What IS the appeal of 3D platformers:?
- Thread starter Igor-Rowan
- Start date
First of all, each to their own. There will be certain things you will just never "get". I've been trying to figure out how people can enjoy MOBAs for years now.
As for the appeal...well, when it comes to collect-a-thons, they tend to be more laid-back than other exploration-focused games. Something you can jump in to and relax in for an hour or so. I mean, we all play games for fun. But something like Skyrim or Breath of the Wild demands a lot more concentration than, say, Jak and Daxter.
Linear 3D platformers I'm not such a big fan of. I like Super Mario Galaxy, but only because of its uniqueness in that regard. And I like Crash enough, I suppose. I can't really explain why, I just find it fun.
And, of course, there's a certain cartoon-ish charm to them that a lot of other games don't have. In that regard, it's no different to pixel art games.
As for the appeal...well, when it comes to collect-a-thons, they tend to be more laid-back than other exploration-focused games. Something you can jump in to and relax in for an hour or so. I mean, we all play games for fun. But something like Skyrim or Breath of the Wild demands a lot more concentration than, say, Jak and Daxter.
Linear 3D platformers I'm not such a big fan of. I like Super Mario Galaxy, but only because of its uniqueness in that regard. And I like Crash enough, I suppose. I can't really explain why, I just find it fun.
And, of course, there's a certain cartoon-ish charm to them that a lot of other games don't have. In that regard, it's no different to pixel art games.
Good 3D platformers take advantage of useing a 3D space and build puzzles around them that you couldn't do in a 2d Space. That is the benefit. Like In Super Mario 3D world and 3D land where they build puzzles around using shadows. You can build Build shaddow levels in 2d games as well.
Also I think Super Mario 3D world does Co-op better then New Super Bros because you have more room.
Also I think Super Mario 3D world does Co-op better then New Super Bros because you have more room.
Here is the real reason, because you might be too young to remember.
Being 3D was a fad during the 90s. Everything had to be 3D: RPGs (FF7), Fighting games (MK4), Puzzle games (Tetris 3D) and yes, even plataformers.
It started with PC gaming making 3D card brands a war akin the Sega/Nintendo war years before, which games that simply didn't work unless you had the latest models of NVIDIA, 3DFX or AMD video card. That fad began dripping into consoles when the SNES released faux 3D games (like Donkey Kong Country) and rudimentary 3D games (like Star Fox), but by the end of that generation is was full blown. So hard it hit, that the next generation of consoles were build with some extreme 3D integration, so extreme that many consoles (like the N64 and PS1) barely played 2D games. Believe it or not, MK 3 was harder to make and run efficiently in the N64 hardware than something like War Gods. This, together with the publishers mandate that saw this self fulfilling prophecy and interpreted it as "no one wants 2D, everything has to be 3D", made 3D the new bare minimum. Every single game (with some notable exceptions, like Guilty Gear) had to be 3D, even when they didn't have the budget or the horsepower to make more than a couple cubes and pretend it was a face.
That forced the transition of some franchises into 3D and the result, for the most part, weren't pretty. Look at Street Fighter EX, Castlevania 64 or Earthworm Jim 3D for some examples... It took almost 15 years and the entire indie community for people to realize that 2D graphics games aged a lot better than early 3D graphics games. Sure, there are some good games in that era: Mario 64 and Metal Gear Solid are still considered masterpieces, but 90% of the other games were extremely flawed. It was natural, most of them were forced into a perspective they didn't understood, weren't designed to support and had a lot of problems they had to solve on the way. They were exploratory in a way most genres weren't since the Atari days, and hadn't need to be until the introduction of VR over 20 years later.
Being 3D was a fad during the 90s. Everything had to be 3D: RPGs (FF7), Fighting games (MK4), Puzzle games (Tetris 3D) and yes, even plataformers.
It started with PC gaming making 3D card brands a war akin the Sega/Nintendo war years before, which games that simply didn't work unless you had the latest models of NVIDIA, 3DFX or AMD video card. That fad began dripping into consoles when the SNES released faux 3D games (like Donkey Kong Country) and rudimentary 3D games (like Star Fox), but by the end of that generation is was full blown. So hard it hit, that the next generation of consoles were build with some extreme 3D integration, so extreme that many consoles (like the N64 and PS1) barely played 2D games. Believe it or not, MK 3 was harder to make and run efficiently in the N64 hardware than something like War Gods. This, together with the publishers mandate that saw this self fulfilling prophecy and interpreted it as "no one wants 2D, everything has to be 3D", made 3D the new bare minimum. Every single game (with some notable exceptions, like Guilty Gear) had to be 3D, even when they didn't have the budget or the horsepower to make more than a couple cubes and pretend it was a face.
That forced the transition of some franchises into 3D and the result, for the most part, weren't pretty. Look at Street Fighter EX, Castlevania 64 or Earthworm Jim 3D for some examples... It took almost 15 years and the entire indie community for people to realize that 2D graphics games aged a lot better than early 3D graphics games. Sure, there are some good games in that era: Mario 64 and Metal Gear Solid are still considered masterpieces, but 90% of the other games were extremely flawed. It was natural, most of them were forced into a perspective they didn't understood, weren't designed to support and had a lot of problems they had to solve on the way. They were exploratory in a way most genres weren't since the Atari days, and hadn't need to be until the introduction of VR over 20 years later.
What I'm hearing is either, "Stop liking what I don't like!", or, "How can you possibly like something I don't like?!"Igor-Rowan said:
Why do people still ask these sorts of questions? It's asinine. Tastes vary. Get over it. Christ.
Besides, 3D Mario platformers selling fewer units than 2D ones is a stupid metric by which to gauge 3D platformers' entertainment value. By that same reasoning ALL genres not in the top selling are pointless and non-entertaining. That would mean 2D platformers, action adventure games, or RPGs are inherently inferior and less entertaining than, say, yearly sports titles or mass-market mobile games like Candy Crush. But, somehow, I don't think you're going to argue that, are you?
Plus:
Ah, I see. You're the sort that unironically uses the term 'casuals'. Good to know.
Subjective opinion. You know not everyone agrees, yes?
I can't speak for others but I can tell you why I like (some) games like Dota 2.Rangaman said:
Action-RPGs[footnote]MOBA is an idiotic term. Whoever coined it should be ridiculed. It's so nebulous that it applies to virtually every online game ever.[/footnote] essentially condense the gameplay, item accumulation, and character progression of games like Torchlight, Diablo, and Path of Exile into a single, 30 to 60 minute play session.
And that's the essence of it, really. For me it is, anyway. It's 'skinner-box lite'. That I can play it alone or with others is just a bonus.
My bad, I should have phrased that better, I think that I'm proposing 3D platforming is a niche genre and weren't exactly mainstream as I believed for the longest time.Vigormortis said:
The argument is more on Nintendo that keeps making 3D Marios knowing they don't sell.
I didn't wanted to use the term, but I wanted to highlight my point and I think using quotes would have made it worse, I also don't belive the casual/core fallacy, but I needed to stop the wall of text.
Well, Nintendo gonna Nintendo. All they know how to do anymore is push gimmicky control inputs, rehash their franchises ad nauseum, and act like complete dicks to their costumers, either by forcibly limiting stock, overpricing everything, hiding DLC behind paid physical merch, or attacking LPers.Igor-Rowan said:
Though, 3D platformers still sell. Maybe not as much as the 2D ones but they DO sell.
I mean, fair enough I guess, but what point were you trying to make, then?
As long as the core focus of the game is platforming, it's a platformer. Platformers have appeal, but just not wide enough appeal to really merit triple-A games. The Last Guardian is a puzzle-platformer and my 2016 GOTY. Also, good 3D platformers are really hard to make because they depend on really good level design, which has become a lost art due to the open world fad.Igor-Rowan said:
I don't know about you but I want more 3d platformers. I didn't have much of the problems you talk about and I want a good 3d platformer. I'm kinda sick of 2.5d platformers right now. Also I have played crash bandicoot and spyro recently and I think they still hold up just loose the lives system and you're golden
"My bad, I should have phrased that better, I think that I'm proposing 3D platforming is a niche genre and weren't exactly mainstream as I believed for the longest time.
The argument is more on Nintendo that keeps making 3D Marios knowing they don't sell.[/quote]
Well, Nintendo gonna Nintendo. All they know how to do anymore is push gimmicky control inputs, rehash their franchises ad nauseum, and act like complete dicks to their costumers, either by forcibly limiting stock, overpricing everything, hiding DLC behind paid physical merch, or attacking LPers."
So edgey.
The argument is more on Nintendo that keeps making 3D Marios knowing they don't sell.[/quote]
Well, Nintendo gonna Nintendo. All they know how to do anymore is push gimmicky control inputs, rehash their franchises ad nauseum, and act like complete dicks to their costumers, either by forcibly limiting stock, overpricing everything, hiding DLC behind paid physical merch, or attacking LPers."
So edgey.