ĭonkey Kong spawned a number of other games with a mix of running, jumping, and vertical traversal, a novel genre that did not match the style of games that came before it, leaving journalists and writers to offer their own terms. Miyamoto commonly used the term "athletic game" to refer to Donkey Kong and later games in the genre, such Super Mario Bros. Shigeru Miyamoto originally called Donkey Kong a "running/jumping/climbing game" while developing it. Various names were used in the years following the release of the first established title in the genre, Donkey Kong (1981). Due to the relative simplicity of the controls, this kind of games is best suited for mobile devices, and has become very popular in recent years. Simple logical puzzles to resolve and skill trials to overcome are another common element in the genre.Ī more modern variant of platform games (generally 3D scrolling), called "runners", have the main character always moving forward at high speed while the player must direction it properly to not make it fall or crash against obstacles, and manage to reach checkpoints on time. Usually the level order is pre-determined, but some games also allow players to navigate freely throughout the game world, or may feature different paths to take at certain points. Most games of this genre consist of multiple levels of increasing difficulty, that may also be interleaved by boss encounters, where the character has to defeat a particularly dangerous enemy in order to progress. Through the various areas of the game world, player may be able to collect items and powerups that can come in handy for different situations, and give the main character new abilities for overcoming adversities. Many platform games have environmental obstacles which kill the player character upon contact, such as lava pits or bottomless chasms. Falling from considerable height often causes damage or death. In some games, the trajectory of a jump is fixed, but others it can be altered in mid-air. Jumping is central to the genre, though there are exceptions such as Nintendo's Popeye (1982). The most common movement options in the genre are walking, running, jumping, attacking, and climbing. Typical platforming gameplay tends to be very dynamic and challenges a player's reflexes, timing, and dexterity with controls. These games are either presented from the side view, using two-dimensional movement, or in 3D with the camera placed either behind the main character or in isometric perspective. In 2006, the genre experienced a decline in popularity, representing a 2% market share as compared to 15% in 1998 however, the genre still exists in the commercial environment, with a number of games selling in the millions of units.Ī platform game requires the player to manoeuvre their character across platforms, to reach a goal, while confronting enemies and avoiding obstacles along the way. While commonly associated with console gaming, there have been many prominent platform games released for video arcades, as well as for handheld game consoles and home computers.ĭuring the peak of platform games' popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s, platform games were estimated to consist of between a quarter and a third of all console games, but have since been supplanted by first-person shooters. Games where jumping is automated completely, such as 3D games in The Legend of Zelda series, fall outside of the genre. Other acrobatic maneuvers may factor into the gameplay as well, such as climbing, swinging from objects such as vines or grappling hooks, jumping off walls, air dashing, gliding through the air, being shot from cannons or bouncing from springboards or trampolines.
Platform games are characterized by their level design featuring uneven terrain and suspended platforms of varying height that requires use of the player character's abilities (such as jumping and climbing) to navigate the player's environment and reach their goal.
Platform games (often simplified as platformer or jump 'n' run games) are a video game genre and subgenre of action games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in a rendered environment.