Leaping Burst of Blogginess, Part 4

Speaking of leaping, let's talk platform jumpers. That genre of videogames, that started with Donkey Kong, and continues today (albeit greatly changed) with titles like Super Mario Galaxy (both designed by legendary Shigeru Miyamoto), is one that has been popular throughout the videogame era, and has been dominated by Japanese designers and publishers.

Two of my personal favorite games within the genre aren't Japanese, though. Pitfall! was a game that I wasted many an hour on in my youth. It was a great 'leap' forward in gameplay (and during that leap, you should be doing the 'tarzan' holler) on the Atari 2600 and seemed much deeper than other games on the system (though playing now it seems awfully simple).

The Lost Vikings was another platform game that I really enjoyed. The puzzle element to this game added a depth to the gameplay, having three characters, each with unique abilities that you had to exploit to solve each level, made for a much more engaging game and breathed new life into this genre at the end of the 2D side-scrolling era.

But the two main stars of this genre are Mario, and Sonic. Mario was there from the beginning, and he'll probably pop up in some shape or form for as long as Nintendo is in business. Mario is the man. Sonic isn't the man, he's the hedgehog (with attitude). Sonic introduced a feeling of urgency and speed that the Mario games of that era lacked. The freneticism of Sonic was a huge selling point, and made playing sessions into hand-sweaty, heart-pounding fun. Barely contained chaos, just on the verge of losing complete control is the feeling gotten from playing the better Sonic games.

(and the less said about any subsidiary media uses of Mario or Sonic, the better, but if you must, enjoy these behind the scenes clips the live action Mario movie