I do love a good 2D platformer. The best ones manage to lob new ideas at you with every stage, but even then (with - admittedly - a fistful of exceptions) there are certain tropes and conceits which seem to appear in every single one of them.
I've never understood this about games; why - just because a game has a certain style - do they insist on adopting ideas, visual cues, and gameplay from all the other games which came before? Yeah, alright, they generally do their own thing too... but from Donkey Kong, through Pitfall, Miner 49er, Pac-Land and the watershed that was Super Mario Bros., ideas were introduced which were - and there's no less accusatory way of saying this - stolen by all which followed.
Of course, there have been exceptions - typically, when the aesthetic is more realistic than cartoon animal - but, for what it's worth, here are the 10 biggest cliches in platform game design.
I've never understood this about games; why - just because a game has a certain style - do they insist on adopting ideas, visual cues, and gameplay from all the other games which came before? Yeah, alright, they generally do their own thing too... but from Donkey Kong, through Pitfall, Miner 49er, Pac-Land and the watershed that was Super Mario Bros., ideas were introduced which were - and there's no less accusatory way of saying this - stolen by all which followed.
Of course, there have been exceptions - typically, when the aesthetic is more realistic than cartoon animal - but, for what it's worth, here are the 10 biggest cliches in platform game design.
OPENING LEVEL WITH BLUE SKIES AND LUSH FOLIAGE
It's the law, kids: platform games MUST begin with an opening stage set in some idyllic countryside or woodland, area.
Blue skies, green grass, trees, flowers... Now that I'm writing this, I'm wondering whether this is subconsciously - or maybe consciously - inspired by The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. You know: because Bilbous and Freddo started out in The Shire before heading on their big adventure.
Either way, do not be fooled: this opening level is no safer than anywhere else. Yeah, you might get a few question marks scattered around, which tell you what to do... but the local fauna will still wound you if you so much as brush your stomach against it.
Imagine if the real world was like that; if everything you encountered made you leap up into the air with an audible shriek, cause lacerations across your entire body, and make you drop your wallet or purse.
"Oh no! I bumped into a kitten! Shrieeeeeeek! My pennies!! My travelcard!!!"
Blue skies, green grass, trees, flowers... Now that I'm writing this, I'm wondering whether this is subconsciously - or maybe consciously - inspired by The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. You know: because Bilbous and Freddo started out in The Shire before heading on their big adventure.
Either way, do not be fooled: this opening level is no safer than anywhere else. Yeah, you might get a few question marks scattered around, which tell you what to do... but the local fauna will still wound you if you so much as brush your stomach against it.
Imagine if the real world was like that; if everything you encountered made you leap up into the air with an audible shriek, cause lacerations across your entire body, and make you drop your wallet or purse.
"Oh no! I bumped into a kitten! Shrieeeeeeek! My pennies!! My travelcard!!!"
SNOW LEVEL
It doesn't matter where your game is set, sooner or later you'll end up in an ice world. And that means this: platforms which are all slippery and that, even though nobody enjoys that particular gameplay notion.
Also, chances are you'll get some sort of downhill bit, where you're snowboarding, or frozen in a block of ice, or whatever. And the things you've been tasked to gather will be frozen in blocks of ice that you have to smash through before you can get to them.
And while I think about that, why do none of your enemies ever try to collect the power-ups before you do? S'stupid.
Also, chances are you'll get some sort of downhill bit, where you're snowboarding, or frozen in a block of ice, or whatever. And the things you've been tasked to gather will be frozen in blocks of ice that you have to smash through before you can get to them.
And while I think about that, why do none of your enemies ever try to collect the power-ups before you do? S'stupid.
LAVA STAGE
Yep, every platform game has to have a lava stage. Cue: spurts of erupting lava, a big lava monster thing that spits fireballs, and rafts which sail across the lava. Some games will switch out the lava stage for a level set above some manner of toxic lake. Some will have both. I care for neither.
Can't we have something new? What about a nice wetland, or tundra? And don't say "How about a level set in a castle or a toy box?", because I will elbow you in the throat.
Can't we have something new? What about a nice wetland, or tundra? And don't say "How about a level set in a castle or a toy box?", because I will elbow you in the throat.
UNDERWATER STAGE
Ugh. The worst moments in any platform game are the levels where you're forced to swim.
"Yeah, you know all that jumping and running that you've really enjoyed? Well, we're going to take all that away from you now, and put you in a level where the controls feel all wrong, and you have limited oxygen, and everything around you is deadly."
Also, again... the seas and lakes of any platform game world are even more dangerous to swim in than going for a dip in Australia. So venomous is the aquatic life that making contact with even the smallest fish will cause a medical emergency.
"Yeah, you know all that jumping and running that you've really enjoyed? Well, we're going to take all that away from you now, and put you in a level where the controls feel all wrong, and you have limited oxygen, and everything around you is deadly."
Also, again... the seas and lakes of any platform game world are even more dangerous to swim in than going for a dip in Australia. So venomous is the aquatic life that making contact with even the smallest fish will cause a medical emergency.
COLLECTIBLES
Where do the rings, and coins, and balls of wool, and musical notes come from? Why are they floating in the air? What is the significance of this? Why do you always get an extra life when you collect 100 of them?! Why are the things often hidden inside other things? Why is your character the only one concerned with collecting the things? Context is everything. Platform games have very little.
FLOATING PLATFORMS
Yeah, sure... they're called platformers, and so you expect there to be some platforms... but why are so many of them just hanging there in the air with no visible means of support? Then you get the ones that crumble or fall away a second or two after you stand on them, or the ones which move up and down of their own volition, or the ones on some sort of floating, mid-air, rail. WHY?!!?
HOW?!?
HOW?!?
DESERT STAGE
Oh yeah. The inevitable desert stage. Spiky cacti, quicksand, columns of sand erupting inexplicably from the ground; you know the drill. Frequently, running across the sand of a desert level will result in your character slowly sinking into it. Imagine if every beach was like that.
"Where's little Timmy gone?"
"He's vanished, swallowed by the sand... He must've stood still for too long..."
"Where's little Timmy gone?"
"He's vanished, swallowed by the sand... He must've stood still for too long..."
JUMPING ON A LIVING THING WILL KILL IT
Yes, fair enough. If you were able to leap twice the height of the average person, and then land atop them feet-first, you'd probably compact their spine, or something.
The question is: why is this the default method of attack in the vast majority of platform games? There's a reason why contact sports don't feature two opponents leaping repeatedly into the air, trying to land upon one another; it is not a particularly advisable form of combat. And it would look stupid.
The question is: why is this the default method of attack in the vast majority of platform games? There's a reason why contact sports don't feature two opponents leaping repeatedly into the air, trying to land upon one another; it is not a particularly advisable form of combat. And it would look stupid.
LEVELS THAT SCROLL AUTOMATICALLY
Why does this happen? Anyone got any ideas why, having previously had full control over whether you can go forwards or backwards, platform game makers will force you suddenly to keep moving ahead, lest you be trapped behind a lump of scenery? In the same sort of ballpark, you can also tag train-based levels to the arse-end of this irritating trope.
THE WEAKER END OF LEVEL BOSSES GET, THE TOUGHER THEY GET
Normally when you've been beaten up, you get weaker the more punishment you receive. Not so in platform games. When confronted with a boss, they don't weaken gradually; they get stronger, saving their most deadly attacks for those moments right before they die. They'll go red in the face, or start spitting out enemies that you've encountered earlier in the level, or suddenly acquire the ability to turn into a tornado and fire lasers out of their eyes.
To be fair, most real-world bosses - corporate CEOs and the like - can probably do this too.
To be fair, most real-world bosses - corporate CEOs and the like - can probably do this too.
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