My problem with modern, 4-player platformers

[MajorTomServo]

I like platformers. I like spending time with my friends. I like spending time with my friends playing platformers.

Unfortunately, I don't get as much joy out of them as I think I could. The three biggest 4-player platforming hoedowns are (imo) Little Big Planet, Rayman: Origins, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

These are all great games, but they all have the same problem. I can't tell what I'm doing. With four players on screen at once, all of which blend in with the background, I always loose track of where I am and where my friends are.

The characters in all these games are drawn in the same style as the background, often with a similar palate. I think LBP is the worst offender, since all the characters have almost identical silhouettes. Rayman has two of the same characters, just with different colored frocks. Same with NSMB and the two toads.

Spoiler: If only the Mario universe had another pair of yellow and blue(ish) characters, with completely different outlines not only from each other, but also from Mario and Luigi...

I feel like if 4-player platformers made more of an effort to make the characters stand out, it'd be a lot easier to stay focused on where you are. Maybe, for example, warm-colored 2-D player sprites against cool-colored backgrounds and enemies.

Anyone else agree, disagree, have thoughts on improvements, or recommendations of games that already do this?

 

[scorptatious]

That's probably the one thing that really annoyed me about LBP2. Particularly during the second phase of the final boss. You're all using your grappling hooks to swing around in a large area with an electric floor at the bottom. And the final boss is sucking in various debris you have to swing on and off too. This section is very annoying because the camera is zoomed so far out so it's hard to find where you are and players can easily screw each other over by accidentally grappling onto each other. Add that to the fact that players share lives and you have possibly one of the most unpleasant co-op experiences in a game. Seriously, I very rarely beat the final boss with more than one person because someone eats up all the lives due to the game's dumb co-op mechanics.

At least in Rayman: Origins, you aren't forced to share lives and you aren't forced to start a whole level over again just because one person in the group is constantly fucking up.

I personally find Kirby's Return to Dreamland one of the better 4 player platformer games. The screen doesn't zoom out too far. All the characters look distinct from each other. (Unless more than one person plays as Kirby, and even then, they are different colors) And even though you do share lives, so long as the first players stays alive, the other players can respawn as often as they want. Plus the levels aren't hard to the point in which it's near impossible to do them with more than one person.

 

[an annoyed writer]

This actually highlights a problem I've had with split-screen multiplayer matches: I find myself getting disoriented by everything that's going on that sometimes I just have to put the controller down because I'm getting motion sickness. It wasn't until I had the whole screen to myself that I actually started enjoying(though not being very skillful at) multiplayer games. Sure, there's something great to giving someone a good whack upside the head for playing like a jerk, but I find that trading such an ability for lack of motion-sickness is often a worthwhile tradeoff.

 

[The White Hunter]

I like platformers. I like spending time with my friends. I like spending time with my friends playing platformers.

Unfortunately, I don't get as much joy out of them as I think I could. The three biggest 4-player platforming hoedowns are (imo) Little Big Planet, Rayman: Origins, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

These are all great games, but they all have the same problem. I can't tell what I'm doing. With four players on screen at once, all of which blend in with the background, I always loose track of where I am and where my friends are.

The characters in all these games are drawn in the same style as the background, often with a similar palate. I think LBP is the worst offender, since all the characters have almost identical silhouettes. Rayman has two of the same characters, just with different colored frocks. Same with NSMB and the two toads.

Spoiler: If only the Mario universe had another pair of yellow and blue(ish) characters, with completely different outlines not only from each other, but also from Mario and Luigi...

I feel like if 4-player platformers made more of an effort to make the characters stand out, it'd be a lot easier to stay focused on where you are. Maybe, for example, warm-colored 2-D player sprites against cool-colored backgrounds and enemies.

Anyone else agree, disagree, have thoughts on improvements, or recommendations of games that already do this?

The world needs a Wario Bros platformer. It needs it now! We need to get that on kickfarter kickstarter.

The issues you adressed are kind of a problem, Rayman legends has many more distinct characters. My bigger issue is when you collide and bounce about and it can make precision very difficult with too many people bouncing about. I managed to get 5 stars on my NSMBU save without too much hassle, but if i play with just one friend the collision means a continue per world at the very least, more if I feel malicious.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I've never had that problem with little big planet. If you just spend like 5 minutes customizing your sack-boy it becomes really easy to tell him apart from those of all your friends.

My only problem with little big planet was getting stuck on things in the foreground or background when going through the game, without realizing that I had moved toward the front or back of the screen.

This actually highlights a problem I've had with split-screen multiplayer matches: I find myself getting disoriented by everything that's going on that sometimes I just have to put the controller down because I'm getting motion sickness. It wasn't until I had the whole screen to myself that I actually started enjoying(though not being very skillful at) multiplayer games. Sure, there's something great to giving someone a good whack upside the head for playing like a jerk, but I find that trading such an ability for lack of motion-sickness is often a worthwhile tradeoff.

Maybe you just shouldn't screen watch. Seems like that would completely fix the motion sickness.