Once upon a time, in a seaside town not so far away, the highlight of a family day out wasn’t candy floss, fish and chips or a can of Tizer. Oh no, the only thing on our minds was a trip to the arcade. These were the days when an arcade was full of awe inspiring machines the likes of which we’d never seen before – Dragon Lair, Star Wars, Tron and Double Dragon all made our eye’s sparkle with delight but it was the invention of the platform game that transformed the way we play. Let’s take a little look at some of the most important and influential titles that lit up our seaside’s and now our bedrooms.
Donkey Kong – 1981 (Arcade)
The first platform game technically was Space Panic, an arcade game in 1980, however it was Donkey Kong that first caught everyone’s attention. It introduced the world to a little chap called Mario, more on him later, and added jumping and a had a series of screens/levels to play over.
Chuckie Egg – 1983 (Spectrum)
This gets an entry because it was my introduction to the world of platform games on the humble Acorn Electron. The brainchild of 16 year year old Nigel Alderton, the game required you to collect eggs whilst avoiding chickens. Awesome stuff, I still have nightmares about that big yellow bird chasing me around the screen.
Jet Set Willy – 1984 (Spectrum)
Like Chuckie Egg, Brit games of the 1980’s were known for being offbeat and humorous. Jet Set Willy was the follow up to Manic Miner. It gave us 60 levels of freely roamable rooms – it was also tougher than Vinnie Jones.
Knight Lore – 1984 (Spectrum)
The developer “Ultimate” lived up to their name in 80’s delivering one classic title after another. Knight Lore took things a step further by giving us the isometric 3D view.
Green Beret – 1985 (Arcade)
This is the game that stepped platformers up from simply running and jumping around. Now you get to stab soldiers whilst fighting for truth, justice and the American way of life………or getting to the next level.
Prince Of Persia – 1989 (Apple II)
Prince of Persia is still going strong to this day, but it should be held in the history books for one simple reason. This was the first title to use motion captured animation systems. The character was “rotoscoped” from footage of the creators younger brother. This game gave us sword fights, puzzles and amazing leaps over snake filled pits.
Pandemonium – 1996 (Playstation, Saturn)
This started to fill the gap between 2D and 3D games, it used 3D characters working on a 2D plane. Other titles like Crash Bandicoot saw huge success using this set up, even today LittleBigPlanet is still championing this approach.
Sonic The Hedgehog -1991 (Mega Drive)
In 1991 Sega went all out with Sonic in the hope his speed, style and cheeky smile could knock Nintendo’s plumber down a big red pipe. He delivered in style and in his own way changed the format of platformers, no longer were we dedicated to precision jumps and long drops, rather the focus was on flying through the level as quickly as you could. The rivalry continued for years, but now they appear games together. A bit like Boba Fett and Han Solo getting together for a game of tennis.
Tomb Raider – 1996 (PC, Playstation, Saturn)
This is the title that made gaming sexy. Eidos delivered us our first big female lead character, which has spawned several sequels, movies and lunch boxes. The game itself was about as frustrating as they came, but you simply couldn’t put it down thanks to Lara. Blimey even the training levels had replay value.
Super Mario 64 – 1996 (N64)
Yes, yes I deliberately missed several Mario games from earlier in the series, because this was the one. This was the title that showed us that a fully 3D platform game could be done and it could work really well.
Psychonauts – 2005 (PC, Playstation, Saturn)
Where Tomb Raider gave platform games the “sexy” factor, this is the game that gave them a sense of humour. Our hero was a psychic child and the levels were the minds of adults. You can now pick this little gem up in Xbox Arcade if you fancy a bit of history.
LocoRoco – 2006 (PSP)
This was the surprise hit of 2006 on the PSP and really started to bring platform games back to the forefront (notice the 9 year gap between SuperMario64 and Psychonauts). It was cute, addictive, simple to play and very relaxing thanks to the design and colour scheme.
Super Mario Galaxy – 2007 (Wii)
Whilst Nintendo were confident enough in the Wii to launch it without a headline Mario game, it didn’t take them long to deliver this. Jumping from world to world, each with its own challenge, this is STILL the best Wii game available and the best example of how to incorporate new technology into gameplay rather than just a gimmick.
Portal – 2007 (PC, Xbox360)
This is brilliant, it’s mind blowing, you can lose hours on this game just mucking around. Here’s the basic idea, shoot a hole in a wall, seems simple enough so far, then shoot another hole in another wall. Now here’s where it gets clever, jump through the first hole and you’ll appear through the second – brilliant.
Little Big Planet – 2008 (PS3)
The reason I made the jump from Xbox360 to PS3, from the opening narration from Stephen Fry to the millions of user created levels available this game pours quality from every pixel. The backgrounds have to be seen to be believed, the levels are simply huge, the sense of community outstanding and the customising option amazing (My Sackboy is dressed up like a Ghostbuster at the moment). But come on guys, its time for some official Star Wars levels rather than just the user created ones.
Mirrors Edge – 2008 (PC, PS3, Xbox360)
This is the last stop for today, although there are more recent titles (I could mention Batman, Uncharted 2). Placing you in the body of a free running heroine, you took off along rooftop chases and death slides while taking on an army of bad guys. So close to being a classic, a few control issues make is fall just short. But its a fantastic showcase of what can be done, it’s also available very cheap these days, so pick yourself up a copy
Super Paper Mario is a great example of how old school platform games can make the transition into next gen consoles without having to force the game into 3D gameplay.
Dare i say that almost every sonic game released since Sonic Adventures 1 has been less than average in the fun department. I found that Mario made an excellent transition to 3D on the N64, but the poor guy then got lumbered with a water gun and it all seemed to go wrong, although Luigi’s mansion had some sort of unique element that made it fun to play.
Rumor has it that they are creating a new Sonic game that is 2D for next gen consoles.