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Are there any 2D platformers with SMG's gravity mechanic?

O

Oblivion

Fetishing muscular manly men in skintight hosery
I'm of course talking about those 2D levels from SMG. Have there been any 2D platformers like that? They were pretty interesting, and I think it'd be neat if a whole game was based upon that, if there hasn't been any already.
 
Metal Storm - NES

Metal_Storm_%28English%29_-Stage_1_-_1-.png


Play it. It's awesome.
 
the original strider had some similar moments

metal storm is similar too -- though you control the gravity switching. it's also COMPLETELY FUCKING AWESOME
 
I can't remember any whole games that use it, but MegaMan 5's Gravity Man stage uses pretty much the same mechanic.
 
Dynamite Heady have an epic boss fight in a gravity switching level, also sonic adventure 2 have LOT of the element present in SMG
 
Gravity Man's level in Mega Man 5 had this mechanic. There was something similar in Cyber Peacock's level in Mega Man X4, except that the gravity changes effected other objects aside from your character as well.

Sonic's used a couple of times as well. The Death Egg in Sonic and Knuckles and the Dead Line Zone in Sonic Rush use it.
 
Mohawk & Headphone Jack, for SNES, from Black Pearl.

Seriously, other than perhaps MetalStorm no game fits this label any more perfectly... except that Mohawk & Headphone Jack does some other things that make the game unbelievably, ridiculously confusing. It's easily one of the most disorienting games ever made, and that's WITH a map of the level you can scroll around!

Essentially, M&HJ is a 100% Mode 7 platformer. The levels rotate. Your character stays standing upright, in the middle of the screen, while the level rotates or spins around you. Levels are enclosed spaces -- there is a "floor" all around the edge of the level. Every surface has its own gravity that depends on its size, so that when you're on a floor and jump up and there is a platform (with a floor surface facing you -- a small round platform, for instance) at some point you'll get caught by that platform's gravity and the screen will flip around and you'll be on the platform, looking up at the floor you just jumped from (because remember, unlike a MetalStorm, here your character always stays right-side-up while the level flips around behind you...).

Oh yeah, and did I mention that you can run really, really fast? Like Sonic fast? You can. There are also very few enemies in the game (though the ones that there are can be tough to avoid because when you're running at full speed there's no way you'll see them... just use spike-ball form (you attack by turning into a spike ball, so you can do it while moving) and hope you run into them, or memorize their locations... :)

You complete the level by collecting 100 CDs and then finding the level exit. There are a lot of CDs so that part isn't hard... it's finding the exit that can be. Collecting special giant CDs unlocks additional music tracks. (and there is password save so you don't have to start over each time, thankfully) Oh yes, your characters are these really strange guys made of putty or something... they can squeeze through very narrow tubes (turn flat), they attack by going into spike form, some special powerups add things like wheels on the bottoms of the sprites instead of legs... oh yeah, they're naked, though since they're made of putty or something that doesn't matter much...

Seriously, without that map you can access on the pause menu the game would be IMPOSSIBLE. You just get so totally disoriented so quickly... it's a very interesting and unique game, but it's also almost unplayable in a way. Even so, it's worth the experience I think... it's just so totally weird and different that you've got to see it. It came out in 1995 and vanished immediately... finding almost any information about it online is very difficult. There is a decent video review of the game on Youtube, though. The voiceover isn't that great, but the video shows the game nicely... or rather, it shows how weird it is. It's kind of amazing a game this bizarre actually got published, in a way... they certainly showed what you can do with Mode 7, though, and the gravity effects are quite interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFwaswxJf6o (short gameplay video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3VtK40YKDw (LP)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RepK4ZyAh8k (old and dead)
 
A Black Falcon said:
Mohawk & Headphone Jack, for SNES, from Black Pearl.

Seriously, other than perhaps MetalStorm no game fits this label any more perfectly... except that Mohawk & Headphone Jack does some other things that make the game unbelievably, ridiculously confusing. It's easily one of the most disorienting games ever made, and that's WITH a map of the level you can scroll around!

Essentially, M&HJ is a 100% Mode 7 platformer. The levels rotate. Your character stays standing upright, in the middle of the screen, while the level rotates or spins around you. Levels are enclosed spaces -- there is a "floor" all around the edge of the level. Every surface has its own gravity that depends on its size, so that when you're on a floor and jump up and there is a platform (with a floor surface facing you -- a small round platform, for instance) at some point you'll get caught by that platform's gravity and the screen will flip around and you'll be on the platform, looking up at the floor you just jumped from (because remember, unlike a MetalStorm, here your character always stays right-side-up while the level flips around behind you...).

Oh yeah, and did I mention that you can run really, really fast? Like Sonic fast? You can. There are also very few enemies in the game (though the ones that there are can be tough to avoid because when you're running at full speed there's no way you'll see them... just use spike-ball form (you attack by turning into a spike ball, so you can do it while moving) and hope you run into them, or memorize their locations... :)

You complete the level by collecting 100 CDs and then finding the level exit. There are a lot of CDs so that part isn't hard... it's finding the exit that can be. Collecting special giant CDs unlocks additional music tracks. (and there is password save so you don't have to start over each time, thankfully) Oh yes, your characters are these really strange guys made of putty or something... they can squeeze through very narrow tubes (turn flat), they attack by going into spike form, some special powerups add things like wheels on the bottoms of the sprites instead of legs... oh yeah, they're naked, though since they're made of putty or something that doesn't matter much...

Seriously, without that map you can access on the pause menu the game would be IMPOSSIBLE. You just get so totally disoriented so quickly... it's a very interesting and unique game, but it's also almost unplayable in a way. Even so, it's worth the experience I think... it's just so totally weird and different that you've got to see it. It came out in 1995 and vanished immediately... finding almost any information about it online is very difficult. There is a decent video review of the game on Youtube, though. The voiceover isn't that great, but the video shows the game nicely... or rather, it shows how weird it is. It's kind of amazing a game this bizarre actually got published, in a way... they certainly showed what you can do with Mode 7, though, and the gravity effects are quite interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RepK4ZyAh8k
Click to expand...
That footage managed to somehow combine looking mindblowingly crazy and disorienting with looking incredibly boring.
 
WordAssassin said:
WHAAAAAT THE FUUUUUUCK
Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't think that they came up with this game concept without some kind of mind-altering substance(s), I'd bet...

Sharp said:
That footage managed to somehow combine looking mindblowingly crazy and disorienting with looking incredibly boring.
Click to expand...

Well, he does spend a long, long time in that tiny little bonus room. Really once you've run around that sphere and picked up the few items there you're supposed to warp back, not float around in space for like a minuite. :)

Even so, it is true that there are no instant-death pits and few enemies, so you do spend a lot of time just running around and hitting spike, though later on of course tougher enemies show up who require more strategy. Level one is a bit tame, really... level two is where the game really starts to get crazy. Oh, when you accidentally jump too high at the end of the level and find yourself back at the start with nothing to do but run through the stage again it's annoying (he almost does it at the end of the video... made me nervous for a moment...), but the first level isn't too bad. Level two gets weirder... the game introduces transit tubes, warps (so the map is of only limited help), flames that hurt you badly, a giant double infinite figure-eight loop... but yes, you spend a lot of time running around lost or watching the screen spin in circles. It allows you to run so fast that as soon as you jump on a small platform and start moving if you accidentally tap jump you have NO IDEA where you'll end up...yeah, 'weird and unique' here definitely also comes along with 'frustrating and disorienting'. Even so, it's a quite interesting game, that's for sure. I gave up on trying to beat it after a couple of levels, but it's pretty interesting. And what's wrong with playing a game where you're not in danger of being killed every two seconds, really? Well, unless you do what the game lets you and unthinkingly run around, that is... then you'll die fast just from running into enemies. :)
 
SantaC said:
Battle of Olympus
Click to expand...

That's right! I forgot about the sandals...

Geez, gravity tricks were all over NES and then completely discarded. I'd kill for a 2.5d Metal Storm on PSP (or something like it).
 
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