MAMEWorld Forums - EmuChat - Re: Donkey Kong was the first platformer

> People aren't saying Space Panic is the first ladder game. They are saying it's the
> first platform game, and that's just wrong.

I would class it as a platform game.

You can dig a hole, fall through it, and land on the lower platform.

It has gravity, you fall, there are multiple levels at different heights across the screen, aka 'platforms' You can even dig holes and fall multiple levels; the mechanic of dropping an enemy through multiple holes in platforms is even a key part of the game. The game is all about manipulating the platforms and verticality to your advantage, moreso than even DK which is more of an obstacle course for most of the stages.

Those criteria along separate it from a similar game done overhead eg Heiankyo Alien / Digger.

Now if you were to tell me Naughty Mouse isn't a platform game, I'd be more inclined to agree, at a push, that that one is a ladders game. Actually it's an elaborate and very extensive hack of Pac-Man, it has no concept of gravity or platforms, it's closer to a 2D overhead game presented with a visual trick to make it look side-on.

Being able to jump has nothing to do with it, that's like saying Pac-Man isn't in the same genre as Pac-Mania because one has jumping and the other does not. Both games in that case are 'Maze' games.

IMHO jumping / not jumping is just a detail, like for example if the screen wraps / doesn't wrap.