| Platformer |
| These games place the player on an uneven playing field, causing the terrain itself to become part of the challenge, sometimes causing the play area to become the most devious enemy. The game's goals (like finding an exit, finding a series of items, defeating enemies, etc.) must be achieved while getting to areas (or platforms) of different heights and travelling over gaps in the platforms. These areas are usually reached through jumping, climbing or swinging on ropes. Tricky play field layouts seem to be rooted to the mazes in earlier games like Pac-Man. This style of game became famous due to the original 1981 Donkey Kong arcade game by Nintendo, but its popularity grew throughout the decade and beyond, being one of the few genres of the Golden Age of Video Games to fully thrive in 3-D. |
| Game list: |
| Alex Kidd and the Enchanted Castle (Genesis), Altered Beast (Genesis), Batman (NES), Bionic Commando (NES), Black Tiger (arc), BurgerTime (arcade), CastleVania (SotN), Clash at Demonhead, Elevator Action (arcade), ESWAT (arcade), Magic Sword, Mario Bros., Mappy, Metroid (NES), Ninja Gaiden (NES), Pitfall! (2600), the Revenge of Shinobi (Genesis), Rolling Thunder 2, Super Mario Bros., Strider (arcade) |
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