Let me take you back to a simpler time. The summer of 1998 where I, a bright eyed child of 3, had been introduced to the game that would change my life for ever. A platformer about a simple bear and a sarcastic bird, whose adventures deep inside a witch’s lair would make me fall in love not only with gaming but with the genre that is the 3D platformer.
That console generation and the one which followed it marked a golden age for polygonal platformers, with series like Crash Bandicoot, Banjo Kazooie, Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet and Clank as well as Sly Cooper showing how fresh and exciting the genre could be while old stalwarts like Mario and Sonic tried their luck in the third dimension, to varying degrees of success. My childhood mind soaked up all of the collectables, lava-themed levels and technicolour bosses as the 3D platformer/collect ‘em up took the gaming world by storm, with Nintendo, Rareware, Naughty Dog and Pandemic leading the charge.
I mean look at that! Isn’t that just beautiful…
As the HD generation loomed on the horizon, something went terribly wrong. 3D platforming was abandoned, as the wave of gritty modern shooters knocked the once proud platformer from its oddly shaped pedestal. The bright colours (which look so much better in HD) and powerups were replaced with photorealistic graphics and dull single player campaigns. While Nintendo and Sega continue to fight the good fight of collection and jumping, other studios left the genre behind.
Crash was passed onto different developers and later declared missing in action, Spyro was absorbed into the greater Skylanders franchise and the most heinous crime of all, that legendary bear and bird duo was stripped of their flight pads and talon trots and sent off to build vehicles instead. The occasional Ratchet and Clank game popped up, Sega tried to make Sonic work in 3D but the magic was gone.
This is what replaced those multicoloured paradises. I think I might cry.
The once proud 3D platformer had been set out to pasture while its older brother, the 2D platformer went from strength to strength with the successful revival of franchises like Rayman or breakout indie hits like Braid and Fez, rubbing salt in a polygonal wound. It seemed like all was lost, the noble genre of double jumps and annoying underwater levels seemed to be at an end.
However, there is still hope for all you lovers of 3D platformers as they are starting to return to their former glory. Nintendo’s recent Super Mario 3D World reminded many people of the sheer fun and spectacle of the platformer while the indie game A Hat in Time seeks to rekindle the magic that I experienced in front of my N64 as a kid, with things to collect, bosses to defeat and even Grant Kirkhope, the composer of Banjo Kazooie, making the music.
Our hope for a better platforming world rests with you, Hat Kid.
Glorious rumours of a new Banjo game, as well as the return of the foul mouthed Conker swirl around the internet and the subtle nods made by Sony in one PS4 trailer hint at a possible Crash revival so hopefully, the dream is not dead.
Let’s hope that this is the start of a new golden age, with as many odd collectables and desert worlds as the last, along with innovative uses of current gen technology and more amazing level themes. Now excuse me, I’m going to complete Banjo Tooie for the 18th time.
