You can have a story, but it isn't a defining feature of a platfomer.

When I go into an RPG, I want a story alright and its a defining feature.

I disagree. I think you, and many others (if not the vast majority) THINK you can't because you've been conditioned by developers who decide not to include a story in their game for one reason or another. They've been doing it so long that people just assume they don't have the ability to put in dialogue, storyline progressing cutscenes, transitional information (for example: After Mario beats a level... *Now that Mario and friends have conquered the giant wario machine, they must now get to the heart of dinasour planet to save Fox* which would lead into the NEXT level). It seriously would not be hard to do these three things alone AT ALL and by doing them bam you have a story that can be pretty decent!

That really isn't considered story...

Just dialogue fluff.

What are you talking about? The story in this game is amazing. Donkey Kong's Island home island IS INVADED BY VIKINGS.

VIKINGS.

I don't understand. What more do you want? The story in this game is told through visuals and music. Story should NOT get in the way of gameplay. Ever. It is why many modern games that have a heavy narrative fail. This game succeeds however, because it tells a story in the levels. World 5 is a perfect example of this. We learn a lot about the fruit producing factory. What the factory makes, what the fruit looks like. The game doesn't tell us explicitly what's going on because that would be bad storytelling in the medium of video games.

Also, remember 5-2? That penguin on the machine? We really saw the desperation of the Vikings. They were absolutely DESTROYING the factory, and they didn't care. They are afraid of Donkey Kong, and don't want him to get back to his island, and will at any costs try and stop him.

This is how you do story in video games.

NO CUTSCENES.

NO DIALOGUE.

Through the visuals and sound in the actual gameplay.

I actually kinda know what you mean. I don't value story much myself, but take Mario Galaxy, for example. Having some sort of overarching narrative, with the storybooks and whatnot, did give me a certain level of investment in the game and it's world over something like, say, DKCR or Kirby. Beatbuddy is giving me the same feeling. I doubt I'd be enjoying it as much if it weren't for the dialogue and characters, unimportant as they may seem with a game like that.

That said, I definitely wouldn't take more that a couple points(out of 100) off of a gameplay focused title over something as mostly irrelevant as story. While some decent storytelling definitely does improve a game, all you need to do is think back to Mario Sunshine to see that having no storyline is a heck of a lot better than having one that's complete ass. Actually, the same goes for voice acting.

I'll add to that and say that a game that focuses entirely on gameplay with no story to speak of is much preferable to a game which focuses on storyline too much, sacrificing playability for atmosphere, or "realism," imo.

This is great, I laughed so hard.

Again, not to offend but if those are your examples of good stories in video games then we'll never agree. They feature a few of the required elements such as original settings and interesting characters but I would never read their novelizations, let alone call them great. The best examples of good stories in video games that I can think of are adventure games like Grim Fandango and adventure games are simply awful in terms of gameplay. The only title that I can think of that strikes a balance between gameplay and story with any real success is The Last of Us. It was hardly the best game I have ever played or the best story I have ever encountered but it managed to do both adequately, something I have not encountered elsewhere.

Are you Jamie Hyneman? ;p

Sounds like it's not a good game!

Contest it all you want. It still remains a fact. 100% of the time people say that there are videogames with great stories they acts as if there are no objective standards for good story telling. When they say "This story is great" they mean: "I really enjoyed this story". In the real world however, there are standards both for story telling, and for game design. Furthemore, these standards are in direct conflict on many fronts. Most easily seen in the linear structure of stories vs the interactivity of a videogame. This chasm can not be crossed, and any attempt to do so will necessarily mean that one or the other has to compromise it's structure, or as is most often the case when people try to make a story driven videogame: they are both compromised.