3D Platformers Before Mario 64
As most people know, the release and success of Super Mario 64 defined the structure, standards, and rules of the 3D platformer genre to such an extent that it feels like it invented the genre. But the truth is that there were multiple attempts before and during the game's release to create a platformer in 3D, and these other attempts show several different paths the genre could have taken. These are 3D platformers released either before Mario 64's release date(s) or within the same year.
Let me know if you have any I missed. Figuring out what is and isn't a 3D platformer may get a little tricky, it can be a bit of a case by case thing, and also isometric platformers may be their own thing. And of course I don't mean to imply every 3D platformer released after 1996 used Mario 64's structure and mechanics, but I'm very much interested in these early years of the genre.
Let me know if you have any I missed. Figuring out what is and isn't a 3D platformer may get a little tricky, it can be a bit of a case by case thing, and also isometric platformers may be their own thing. And of course I don't mean to imply every 3D platformer released after 1996 used Mario 64's structure and mechanics, but I'm very much interested in these early years of the genre.
15 Games
Now of course the main part of this game can't really be called platforming, but the part before you start playing as Nights, when you're just one of the kids, you can jump around and explore the entire stage on foot, there are even different kinds of jumps you can pull off in this state. Despite being a completely optional aspect of the game that can very easily be looked over, I think it has to count.
Check comment section for justification.
Same reason as Nights being on this list, but Christmas Nights also has the weird Sonic mode where you play the level as Sonic. Arguably the first actual 3D Sonic game?
Like I said, isometric platformers are kind of a different thing from what's on this list, but I feel like 3D Blast deserves some mention here. Part of the reason it exists is because Sega wanted to have a game featuring Sonic in 3D since X-Treme was still struggling in development at this time. Also interesting to note how the Saturn version of this game uses actual 3D for the bonus stages.
The story goes that Croc was originally a pitch for a Yoshi game that Argonaut made to Nintendo around 1994, one that ultimately got rejected, so this may count on a technicality. There's also the whole rumor about Nintendo stealing aspects of this pitch to make SM64, and that they might have rejected Argonaut's pitch so they could take full credit of this game and not share it with a third-party dev, but I don't actually know how true that is.
Of course this game never came out, but the story of it's development and the changes it went through are fascinating. Pretty much everything wrong with Sega in the 90's was involved in killing this thing, and you can tell from the footage that has come out that there was struggle to figure out what this game was even going to be.
4 Comments
I've seen people categorize Tomb Raider (1996) as a 3D platformer before. Considering that the player has to make the jumps rather than a Zelda-style auto jump off ledges, I would be willing to say it qualifies enough. I think there's enough platforming alongside all the action-adventure stuff to make it count.
Pandemonium! came out in October 96'.
Pandemonium feels a little too close to Klonoa 2.5D then full 3D like the other stuff on this list.
DJSCheddar
2 years ago