The jump to 3D brought the " Collect-a-Thon Platformer" sub-genre popularized by Super Mario 64, which featured non-linear open worlds with a greater emphasis on exploration. 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 taking inspiration from Action-Adventure games, creating the Metroidvania genre. Pure first-person platforming tends to be rather uncommon, due to not being able to see where your feet may touch the ground, but it's not impossible to pull off well see Jumping Flash! and Mirror's Edge. 1984 saw the release of Pac-Land, a game that would serve as inspiration for the game that would popularize the platformer, Super Mario Bros.ģD platformers are almost always rendered in the third person, as with Super Mario 64 and Crash Bandicoot (1996), 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). Jump Bug was the first game to use side-scrolling levels. Many early platformers had a single static screen, with a common goal being to either reach the top of the stage or collect all of a certain item.
In the traditional 2D platformer, play progresses from left to right, and many of the older games only allowed movement in one direction.Įarly platformers evolved out of arcade games like Space Panic (1980) (which had platforming through climbing ladders, but no jumping) and Donkey Kong, released a year later, which added the ability to jump between platforms and over obstacles. Bottomless Pits and other kinds of pit traps are common hazards. Climbing, swinging, and other acrobatic maneuvers may also be utilized to get around. As a rule, Player Characters in a platformer can jump really high, and are usually able to change direction in mid-air to correct their trajectory. A Platform Game or Platformer is a subgenre of Action Game characterized by gameplay dominated by jumping between platforms of varying heights while avoiding enemies and obstacles.