After years of trying to play them...

[Ack]

...I have finally reached the understanding that I hate platformers.

I started to come to this opinion with Super Mario 64. While I did enjoy the game...more specifically, while I did enjoy certain levels, I would find myself constantly coming to a new level and saying to myself "God, I can't stand ice levels." "Man, I hate fire levels." "Desert levels suck!" "I hate levels with lots of pits!" "Stupid aerial levels!" After a few minutes it would usually change into mass swearing and repressing the urge to literally chew on the cartridge.

Well folks, through a combination of team play, my girlfriend and I have made it to stage 6 in Valis III for the Sega Genesis. That's the ice level for those of you not familiar with the game. Not only is the ground slippery, there are large pits, infinite enemies, a couple of invulnerable energy balls that serve the sole purpose of knocking me off platforms, moving platforms over spikes I have to jump onto, places where I have to slide over pits perfectly or I don't make it, and three sections before a boss. If I die, I go back to the start of a section, and if I get a game over and continue, I start at the beginning of the level. In the game's favor, I have infinite continues, which I've used a good many times. But in the meantime, I'm fighting poor controls, cheap enemies, and a timer.

The point is...I don't get it. I just don't understand what platformer fans find enjoyable about this kind of thing. So much of what I hate to see in a game can be found in this genre, and...well, what do you guys get out of it? Seriously, I want to know.

I'm not trying to knock anybody's favorite genre, but I find myself incapable of really getting into these kinds of games. The only platformer I can think of actually enjoying in the last six months was Shinobi Legions on the Saturn, and it's mostly from the live action cut scenes and getting to cut people in half. Please, tell me, because frankly I'm just not getting it.

[Pingfa]

Personally, I'm not a fan of any of the Mario platformers. I find Mario on the NES and the SNES to be average at best. It's good, but nothing more, in my humble opinion. That being said, I have heard from fans that Mario 64 is the weakest of the Mario platformers.
I also find Valis to be a grind to play.

So then, in my experience, these games don't serve as great representations of the genre.

I wouldn't call myself a fan any particular genre, I just like to play games.
Sonic, Ristar, and Rocket Knight Adventures are among my favourites for the Mega Drive. Plus ToeJam & Earl 2 for the co-op mode (in large part due to the fact that it's one of the few games non-gamers like to play). If we include Shinobi, then I can't imagine anyone disliking Shinobi 3: Return of the Ninja Master; can't imagine anyone disliking Earthworm Jim either.

I'm confident there'll be a few among that bunch you will enjoy.
Otherwise, chances are you have a very rare disease which I will label 'platformerphobia', like my own very rare disease: 'castlevaniaphobia'

If you don't want this disease to become more severe, I recommend staying away from the aforementioned platformers in your post.

[lordofduct]

Why does anyone like sh'mups or fighters. It's their groove... or "the zone".

When I play a sh'mup or a platformer it's kinda like this state where I'm just up against a ton of enemies and I have a tiny handful of tools to my aid. May that be jump/run in platformer or shoot/bomb in sh'mups. The level throws all kinds of new things at me each time and I just slide through on auto-pilot whizzing my two basic powers around like I'm a God of this weird world.

Sonic is the best platformer in my opinion... and you can see it infinitely well in the game, with very little practice (where as Mario kinda takes a ton of practice to get to awesomeness in). You've got your running and spinning... and the levels are contorted into these massive maze like levels (play SonicCD and you'll see mazes). The first time you play you work hard at keeping a high speed and zipping around collecting a meager amount of coins. But as you get a hang of the controls you just bang through levels super fast, collecting every coin and emerald along the way and always hit those massive points at the end.

So yeah... that's it.

[Ack]

Well, I suppose that's it then. Platformers definitely don't make me feel like I'm in "the zone" at any point. I can understand the feeling of enjoying relying on one's self to take down a horde of enemies, but for that I play beat 'em ups. With platformers, it wasn't necessarily the combat that bothered me, more the platforming. I hate heights, and I suppose this has translated to hating them in games. Seriously, even in games I love, I hate parts where I have to move from platform to platform. You guys may like running through a level, making jump after jump after leap of faith over spikes or whatever else, but as for me...I either get all the way through and say to myself "I never want to do that again," or I screw up, die, and have to do it all over again. And then I can't do it, because I'm starting to get mad and my hands are starting to sweat so my fingers start to slip, and I die on something long before where I last made it. Or I misread the distance and jump too early or too late on something easy and die. And this keeps happening.

Pingfa, you mentioned several games, though I've only played two: Earthworm Jim and Rystar. Ryster I played for Together Retro, and I hated it. I figured it was the controls, as I was using a keyboard at work to play it, so while my opinion of the game is a bit negative, I know I shouldn't be too critical. I've played several Earthworm Jims and I love them...but not for the gameplay. I find the design and the humor hilarious, it's hard not to. The music is great, the characters are a real joy to watch, but those are the reasons I'm playing. Not for anything else. In fact, I'd just prefer to watch the cartoon...

Let's take another platformer. Wild 9. I loved it because of the nasty things I could do to people. But the level designs I didn't like, and the controls felt awkward. Overall I enjoyed it, but mostly for every time I shoved a guy in a meat grinder.

Thank you both for the suggestions though. I've not played a Sonic game in years. Maybe I'll give one a try, though I can't make any promises as to what I'll think about it.

[SpaceBooger]

While teaching my science class this week, I was doing my introduction lesson where I explain that video game players are scientists.
I pretty much used the platformer as the basis of my point.
I said that in video games, like science, you are expected to fail a couple times before you reach the ultimate goal - thats why you get 3 lives.
I also said you have to be persistent at both science and video games.
Both involve you to think logically and "outside of the box" to find secret levels or items.
I gave more examples, but I ended the point with stating that even though I think video games are science as is all problems that we solve... I have never had to jump on a levitating piece of earth and back on solid ground again just to get from work to my house.

Now that I have rambled on and it may have seemed pointless... here is what I think about platformers: Platformers are for those who like to solve puzzles (maze, collecting and finding everything), but they also like to work to get from point a to b and work to complete an obvious task.

[disorderlyvision]

I can see your point, kinda. i havent really cared for the 3d incarnations of mario, but i have alwayd loved the 2d ones, and i dont know why. mario is the most frustrating game ever. i haved cussed mario out more times than i can imagine, yet i can't stop playing it. i guess i like them for a challenge. even after you beat them you can play them again, and still die a hundred times. of course, the challenge doesn't apply to all of them. i am playing jak and daxter 1 right now and the difficulty in this game is almost non existent, but it is still fun.
if you want to try a platformer that has lots of action, and doesn't necessarily adhere to the fire level/ice level/pit of spikes gimmick, give I-ninja a try. it is a fun game too. and how can anyone not love super mario 3? that is platformer balsphemy right there. im not familiar with the genesis game you speak of, so maybe you are just playing the wrong games. there are a lot of good platformers out there though. on the whole i enjoy platformers more than shooters and fighters, though there are some shooters and fighters i enjoy immensly, overall i get more enjoyment out of platformers.

[ZeroAX]

you don't like platformers? THE BLASPHEMY. you should try super mario galaxy though much better than 64. anyway I like platform games for the anxiety they give you when you are crossing a hard path of persise jumping platforms and the satisfaction when you get to the end of the stage and know that's over with but it was fun. Also I like them cause all of them are quircky and unique (just think what they must have been smoking when they came up with super mario bros. the italian plumber that eats mushrooms grows twice his normal sizecan eat flowers and shoot fireballs from his hand and has to step on turtles to get to the end)

[executioner]

Its all about accomplishment, I'm not that good at platformers anymore so I usually stay away from them unless they are in 2d just don't want to get the frustration I had playing shinobi on ps2. That was a nasty unforgiving game, not only were the bosses a little hard but the levels themself and all the timing you needed to have, the last levels had almost no floors, and if you didn't kill enemies your own sword started killing you and if you died you were back at the start of the level... gave me nightmares.

[Gamerforlife]

It's not quite as retro, but you should try Prince of Persia:Sands of Time. You can rewind time to undo your mistakes and avoid falling into pits. Plus, the platforming engine is very intuitive and user friendly

[RCBH928]

i feel same, and of platformers i hate most, SONIC

you dont even get to enjoy the level, you just run around like crazy , hit a sharp object , lose your rings, and then get to the end "ring-less"...it doesn't give you chance to explore the level, and the thing is there is much to explore like hidden passage ways and high platforms to reach.

I kind of play platformers because everyone else does, and because to their genre they are high quality like mario 64 and banjo kazooie, which i really enjoyed...

but it makes me want to kill myself, because jumping 52 moving platforms then slipping on the last one to die is just crazy and not fun, and in the 3d ones you get bad camera where you can't really make an estimate of how far to jump or if you can actually reach that ledge (you can rip your hair out of your skull in some maroi 64's levels) and so on....
i also get the "i hate fire stage, despise slippery ice" feeling...but in the end i think i reach the most satisfactory level when i am done with a stage because i keep thinking its impossible!