Last year, Crash Bandicoot burst back onto the scene in the
N. Sane Trilogy, a HD remastering of three of the finest platforming games ever
to hit consoles. The trilogy has been pretty well-received, with older gamers
grateful for a chance to revisit the classics of their youth, and younger
players eager to see what all the fuss was about.
The 90s was undoubtedly the heyday for the platforming
genre. The 80s gave birth to these games and laid the foundations with some
classic titles, but the technological advancements of the decade that followed,
combined with the rapidly rising popularity of home consoles, helped to make
the likes of Crash Bandicoot and Rayman household names.
These days, the genre is stuck in a bit of a rut. Aside from
the same old Nintendo characters that have been around since the dawn of time
and a few indie games hoping to recapture some of the fun of the past, games
revolving around cartoonish characters jumping around colourful environments
are pretty few and far between.
In order to save the future of the genre, perhaps we need to
take a look back into the past. Bringing Crash back was clearly a good idea, so
let’s look at some other classic 90s platformers that could also receive the HD
treatment!
Croc
One of the pioneering 3D platformers of the PlayStation era,
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos gave us everything we wanted from this sort of game.
The protagonist was silent but loveable, the ice levels were frustrating but
addictive, the final boss had a fantastic name (Baron Dante) and there were
plenty of shiny things and cute critters to collect and save. It was an
excellent, albeit challenging all-round platformer with some slightly clunky
controls but solid level design.
The game has a pretty interesting past. It was one of the
first ever 3D platforming projects and was actually in development for quite a
long time. Originally featuring Yoshi as the main character, the game was
pitched to Nintendo by the developers, Argonaut. Nintendo said no and Argonaut
decided to go it alone, eventually striking a publishing deal with Fox
Interactive and redesigning the hero.
A couple of years later, Croc 2 was released. The sequel
brought a lot of new stuff to the table. The environments were much larger and
Croc was tasked with talking to various characters and completing missions for
them. It was another decent game, but, aside from a few mobile spin-offs, the
Croc series ended there. With HD graphics and perhaps some slight improvements
to the camera and controls, I for one would love to see Croc make a comeback.
Spyro
These days, kids see Spyro as a member of the Skylanders
team, but gamers of the 90s will have a much different view of the purple
dragon. The original trio of Spyro games were created by Insomniac, the folks
who later went on to launch another successful platforming franchise in the
form of Ratchet and Clank, and those original games were simply awesome.
Following that, a bunch more Sonic games were released for
consoles and handhelds, including a crossover with none other than Crash
Bandicoot himself. The mid-2000s saw an attempt to reboot the franchise with
The Legend of Spyro trilogy, but these games received mixed reviews and
everyone’s favourite purple dragon was given a break until Activision launched
the Skylanders series in 2011.
Skylanders has proven to be a big hit with young kids, but
Spyro himself has been used more as a big name marketing gimmick, pushed aside
by the series’ huge cast of heroes. He deserves to regain his place in the
spotlight and we’d be happy to see another solo Spyro adventure done right. A
HD collection of the original Spyro games is set for release in 2018, but a
whole new Spyro adventure would be simply amazing.
Klonoa
What is Klonoa exactly? Like a cat, rabbit, dog hybrid? Even
the folks at Namco have never officially named the species to which Klonoa
belongs, but I don’t care too much as his games were fantastic. Klonoa: Door to
Phantomile arrived in 1997 and blew players away with its responsive gameplay
and beautiful level design. The soundtrack was a joy to behold and the lovely
levels of the game blew by like a fresh summer breeze. The game went on to win
numerous awards and spawned a sequel, along with a few spin-offs, including a
slightly strange beach volleyball title, because Japan.
One of the mechanics that made Klonoa stand out from the
crowd was the character’s magical ring to snag enemies and then toss them
around, a little like how Kirby could suck bad guys in and blow them out as
projectiles, or even use them as platforms to reach higher areas. It was a
simple gameplay aspect but it turned out to be immensely satisfying and allowed
the developers to introduce some interesting puzzles in each level.
The original game was remade for the Wii and an official
anime movie is actually in production, so the Klonoa name remains pretty big,
at least in its homeland. Will we ever see a new release? Never say never.
Tomba
Tomba, also known as Tombi in Europe, was more than a simple
platformer. With multiple planes and RPG aspects, it transcended the trappings
of the genre to become something more. As a pink-haired, crazy jungle boy,
players were tasked with eliminating an enormous number of evil pigs, while
also completing oodles of tasks from villagers and other NPCs along the way.
At first glance, it looked like a simple platformer, but
within just an hour of play, you began to realise how deep this thing went.
There were tricky puzzles, hidden objects, Metroid-style backtracking and more.
All of this, combined with satisfying controls and pretty environments, helped
to cement Tomba as a classic in the eyes of many who played it.
A sequel arrived in the form of Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine
Return, known simply as Tombi! 2 in Europe (obviously, the Americans got the
better end of that deal). It was another excellent platformer and received
general acclaim. Sadly, the developer, ‘Whoopee Games’, got shut down shortly
after the release of Tomba 2 and the staff went on to join other studios.
Despite the good review scores, the games didn’t sell well.
These days, if you own a copy of Tomba at home, you’re
actually in possession of a rather rare piece of gaming memorabilia and
collectors are willing to pay a pretty penny for both games. The pair have been
released digitally on PSN, but it’d be amazing to see a whole new Tomba
experience.
Gex
He’s a gecko. He worships TV. He’s hilarious. What’s not to
love? The Gex games are the perfect ode to the nineties, complete with enough
out-of-date pop culture references to fill up a hundred of those “You’ll Only
Remember This If You’re A 90s Kid!” lists on Buzzfeed. Navigating the ‘Media
Dimension’ inside his giant-screen TV, Gex travels from channel to channel in a
bid to reach the evil Emperor Rez and bring him down once and for all.
There were three entries in the series and quite honestly,
the plot was pretty much the same in all three of them, but players looked past
that because the character (voiced by comedian Dana Gould) was pretty charming
and the level design was solid.
Back in 2015, Square Enix, the holders of the rights to Gex,
did make some vague announcement which stated that its development studios
would be allowed to remake or reintroduce some of the old IPs in its
possession, but we’re yet to hear any word of the possibility of a new Gex
game. At a time when people are seemingly obsessed with all things retro and
90s, this could be a great opportunity for someone to bring Gex back and
recreate the magic.
Bubsy
Perhaps the most controversial item on the list, Bubsy is
one of those franchises that people love to hate. A rip-roaring success when
first released, Bubsy owes a lot of its fame to the fact that it was released
at just the right time. Sonic and Mario were leading the charge, and developer
Accolade saw a prime opportunity to enter the market. First of all, they
released Bubsy on both the Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo, immediately
giving themselves the biggest possible audience.
They also made Bubsy himself into a kid-friendly character
with bags of personality. Sure, most of us found that personality to be more
off-putting than endearing and would rather punch him in the face than laugh
along with his quips, but it worked with many kids because it felt like they
were playing a genuine cartoon character, complete with funny animations and
silly one-liners.
Bubsy isn’t a terrible game and Bubsy 2 offered some
improvements. Then Bubsy 3D arrived and singlehandedly built the bobcat’s
coffin and buried him deep, deep down in the gaming graveyard. Genuinely rated
as one of the worst games of all time, Bubsy 3D wasn’t helped by the fact that
it was released around the same time as Super Mario 64, which magnified all of
its flaws tenfold. Regardless, it’s not because one of the games in a series is
bad that the other games deserve to be tarred with the same brush. When it stuck
to side-scrolling, Bubsy worked.
Interestingly enough, the series did actually get a new
instalment in October of 2017. Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back was the first
game in the series in over two decades and was released to a relatively tepid
reception, presumably killing any chance of further Bubsy games. Maybe it's
better that way.
Zool
Oh Zool, you could have been so much more. Originally
designed as a rival to Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog, George Allen’s “Ninja of
the Nth Dimension” launched on the Amiga to high critical acclaim. Zool was
later ported to a variety of other platforms and followed up by a sequel.
Zool 2 was another excellent platformer and introduced a
couple of new characters. Sadly, the developers backed the wrong horse. While Nintendo
and Sega went from strength to strength, Commodore went bankrupt and the Amiga
line ended, taking Zool with it.
Had it launched on another platform, there’s every chance I could
be living in a world with dozens of Zool games, but things just didn’t turn out
that way. Still, renowned for their intense difficulty, cartoonish worlds and
fun mini-games, the original two games remain cult hits with hardcore gamers
and should definitely be played by anyone interested in the history of the
platforming genre.
Plok
Yet another game that was trying to ride in the slipstream
of success left behind by Mario and Sonic, Plok was a highly creative
platformer for the SNES. Developed by two British brothers named John and Ste
Pickford, who actually still own the rights to the character, the concept was
originally shown to Nintendo executives, with none other than Shigeru Miyamoto
(of Zelda, Mario, Donkey Kong and Pikmin fame) showing a real interest.
Unfortunately, the Japanese giant decided against pursuing the project for
publication, but Plok still made it onto store shelves and received plenty of
plaudits upon release.
The titular character’s ability to throw his own limbs at
enemies was a humorous selling point, and the excellent level design and
soundtrack came together to produce a great game that still has a cluster of
fans to this day. A wide range of power-ups and amusing enemy designs ensured
that Plok had all the ingredients necessary to be a hit, but sales weren’t
great and the little red blob was limited to just one adventure. The Pickford
bros actually started a comic book series based on Plok a few years ago, and
maybe we’ll see him in video game format again one day.
Cool Spot
And the award for “Least Likely Game To Ever Make A
Comeback” goes to Cool Spot. It’s not that these games were bad, it’s that the
world has moved on. Cool Spot actually used to be the US mascot for 7Up. You
know that red circle in the 7Up logo? Well, the makers decided in the late
eighties to stick a face on it and turn it into a character, and that’s how
Cool Spot was born. He wore shades, he liked to surf… and that’s about it for
his ‘backstory’, but the games he featured in weren’t bad at all.
The first Cool Spot was a side-scroller in which Spot would
jump around and toss bubbles at enemies to defeat them. The second game, Spot
Goes To Hollywood, gave us a rare isometric view and pitted our hero against a
variety of movie villains as he became trapped in a projector and forced to
battle his way from one film to the next in a bid to escape. The camera was
weird, but the game itself was colourful and fun.
Pandemonium
For those unfamiliar with the franchise, Pandemonium was a
wildly fun 2.5D series starring a slightly psychotic jester (Fargus), a mighty
sorceress (Nikki) and a humorous head on a stick (Sid). Players were given the
choice of playing as either Fargus or Nikki and tasked with making their way
through some of the most imaginative (and trippy) levels ever seen in a
platformer.
The second game in particular gets pretty out there. Hell,
one of the stages has you randomly take over some kind of Gundam robot and fly
your way through a kaleidoscopic tunnel of psychedelic lights.
In spite of all the wackiness, or perhaps because of it, the
original game and its sequel both had bags of charm, but Pandemonium 2 really
is the stronger title. We don’t know what the developers were smoking while
they made this thing, but it resulted in some truly memorable levels and
fantastic moments.
The experience never became stale because each new
environment was so different and you were always being given cool new things to
do or obstacles to overcome. These games are prime candidates for a HD makeover
and remain highly playable to this day.
Jazz Jackrabbit
Many PC gamers will hold fond memories of the Jazz
Jackrabbit series. One of the first attempts to convert the side-scrolling
platformer over to PC, Jazz Jackrabbit took the classic fable of ‘The Tortoise
and the Hare’ and gave it a sci-fi makeover.
The first instalment was actually co-created by none other
than Cliff Bleszinksi himself, who would later go on to head up development on
the Gears of War franchise. The game was heavily action-based, with Jazz using
a variety of weapons to blast his way through each stage.
Like many of the series on this list, Jazz Jackrabbit has a
fascinating past. The second game added multiplayer and it worked surprisingly
well. Meanwhile Jazz Jackrabbit 3 was set to be Jazz’s first outing in 3D. The
developers worked hard on the title and developed it into the alpha stage, but
failed to find a company willing to publish it.
The project was abandoned, but the alpha was leaked onto the
internet and is available for play. It’s actually pretty good, too! Rumours
have suggested that the project might get picked up again someday, but I sadly
doubt we’ll be seeing the return of Jazz anytime soon.
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