/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.1387234]

Hey /vr/

What are your favorite obstacles, rooms, enemies, etc. in platformers? Do like watching out for bottomless pits? Do you like massive enemies flying around? Do you like multiple characters?

Tell me what you like to find most in platformers.

[Anonymous No.1387245]

different ways to attack

[Anonymous No.1387270]

Areas that force you to move continuously for short bursts, for example crumbling platforms.

Only if you can see all obstacles incoming long in advance, otherwise it's garbage.

[Anonymous No.1387272]

Vertical levels.

[Anonymous No.1387282]

Some vertical platforming.
Midbosses.

[Anonymous No.1387283]

Ten trillion boss fights

[Anonymous No.1387284]

Originality.

[Anonymous No.1387301]

Enemy variety.

[Anonymous No.1387302]

I love a good platformer with lots of creepy/freakish monsters for me to blast away, preferably with some satisfying death animations. Pic related, Metal Slug X.

I'm just a sucker for monsters in general.

[Anonymous No.1387336]

Platforming likes:
>ledges you can grab and pull yourself up onto
>springboard-type jumps
>down+jump = hop to platform below you

Platforming HATES
>autoscrolling bottomless pit platform jumping
>trap floors with no visual cues, and no ingame-tools to find them
>A BIRD/BAT/MEDUSA SPAWN OVER EVERY LONG JUMP ACROSS A PIT
>pixel perfect jumping requirements with shitty hit detection

[Anonymous No.1387339]

Small horizontal spaces with lots of stuff to push you off. Low ceiling jumps with death spikes involved. Vertical drops that require you to weave around hazards.

I'm a very high risk/reward type person. And no, I don't like those indie platformers. They're too predictable and plain.

[Anonymous No.1387452]

OP here with a bump. I really enjoy double tap abilities like Alucard's double jump or Sonic 3's shields.

[Anonymous No.1387478]

I like games like Kid Icarus. I dunno why, but I do. I'd love to see another 2D game in that franchise but more Uprising is good too.

[Anonymous No.1387525]

>>1387339
>I'm a very high risk/reward type person
But the things you describe are just boring stock 'hard platforming design' stuff that everyone has seen ten million times in ten million different 'hard platformers' already.
It's not very rewarding when it's so basic and derivative. It mostly just feels like a chore.

>I don't like those indie platformers. They're too predictable and plain.
That's because ALL THEY ARE is EXACTLY what you want, there's literally nothing else to them, and what you want is predictable and plain.

[Anonymous No.1387541]

>>1387525

I like those design ideas, but not when the whole game is designed around them. You're making a bit of a generalization there.

[Anonymous No.1387562]

>>1387234
Multiple characters is a favorite of mine, even if I know it's largely optional. Good enemy variety is a must no matter what though. And creative bosses too.

[Anonymous No.1387606]

Secrets. it is all about the secrets.
In simple terms, platformers generally have a goal that is achieved by moving left to right, so anything to get you off that beaten path feels excellent. When you are playing SMB and you find a pipe that takes you to a room with coins or you travel along the top of a level on a whim and you find a warp zone. These moments are some of my favorite, especially walk-through-less.
The other day i played Metroid and was so lost i looked up a map and was so upset with myself. Half the fun is discovering new shit by your own wits.

[Anonymous No.1387651]

>>1387283
This. Especially when half of them are at the end of the game.

But seriously though...

I love it when sidescrollers switch things up and add vertical scrolling stages/levels/sections. I remember always having a special place in my heart for SMB2 as a kid, and I think that opening vertical drop is why.

[Anonymous No.1387670]

>>1387234

It's all about enemy placement to me. Enemies that change how I have to approach a jump or enemies who are part of the platforming themselves (koopa paratroopa etc.) are A+ #1 Top Shelf shit.

[Anonymous No.1387695]

I tend to love platformers that have a simple to use but very difficult to master secondary mechanic which has extensive and varied utility throughout the entire game (sometimes to the point that it's even more important than the actual platforming itself).

Examples:
>Sonic's rolling and pinball physics
>Ristar's stretchy arms
>Mischief Makers' grabbing/shaking/throwing
>Klonoa's grabbing/throwing
>Dynamite Headdy's head shooting/alternate heads
>Yoshi's Island's egg making/throwing
>Rocket Knight Adventures' rocket pack
>Kirby's enemy eating/spitting/special abilities
>Gimmick!'s star shot thing with physics
>Metal Storm's gravity switching
>Umihara Kawase's rubbery grappling hook
>Rocket: Robot on Wheels' tractor beam
>Chameleon Twist's prehensile tongue/enemy shooting

It's especially good if the mechanic can be used in tandem with the platforming, or just generally helps with navigating the levels.

I should also mention that if the secondary mechanic is just a basic attack and that's pretty much it, like the shooting in Mega Man or the whipping in Castlevania, then it doesn't do much for me.
That said, I love me some run 'n' guns. I feel like those are basically shmups with a jump button much more than they are platformers with a shoot button, though.

[Anonymous No.1387704]

flow
platformers are all about that flow
flow leading into a natural speed that has you zooming across the landscape, assuming you don't fuck up

[Anonymous No.1387845]

>>1387695
Excelent examples.

[Anonymous No.1388030]

bamp

[Anonymous No.1388978]

hate underwater levels

[Anonymous No.1389000]

>>1388978
Underwater timed escort mission on rails

[Anonymous No.1389017]

>>1389000
>Timed forced stealth multiple escort item collecting water labyrinth levels filled with invisible walls with FPS platforming, backtracking, oxygen and stamina bars that make warning noises as they decrease, unskippable 2 hour tutorial intro level, unskippable in game hints, unskippable in game text with the option to repeat everything you just read being the default option, 50 digit case sensitive manual entry save system, constant button matching minigames in order to do a common action, jump button mashing in order to swim/stay afloat, one hit kill hazards, lock on targeting where you can't choose your target and can target corpses, NPC's are controlled by a microphone and only have one line that they repeat every 20 seconds, and limited oxygen with instant game over for friendly fire, heavy bloom, one enemy model for the entire game that can only be knocked out by your weapons for 30 seconds until they revive, EA Trax Soundtrack, in game advertisements, randomly added objectives that you aren't told about, and horribly placed checkpoints with limited saves played on co-op over XBox Live. There is a boss fight at the end of every level that requires an unspecified item from earlier in the level to beat and the NPC's fight in and aren't allowed to die, but are killed off in a cutscene directly after the boss fight ends. Every time you or an NPC dies you have to watch the death cutscene and every time you respawn you can't skip the respawn cutscene.

[Anonymous No.1389024]

>>1387301
This is a big one. Most games today seem to have no more than 5 enemy types and it pisses me off.

[Anonymous No.1389035]

Like:
Bottomless pits
Movement on walls and ceilings
Flying enemies
Springs

Strongly dislike:
Autoscrollers
Water levels

Mild dislike:
Ice physics
Timing puzzles (eg. Megaman blocks)

[Anonymous No.1389047]

>>1389017
>limited oxygen
Limited oxygen isn't bad because of the time limit. Strict time limits make platformers much better. Limited oxygen is bad because it means you're in a water level.

[Anonymous No.1389197]

Secrets, especially going through hidden passageways in walls, running past a goal and finding something, warp zones, and all that shit. Any good platformer needs a bunch of secrets

favorites are Skullmonkeys for PS1, Captain Claw for PC, Commander Keen, Jazz Jackrabbit 2, Donkey Kong Country and Mario 3

[Anonymous No.1389732]

>>1389047
Water levels aren't always bad though.

[Anonymous No.1391291]

bump

[Anonymous No.1391435]

>I like
1. Blocks that can be destroyed, whether you have the weapons to do it right away or have to come back later.

2. Pits that you assume would be instant death, but actually have secret items and power-ups if you fall in.

3. Flying enemies that you can jump on top of and hitch a ride.

4. Walls that look solid that you can walk through.

5. Environments that can be changed, like a floor of oil that turns into fire if you shoot it, or water that can be frozen and walked upon with freezing shots.

6. Alternate dimensions, like the sub-space in SMB2.

>I HATE

1. Time limits that become a burden or stop you from fully exploring a level.

2. Repeating mazes, like 7-4 or SMB1.

3. Respawn rates such as that in Ninja Gaiden or Fester's Quest. Kill an enemy and it comes back in 2 seconds.

4. Autoscrolling stages where you can get crushed by the screen itself.

[Anonymous No.1391448]

>>1387234
Plenty of different abilities, to keep it fresh. That's why I like Kirby and Mega Man.

[Anonymous No.1391543]

>>1387704
This is basically why I like Ninja Gaiden, since achieving this is the only way to beat the levels.