Side scrolling platformers. Why left to Right?

[bigbananadave]

Greeting fellow escapists,

For over two decades, the video game industry has certainly had its fair share of Side Scrolling Platformers. From running, jumping, shooting, sliding, swinging and swimming, you name it. That action has been performed by a pixilated hero from one time to another. The discusion i want to bring to anyones attention is:

Why almost always run from left to right?

Whatever the game, wether its Mario, Sonic, Pitfall, Little Big Planet or even Alex the Kid. Ive never managed to come across a side scroller that mostly runs from right to left. You can certainly argue that its easyer to play mario or sonic from left to right. Have you ever almost completed a stage of sonic only to turn around at the finishing post to head back to the start to look for more rings? in my opinion, running back to the start feels alien.

I can think of one major reason to why this is and most likely is due to the fact that most people engage in video games in a very similar way to reading. Almost all languages are read from left to right with only one exeption I can think of is Traditional Japanese writing known as tategaki. Which reads from top to bottom, right to left.

So with the exception of Writting, has anyone else have any suggestions as to why platformers are made this way? Is it just imbedded into the human mind from an early age from learning to read or somthing a lot more complex and phycological?

My other question is. Is there any games out there that primarily run from right to left?

Thanks for reading,

BigBananaDave x

 

[The Cheezy One]

I think it might be to do with the fact that we are brought up so we read left to right, which adjust the way we look at things to get information? I can't think of any explanation, bar thats the way it's always been done

 

[Meggiepants]

I think you mostly answered your own question, but it could also be a tradition thing. The original Atari games like Pitfall ran left to right, so people who created games after that just did it that way since that's the way it was initially done. Anyway, that could be another reason.

The only game I can think of off the top of my head that runs right to left more frequently are the original Metroids. They ran both ways, but you were just as likely to go right to left as you were to go left to right, top to bottom and bottom to top for that matter.

 

[suitepee7]

i would have to say i agree with you, its probably to do with what feels natural, and it feels natural to play like we would read. however this isn't the case for all platformers. granted a HUGE number of them are like this, but ones like Crash bandicoot (the earlier ones) often had you running both from right to left and from left to right, because you were actually going up/down as a final goal rather than left or right.

 

[Johnnyallstar]

I would think that it's because when we read we go from left to right, which means when we align things, we generally start from left, and eventually get to the right. Because of this, the left to right pathway feels like progress.

There is nothing wrong with going right to left, but because of our tendencies to think that left to right is progress, going right to left feels like regression, and that's not a subconscious feeling developers want to give gamers.

 

[mindlesspuppet]

Because Pitfall! was left to right and was wildly successful so it caught on. This would be my guess.

Explaining it's because we read left to right isn't likely, as most of the side scrollers we know so well were made in Japan where such is not the case (if text is horizontal they read it from left to right, however they start with the right side of the page/book).

 

[Phlakes]

I think it might be to do with the fact that we are brought up so we read left to right, which adjust the way we look at things to get information? I can't think of any explanation, bar thats the way it's always been done

I would think that it's because when we read we go from left to right, which means when we align things, we generally start from left, and eventually get to the right. Because of this, the left to right pathway feels like progress.

But most platformers and video games in general originated from Japan, where they read right to left.

 

[vxicepickxv]

I'm going to have to disagree and inject my own theory here. I have a feeling that the reason most of went from left to right was actually the handedness of the majority of the players. Most of the players were right handed, so it would feel more correct from them to head to the right, so they could ultimately best hold their avatar.

Wow, that sounds a lot less terrible in my head.

 

[SeanSeanston]

But most platformers and video games in general originated from Japan, where they read right to left.

Not in the early days though. Games were invented in America, which dominated the industry until the mid-80s after the video game crash ruined Atari and Nintendo stepped in.

By then, we already had Pitfall.

 

[LiquidGrape]

It's an insidious attempt by the political right to sway young voters from more liberal pastures.
Don't believe me? Here's how they celebrated following the re-release of Bionic Commando.

But seriously, it's how we most commonly interpret text in modern day society. Probably just a logical extension of that.

 

[Mookalakai]

Maybe Arabic platformers run from right to left. It's a language convenience.

 

[octafish]

Because platformers were originally designed on paper with pencils. They used scrolls, which is why we use the term scrolling to describe the movement on screen. If you are right handed it is much easier to draw a game level starting on the left and moving to the right that way you are not brushing your already drawn marks with your right hand.

 

[migo]

Maybe Arabic platformers run from right to left. It's a language convenience.

Babylonian Twins does start out with you going from right to left.

 

[Squilookle]

Is it just imbedded into the human mind from an early age from learning to read or somthing a lot more complex and phycological?

You can take it from a left-hander that it has nothing to do with the human mind's natural state. We are taught the left to right system because the majority of people are right handed, and put simply writing left to right won't smudge your writing if you're right handed. Going left to right in games is just a logical progression of that.

You could say that the original Donkey Kong broke the rule- the way it's set out you spend about half the time going in each direction. The highest platform with the boss itself actually goes right to left.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I would think that it's because when we read we go from left to right, which means when we align things, we generally start from left, and eventually get to the right. Because of this, the left to right pathway feels like progress.

There is nothing wrong with going right to left, but because of our tendencies to think that left to right is progress, going right to left feels like regression, and that's not a subconscious feeling developers want to give gamers.

this

also another possible reason i have come up with, even if it sounds stupid...

but the d-pad movement joystick is nearly always on the left side of the controller, only until southpaw recently for lefties, has that ever been different, so coordinating the left side of the screen with the left hand on the left side of the controller just makes sense to me.

 

[Trolldor]

They're not all left to right.

Metriod, Castlevania, Megaman...

 

[Eomega123]

Seems like we do it that way just because we've always done it that way. No real significance to the direction.

Oh, and Hebrew also goes right to left.

 

[Lucane]

They're not all left to right.

Metriod, Castlevania, Megaman...

Not counting up or down as the major directions you travel, don't you for the most part start on the left side of the screen for those games or start them off by moving to the right at least for the 1st few rooms/dozen seconds.

MAybe since the coding they have to do for the game and most other things is most naturally done clockwise or left-right they never felt a need to go against the grain to make a heavily right to left game as maybe game testers might complain it doesn't feel natural to move in such a way.