What do you look for in a 2d platformer?

[FPLOON]

A point to always going right all the damn time!

OT: Exploration - There's got to be more than one approach to finishing this section of the game...
Established Physics - What can and can't the character jump on? Can they even jump at all? How do they interact with the overall environment?
Challenge - "It better not be no cake walk!" (Skill trumps chance all day... everyday...)

*groans* I'm finding it hard to list other things to consider in a 2D platformer that DOESN'T involve actual combat...

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Very tight and precise controls. No floatiness, no sliding, no delays. If the controls are perfect then everything else just kind of slides into place, and if they aren't then it doesn't matter how good everything else about the game is, it doesn't work on a fundamental level.

 

[Blinkmage]

Personally the biggest thing I look for in 2-d platformers these days is the ability to jump back in quick after dying. I recently received a copy of both Rayman Legends and Origins and love the lack of a lives system and the decent amount of checkpoints. You die in that game and it simply drops you back into the level more or less where you left off. It really hindered my desire to explore in other 2-d platformers when I also have to juggle conserving lives, though I can see some people enjoying the challenge in that.

 

[Something Amyss]

Tight controls are the biggest thing I look for. Now, it's not the only thing, but a good platformer is most easily wrecked by bad controls in my opinion.

 

[lacktheknack]

If it's a slow platformer, it should be all about precision.

If it's a fast platformer, it should be all about the flow.

Compare the very original Prince of Persia to the old Sonic games for reference.

Also, tight controls. Controls should be tested to death... and then tested again.

 

[TrevHead]

If it's a slow platformer, it should be all about precision.

If it's a fast platformer, it should be all about the flow.

Compare the very original Prince of Persia to the old Sonic games for reference.

Also, tight controls. Controls should be tested to death... and then tested again.

That's a good way to categorise pure platformers, the slower platformers tend to be focussed more around obstacles, spike traps, pits, small / moving platforms and simple enemies. Examples Mario, Mega Man, New Zealand Story (the king of spike traps)

The really interesting ones steal ideas from the shmup genre with enemies that shot projectiles, some of the doujin megaman clones are more like a mixture of bullet hell and megaman

Spoiler: examples here

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=38074

or have chaining (Nin2Jump) or copy from Ikaruga (Outlander). Most of these games are rather niche or underground especially the doujin stuff.

The faster precision platformers copy from Sonic and have downhills and valleys that the player can create momentum to go faster. Sonic, Rayman Origins, Dustforce. Levels are designed for speedrunning more like a race track but with added collectables, usually with multiple paths which makes it fun for players to figure out the optimal routes. Modern speedrunners use both S-A-B-C rankings and leaderboards, rankings tend to be quite easy so that normal players can beat the game without too much trouble, leaderboards or 100% collectables provide the real challenge and replay value.

What is key to any pure platformer is it's precision. Tight controls, no sloppy hitboxes, 2D graphics isn't just a style choice because the dev can't do 3D, but are necessary for it to have pixel perfect control, every 2.5D platformer I've played loses some of those tight controls (WTF is Inafune thinking using 2.5D for Mighty Number 9?)