im reusing this post from another thread cause i feel it could start a thread in its own right.

i hear a lot of complaints about not having enough platformers these days. i, on the other hand, dont miss them in the least. i felt they were boring and repetitive. either jump, or run forward. no other options. i really like the way modern platformeres have evolved. recently ive been playing prince of persi, sands of time, and tomb raider: legend, and anniversary. this is, i beleive, the future of 3d platformers. the formula is changed so that instead of jump and walk forward, suddenly theres many different types of obstacles and many different types of movement to avoid them. this makes the game more thinking and less repeating, and definitely, a more fun and evolved approach to platforming. do you guys agree with me? is the future of platforming in mario or prince of persia?

Another thing I like about platformers is how mario puts it, it may be because it's what I grew up with, but I liked how in Galaxy there was a very wide variety and a lot of galaxies out there, and it got the BS main quest over with so quickly that you could just enjoy playing the levels for the sake of just having fun with them. I liked the puzzles (even though every reward was just a star, it was getting the star that was the fun part) and it made it more interesting, despite it's "walk forward and jump...OMG DODGE!" and then the ocasional epic boss (that was made easy for kids unless you had a certain comet in orbit >_< ) battle, but it took a simple and old formula and made it more fun and less boring, without making it tedious (other than some purple coin challenges).

Prince of Persia, Tomb Raider, and hell, if Uncharted counts, I'd still say that is the future of platforming, because it's taking the mario formula, but speeding it up by twice the speed.

Platformers were best suited to 2D. As soon as the transition to 3D took place, other genres started thriving and platformers lost some of their sparkle. I also think that platformers were rather simplistic in nature and, as a whole, the industry has matured where the simplistic nature of platformers just doesn't cut it as well as it used to.

whoops this was a mistake.

I always loved 2D platformers, not because of the exploration (3D platformers are built around giving you a false sense of exploration, really), but because of the pure gameplay.
The handheld Castlevanias and every 2D Metroid... These games are incredible in their pure simplicity and in their REAL feeling of exploration as you ACTUALLY get to find new places, instead of just find ways to go...well, to the right.
The 3D platformers like Tomb Raider and PoP are cute, but ultimately, there's one route, just like Mario or Sonic, but because it's got the third dimension you think it's more free somehow? Don't be fooled. There's only one way to play Mario or Sonic, straight to the right.
There's only one or two ways to play Prince of Persia or Tomb Raider, straight forward.

No, in my heart, the true platforming exploration goodness lies squarely on the Metroidvania styled games. I want a big-budget next-gen 2D platformer, and not just a few moments of blissful nostalgia clutching my DS.

Then again, I'm deeply saddened by the idea that gaming has somehow 'Outgrown' 2D, which I say is bollocks. It's like saying that animated movies have "outgrown" hand-drawing just because they have all switched to computer animation, which, while pretty, to me lacks the...Purity of the hand drawn stuff.
Or for that matter, that the military has "outgrown" melee weaponry.

Just because it's simple doesn't mean it's bad. There's a beautiful purity in the very core of what modern videogaming is all about, and I feel that there is no place better to express that than in the 2D platformers.

3D is the future of platformers without a doubt, but there will always be a place for some old school 2D gameplay.

Check out the remake of Bionic Commando and tell me it doesn't look like fun

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/33285.html