Are platformers on their last leg?

[PC!]

Platforming games were king back in the day. But nowadays, they appear to be quite rare. Wii has several, the most notable being the forthcoming Super Mario Galaxy. Sony continues to phase out platformers as the Sly Cooper and Jak series seem to be over as their creators move on to other genres. XBox has platformers that are mostly available on other systems. DS still has platformers now and then, but not many.

So, is the platforming genre just about dead?

[Eidan]

First person shooters have become the new platformer, as the gateway genre for new customers. This isn't just exclusive to the PS360. Even the Wii can be seen advertising the way it can "revolutionize" shooters.

[Shawn Hopkins]

Platforming games were king back in the day. But nowadays, they appear to be quite rare. Wii has several, the most notable being the forthcoming Super Mario Galaxy. Sony continues to phase out platformers as the Sly Cooper and Jak series seem to be over as their creators move on to other genres. XBox has platformers that are mostly available on other systems. DS still has platformers now and then, but not many.

So, is the platforming genre just about dead?

They aren't a big thing now, they haven't been gone long enough to say they are dead forever. I mean, Psychonauts and Sly 3, stellar platformers, just came out a couple of years ago. Super Paper Mario just came out and Super Mario Galaxy is coming, and Sony will put a new spin on the genre with its upcoming Little Big Planet.

So, no, too early for doom and gloom. They've just taken their place along other types of game like the FPS that have become popular or technically possible since they ruled the scene.

[sdp]

No, most 2D games are still basically platformers. As long as there is still 2D platformers will exist. With that said there are still a lot of 3D platformers, its still a very big genre, its not going away anytime soon.

FPS might just go away one day. Remember shooter games from the 90s? its basically a dead genre now yet they were everywhere back then.

[Shawn Hopkins]

No, most 2D games are still basically platformers. As long as there is still 2D platformers will exist. With that said there are still a lot of 3D platformers, its still a very big genre, its not going away anytime soon.

FPS might just go away one day. Remember shooter games from the 90s? its basically a dead genre now yet they were everywhere back then.

Space-style shooters had a little comeback recently with Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, for the 360. I played it today and it was awesome.

[Artimus Gigan]

Naughty Dog and Insomniac are both working on two big platformer based games. Meanwhile we also got two handheld instalments of fully 3d Platformers Ratchet and Clank from Insomniac and Daxter from Naughty dog. The Jak series really isn't over it's just on hiatus.

Nintendo is releasing another Mario Platformer for the Wii and the DS is getting some platformers as well

Also lest we not forget that Tomb Raider and God of War are also derived from platformer origins and both have had two good recent installations.

Crash and Spyro are still having new installations made.

the only other recent platforming series that hasn't checked in with a New Installment is Sly Cooper


everything is fine

[PC!]

Well...perhaps I was being a little overdramatic. Still, even thus far in this generation, we have significantly less platformers on the way than we did in the PS2/GC/XBox generation. Then again, I suppose it's a little early in this gen to judge for sure. Hopefully we'll be seeing more as time goes on.

I guess it just seems with all the hype for the latest shooters and party games, platformers are lost in the shuffle. At times you have to dig to find the platforming games.

[Artimus Gigan]

Well...perhaps I was being a little overdramatic. Still, even thus far in this generation, we have significantly less platformers on the way than we did in the PS2/GC/XBox generation. Then again, I suppose it's a little early in this gen to judge for sure. Hopefully we'll be seeing more as time goes on.

Jak 1 didn't come out for PS2 well into the system's first year and Ratchet and Clank came later

Xbox only had Blinx and Gamecube didn't even have Super Mario Sunshine until much much later

Allready we have two platformers for PS3 to be released within a similar time frame and a Mario game that's coming this year

these things take time to get started

[danreyes1]

Well if they are, there goes my favourite genre. I don't like shooters or sports games at all, and I'm not too fond of RPGs, so if platformers disappear altogether, so does a large portion of my videogame playing.

But The DS seems to be doing a good job of keeping the genre alive. And the likes of Mario and Sonic will always be platformers at heart.