You’re missing the forest for the trees. Nobody considers ‘ladder games’ or ‘climbing games’ to be a genre anymore. It’s all been delegated to the generic ‘action’ or ‘action puzzle’ label. But platform games is a broadly defined and well-known genre that exists today. You can categorize things however you want, but the collective, today, is categorizing games as platformers, and Donkey Kong has the essence of that genre. You can’t argue that Space Panic has that essence. It’s not there, because the essence is jumping. It’s not ladders. Maybe it was some time ago, but it’s not anymore. Nobody cares about ladders. Ladders aren’t interesting anymore.
It’s not fanboyism. I don’t even like Donkey Kong. It’s acknowledgement that there’s more to a game than just its mechanics. Its affect, its legacy, is important as well, and that is something so often missed by critics. Indeed, it is missed by so many people, for most people focus only on the details, rather than the big picture.
The same argument is why WOLF3D is the first FPS.
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Re: Donkey Kong was the first platformer
