Hey look!  Cranes!!!

Awesome

gamingeek said:

Shut up the both of you and concentrate on Foolz's sig. I just noticed it, why is there a dude with a chefs hat on his nads?

For modesty's sake. There's a chef hat covering both their genitals, let's just forget that one of them is wearing underpants. if he wasn't the joke probably wouldn't wokr...probably.

Now that the magnificent awesomeness of Cranes, has settled another heated dispute.

I'd like to see this thread back on subject as it is something that interests me.  Platformers ... How do you feel about the genre now?  How did you used to feel years ago?  What has changed?  What has remained the same?  What are some of your favourites of the genre...  Classics and/or contemporary.  Which generation's/console's platformers are your favourites?

Most recently started playing Tower of Shadow.  It's a puzzle platformer.  Really enjoying it so far, except for the combat which is completely shot.  I also made the mistake of opting to play on difficult which I suspect only makes the combat harder (enemies take more hits) as I don't see how the level design or environmental puzzles can change according to difficulty.

bugsonglass said:

Now that the magnificent awesomeness of Cranes, has settled another heated dispute.

I'd like to see this thread back on subject as it is something that interests me.  Platformers ... How do you feel about the genre now?  How did you used to feel years ago?  What has changed?  What has remained the same?  What are some of your favourites of the genre...  Classics and/or contemporary.  Which generation's/console's platformers are your favourites?

Most recently started playing Tower of Shadow.  It's a puzzle platformer.  Really enjoying it so far, except for the combat which is completely shot.  I also made the mistake of opting to play on difficult which I suspect only makes the combat harder (enemies take more hits) as I don't see how the level design or environmental puzzles can change according to difficulty.

N64 will always be my favourite generation for platformers, Mario 64 was the big landmark 3D game, then Rare did some good stuff too. Even though Wii probably has better platformers, N64 was at the right point in my life where it will always be fondly remembered.

I think what I've gathered from the years is that even now, everybody still looks to mario to define, popularise and evolve the genre. He is like a platform gaming design mega star.

I'm also sad that the Rare style of platformer is so under utilised and some people even hate it. Apart from Epic Mickey I haven't played anything like Rare's good old days.

bugsonglass said:

The whole N64/PS1 era was something I largely missed out on when it was happening.

Partly because of a tragedy in my personal life and partly my going away to study meant that I stayed away from games for about 3-4 years around the turn of the century.  I bought an N64 some years ago and all of the games I was interested (one by one on ebay) but as I have said many times before all of that was stolen.

As it stands I'm afraid I have yet to experience games like Banjo Kazooie, Banjo Tooie, Conker, Donkey Kong 64 as well as the good Crash and Spyro games etc

I'm not even sure exactly what you refer to when you say "that style of platforming".  Do you mean less actual jumping from platform to platform and falling to your death and more sort of questing and adventuring?

Basically people wanted to copy Mario 64, but couldn't really replicate the platforming design so took the hunt for stars concept and made levels where you hunted for objects. Lots of collecting, some jumping but mainly to traverse environments rather than to use skill or get better at it. They then used mascot type characters. It's sort of like what happened in 2D when the original SMB came out.

So Genesis and SNES come a close second for me, as platformers made up most of those systems library. And then you had the shooting platform games too like contra and cybernator.

Snow Bros, Bubble Bobble, Joe & Mac, Toki, The New Zealand Story, that other one with the dudes dressed like bug versions of Tingle throwing stuff like, uh, leaves... Shame many of those never got sequels, some are awesome.

Since Vader mentioned it, if anyone did not play DK Jungle Beat either on the GC or the New Play Control version for the Wii, you've got to pick it up. That's as solid of a platformer as I've ever played and it was one of my favorite titles of last year. I think those damned bongos make people skeptical of it (as it did me), and kept people away from it. Shame though because it's absolutely brilliant.

gamingeek said:

robio said:

Since Vader mentioned it, if anyone did not play DK Jungle Beat either on the GC or the New Play Control version for the Wii, you've got to pick it up. That's as solid of a platformer as I've ever played and it was one of my favorite titles of last year. I think those damned bongos make people skeptical of it (as it did me), and kept people away from it. Shame though because it's absolutely brilliant.

But I heard the new play control version has you waggling to control it in simulated drum beats?

Only in a few select places. During boss fights and at the end of levels to collect bonus bananas you simulate it with the waggle with the nunchuks and wiimote. If I recall correctly waggle is used a little for some jumping as well, but most of the controls have just been mapped to make it feel like a normal game.  If  you haven't played the original you'd really never guess you'd need bongos for it.

Iga_Bobovic said:

Hey it is Mammoet! The crane to the right has superlift, awesome!

I was wondering how long it would take someone to notice this. I was wondering if ANYONE would get it, other than you.

Foolz said:

N64 generation platformers and no mention of Oddworld?

No Spyro, no Crash Bandicoot? No Gekko...>_>

Fanboys! :'(

You just listed all the shit ones.

Oh yeah, I forgot about Rayman 2, that was good.