Do detailed graphics help or hurt platformers?

[BoringSupreez]

I greatly prefer sprite-based 16-bit 2D platformers to stuff like Braid. Braid is nice to look at in screenshots, but if I'm actually going to be playing, I find that 16-bit sprites have a lot more charm and uniqueness. Maybe it's just because I grew up playing 16-bit stuff, but I've always preferred it to modern 2D graphics.

[J T]

I disagree about Braid. Braid is a game that I think is better because of modern graphics. It's really lovely with all of its painterly backgrounds, but the characters and animations are still pretty simple so the gameplay works. Also, since it's a more puzzle-oriented platformer I will often be staring at the same screen for quite awhile and prefer to have something pretty to look at.

[J T]

Having just replayed the original Metroid, I have to say I just can't get enough of how most of the game has a flat black background. That's it, just one color, and it gives the game so much atmosphere and such a strange vibe, it's amazing.

Metroid is amazing for doing so much with so litte. I am also a big fan of the music in its 8-bit form. I even listen to MP3s of it. There's a minimalism that works with that old tech it was created for. Even with all of the creative freedom available with modern graphics and sound, Metroid still produces a more compelling 'other world' than 9 out of 10 games released today.

[Xeogred]

Having just replayed the original Metroid, I have to say I just can't get enough of how most of the game has a flat black background. That's it, just one color, and it gives the game so much atmosphere and such a strange vibe, it's amazing.

Metroid is amazing for doing so much with so litte. I am also a big fan of the music in its 8-bit form. I even listen to MP3s of it. There's a minimalism that works with that old tech it was created for. Even with all of the creative freedom available with modern graphics and sound, Metroid still produces a more compelling 'other world' than 9 out of 10 games released today.

Ditto. Such weird art design and architecture as well (if I can say that), with the graphical style. It's so alien-like and fits the mood perfectly. On top of the black background, there's always walls and ceilings in its big corridors and rooms, so it just gives off this great sense of claustrophobia or something.

And Super Metroid just took it all to the next level. I still think it is seriously one of the most atmospheric games I'll ever play. And this is all simply done by the graphics and music.

[NintendoLegend]

Having just replayed the original Metroid, I have to say I just can't get enough of how most of the game has a flat black background. That's it, just one color, and it gives the game so much atmosphere and such a strange vibe, it's amazing.

Metroid is amazing for doing so much with so litte. I am also a big fan of the music in its 8-bit form. I even listen to MP3s of it. There's a minimalism that works with that old tech it was created for. Even with all of the creative freedom available with modern graphics and sound, Metroid still produces a more compelling 'other world' than 9 out of 10 games released today.

Yeah, this.

I think 3D platformers have a fantastic potential, but there is also the concurrent potential to ruin a good gameplay concept with an over-emphasis on graphics rather than gameplay. They can be great, but they can also throw in way too much clutter. Not sure if I am really adding anything to the discussion with that, but I'm in that boat too.

[Hazerd]

2D graphics for Platformers, 3D makes them feel weird... although this rule doesnt apply to Super Smash Bro. or fighting games.

[zxqdms]

I agree that simple is usually better. I don't want to be confusing background elements with things I'm supposed to interact with.

[Redifer]

Sorry to dredge up this ancient (nearly 2 months old) thread, but the consensus here seems to be that 8-bit platformers are the best since they are so simple and don't have anything to distract you. Yes, I am reading into that and nobody has said that directly.

Personally, I love visual pizazz. But not ALL visual pizazz. It has to be done right. The designers need to use discipline in order to avoid clutter. I think just about ANY 8-bit platformer looks better than the recent Rocket Night game released for the Xbox 360 and PS3. Any Adventure Island game looks better than the WiiWare version. But at the same time, ASStal looks better than the majority of platformers that preceded it. Limbo, with its massive amounts of scrolling layers, beats the hell out of most things. Braid looks awesome as well, but unfortunately it is more of a puzzle game than a platformer (I would love to see a TRUE platformer with these visuals).

I love visual depth in my platformers but I like my depth in 2D layers, not 2.5D polygon stuff. That just looks really odd. Strider 1 looks 20 times better than Strider 2, for example. I think Thunder Force 4 looks about a billion times better than Thunder Force V (yes, shooter, not platformer, but I digress).

I will go on record and say I do not like games that look like Donkey Kong Country. That is a look that I abhor. I will take hand-drawn stuff over pre-rendered trash any day.

[shadobeni]

I think the Sonic and Earthworm Jim 16-bit games had nice detailed graphics that didn't distract from or inhibit the gameplay. Although I remember some reviewers claiming that in Earthworm Jim it was hard to tell which platforms you could stand on or something like that (although I never had this issue).

I like the graphics in Braid and don't think they're so detailed that they cause issues with the gameplay but it's more puzzler than action.

I can't think of which ones but I do hate games where the graphics make it hard to see projectiles flying at you.

As for 2.5D games, I liked Klonoa 2's graphics and never felt distracted.

If the graphical style is very simple, I find that I need to see some visual variety between worlds. My memory might be clouding things but I always found the super mario bros on nes to be boring because every level looked the same but I liked super mario land on gameboy because each world had a theme. Probably the same reason I could never get into Metroid...lots of the same looking areas over and over.

[Mucx]

As cool and New Super Mario Bros. is I felt that the art style and choice of using 3D characters in a 2.5D side scrolling plat former just, well, it didn't sit right with me. It was a fun game don't get me wrong but I felt something wasn't feeling right with the aesthetic and control combination.

This might be my old school sensibilities but I would love Nintendo to NSMB in pixel art sprites and animation frames. That jump from Mario World to Mario 64 was at the time awesome, but, I would love a true Mario World 2 all pixel art.