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Isometric Platformers- Are there any noteworthy games in this genre?

Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
When it comes to Isometric Platformers, the few that come to mind for me are
The GBA Spyro games
Sonic 3D Blast

What Isometric Platformers do you feel are worth playing or revisiting? I've had this genre on my mind recently after having beaten Sonic 3D Blast (which I quite enjoyed IMHO), and I can't seem to think of many that I've played or even heard of. I think the 80s Computer gaming scene in the UK had a few notable ones?
 
S

skullomania

Member
A game for the Amiga that I've never seen mentioned anywhere is "Voodoo Nightmare", which was an isometric adventure game with dungeons similar to the early Legend of Zelda formula.
It's not strictly a platformer, but has some elements that are similar in tone, such as jumping on enemies to destroy them.

voodoonightmare02.jpg


voodoonightmare-crop-1402121624-02.png
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
Landstalker's a great example of this genre, so long as you enjoy some action and puzzling alongside. It handles isometric controls fairly well for its period, even when pushing that perspective to its limits (even early on), and the audiovisuals are still damn good.
 
1

18-Volt

Member
GBA had lots of those. Aside from Spyro, there were Rayman 3's sequel, Tron, James Bond Everything or Nothing, Max Payne... I wish this became a popular subgenre after GBA. The only isometric game we got for DS was Lunar Knights.
 
I

inpHilltr8r

Member
Tizoc said:
I think the 80s Computer gaming scene in the UK had a few notable ones?
Click to expand...

3D Ant Attack
Knight Lore
Alien 8
Batman
Head over Heels

all ZX Spectrum (although ports of some to C64, BBC B etc. exist)
from the top of my head
going to feel rough today tho
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
Dragoon En Regalia said:
Landstalker's a great example of this genre, so long as you enjoy some action and puzzling alongside. It handles isometric controls fairly well for its period, even when pushing that perspective to its limits (even early on), and the audiovisuals are still damn good.
Click to expand...

This was going to be my suggestion. One of my favorite games.
 
M

Mr.Deadshot

Member
Dragoon En Regalia said:
Landstalker's a great example of this genre, so long as you enjoy some action and puzzling alongside. It handles isometric controls fairly well for its period, even when pushing that perspective to its limits (even early on), and the audiovisuals are still damn good.
Click to expand...
Came here to post this. It's not mainly a platformer but it has lot's of platforming sections. One of my favorite Mega Drive games.
 
S

*Splinter

Member
I thought Lumo was alright, for a modern example:
vforum.vn-326531-lumoss.jpg


I remember some frustrating sections (icy floors I think) but overall I enjoyed it.
 
S

Slick Butter

Member
Rygar 8 Bit said:
solstice for nes the sequel equinox for snes is ok as well

solstice
IMG
Click to expand...
Yo that's the game with the kickass Tim Follin music. I've never actually bothered to find out what kind of game it is, only knew of its awesome music.

*Splinter said:
I thought Lumo was alright, for a modern example:
IMG

I remember some frustrating sections (icy floors I think) but overall I enjoyed it.
Click to expand...
Aaah, I completely forgot about this, I was going to buy it at some point but I guess it just completely left my brain. Weird.
 
M

maxcriden

Member
Spot Goes to Hollywood for PSX and Saturn, different from the Genesis game. One of my all-time faves, so I can't turn down this opportunity to extoll its virtues.

I'm going to quote a couple posts I have previously written about the game. The HG101 article I link to gives a good bit of info about the game. It is really something special and it seems supremely under-appreciated amongst PSX and platformer fans.

Spot Goes to Hollywood for PSX is an incredible and very difficult isometric platformer.

sgthpscovera.jpg


spot-hollywood-ps1-1.png


spot-hollywood-ps1-2.png


spot-hollywood-ps1-5.png


It holds up really excellent, too. We just played it for the first time last year.

Read more here: http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/spot/spot2.htm

(Keep in mind each version is different though. It's the PSX one I'm referring to above.)
Click to expand...

[Spot] is not a 2D platformer as it is isometric, but it has the spirit of the a 2D platformer nonetheless. The game I am talking about is a the wonderful, brilliant, challenging and compelling Spot Goes to Hollywood. Also, if you play that maybe we can help each other 100% the game because nobody on the Internet seems to have found a couple of the collectible stars and at least one of the secret exists. Just sayin'. 😉 Anyway, it's a superb game and I hope you get to play it. It's pretty cheap online, too!
Click to expand...

Of note, a 100% walkthrough for the game was finally posted online in May, so we did a RTTP recently. Might make a thread to talk up the game's amazingness some more.
 
G

G0523

Member
18-Volt said:
GBA had lots of those. Aside from Spyro, there were Rayman 3's sequel, Tron, James Bond Everything or Nothing, Max Payne... I wish this became a popular subgenre after GBA. The only isometric game we got for DS was Lunar Knights.
Click to expand...
Yup. Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge is pretty okay too, if you want to play a simplified collect-a-thon game.
 
S

Stencil

Member
I have trouble even controlling isometric RPGs (Disgaea 5.) For some reason I can't wrap my head around the horizontal/vertical cross translating to diagonal movement.

Equinox looks dope tho.
 
N

noquarter

Member
What about QBert? The levels are all the same and having to 100% them to continue sucks, but it's alright.

I actually came in to say Landstalker, but that has been covered.

Marble Madness is pretty good as well. Always preferred playing with a mouse, since it is closest to a trackball, but with a controller it is still worth trying.
 
L

LukasTaves

Member
Really liked lumo. Can be very challenging, but in a good way, except for the time trials that are not all that difficult by themselves but the game puts them behind a in game coin wall and you only get one shot. Also, there are sections that if you chose the right room before exploring the others you end up locking a collectable which is not pleasant either.

It's very good still.
 
M

Mael

Member
Monster_Max_Coverart.png


Made by Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond.
A glorious game that is sadly lost to the sea of Gameboy releases.
With fantastic music and great challenges.
If there's an issue it would be with the camera sometimes hidding critical stuffs just outside of view (like enemies coming in range).
Otherwise responsive controls, fairly long and everything.
One of the finest Gameboy games and probably my fav game using that perspective.
If there's 1 game you need to play, probably this one.
 
eso76

eso76

Member
Knight Lore (Worth revisiting beacause it's the first of its kind and was received as some sort of revolution in 1984)
Head Over Hills (because it's the best)
Batman (ZX Spectrum and MSX) (because batman)
 
M

mclem

Member
Tizoc said:
What Isometric Platformers do you feel are worth playing or revisiting? I've had this genre on my mind recently after having beaten Sonic 3D Blast (which I quite enjoyed IMHO), and I can't seem to think of many that I've played or even heard of. I think the 80s Computer gaming scene in the UK had a few notable ones?
Click to expand...

Lots. The biggies for me are those by Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond: Batman, Head over Heels and (on the Game Boy) Monster Max. Head over Heels is one of my favourite games of all-time and I'd absolutely say it stands up today.
Bh7L94C.gif


Ultimate - that later became Rare - had a few. Knightlore is the archetypal one, but there's also Alien 8.

There's a couple of other companies that aren't as well-known that made titles. I'd mention the Sweevo titles: Sweevo's World, Sweevo's Whirled (an expanded rerelase) and Hydrofool.
1kIjkpB.jpg
NzWpOF5.png


Finally, a couple of more obscure ones: I have to mention Fairlight, not least because it cropped up in the news a little while back because it was one of the highest-profile titles made by The Edge, and a piece of evidence in that whole mess of litigation.
DGzGbVR.png


One that's often forgotten is Inside Outing, which I think is worth of note due to the unusual level of detail in the environments.
HaeNQ3i.jpg


I also ought to mention Lumo, a recent indie release, in part because it's very much a homage to that 80's era.


While it's probably pushing the definition of platformer as such, but there are jumping-based challenges, so I thought it's worth including (although they hinge on momentum): Spindizzy and the later sequel, Spindizzy Worlds are great.

rjhsTBx.gif
KEvtL7A.png
 
G

Graphics Horse

Member
mclem said:
Finally, a couple of more obscure ones: I have to mention Fairlight, not least because it cropped up in the news a little while back because it was one of the highest-profile titles made by The Edge, and a piece of evidence in that whole mess of litigation.
DGzGbVR.png
Click to expand...

Nice, I always forget the name of this one
 
R

RagnarokX

Member
PeakPointMatrix said:
Is it bad I mostly consider Mario 3D World isometric? I feel like a good chunk of stages were fixed camera angles facing the floor.
Click to expand...
Yes. Isometric projection isn't a viewing angle. It's an way of visualizing something where nothing changes size relative to its distance from the viewer. 3D World has standard 3D depth cues and the camera is almost never actually fixed in single player.

Isometric projection was popular in early gaming because sprites didn't need to change size with distance, but with sprite scaling and true 3D rendering it fell out of favor since there's no advantage to using it over more modern methods.
 
W

Willenium

Member
I'm honestly shocked that people are recommending Landstalker. I guess this is personal opinion but i thought the controls in that game were total dogshit. Everything's on a diagonal and diagonals on Genesis controllers register horribly. I thought it was almost completely unplayable.

Really nice-looking game, though. Neat Disney-ish character design.

Anywho, my vote goes to Sonic 3D Blast XD
 
L

Laurel_McFang

Member
Side-by-Side-Snake-Rattle-N-Roll-1.gif


Plus One for Snake, Rattle, and Roll

Adventure Max is nice too.

Solsitice I really think takes the cake.

Also, I forgot the name, but there was an indie dev with an isometric solsitice style platformer that actually used the isometric perspective to create some interesting perspective challenges.

Not sure if they count, but the isometric sonic games were always a favorite. Lumo is good too. Not sure what it is but Lumo is like hypnotic for me.
 
Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
Mael said:
Monster_Max_Coverart.png


Made by Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond.
A glorious game that is sadly lost to the sea of Gameboy releases.
With fantastic music and great challenges.
If there's an issue it would be with the camera sometimes hidding critical stuffs just outside of view (like enemies coming in range).
Otherwise responsive controls, fairly long and everything.
One of the finest Gameboy games and probably my fav game using that perspective.
If there's 1 game you need to play, probably this one.
Click to expand...
When i did a google search for isometric platformers this one came up

Will watch some vids of the games mentioned thanks for the info gang
 
V

VLiberty

Member
Tizoc said:
When it comes to Isometric Platformers, the few that come to mind for me are
The GBA Spyro games
Sonic 3D Blast

What Isometric Platformers do you feel are worth playing or revisiting? I've had this genre on my mind recently after having beaten Sonic 3D Blast (which I quite enjoyed IMHO), and I can't seem to think of many that I've played or even heard of. I think the 80s Computer gaming scene in the UK had a few notable ones?
Click to expand...

I haven't actually played either of those, but Rayman: Hoodlum Revenge(same devs as the Spyro GBA trilogy) and the Banjo Kazooie spin off on GBA are also isometric platformers. I've always been interested about trying that Banjo game
 
8

8bit

Knows the Score
mclem said:
Lots. The biggies for me are those by Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond: Batman, Head over Heels and (on the Game Boy) Monster Max. Head over Heels is one of my favourite games of all-time and I'd absolutely say it stands up today.
Bh7L94C.gif
Click to expand...

Which version of Head Over Heels is that?
 
J

JPickford

Member
skullomania said:
A game for the Amiga that I've never seen mentioned anywhere is "Voodoo Nightmare", which was an isometric adventure game with dungeons similar to the early Legend of Zelda formula.
It's not strictly a platformer, but has some elements that are similar in tone, such as jumping on enemies to destroy them.

voodoonightmare02.jpg


voodoonightmare-crop-1402121624-02.png
Click to expand...

Wow that's a blast from the past. My old company Zippo Games made that although I wasn't personally involved.

I did code and co-design Equinox SNES though.
 
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