Taken from wikipedia:
Platform game, or platformer, is a video game genre characterized by jumping to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles. It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps. The most common unifying element to these games is a jump button;...
My question, are platformers still a real genre? We easily consider a Mario and Sonic game a platformer, based off of history, but will in many case not consider Assassin's Creed, ICO and Crackdown just as viable as platformers. When things were 2D, almost everything was a platformer. Now as genres seperated themselves and games became more distinctive, it's harder to see what qualifies as a platformer. Is it really just the ability to jump from platform to platform with consequences waiting if you miss? So many games have these features and most would be considered action or action/adventure games.
There's also the question of the mascot. Most games categorized as platformers as opposed to action games typically get their title because a deformed man-thing or animal is your character. Does this hold any weight? A lot of people consider NiGHTS a platformer, but from where I stand, it's a flight game.
So for the sake of argument and/or discussion, what makes a platformer a platformer, or is this a false genre?
Tag: Became a freaking mod and a complete douche, coincidentally, at the same time.
