it as the industry moving with the times. Back in the 80's and 90's, platformers were trailblazed by Mario and Sonic, who became gaming icons and drived their respective companies and frontlined their consoles to make a lot of money. The genre was the tour de force for the previous generations.

Nowadays a 'mascot' to drive hardware and software sales isn't as vital as it once was anymore, mainly because the game industry has grown a lot since then. More mature games like GTA and Call of Duty now flourish where platformers nowadays are deemed 'too kiddy' and lost with the times. Hence why Rare felt the need to make Nuts and Bolts a Lego vehicle ripoff. They felt that the whole platforming shtick has been done to death. Hence why they made Conker all adult, to try something new.

Traditional platformers now reside in shitty movie tie-ins and franchises like Spyro and Crash beaten like a dead horse. Does anyone really want to collect a million pointless items anymore in 2009? Or timing a hundred jumps in one go?

That's why Ratchet and Clank has added a fuckload of weapons to give it an action edge (also done in Jak and Daxter, albeit not as executed as well), Prince of Persia with action and adventure sequences with story and Braid with time manipulation. The traditional platformer has done all that can be done with no room to evolve, which is why new gameplay elements need to be brought in.

Hi, I'm BreakTheWalls and I'm a JonC

[I_Smell]

What about Prince of Persia? I'd class Bionic Commando Rearmed as a platformer/shooter aswell but that's probably just me.

What are you supposed to do with a platformer in 2009? Nobody plays them anymore because the standard no-thirlls platformer's been done to death. Mario Galaxy, Banjo Kazooie, Mirror's Edge, LittleBigPlanet and Braid all do something totally different than old-school platformers because if all they were was running and jumping they'd be a bit shit.

Play Kung Fu Panda on the 360 and see how much fun it is.

[BreakTheWalls]

What about Prince of Persia?

Prince of Persia has puzzle and fighting elements in it as well. It would mostly count as an action adventure either way, with platform elements.

[I_Smell]

I haven't played it, but I'd say the first one was a platformer.

[Trashcat]

The new Prince of Persia is a platformer. It has very little combat.

[BreakTheWalls]

Undoubtedly the new one is, especially since it has a thousand (and one) Light Seeds to collect, but I just lumped the whole series together as action adventure after Warrior Within and Two Thrones decided to focus more on combat.

[Chips]

Tomb Raider isn't a platformer, it just shit. And, Chips, the Xbox 360 is not a platformer friendly console. It's for casual gamers who aren't children or housewives. You want platformers, go for the Wii. And, by the way, Have you played Jak 2 and 3? You mentioned the first one like it didn't have any sequels.

Yeah I guess your right. And yeah I played the shit out of the whole Jak and Daxter series, loved it but that was on the Playstation 2. I was trying to find an equivalent of that sort of gaming on the 360 but again I guess you're right. Those type of games are most likely on the Wii.

Did you play Braid

Actually no I haven't, which I probably should go do. It looks pretty fun.

Well, I guess some of you have made a point about how they've been done to death or that there's no 'need' for them anymore. I guess I've just gotten sick of all these shooters and stuff. Maybe I do need to look into getting a Wii.

Oh and yeah I played the new Prince of Persia and thought it was great.

[pikaknight79]

Bleh, I'm sick of "people are playing too much violent video games".If that was true I wouldn't be having as much fun gadding about in little big planet as I do curb stomping some fool on gears 2.

[bono]

Platformers were loads of fun, but I think by todays standards they cant offer enough variety. In the end it is our own fault, we are always demanding something extra and the people making the games are always trying to go the extra mile and do something that hasnt been done before. Often they fail miserably but often they dont. I played Ratchet and Klank on PS3 and have to admit it was good, but at the end of the day you collect shit and shoot shit. It's a no-brainer. Now my PS3 blew up and I am reduced to playing those old nostalgic platformers like Sonic and Jak and Dexter and the like and to be honest, they are fun for a while but it isnt long before it wears off and you find yourself putting the next game in.

[Chips]

Bleh, I'm sick of "people are playing too much violent video games".If that was true I wouldn't be having as much fun gadding about in little big planet as I do curb stomping some fool on gears 2.

That wasn't my point at all :indiff:

EDIT:

I actually found something that might be what I was looking for. Even if it's short.

R54hr8RzsvA

[NitRoDrivEn]

A game doesn't have to be 2D or 2.5D to be a platformer.

[Nurjan]

Try Mirror's Edge.

[Dauntasa]

A game doesn't have to be 2D or 2.5D to be a platformer.

Who said that it did?

[NitRoDrivEn]

Who said that it did?

Not saying anyone did. I'm just saying that if we loosen up our definition of the genre a bit, we'll see that they aren't in short supply.

[Stickperson]

All I want to do now is play Jak And Daxter. When I was little, I couldn't beat the last level jumping up that huge pillar thing after the volcano ride. IT WAS TOO DAMN HARD FOR MY 6 YEAR OLD MIND.

The Xbox 360 has a bunch of platformers on the arcade and community games. Then again you also need an account and money chips to buy that shit, so I just end up playing a bunch of demos which sates my hunger pretty well.

[Dauntasa]

Not saying anyone did. I'm just saying that if we loosen up our definition of the genre a bit, we'll see that they aren't in short supply.

It doesn't look like anyone in this thread would have a problem with that, seeing as most of us have mentioned the Jak and Daxter series, which are 3D platformers. Although Jak 2 and 3 were actually more like Shooter/Racing/GTA Clone/Skateboarding games with very strong Platforming cores.

[NitRoDrivEn]

It doesn't look like anyone in this thread would have a problem with that, seeing as most of us have mentioned the Jak and Daxter series, which are 3D platformers. Although Jak 2 and 3 were actually more like Shooter/Racing/GTA Clone/Skateboarding games with very strong Platforming cores.

Yes, and so are the Metroid Prime games, the Tomb Raider games, the Ratchet & Clank games, Uncharted, Mirror's Edge, Little Big Planet, etc. All are platformers at heart with some extra icing on the top.

[I_Smell]

I said that. Except I wouldn't really call Ratchet and Clank a platformer, it's mostly shooting and stuff.

Jak and Daxter was the first game I had for the PS2. I actually had it a week or so before I had the PS2. For a long time I didn't have a memory card, so I'd have to try n play through it all in one day, and I tried several times. I am fucking ace at that game now.
I was thinking about it a while ago, and looking back it had a really good art style.

[Chips]

Yeah I definitely did a really bad job at wording this thread.

I wasn't trying to to shun the platform hybrids that you guys have mentioned. Most of my favourite platformers are hybrids. Smell reminded me of one of the reasons why Jak and Daxter stood out for me. The art style and animation was great. The storyline was based around pretty generic stuff but the way the characters personalities and actions gave so much shape to such a story was what really hooked me. It was all slapstick goofy comedy with outrageous characters. I just liked how it was put together and saw similar qualities in most of my other favourite platformers. I miss that quality.

It's like how Team Fortress 2 came around and everyone loved how it looked and how the characters were so funny and memorable. It was refreshing. I just can't get that same buzz from all the photo-realistic shooters and such as I did with the games I mentioned.

I've probably delved into something completely different than what the original post seemed to set out to do but I hope it helps get what I'm trying to say across.

[I_Smell]

God- If you don't like realistic looking shooters then stop playin em and play something else. It's not hard to find a game that's not Call of Duty.

[Dauntasa]

I wasn't trying to to shun the platform hybrids that you guys have mentioned. Most of my favourite platformers are hybrids. Smell reminded me of one of the reasons why Jak and Daxter stood out for me. The art style and animation was great. The storyline was based around pretty generic stuff but the way the characters personalities and actions gave so much shape to such a story was what really hooked me. It was all slapstick goofy comedy with outrageous characters. I just liked how it was put together and saw similar qualities in most of my other favourite platformers. I miss that quality.


Of course, that's really only the first Jak and Daxter. The second and third were very different in the overall theme. I prefered them over the first one, the story and gameplay were better, but there's a lot of mood whiplash if you start the second one right after finishing the first one. Although they were still just as funny, it was a different kind of funny.

[Chips]

God- If you don't like realistic looking shooters then stop playin em and play something else. It's not hard to find a game that's not Call of Duty.

I never said I don't like them. I said I just don't get the same kick out of them than the type of games I described. Hell, I've got loads of first person shooters that I love. My point is that that's all I can find. I've searched. I've visited other 360 message boards and seen the same question been asked.

As I said as well, maybe I just need to look into a different console. I don't know yet. I was just hoping that if people had found these types of games they'd share, (which they have) so I could get an idea. Sadly though a lot of them I have played and far since completed. Some would say "well there's the games, it's not our fault you've already completed them" but I can walk into a store, close my eyes and pick up a game and 9/10 it will be a shooter. I can come back for days on end and still find a new shooter.

But I guess I'm just looking for certain things in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

[I_Smell]

Ok here's why I think this is such a stupid thing to say- Here's all the 360 I've got:

Devily May Cry 4, Lost Planet, Burnout Paradise, Orange Box, GTA 4, Street Fighter 4, Bionic Commando Rearmed, Castle Crashers, Dead Rising, Assassin's Creed, Bioshock, Alien Hominid and Gears 2. Outside of maybe Half Life and Gears 2, if you count those, I don't play generic war shooters and I've never even noticed a problem.

Unless you want more exploration in games, not including exploration of a desert wasteland or a corrupt commercial-industrial America- In which case baaaaaaaa you're probably right.
Or unless you're saying games are too sad, in which case you bloody are right.