Bring Back the Side Scrollers

Run right. Jump. Slide. Climb. Shoot. Stomp. Score. Win. Repeat.

If this sounds familiar to you, then chances are you grew up playing video games in the golden age of the Side Scroller. This was back before Real Time Strategy games became huge and when 3D gaming involved wearing ridiculous glasses and playing Rad Racer until you got a headache. From the early 80’s until the mid 90’s, the Side Scroller was truly king of all video game genres. And I say that it is time to bring them back.

While certainly there were many variations, the basic setup of the classic Side Scroller was simple: you start the game with some sort of avatar on the left side of the screen and then move towards a goal on the right. Along the way you may encounter any number of different enemies blocking your path, from the living (turtles) to the almost living (robots) to the undead (zombies). And if this isn’t enough to keep your hero from achieving the greatness that awaits him (or her) on the right side of the world, there are also environmental obstacles with which you must contend. There are bottomless pits, fireballs, crushing weights and pointy metal things, all of which could lead to instant death for your intrepid adventurer. The key, of course, was to use your hero’s special talents to maneuver through his linear world, always pressing forward, forever moving to the right.

The best examples of classic Side Scrollers also seem to be some of the very best games of their era: Super Mario Bros., Contra, Castlevania, Mega Man, Sonic the Hedgehog and Bonk’s Adventure. These games all managed to work within the general constraints of the genre, while each adding something unique. Super Mario Bros. represented a quantum leap over anything that had been seen on a home system before. Sonic amazed us with speed and graphics that showed just what the new class of consoles could do. And Bonk’s Adventure gave us some sort of caveman.

For years the Side Scrollers ruled the video game landscape. As with nearly every gaming genre, however, this time on the top was not going to last forever. Role Playing Games had always been popular among hardcore gamers, and with hit series like Final Fantasy, they were starting to gain an audience among casual gamers as well. PC gaming was being dominated by RTS games like WarCraft and adventure games like Myst and The 7th Guest. First Person Shooters were also starting to make a mark for themselves with hits like Doom and Duke Nukem.

Despite the rise in new genres, Side Scrollers still clung to relevancy. The death knell for Side Scrollers, though, was to be announced with three words from the same mustachioed plumber who helped usher in the era: “It’sa me, Mario.” And things would never be the same again.

In 1996, the N64 hit the store shelves, and it was the first Nintendo console to not have a Side Scroller available at launch (because remember, the Virtual Boy never happened, ok?). Suddenly Mario was ripped from his 2D, straight-lined world and thrust into a new world of 3D and endless possibilities. Not only could you jump over your enemies, but now you could go around them as well. Your world just got a lot bigger, and a lot more complicated.

Mario 64 became a huge hit with critics and consumers alike, and a new genre was born: the 3D Platformer. Soon if a game wasn’t in 3D, then it seemed like a relic from the past. New, more powerful, hardware was allowing games to go where they had not gone before. Moving from one side of the screen to the other no longer seemed like enough. Linear game play, in the most literal sense of the term, was dying. Gamers wanted to explore worlds far more vast than the ones they been seeing for years. It wasn’t long before the Side Scroller was but a distant memory. 3D Platformers, First Person Shooters and the occasional Adventure game became the mainstays of the home console.

Then a funny thing happened. Us old gamers began to feel a hint of nostalgia for the games of our youth. We realized that rich, 3D environments were not what made a game great. It was about game play and fun. Combine this with the fact that old games are now easily accessible to anyone who wants them, and you have the beginning of a retro-gaming revolution. And of course many of the games that were given new life in this revolution were the classic Side Scrollers.

Then another funny thing happened. On the heels of the retro-gaming revolution, new Side Scrollers began to show up. In 2003, Viewtiful Joe was released and became a smash hit. Combining new advancements in graphics and game play, with the classic format of a Side Scroller, Viewtiful Joe proved that the genre once thought dead, was still alive and kicking.

And things didn’t stop there. Portable systems, less powerful than their home console cousins, also found Side Scrollers to be a perfect fit. New Super Mario Bros., only recently released for the Nintendo DS, has been flying off store shelves. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is another example of a Side Scroller receiving a facelift and then proving to be as much fun as any 3D game on the market. And as if all of this didn’t prove that there is still life left in the genre, Nintendo is developing the promising title Super Paper Mario as a final hurrah for the Gamecube.

We stand on the cusp of a new era in gaming. While the next generation of consoles is arriving, old games are being rediscovered. While gaming technology is becoming even more advanced, old ideas about game play are being resurrected. The genres that have been popular for the past five years are starting to grow stale. The landscape suggests that it is time for a change.

As we look for the next big thing, we can look to the past, to the Side Scroller, for inspiration. The simple elegance in game play, of taking control of our avatar and thrusting him heedlessly towards the right side of the screen, of running and jumping and shooting and stomping our way to our goal. This is the beauty of the genre. Many gamers say they are looking for something new. What they may not know, however, is that they are really looking for something old.