Topic: Quick And Easy Question

[Ocarina_Jedi]

Believe me, this is a completely pointless thread, but I'm gonna ask my question anyway.
Technically, what is a platformer?  I know a few different platforming games, but I still don't really get what one is.  It's really the only genre that I don't get.

[jasonditz]

Platformers usually involve jumping around on various platforms.

[Hostile Creation]

I don't think that's the only defining aspect of it. . . all of them are different, of course (well, some are different, anyway), but they tend to be somewhat unrealistic (in a sense of jumping very high, unusual proportions for characters/enemies, extravagent graphics and methods of gameplay), to a degree.  A platformer is generally an adventure-ish game.  And yes, jumping on platforms is the main requirement.

[kirby_killer_dedede]

What's an RPG?  I know FF and KH come to mind, but it stands for Role Playing Game, so I mean...in Mario, you take the roll of Mario, so it's an RPG, in Zelda, you take the roll of Link, so it's an RPG, so on and so forth...

There's a lot of things that make an RPG, but what exactly defines a Role Playing Game?

[ib2kool4u912]

I don't know what exactly makes an RPG but I'm pretty sure that any game where you gain experiance points and level up would qualify as an one.

[KDR_11k]

The term RPG was coined in the times of pen&paper games. Since they always involve character development, nowadays RPG means a game where you have stats that increase when you gain experience. Mario is as much an RPG as Quake is a Shoot'em'Up.

[Grey Ninja]

Platformers seem to be covered.  The main characteristic is unrealistic physics, and tasks of manual dexterity to solve problems.  The genre is closely related to Adventure games, but the main difference is that Adventure games often focus on more story elements, and the puzzles are more intellectual or explorative based.  Platformers will often feature jumping in a prominant fashion, while Adventures may often leave out jumping entirely.

RPGs main feature is level building, and gaining of experience and stats.  If the game lacks those, it would no longer be classed as an RPG.  RPGs are divided into two groups.  

The American version focuses almost entirely on sending a group of characters into a dungeon to fight enemies and become stronger.

The Japanese version focuses on providing a storybook, or play style of show.  The characters and story in a Japanese RPG must be top notch, while the gameplay is often allowed to suffer if the story and characters are good.  

[Ian Sane]

"Platformers seem to be covered. The main characteristic is unrealistic physics, and tasks of manual dexterity to solve problems. The genre is closely related to Adventure games, but the main difference is that Adventure games often focus on more story elements, and the puzzles are more intellectual or explorative based. Platformers will often feature jumping in a prominant fashion, while Adventures may often leave out jumping entirely."

One thing I've also noticed that differs between platformers and adventures is that in an adventure game (Zelda, Metroid) you explore one continuous world.  In platform games (which are basically a sub-genre of the action genre) you often have individual stages.

Here's an easy way to "define" a genre.  Each genre is often influenced by one ground breaking game.  Therefore you can say that any game that is for the most part based on that original game is of that genre.

Platformer: most are based on Super Mario Bros.  If you want to get technical you can go back to Donkey Kong.

RPG: I'm not sure what the first American style RPG is but for Japanese RPGs most follow the template set by Dragon Quest/Warrior.

[BlkPaladin]

Techincally the American style RPG are based off of Computer RPG with are heavy on the stat, and experience building. Think Everquest or any other MMoRPG and you have an American style RPG, that is more related to the pen and paper kind.

[KDR_11k]

The western RPG usually allows for more freedom than the japanese one. Also, western RPGs are often based on popular pen and paper RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons. Length is also very different, some western games having a minimum completion time of 100 (SpellForce) to 200 (Baldur's Gate) hours. The story might not seem as dramatic as the ones used by the eastern counterparts, but games like Fallout are hailed for their great freedom. BTW, freedom seems generally more absent in eastern games. Miyamoto actually admired the freedom the player has in GTA.