Let's Do The Time Warp.

Written by Tyler Parry

There was a time in my gaming history where I was content with just about every game I ever played. It was about the age of 4-8. You could put any game in my hand and I would enjoy it. Do you know why? Because every one of those games was most likely a 2D side scroller. Every system had em', Game Boy, Game Gear, SNES, Genesis, Saturn even. Do you know how many fantastic games came out of the 2D-SS genre? Too many to list. Astal, Clockwork Knight, every Castlevania game, X-Men 2, Alien Soldier, Pitfall, and about a couple hundred others. Why is it that today I would, a lot of the time, rather put down my 360 controller and the amazing graphics of new games, to open up an emulator with hundreds of SNES and Genesis games? It's because those games were fun as hell. I remember playing PSOne for the first time, with its fancy graphics and 3D gameplay. Pff. Yeah, sure I loved it. There were a lot of great games being made, but it was also the beginning of a new era. One that, ultimately, was less fun.
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I want my 2D games back. I know it's possible. Games like Shadow Complex and Trine are showing me that the games can be made damned well. Trine is an amazing game, it received tons of praise from the press, despite slipping into the shadows with most gamers. I got a chance to play the demo and when I began playing I let out a cry of joy as I realized that this game: a) Looked damn good, and b)Played damn good. It didn't have the hectic gameplay that most side scrollers had back in the 90's, but it instead fused so many elements of old and new game mechanics to create an awesome experience. This game very much reminded me of "Lost Vikings", where you would have to switch between 3 characters who would utilize their abilities to get from point a to point b and eliminate enemies.

And then there's Shadow Complex, which is being hailed as a new Metroid, and for good reason. From what I've seen, it's definitely a game to get excited about if you're a fan of side scrollers. Upgrades, current gen physics and graphics, an interesting story, awesome looking combat and puzzle elements. It's like Epic Games took everything we all loved about the old side scrollers, carefully crafted the right elements and combined it with current generation tech.

The sad part? Not many people are going to play it. If you haven't noticed, there's a lot of people on Xbox Live that wouldn't even know the game Goldeneye. Yeah, it brings a tear to my eye too. You know what their Goldeneye is? A little game called Modern Warfare. It sucks, but what were you going to play when you had your N64? Goldeneye, or Super Mario Bros. 3? Yeah, I'd be taking dual rocket launchers to Baron Samedi and Jaws as well.

But is there still a market for 2D side scrollers? No doubt. I can't be the only one that still appreciates Symphony of the Night, I know I'm not. I'm well aware that these games will not make it as full priced games either. They will however have a fighting chance as additions to the XBLA, PSN, or WiiWare. A great deal of people bought Symphony of the Night on XBLA, including me. I also bought Metal Slug, which is a great example of the pick up and play madness that side scrollers can bring to a gaming experience.

I feel as if it's a lost art that only older gamers will appreciate. Sadly, the newer generations of gamers are completely fixated on FPS's like Halo and CoD. I'm not sure what it is that changed to make the budding gamers less willing to try something new. I remember being about 8 or 9 and I was playing tons of different kinds of games, from RPG's to racing games, side scrollers, platformers, there were many games that caught my eye, even at such a young age. It might be because of things like the media and advertising, things hyping games up, whereas when I was young, gaming was almost like the punk scene, it was just something not everyone knew about and participated in, almost like an underground society. But that is completely another topic that I'll talk about another time.

The bottomline is, I hope that people will see the potential for 2D-SS' on marketplaces for consoles, and Steam on PC. How awesome would Castlevania be if it were like Shadow Complex??! AWESOME.