Poll: Best HuCard platformers?

[PukeSter]

Pick 3 because some are more run and gun. Others are more exploratory, etc.

[CrackTiger]

I enjoy the platforming in Valis III more than these.

[gheebee]

Can't seem to get enough of New Adventure Island and have lost track of the number of times I've beaten it. Looking over the selections makes me want to give Legendary Axe another go sometime soon.

[Otaking]

Jackie Chan not on the list? it's probably my favourite Hucard platformer.

[SplatterTrigger]

Jackie Chan , New Adventure Island and Legendary Axe 2 come to mind on the NA side.

[majors]

I never considered Parasol Stars a true platformer.

[NecroPhile]

Agreed, Parasol Stars isn't really a platformer.  I still voted for it, though, along with Bonk 3 and Ninja Spirit.

[jlued686]

In my opinion, New Adventure Island is a perfect platform game. Outside of that, I voted Bonk 2 and Dragon's Curse. Hard to narrow it down to three, though.

[EmperorIng]

Agreed, Parasol Stars isn't really a platformer.  I still voted for it, though, along with Bonk 3 and Ninja Spirit.

Ha, i think there are even less platforms in Ninja Spirit than there are in Parasol Stars.

[NecroPhile]

Ha, i think there are even less platforms in Ninja Spirit than there are in Parasol Stars.

True.  For me it's more that Parasol Stars's stages are only one or two screens wide, not that it doesn't have things to jump on.

[grolt]

Parasol Stars is one of my favorite games for the system, but yeah, it doesn't really feel like a platform game, more like an old arcade game.  Really, it's more like Galaga '90 than it is a Bonk game, for instance.  Both are essentially clearing the enemies from a single screen.

I have not played the JP games, but of the NA games, Ninja Spirit, Dragon's Curse and New Adventure Island have been my favorite.  I really love the look, sound and presentation of Legendary Axe, but I find the physics (particularly platform jumping) to be really tough to get used to.  LA2 controls better but looks more bland in my opinion.  Still have yet to play Jackie Chan or Cadash, they both look great.

[LostFlunky]

Parasol Stars is a platformer, just like Donkey Kong is one of the earliest examples of a platformer...

[Pokun]

Yeah I agree, it has everything that defines a platform game. I guess it can be sorted under single-screen platform games, together with Donkey Kong and Bubble Bobble though.

[johnnykonami]

I feel like categorizing a game as a platformer, at least in my head, denotes some trickiness or danger from jumping between platforms.  Super Mario Bros. is more of a platformer than Mario Bros. because the former has difficult jumps that can be missed, pits, spikes, and other dangers in the floor that will kill you when you miss your mark.  In Mario Bros. and in Parasol Stars too, there are platforms but they exist only in order to facilitate you clearing the screen of enemies - you can't die by using them and there is no inherent difficulty in traversing them.  However, in Donkey Kong, you can die by falling off the platforms - and barrels and springs are always tripping you up to make you do just that.  Even though it's only a single screen game, it meets my above criteria for platformer more than Parasol Stars does.  The platforming element is pretty prevalent in DK.  One of my favorite C64 games, Impossible Mission, is most definitely a platformer (it's also single screen / non-scrolling).  Every room is a challenge where jumping could easily throw you into a robot (who kill you on contact) or through a hole in the floor.

I guess all I'm getting at is the platforms themselves should play a more important role to the gameplay before calling any game with platforms in it a platformer.  That's just how I think about it though, and what makes sense to me.  I tried to think of a scrolling game with innocuous platforms (won't cause you to die and/or tricky in a non lethal way) but I can't come up with one at the moment.  I'm also sure there are some exceptions you guys can think of too, but for me Parasol Stars is an amazing Action/Arcade game.

Edit:  1st vote for JJ & Jeff!  C'mon peeps, now that is a hardcore platformer!  The more I think about it, the more I wanna get a complete box and manual for my decades old loosie.  Should pick up a Sparky label and a repro box from pcenginefx when he produces them again!

[Vimtoman]

Jackie Chan's the other.

[CrackTiger]

Agreed, Parasol Stars isn't really a platformer.  I still voted for it, though, along with Bonk 3 and Ninja Spirit.

Ha, i think there are even less platforms in Ninja Spirit than there are in Parasol Stars.

Forest stage and mountain climbing stage have more legit platforming gameplay than the gameplay-on-platforms that Parasol Stars has.

[Pokun]

I feel like categorizing a game as a platformer, at least in my head, denotes some trickiness or danger from jumping between platforms.
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I'm also sure there are some exceptions you guys can think of too, but for me Parasol Stars is an amazing Action/Arcade game.

Edit:  1st vote for JJ & Jeff!  C'mon peeps, now that is a hardcore platformer!  The more I think about it, the more I wanna get a complete box and manual for my decades old loosie.  Should pick up a Sparky label and a repro box from pcenginefx when he produces them again!

I think that defining platform games by the hazardousness of the actual platform jumping isn't without problems, although it's not bad since a genre called platform games should have some focus on platforms I think. For example a game that plays almost exactly like Super Mario Bros but doesn't give any penalties for falling them off would still be called a platformer I think.

The single-screen/scrolling name maybe isn't good either. But we could call them something else, like primitive platform games (Parasol Stars, Donkey Kong) and explorable platform games (SMB, PC Genjin etc). Explorable platformers are no doubt evolved from primitive platformers.

Also the "action" genre is a very broad superordinate genre that includes any subordinate genre that isn't turn-based or similar I think (platformers, shooters and even action RPGs). I don't like the "arcade" genre so much either since it's way too broad for a genre. But if it would count as a genre it could be considered a superordinate genre that includes any genre that would fit in an arcade hall I guess. Which would be about anything but RPGs and adventure games, but nowadays there are arcade machines that save your progress on a card that you bring with you, so even those kind of games could be crammed in, technically speaking.

[retro junkie]

It is very difficult for me to just pick three. I think Bonk 2 is the perfect platformer. And yes I just had to pick Parasol Stars. I get the most fun out of that one by just tossing something across the screen to see what type of fruit and stuff will appear. And Ninja Spirit just couldn't resist. But I might change my mind as I do have Son Son 2 on the way to my door. It looks to be fun from my viewing of the gameplay on Youtube.

[johnnykonami]

Also the "action" genre is a very broad superordinate genre that includes any subordinate genre that isn't turn-based or similar I think (platformers, shooters and even action RPGs). I don't like the "arcade" genre so much either since it's way too broad for a genre. But if it would count as a genre it could be considered a superordinate genre that includes any genre that would fit in an arcade hall I guess. Which would be about anything but RPGs and adventure games, but nowadays there are arcade machines that save your progress on a card that you bring with you, so even those kind of games could be crammed in, technically speaking.

I agree, I find both Action and Arcade to be pretty generic descriptors myself, but there is a degree of nostalgia to using either of them that works for me in some cases.  I hate struggling over fitting things into genres (organizing my music is one place where I have tons of trouble as I'm sure do lots of people with eclectic or just widely varied tastes), but there are definitely games that don't fit well into the established conventions we have today.  "Action" makes me think back to the labels from the original NES releases, so there is a degree of nostalgia of using it like that.  I feel like it's the "catch all" genre for when you can't really give something a solid classification otherwise.  I grew up with arcade games like many members here did, so sometimes that can also feel appropriate.  Parasol Stars definitely has that vibe, no surprise with it being developed by Taito, and it's even blood with a pretty famous arcade series - Bubble Bobble, of course.  Doh from Arkanoid also makes an appearance, to boot.  For younger members the term might not be as evocative, and I think it has become a little generalized over the years (Xbox Live Arcade, for example).  I am sure there is a better description for Parasol Stars, but I don't feel platformer really covers it either.  Anyway, that's just how I tend to think of things.

It's funny really how much you can differentiate from what you are looking at vs. what is happening.. for instance, Donkey Kong 3 feels like a shooter/shoot em' up to me, almost like Galaga, really.  It's just instead of a spaceship you have a guy working in a greenhouse with a bug sprayer.  Guardian Heroes lets you traverse between 3 planes in the foreground, middle ground, and background. (Or Yuu Yuu Hakusho MD, if you prefer).  The genre isn't the same at all, but it's kinda like what you are doing in Parasol Stars - moving up and down between "platforms" to deal with dispatching enemies.  Of course I will still classify Guardian Heroes as a Beat 'em up ala Final Fight and it's ilk, but it's funny to think about how similar some of the gameplay elements can be if you could just change the artwork.

[kiketonto]

Ninja Spirit,  and Tonma (greatest arcades) and Legendary Axe II are my options.
All of them are great games, anyway

[nectarsis]

Son Son II
followed VERY closely by Genji

[Pokun]

I feel like categorizing a game as a platformer, at least in my head, denotes some trickiness or danger from jumping between platforms.  Super Mario Bros. is more of a platformer than Mario Bros.
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I'm also sure there are some exceptions you guys can think of too, but for me Parasol Stars is an amazing Action/Arcade game.

Edit:  1st vote for JJ & Jeff!  C'mon peeps, now that is a hardcore platformer!  The more I think about it, the more I wanna get a complete box and manual for my decades old loosie.  Should pick up a Sparky label and a repro box from pcenginefx when he produces them again!

I think that defining platform games by the hazardousness of the actual platform jumping isn't without problems
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so even those kind of games could be crammed in, technically speaking.

I agree, I find both Action and Arcade to be pretty generic descriptors myself, but there is a degree of nostalgia to using either of them that works for me in some cases.
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Of course I will still classify Guardian Heroes as a Beat 'em up ala Final Fight and it's ilk, but it's funny to think about how similar some of the gameplay elements can be if you could just change the artwork.

I know what you mean, I also grew up with arcade games and I like to call many classic action games, arcade games but I still generally avoid it as a genre name. Action is very handy when it comes to action games that doesn't fit in any specific subordinate action genre as you say. Bomberman being a good example of this.

I'd still call Parasol Star a kind of platform game though (it has platforms and jumping after all).

I agree that the genre should be based on the mechanics of a game rather than the theme (so DK3 is a shooter). But this introduces an interesting problem: I consider Zelda an action RPG, but not Metroid so much. But when you think about it, the only thing that differs them is the bird's view in Zelda and the fantasy theme. If we only go by mechanics, Metroid should also be an action platform RPG.

[EmperorIng]

Why do people do these giant block quotes? Artificially lengthening the topic page is just not cool.

Forest stage and mountain climbing stage have more legit platforming gameplay than the gameplay-on-platforms that Parasol Stars has.

I agree with the mountain stage, but the forest stage doesn't really require you to do anything other than keep moving to the right. Parasol Stars feels like an extension of the single-screen platformers (like how Rainbow Islands is a vertical extension).

[johnnykonami]

I agree that the genre should be based on the mechanics of a game rather than the theme (so DK3 is a shooter). But this introduces an interesting problem: I consider Zelda an action RPG, but not Metroid so much. But when you think about it, the only thing that differs them is the bird's view in Zelda and the fantasy theme. If we only go by mechanics, Metroid should also be an action platform RPG.

Yep, that's my point exactly.  I think the viewpoint of the art assets influences what kind of game we think it is by a large margin, even if the control schemes might be similar.

Why do people do these giant block quotes? Artificially lengthening the topic page is just not cool.

You're right man, I went back and edited the quoted material in my last post.  I usually do that, sometimes I'm using my phone though and get lazy.

[Pokun]

Yeah, if Metroid had a bird's view and some kind of experience point system I would probably not think twice of calling it an RPG, so it really doesn't come down to the theme either. It's both the theme and the mechanics together in this case.

I've been reconsidering Metroid an action RPG though, since I just can't think of any other genre to put it in. I consider platform games to be mostly linear with stage completion.

Why do people do these giant block quotes? Artificially lengthening the topic page is just not cool.

Sorry about my lazy quoting. I trimmed them down, it should still be clear what post I'm answering to.

[o.pwuaioc]

Metroid is a platforming adventure game, or, as we called it back in the day, "action."

[Bake]

The whole genre discussion is interesting. Categories are about precision, but their contents are not very precise. I think Mario has really influenced how I think of platform games since Bonk's Revenge, New Adventure Island, Jackie Chan are the three that pop into my head. I mean, Jackie Chan is a really great game.