Poll: Do you think side-scrolling Games can survive Retail?

[DrLilo]

What do you think Escapist Forum, do you believe Side-Scrolling games, (platformers, beat-em-ups, shooters...) can survive full retail release (in shops) these days, or do you think they belong exclusively to the downloadable services?

For example, if a AAA studio were to put all the budget, time, effort and talent into a side-scrolling game as into a full blown FPS epic like CoD4, could the game get away with a release in shops... Or is the cultural bias towards thinking of side-scrollers (whether the actual graphics be 2D or 3D) as cheap downloadble titles, mean it wouldn't survive?

 

[S.H.A.R.P.]

It used to be cool in the time of Megaman 2, Earth Worm Jim, One Must Fall 2097, Jazz Jackrabit and the like. Now I won't play them anymore. I'm addicted to 3D...

 

[More Fun To Compute]

New Super Mario Bros. 18 million sales worldwide.

 

[Damian Domino Davis]

I don't think the two are related, the characteristics of either being a sidescroller or being sold retail. A sidescroller is just an implementation of one kind of presentation, like so many others.

What I think you ought to be asking, is, are sidescrollers falling out of favor generally, and I think so. We've come to be able to do so much more, and to be honest, the majority prefer more complex designs for the simple reason that you can do more with it. Sidescrolling is now nearly confined to platforms that can't handle much else; but that doesn't mean that they aren't made, or made well, or made at insane profits. Case in point: the entire base Pokemon series.

So really, I don't think it's a relevant comparison to make, or a very good question to pose.

 

[Sewblon]

We still haven't discovered all 2D gaming possibilities, and we probably never will, because developers can't resist the siren call of the third dimension.

 

[Eatbrainz]

i wish developers would make more games that went back to the roots of gaming.

 

[TheMushroomClub]

If they released Cannoncrotch on 360 I would pay full retail price for it.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/428930 (For people who don't know)

 

[Signa]

New Super Mario Bros. 18 million sales worldwide.

Exactly what I was going to say.

I would also like to give a nod to Braid. Sure, it's not a full retail game, but it shows the relevance of a 2D platformer in today's gaming world. It CAN be done, but no one does it.

 

[vampirekid.13]

i sometimes think im the only one that liked the 2D gaming industry a lot more than the 3D gaming industry.

in 3D its all about good graphics, and high polygon count.

i like my 2D games, that have some ridiculous number of levels and after 8 hours of straight playing it you know that you havent even dented the random map generators resources yet.

like mario brothers, donkey kong, contra, and so on and so forth.

 

[MrSnugglesworth]

Downloadable titles.

 

[GothmogII]

.....You know, I didn't play them, but I did recognise the hype surrounding them. So, didn't Little Big Planet do very well? Isn't Braid currently held up as some sort of modern classic?

Anyway, bum bum bum bum: IT....DEPENDS!, if there's a big scale release that just happens to be a sidescroller of course it's more than capable of surviving, it just has to be good, and, maybe even more so than other games to justify confining it to one plane.

 

[AlphaOmega]

A new 2d metroid would be super awsome, assuming they actually introduced new powerups this time

 

[azadiscool]

Probably not nowadays. It's an ancient art. Like hieroglyphics.

Maybe that is why people will buy it.

Probably not, unless the game is amazing, like Super Mario World.

Side-scrolling games aren't really worth going to the store to buy. They should stick to budget prices on Steam.

 

[GRoXERs]

*cough* Little Big Planet *cough*