page_title: Platform game
section_title: Recent developments
hierarchical_section_title: Platform game / History / Recent developments
context_page_description: Platform games are a video game genre and subgenre of action games. Platformers are characterized by their heavy use of jumping and climbing to navigate the player's environment and reach their goal. Levels and environments tend to feature uneven terrain and suspended platforms of varying height that requires use of the player character's abilities in order to traverse. Other acrobatic maneuvers often factor into the gameplay as well, such as climbing, swinging from objects such as vines or grappling hooks, jumping off of walls, air dashing, gliding through the air, being shot from cannons or bouncing from springboards or trampolines. These mechanics, even in the context of other genres, are commonly called platforming. The most common unifying element of games of this genre is the ability to jump. Games where jumping is automated completely, such as 3D games in The Legend of Zelda series, fall outside of the genre.
  While commonly associated with console gaming, there have been many important platform games released to video arcades, as well as for handheld game consoles and home computers.
  At one point, platform games were the most popular genre of video game.
context_section_description: Despite a much smaller presence in the overall gaming market, some platform games continue to be successful into the seventh generation of consoles. 2007 saw the release of Super Mario Galaxy and Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction to positive critical and fan reaction. Super Mario Galaxy was awarded the Best Game of 2007 on high-profile gaming websites including GameSpot, IGN, and GameTrailers, and was the most critically acclaimed game of all time according to GameRankings. In 2008, LittleBigPlanet paired traditional 2D platform game mechanics with physics simulation and user created content, earning strong sales and critical reaction. Electronic Arts released Mirror's Edge, which coupled platform gameplay with a first-person camera, but avoided marketing the game as a platformer because of the association the label had developed with games geared toward younger audiences. Sonic Unleashed featured stages containing both 2D and 3D styles of platform gameplay; this formula was also used in Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations. Two Crash Bandicoot platform games were also released in 2007 and 2008.
  Nintendo has revived the genre in recent years, releasing numerous platform games to high sales. New Super Mario Bros. was released in 2006 and has sold 30 million copies worldwide; it is the best-selling game for the Nintendo DS, and the fourth best-selling non-bundled video game of all time. Super Mario Galaxy has sold over eight million units, while Super Paper Mario, Super Mario 64 DS, Sonic Rush, Yoshi's Island DS, Kirby Super Star Ultra, and Kirby: Squeak Squad also have strong sales, and keep the genre active.
  After the success of New Super Mario Bros., consumers and publishers have shown renewed interest in 2D platformers, which can be attributed both to handheld consoles such as the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable, and low-risk downloadable services offered by WiiWare, Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and Steam. These range from classic revivals such as Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Contra ReBirth, and Sonic the Hedgehog 4, to original titles like Splosion Man and Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure. Wario Land: The Shake Dimension, released in 2008, was a platformer that featured completely two-dimensional graphics and a rich visual style. Subsequent games such as Braid, A Boy and His Blob, and The Behemoth's BattleBlock Theater also use completely 2D graphics. New Super Mario Bros. Wii is particularly notable, as unlike the majority of 2D platformers in the 21st century, it was a direct release for a non-portable console, and not restricted on a content delivery network. The success of New Super Mario Bros. Wii led to Nintendo releasing similar 2D platformer games for their classic franchises the following year: Donkey Kong Country Returns and Kirby's Return to Dream Land. In 2012, Nintendo released two more 2D platform games: New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the 3DS and New Super Mario Bros. U for the Wii U. Nintendo has also released 3D platform games with gameplay elements of 2D platform games, namely Super Mario 3D Land for the 3DS in 2011 and Super Mario 3D World for the Wii U in 2013, the latter of which also included cooperative multiplayer gameplay. Each has achieved critical and commercial success.
  In 2009, independent developer Frozenbyte released Trine, a 2.5D platform game that mixed traditional elements with more modern physics puzzles. The game proved to be a commercial success, eventually selling more than 1.1 million copies. It spawned a sequel, Trine 2, which was released in 2011. The popularity of 2D platformers started to increase again in 2010s, with games such as Limbo, Ori and the Blind Forest, Cuphead, and 2.5D platform game Unravel. The 2D platformer Rayman Origins, was also released in 2011 as a retail title on several platforms.
  2017 saw the release of a number of 3D platformers which caused media speculation of a renewal of the genre. These games included Yooka-Laylee and A Hat in Time, both of which were crowdfunded on the website Kickstarter. The release of Super Mario Odys
caption: Trine (2009) mixed traditional platform elements with more modern physics puzzles.
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