The Triumphant Return of the Platformer
This year was great for video games, and for one genre in particular
2020 has been a difficult year, but there have been many bright spots for the gaming industry all around. The launch of the next-generation consoles and the release of some incredible, long-awaited games are events that occurred within the same twelve months. Video games have undoubtedly helped to soften the many blows people have experienced throughout the year thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of the other themes that has emerged is the renaissance of the mighty platformer. It’s a seemingly long-lost genre that has made a powerful comeback this year thanks to some top notch games such as Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, and of course, Ori and the Will of the Wisps.
Of course, 2020 also marked the 25th anniversary of the Super Mario franchise — the undisputed king of all platformers. But there were plenty of other great franchise comebacks that helped to bring platformers back into the forefront of gamers’ minds. Here are four key stand-outs.
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time
The classic ’90s rebel — Crash Bandicoot himself — returned to the spotlight in 2020 thanks to the clever developers at Toys for Bob. The team had the unenviable task of creating a brand new Crash Bandicoot game that would simultaneously evolve the series while also hark back to its roots. It would be a tough challenge for any developer, even Naughty Dog themselves. But with hundreds of new stages, the ability to paint over enemies and environments, and new playable characters (including the notorious villain Neo Cortex), Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time wasn’t just a typical sequel thrown out there to feed hungry fans — it was a truly remarkable achievement, a game crafted with great care and due respect for the original games. It has become the poster child for how to produce a great sequel to a hit franchise that has remained dormant for many years.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure
It’s become customary for every new generation of PlayStation consoles to launch with a family-friendly platformer. This time around, the honour goes to Sackboy: A Big Adventure. It’s a spin-off from the LittleBigPlanet franchise and it features numerous elements that made those games so popular — and then some. The fancy colours that make the environment feel more inviting than threatening are combined with brand new co-op elements (up to four players can play simultaneously), making this an ideal experience for children and parents to enjoy together.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
One of Microsoft’s strongest independent titles, the Ori franchise returned this year after its surprisingly successful debut with Ori and the Blind Forest. This time around, though, the game has been made available for the Nintendo Switch right from the beginning — so that even more players can experience the incredible story of the guardian spirit. Developer Moon Studios has done a truly great job with this sequel, delivering a visually stunning game with a character that feels both effortless to control yet highly flexible and powerful. The story this time around is just as deep, just as heartbreaking — if not more so — as the original. It’s an experience that more than justifies its three nominations in this year’s Game Awards.
Super Mario 3D All-Stars
As I mentioned earlier, this year marked the 35th anniversary of the Super Mario franchise. There’s no way Nintendo could ignore this momentous milestone. Among several other key announcements for the celebration of the event was the release of a remastered collection of three key 3D Mario games for the Switch: Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy were all released together as part of the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection. Sadly, Nintendo only made the collection available for a brief period of time (potentially kicking off a dangerous new trend). That said, the games all look excellent thanks to a fresh coat of paint on a new generation of hardware and they remain just as enjoyable as always. These were, after all, the games that defined their individual eras.
The games mentioned above are only four of the most popular platformers to be released in 2020. There were, of course, many others (such as the first paid DLC expansion for Dead Cells titled The Bad Seed). And then there was the truly unique Astro’s Playroom for PS5, which demonstrated the capabilities of the remarkable new DualSense controller.
The good news is that the fun isn’t over when it comes to great platformers. 2021 is looking very bright indeed. Games like Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury and the second expansion to Dead Cells are just two examples. Then there’s Square Enix’s majestic new Balan Wonderworld (featuring character designs by none other than Naoto Ohshima, the original designer of the Sonic the Hedgehog characters). 2021 will also see the return of Alex Kidd (thanks to Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX) and we should see the long-awaited release of Psychonauts 2.
