bouzane said:
steven787 said:
bouzane said:
steven787 said:
bouzane said:
"Super Mario Bros. invented 2-D platforming as we know it."
Sorry but both 2D platforming with and without scrolling graphics existed for years before Super Mario Bros. Sure, it was a fun game but it did not invent the genre, saying so gives credit for years of work where it isn't due. |
You're comparing Pit fall and Pac-Land to SMB? Notice the as we know it. As in Platforming as we know it where a player manipulates a charecter with a set of momentum based physics, seemless obsticles where levels have beginnings and endings, and triggered events.
(Took me 8 minutes, I'm getting rusty.)
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My point was that SMB was another incremental step forward, not a complete reinvention of the genre.
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My point was that it wasn't incremental at all. It did all those things and had style, which no other game before combined. And not many games after.
"Super Mario Bros. popularized the side scrolling genre of video games and led to many sequels in the series that built upon the same basic premise. Almost all of the game's aspects have been praised at one time or another, from its large cast of characters to a diverse set of levels. One of the most-praised aspects of the game is the precise controls. The player is able to control how high and far Mario or Luigi jumps, and how fast he can run.
The music, especially the Overworld theme, has also become one of the most recognizable pieces of music in the world."
It was so revolutionary, so far ahead of it's time, and so good that many people still play it. It makes every serious developers "influence" list.
You own atari and early NES games, you don't see difference in quality, refinement, and overall interweving of all the elements I listed unlike any game for years before or after?
Edit: I know I sound like a fanboy here, but seriously. SMB is such an important game. It was such a turning point in game design.
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Sorry but I just don't see that big of an improvement. I remember how much more I enjoyed Pitfall! then other platforming games that existed before it such as Donkey Kong. Sure, SMB was a big improvement but it wasn't the only one to have occured within the platforming genre. I loved it but I personally wouldn't call it the "turning point in game design".
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Not necesarily the first in all these things, but definitely to combine them (and the first in most)
Number of Characters
Number of settings
Level Structure, Scene, Act with relevance to gameplay.
Control over speed and height of jumps
A timer, which sped up the music
Blocks that break, bounce, or do nothing at all
Variety of Sprite sizes
Player gets bigger and smaller and pick up weapons
Bouncing shells
Enemies that have multiple behaviors
Enemies that hide in a shell and then come out.
Secret Zone within a level
Warp Zones
Number of different things the player could do, where they hit the flag pole, what time they hit it.
Multiple paths within a sidescroller
Boss Character
Alterninate game after beating
Many different triggered animations
The number of secrets in the game
Walk, Run, Jump, Swim, Ride platforms
Scale platforms, moving platforms (yes they were in DK and other games, but never in a scrolling game)
Pipes that you can go down in to access another level
Characters you can jump on, can't jump on.
Much more.
This stuff may sound silly now, but it was revolutionary to be in one game.
