Category:Platform Game
"There's a lot of... *wheeze* running and... *wheeze* jumping, isn't it?"
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For many years, the dominant form of console video game. The Platform Game or Platformer is characterized by gameplay dominated by leaping over or onto enemy characters and between platforms of varying heights. In the traditional 2D platformer, play progresses from left to right. Other such games, mostly involving infiltration or return scenarios, choose the sneaky approach from the right. Some games (especially older ones) only allow movement in one direction. An Auto Scrolling platformer advances the scenery independent of the Player Character's movement, and thus the player can be pinned by a platform as it scrolls off the screen. Auto scrolling was rare for entire games, but frequently appeared for individual levels.
As a rule, Player Characters in the platformer are critically injured by colliding with enemies, can jump very high, and, in accordance with the special laws of physics applicable to video game characters, are able to change direction in mid-air. Bottomless Pits and other kinds of pit traps are common hazards.
The first games which started to have platform game elements are Frogs (first game which included jumping, but no platforms) released for the arcades in 1978 and Space Panic (which had platforming, but no jumping), released in 1980. Finally, Donkey Kong, which was released a year later, put those two things together, and Jump Bug added side scrolling to the mix.
The first game widely considered to fit this format is Pitfall, but the style gained its widest acceptance with Super Mario Bros.. 2D platformers are still being made, due to their accessibility and ease of programming, as independent PC titles, web-based Flash games, and for the various handheld console platforms and cell phones.
The 3D equivalent to the platformer is almost always rendered in the third person, as with Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, but Metroid Prime and its sequels are considered by many to be hybrids of the 3d Platformer and the First-Person Shooter (with Metroidvania elements, of course). The only straight first-person platformer series is Jumping Flash Lately, many games have been combining elements of Third-Person Action Games as well, such as the Jak and Daxter and Ratchet & Clank series.
Like most game genres, platformers are steadily evolving with the times; they started as linear obstacle courses, but gradually became less linear, with multiple level paths, playable overworld areas, and/or map screens with different routes; eventually, the genre even began branching into the Metroidvania genre. They became much less linear with the jump to 3D, and became known as 'collectathon' titles. The first few were fine, but after the thousandth or so knock-off, gamers eventually began to get sick of this. As a result, "collectathon" titles began waning in popularity. As of the 2010s, the genre is in a weird stage of either being based on particular gimmicks, or going back to its roots. The former became puzzle games of a sort (eventually becoming prevalent enough to be considered a sub-genre), and the latter tend to be more linear, pure platforming challenges, and spawned the Platform Hell phenomenon.
Subgenres include Cinematic Platform Game (which has a more realistic style), Platform Hell (which is really, really freaking hard, harder even than Nintendo Hard), and Puzzle Platformer (which combines elements of Puzzle Games).
Pages in category "Platform Game"
The following 200 pages are in this category, out of 462 total.
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- Magic Sword: Heroic Fantasy
- Magical Doropie
- Malice
- Manic Miner
- Mari0
- Mario & Luigi: Dream Team
- Mario Is Missing
- Mario vs. Donkey Kong
- The Maw
- Maze of Galious
- Meat Boy
- Mega Man (video game)
- Mega Man 1
- Mega Man 2
- Mega Man 3
- Mega Man 4
- Mega Man 5
- Mega Man 6
- Mega Man 7
- Mega Man 72
- Mega Man 8
- Mega Man and Bass
- Mega Man Maximum
- Mega Man Powered Up
- Mega Man Rocks
- Mega Man the CRORQ Chronicles
- Mega Man Triple Threat
- Mega Man Unlimited
- Mega Man X
- Mega Man X Corrupted
- Mega Man Zero
- Mega Man ZX
- MegaMari
- Metal Storm
- Metroid
- Metroid: Other M
- Mickey Mania
- Mickey Mouse
- Mickey Mousecapade
- Mighty Jill Off
- Milon's Secret Castle
- Miner 2049er
- Mirror's Edge
- Mission in Snowdriftland
- Monster Bash
- Monster Party
- Monster World IV
- Moon Crystal
- Mr. Gimmick!
- Mr. Robot (video game)
- Mushroom Kingdom Fusion
- Mutant Mudds
- My Little Pony: Rise of Vicis
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- Pac-Man World
- Pandemonium! (video game)
- Penny's Big Breakaway
- Peter Pack Rat
- Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle
- Pitfall!
- Platform Game/Laconic
- Player Punch/Video Games/Platform Game
- Plok
- Prehistorik
- Prince of Persia
- Prince of Persia (2008 video game)
- Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?
- Psycho Waluigi
- Psychonauts
- Psychosomnium
- Purple
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- Rabbids Go Home
- Radical Rex
- Ratchet & Clank
- Ratchet & Clank (video game)
- Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
- Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
- Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando
- Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters
- Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
- Ratchet: Deadlocked
- Rayman 2: The Great Escape
- Rayman Legends
- Realms of Chaos
- Rework the Dead: Evil
- Rick Dangerous
- Ristar
- Rochard
- Rocket Knight Adventures
- Rocket Robot On Wheels
- Rockman 2 Deus Ex Machina
- Rockman 4 Minus Infinity
- Rockman 6: Unique Harassment
- Rockman Exhaust
- Rockman New Year Hacks
- Rockman No Constancy
- Rockman No Exile
- Rocky Rodent
- Rokko Chan
- Rosenkreuzstilette
- Run Saber
- RunMan: Race Around the World
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- Saira
- Scaler
- Scurge: Hive
- The Second Reality Project
- Secret Agent (video game)
- Secret Agent Clank
- Seiklus
- Shadow the Hedgehog (video game)
- Shift
- Shovel Knight
- Silent Bomber
- The Simpsons Game
- Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure
- Sly Cooper
- An SMWC Production
- Snow Bros. - Nick & Tom
- Socket
- Somari
- Something (ROM Hack)
- Something Else (ROM Hack)
- Sonic 3 and Knuckles
- Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island
- Sonic Advance Trilogy
- Sonic Adventure
- Sonic Adventure 2
- Sonic Classic 2
- Sonic Colors
- Sonic Generations
- Sonic Heroes
- Sonic Jam
- Sonic Labyrinth
- Sonic Rivals
- Sonic Rush Series
- Sonic Storybook Series
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Sonic the Hedgehog (1991 video game)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 video game)
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2
- Sonic the Hedgehog 4
- Sonic the Hedgehog CD
- Sonic the Hedgehog Chaos
- Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure
- Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble
- Sonic Unleashed
- Space Station Silicon Valley
- Spelunker
- Spelunky
- Splosion Man
- SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom
- Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!
- Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy
- Spyro the Dragon
- Spyro the Dragon (video game)
- Spyro: A Hero's Tail
- Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs
- Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly
- Spyro: Season of Ice
- Spyro: Shadow Legacy
- Spyro: Year of the Dragon
- Stinkoman 20 X 6
- Strider Hiryu
- Super Castlevania IV
- Super Mario (franchise)
- Super Mario 3D Land
- Super Mario 3D World
- Super Mario 64
- Super Mario Bros. (video game)
- Super Mario Bros. 2
- Super Mario Bros. 3
- Super Mario Bros. 3X
- Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
- Super Mario Fusion Revival
- Super Mario Galaxy
- Super Mario Galaxy 2
- Super Mario Land
- Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
Media in category "Platform Game"
This category contains only the following file.
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