Are 2D platformers dead as a concept?

[BiggestKai]

Also, not exactly the most original of developers but I really like Japanese(?) 2d metroidvania developer Team Ladybug(Pharaoh Rebirth+, that one Konosuba mega man clone, Touhou Luna Nights, Record of Lodoss War and recently Blade Chimera).

Short and sweet metroidvanias with boppin soundtracks, fun bosses, neat pixel art and the occasional cool gimmick per game.

I feel like pushing the envelope in 2d platformers is harder than it was, but people still do it.
You niggas know Noita? Came out in 2019, which is getting to be a while back, but frankly, six years seems like a flash to me these days.
2d run and gun physics sandbox roguelike/platformer.
I still haven't seen one I'd consider a better balance of fun and sophistication.
Absolutely a worthy specimen, in a genre replete with classics that are easy to emulate, but difficult to better.

Noita was so influential the newest Creeper World game decided to go the 2d pixel physics simulation route.

 

[Safir]

I love platformers, it's the only type of game I play with actual enthusiasm. Two reasons:

1. easiest genre to see if the gameplay is any good
2. most likely genre to have a rewarding, not-retarded plot

New pure strategies are broken, new strategy-rpgs tend to punish sucking with sucking harder, adventures are dead, RPGs are pozzed. Top-down stuff is ok but exploration in 2d platformers is more fun.

What I want from a platformer:

• plot and characters
  • no coomer shit
  • no LGBTQIAP
• no or completely optional terminally online focused features, the game should be 100% completable without speedrunning etc
  • enough content to make a single playthrough worth the price
  • not a roguelike
• serious but not "adult" theme, i.e. something that a non-autistic teenage boy would find aspirational
  • mow down legions of mutants to protect humanity: ok
  • party pooper poop on every party: no
  • reconnect and reconceptualize traumatic experiences: fuck right off
    • really, as soon as I see "this is a game about | || || |_ and a moving journey of self-discovery", fuck right off

Only reason platformers have elaborate back stories now is because every meaningful gameplay mechanic that can be done has been tried over the last 40 years.

There are 26 letters in the English alphabet but a slightly larger amount of worthy books.

I guess that game did not do well, because of the "go woke, go broke" axiom being proven true yet again.

Dandara is one of the more original games. Not a platformer, not a metroidvania (they advertized it as such but failed the design). I got it for free and dropped it for lack of motivation because of picrelated. I don't remember it having any sort of plot, woke or otherwise. If anything, the theme is completely backward for a woke game, the world has been "queered" and it's BAD, no sky, no land, no day or night, just an endless fentanyl maze.

 

[YautjaWeeb]

There are 26 letters in the English alphabet but a slightly larger amount of worthy books.

You don't need a Television, electrical outlet or SDK to make use of the alphabet. Also there's been no good numbers since π.

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

I guess that game did not do well, because of the "go woke, go broke" axiom being proven true yet again

I'm not sure, I can't imagine it did super well, but it didn't seem to flop either.

Konosuba mega man clone

That sounds cool, what's it called?

easiest genre to see if the gameplay is any good

That's true, very low time investment compared to almost anything else. Jump and move around a bit, if feels shitty to control then you can quit right away basically.

 

[BiggestKai]

That sounds cool, what's it called?

Konosuba: Ressurection of Beldia. I think it was only released in Japan but I remember playing an english patched version here.

 

[Cats]

Oh just out of curiosity, do you guys consider Metal Slug to be a platformer or more of a shmup? That was another classic jump around type game that I remembered, I put an astronomical amount of fuckin quarters into MVS cabinets containing Metal Slug/Samurai Shodown II carts as a kid lol. I always saw Metal Slug as sort of a "shoot-em-up version" of Ghosts n Goblins.

 

[Calandrino]

Oh just out of curiosity, do you guys consider Metal Slug to be a platformer or more of a shmup? That was another classic jump around type game that I remembered, I put an astronomical amount of fuckin quarters into MVS cabinets containing Metal Slug/Samurai Shodown II carts as a kid lol. I always saw Metal Slug as sort of a "shoot-em-up version" of Ghosts n Goblins.

I would consider it a "run 'n' gun" or "Contralike" or "shootformer" or "3rd person shooter" or "Slugvania"

I've got the basic concept and theme down, with two swappable protagonists, the stronger but somewhat slower male protagonist, and the far cuter but weaker female protagonist.

You can transition into a cute female? It's literally me!

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

Konosuba: Ressurection of Beldia. I think it was only released in Japan but I remember playing an english patched version here.

Interesting, thanks.

Oh just out of curiosity, do you guys consider Metal Slug to be a platformer or more of a shmup? That was another classic jump around type game that I remembered, I put an astronomical amount of fuckin quarters into MVS cabinets containing Metal Slug/Samurai Shodown II carts as a kid lol. I always saw Metal Slug as sort of a "shoot-em-up version" of Ghosts n Goblins.

There's less platforming focus than something like Contra, which it's often compared to (even by me). I don't think having platforming necessarily makes something a platformer, Metal Slug is more of a "run 'n' gun" deal whereas Contra is a bit of both.

 

[Grift Garrison]

I have to wonder if there's some sort of quality or qualities that older games have that make them easier to attach memories to. That is, it's not entirely about encountering the games as a kid or young adult, but something inherent in certain games' design, that is much less common today. I will say that I managed to add Symphony of the Night to my repertoire of games that I look back on fondly even though I didn't play it until 2019. I was surprised that it was still possible for me to do so while being so far removed from my kid years/adolescence. It wasn't even my first Metroidvania or the first Castlevania game that I played that was like that, so I guess it's just something about the overall game design.

Its not so much what the systems had, but what they didn't have. You didn't have instant access to the entire history of video games at your finger tips for cheap/free so you spent more time on each game. You got to develop a bond with it through trial and error, and working through their quirks instead of deciding something is shit after a couple of plays and moving on to something else.

 

[Eternal Spirit of Light]

Noita

It's not really a platformer game though, is it?

 

[Cats]

Forgot two others that I thought were really special as a kid:

Cybernator and Metal Warriors on SNES. These two games are similar but very unique amongst platformers and well executed. I'd play a modern day sequel to either of these if they were done right. They did a great job on the mechs in both these games, they feel like they have weight to them, which is a really hard but integral part of games like these to get right.

 

[Calandrino]

Forgot two others that I thought were really special as a kid:

Cybernator and Metal Warriors on SNES. These two games are similar but very unique amongst platformers and well executed. I'd play a modern day sequel to either of these if they were done right. They did a great job on the mechs in both these games, they feel like they have weight to them, which is a really hard but integral part of games like these to get right.

Metal Warriors is aka Assault Suits Valken and was remade/remastered as "Assault Suits Valken Declassified" recently-ish. I think it just has a new soundtrack and proper non-censored translation. Supposedly they did a good job.

Gigantic Army is a newer indie spiritual successor mech game that I thought was pretty fun.

I think Assault Suit Leynos 2 is like that as well? But I never played it. It's a Saturn-era game but got ported to modern gadgets.

 

[Epic Fail Man]

Platformers are for toddlers.

 

[BiggestKai]

, with two swappable protagonists, the stronger but somewhat slower male protagonist, and the far cuter but weaker female protagonist.

Now that I've actually read the OP, isn't this vaguely like Maze of the Gallous or Pampas and Selene?

 

[Xarpho's Return]

Now that I've actually read the OP, isn't this vaguely like Maze of the Gallous or Pampas and Selene?

It's common in a lot of games. It's a simplified version of Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick where there's the "strong but slow" character, "fast but weak" character, the "balanced" character, and the character with some gimmick.

 

[X Prime]

Yeah, the problem with that gimmick is that usually one character gets either deliberately or accidentally favored such that the other part of the equation is simply not as good.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

no sky, no land, no day or night, just an endless fentanyl maze

sounds very wat

there's the "strong but slow" character, "fast but weak" character

Donkey Kong Country does that: Donkey Kong (gorilla) cannot jump as high but is able to take out more foes, while Diddy Kong (monkey) can take out less but can jump higher.

 

[Masturbator]

2d aint dead it just smells bad

 

[Ibanez RG 350EX]

is there no market for traditional 2D platformers without gimmicks and/or being ball-bustingly difficult?

A "gimmick" that differentiates your game is precisely what a modern 2D platformer needs. It should be embraced, not looked down on.

If there's nothing novel about it, why should I play it over any other platformer made in the last 40 years, often made by far more skilled, experienced teams with far bigger budgets than some nobody indie dev? I guarantee that you're not going to make something superior to, say, Super Mario World on pure mechanical platforming merit alone.

 

[LifeAlert]

A "gimmick" that differentiates your game is precisely what a modern 2D platformer needs. It should be embraced, not looked down on.

Exactly right. I would go as far as to say this applies to game consoles too

OP, here's a list of (good) gimmick platformers for you to ponder on if you're still in the "idea" stage of your game. If you are serious about it and want it to be good, please do us all a favor and use something other than Unreal, Unity or Game Maker or better yet code your game from scratch if you know how. Also, don't take this as a list of games to rip off but rather ideas of how to make a fun gimmick.

Spoiler: list of games that are memorable and not slop

-Mr. Gimmick (throw a star around to attack enemies and throw switches, heavily physics based)
-Hammerin' Harry (hit enemies with hammer, hammer can be upgraded)
-Bionic Commando (swing around on a grappling hook)
-Duck Tales (hop around on pogo stick to attack enemies and break blocks)
-Metal Storm (reverse gravity)
-Little Samson (switch between 4 characters who have unique abilities)
-Earthworm Jim (shoot things or use Jim's head as a whip)
-Rocky Rodent (in this game the powerups are weird hairstyles that come from spray cans)
-Magical Quest (starts as typical platformer but each level centers around the new abilities you unlock)
-Ristar (his arms stretch to grab enemies and swing around. At certain places he can swing fast and, once you release, fly around the stage
-Umihara Kawase (part platformer part puzzle game where you use a fishing rod as a grappling hook)
-Dynamite Headdy (the character's head is a weapon that he throws, can be powered up, and also can be used to get to places)
-Pac Land (arcade game that's a 2D platformer, the gimmick is you mash the left or right button to move, how quickly you press them determines how fast you move and you press up to jump)