Glossary - Platform Game

Another genre of a video game is a platform game that is also a subgenre of action games. In this game, a player controls the character and makes it run, climb, or jump. The main goal is to avoid all barriers and traps that can cause you to fail in the game. The jump button is the most popular component of this game; a touch screen is also becoming more common. 

History of Platform Games

Earlier platform games, which mainly included climbing and jumping, appeared in the late 1970s in the gaming industry. As the first platform game, it remains controversial whether it is Universal’s Space Panic or Nichibutsu’s Crazy Climber. While the former allowed players only to fail, Crazy Climber included vertically-scrolling high buildings. However, the first video game, which allowed gamers to jump over barriers and run away from traps, is Donkey Kong that is the arcade game of Nintendo. 

Subgenres of Platform Games

The platform game consists of seven primary subgenres: puzzle, run-and-gun, isometric, cinematic, endless running, single screen, and adventure-platform game. 

Puzzle-platform games, such as Wario Land series, resemble puzzles because of challenges in the game structure. The earliest samples of these games are Door Door (Enix) and Doki Doki Penguin Land (Sega). 

Contra, Gunstar Heroes, Metal Slug are the most famous example of run-and-gun platform games. Another term to name this platform game is platform shooters. It is because players can both jump on a platform and shoot in multi-directions. Additionally, since these subgenres contain very linear and one-way structure, they are very challenging for gamers.

While cinematic platform games have a small size, they are very different from others. The contrasting side is that this subgenre includes real-life movements instead of unreal ones. This feature makes players quickly think and decide the right options to move. Mario Bros is considered the first example of Single Screen platformer (US, Europe), or comical action games (Japan). These games have just a single screen and non-scrolling levels.

Isometric platformers, such as Congo Bong, Sabre Wulf, have a 3D environment based on 2D graphics in the isometric projection. Another subgenre is a platform-adventure game that includes discover and explore areas by using different abilities. Unlike other platform games, endless running allows players only to run as far as possible from dangers or obstacles.