Bazooka Joe
Smash Apprentice
As a guy who grew up in the 90's, I played many platform games; mostly side-scrollers. In this day and age, they are still around; but less frequent. Looking at the games now, I am kinda shocked there hasn't been much evolution in the genre. I find the gameplay still satisfying, but some things about it make me think; why? These are a few points I would like to illustrate on:
Lives: Lives are practically almost in every platformer you'll ever play. It is a basic system where you usually start with three lives. You can usually find an item that gives you an extra one or do some combo to get another. Lose all them and it's game over. This makes no sense to me this day and age. This only comes as a perfect idea in the arcade industry; which is thriving in Japan and slowy dying over here. When it comes to console gaming, it just takes up time. You get game over, the screen pops up with a little jingle, and the (continue?). Yeah, it isn't like I have to spend another quarter. The best example for how useless it is Super Meat Boy. This game has it right. If I mess up and die, it dosen't end the level and take me back to the world map. It puts me right back at the beginning to continue. This is more convenient and less of a hassle. Granted, I click on a button to continue in other life-based games, but it isn't needed.
Difficulty vs. Memorization: This is usually heavily debated; but my opinion is that if you have to memorize a level, it is going in the wrong direction. When I played Donkey Kong Country Returns, I found it to be fun as far as gameplay. Difficulty? No. Now I understand, the Donkey Kong series has always been a challenging series. That is their way of gameplay, but I never had to memorize stages. DKC Returns did the challenge in the wrong way. I don't mind having to react fast, but don't put an obstacle of screen that I can't see until I crash into it and die. The right way of challenge with platformers is reaction. A good platformer will always test your reaction time. Take Super Mario Bros. for example. One challenge is taking out the Hammer Bros. or getting past him. It is difficult to do, but it won't kill you off screen. You get the chance to analyze and make a move. A bullet bill can come off screen, but it has to go across the screen to reach you.
Final Words: There is more I can go on about, but I think this is a good place to start. If you disagree with what I stated above, that's okay and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I would actually like to hear if you agree, disagree, or are neutral on the subject.
Lives: Lives are practically almost in every platformer you'll ever play. It is a basic system where you usually start with three lives. You can usually find an item that gives you an extra one or do some combo to get another. Lose all them and it's game over. This makes no sense to me this day and age. This only comes as a perfect idea in the arcade industry; which is thriving in Japan and slowy dying over here. When it comes to console gaming, it just takes up time. You get game over, the screen pops up with a little jingle, and the (continue?). Yeah, it isn't like I have to spend another quarter. The best example for how useless it is Super Meat Boy. This game has it right. If I mess up and die, it dosen't end the level and take me back to the world map. It puts me right back at the beginning to continue. This is more convenient and less of a hassle. Granted, I click on a button to continue in other life-based games, but it isn't needed.
Difficulty vs. Memorization: This is usually heavily debated; but my opinion is that if you have to memorize a level, it is going in the wrong direction. When I played Donkey Kong Country Returns, I found it to be fun as far as gameplay. Difficulty? No. Now I understand, the Donkey Kong series has always been a challenging series. That is their way of gameplay, but I never had to memorize stages. DKC Returns did the challenge in the wrong way. I don't mind having to react fast, but don't put an obstacle of screen that I can't see until I crash into it and die. The right way of challenge with platformers is reaction. A good platformer will always test your reaction time. Take Super Mario Bros. for example. One challenge is taking out the Hammer Bros. or getting past him. It is difficult to do, but it won't kill you off screen. You get the chance to analyze and make a move. A bullet bill can come off screen, but it has to go across the screen to reach you.
Final Words: There is more I can go on about, but I think this is a good place to start. If you disagree with what I stated above, that's okay and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I would actually like to hear if you agree, disagree, or are neutral on the subject.
