A platform game (or platformer) is a video game which involves guiding an avatar to jump between suspended platforms, over obstacles, or both to advance the game. These challenges are known as jumping puzzles or freerunning. The player controls the jumps to avoid letting the avatar fall from platforms or miss necessary jumps. The most common unifying element of games of this genre is the jump button. Jumping, in this genre, may include swinging from extendable arms, as inRistar or Bionic Commando, or bouncing from springboards or trampolines, as in Alpha Waves. These mechanics, even in the context of other genres, are commonly called platforming, a verbification of platform. Games where jumping is automated completely, such as The Legend of Zelda, fall outside of the genre.
Platform games originated in the early 1980s, with 3D successors popularized in the mid-1990s. The term itself describes games where jumping on platforms is an integral part of the gameplay and came into use after the genre had been established, no later than 1983.[1][2] It is not a pure genre; it is frequently coupled with elements of other genres, such as theshooter elements in Contra, the adventure elements of Flashback, or the role-playing game elements of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
While commonly associated with console gaming, there have been many important platform games released to video arcades, as well as for handheld game consoles and home computers. North America, Europe and Japan have played major parts in the genre's evolution. Platform themes range from cartoon-like games to science fiction and fantasy epics.
At one point, platform games were the most popular genre of video game. At the peak of their popularity, it is estimated that between one-quarter and one-third of console games were platformers.[3] No genre either before or since has been able to achieve a similar market share. As of 2006, the genre had become far less dominant, representing a two percent market share as compared to fifteen percent in 1998,[4] but is still commercially viable, with a number of games selling in the millions of units. Since 2010, a variety of endless running platformers for mobile devices have brought renewed popularity to the genre.
