The Gamer's Quarter

Ketch · . Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 420

Is mario 64 really a "3d platform" game? Well, everyone says that it is so that is what it gets called. Personally though I don't see it as a platform game, to me a platform game is about getting from the start of the level to the end of the level (y'know Super Mario Bros, Donkey Kong Country, Cool Spot, Earthworm Jim). But in Mario 64. you don't get this linearity, what I see as being a '3d platformer' are games like Crash Bandicoot, where you are stuck on a linear track.

What I see Mario 64 as being is an "action-adventure", in that it gives you tasks / puzzles that also require a bit of thought. The key thing is that it frames these tasks in the 'running and jumping' controls of a platform game. So it is an action adventure as interpreted via a base of "platforming".

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

Um, okay. I am not really sure what to do with this. To me it seems like you're just looking for a name change to something more apt, which is fine, but I just don't know where that takes us. Okay, I should be writing something trite and in Russian right now and not checking up on these forums.
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dessgeega · Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 8:58 am Post subject:

thread needs more jumping flash.
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Ketch · . Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 420

I dunno, it has always just seemed wrong to me. When I heard about Mario 64 a "3d platformer" I laughed at the idea, imagining a game that would be like (Crash Bandicoot) even though I had never seen that game at the time. I thought well, that will be rubbish. But! when I saw the screenshots with the giant mushrooms and the previews I thought, well that looks quite good. I was kind of blown away by Mario 64 when I eventually played it. I still don't think that 3Dplatform game is the right term for what it is. And I just had to mention it somewhere.

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

dessgeega · Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 9:20 am Post subject:

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

Now would be a great time for any of you in the know to tell an uninformed gamer what Jumping Flash is and how he can play it. Just to be clear, I am that shamefully uninformed gamer.

And I am sure that Mario 64 really did rock Dracko's world and that he is living a lie.
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dessgeega · Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 10:17 am Post subject:

jumping flash is a first-person platformer. and it's really swell. it's a playstation game (there's a sequel, to make up for the fact that the first game is so short).

you play a robot bunny who can jump the height of a skyscraper. the game sets you down in these huge stages and asks you to go find a bunch of rocket packs. (they look like carrots.) did i mention you can jump really, really high? the camera will tilt down when you jump so you can see where you're landing (like in metroid prime).

every so often you'll have to blunder through a stage from doom, as if the game is a first-person shooter and not a game about jumping really really high. they're annoying. the bosses are pretty annoying too. but press through and eventually they'll let you jump! jump! jump! again.
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

Thanks for the hot tip, Dess!

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

I'm barely 20! ;_;

(Though i could a cane. It could go with my Russian greycoat.)
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helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

Let's be honest, here: what doesn't go with a Russian greycoat?
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Lackey · . Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Posts: 1107 Location: Canada

squidlarkin · . Joined: 10 Dec 2005 Posts: 100

A 3D platformer is a 3D game that involves lots of jumping on platforms.

I'm pretty sure Mario 64 fits this definition.

Swimmy · . Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 990 Location: Fairfax, VA

Even if Mario 64 is more freeform than its 2D predecessors, it's still distinctly platformy to me. There are attempts here and there to make the world look more, uh, sensible? But for the most part the game is still full of videogamey floating blocks and switches and other weirdness. In other words, platforms. Contrast with Super Mario Sunshine which almost completely separates the two spheres into Real World and Secret Levels, the latter being pure platformy goodness.
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helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

wourme · . Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 362 Location: Maridia

I've never liked Mario 64. Just that attract mode with his face looking around was enough to turn me away, but I eventually did try the game and quit after half an hour or so. I'm a big fan of many of Miyamoto's projects (such as the 3D Zeldas), but Mario in 3D just didn't appeal to me at all.

Jumping Flash 2 (the first one I came across) was what convinced me that I could actually enjoy 3D platformers (or polygon-based games in general, really). Even if I haven't liked very many since.

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

Mario 64 is one of the few 3D platformers I enjoyed! I loved the worlds, the tasks and the way you could just experiment, explore and fool around like in a virtual playground. I'd like to see the virtual playground element taking further to be honest, with all different objects to play with and that react with each other in interesting and fun ways.

Then again, I'd also like to see a game just made up from those Bowser/Bonus levels.

Jumping Flash! is also rad. I'm stil ltrying to find a copy of the japanese only third game, which apparently was a bit different from the first two. Also, it had pocketstation support.

Tablesaw · . Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 303 Location: LACAUSA

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

Lackey · . Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Posts: 1107 Location: Canada

Maybe you could say 3D platformers are planar but with multiple planes. You still have to be on a surface for the game to work. I don't know what I'm saying.
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helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

This isn't really on topic, and may overlap a little bit with the "Input as Metaphor" article from TGQ 3 or 4, but I would like to say that one of the things Mario 64 excelled at was its camera, or more accurately, its cameraman.

The idea of the entire absurd adventure being a newscast or documentary really appeals to me, and entirely undermines the idea of stories driven by cutscenes because it implies that the narrative consists entirely of what you do. And the loose, active camera that swings around Mario at highly unconventional angles (especially now with RE4 style behind the back 3rd pers. perspectives becoming the textbook way to present a game) conveys a sense of Lakitu's uncertainty, of his curiosity to capture I'll finish this later because i have to go so everyone look for an edit.
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kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227