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Platformers where you mostly go UP

R

revolverjgw

Member
I don't know why, I just want to make a list of these things. Give me some. Keep it to platformers with multiple screens... obviously tons of early arcade games were single screen affairs where you had to make it to the top.

Rainbow Islands- the yardstick by which all other vertical platformers should be measured. Even your attack did double duty as a way of ascending the level

tumblr_lmvyksp1Vs1qf75ee.jpg


Ice Climber- I had the Japanese version of this game on a pirate cart, which was certainly my favorite seal clubbing simulator ever

Ice+Climber+%28Japan%29_001.jpg


Iggy's Reckin' Balls- Kind of a platformer, the levels were mostly vertical spirals

nintendo-64-iggys-reckin-balls-game.png


Bonus question because there's probably not many games that are totally vertical- what's your favorite vertical section of a normal platformer? First that comes to mind is Castlevania Bloodlines, the Leaning Tower level.

Castlevania+-+Bloodlines025.bmp


And reversing this, there's fucking Battletoads... in this level you just keep going down, and the last time I tried to beat this game, I gave up here... despite abusing save-states.

125462-battletoads-nes-screenshot-rat-race-level-10-is-a-long-drop.png


(now that I think about it Battletoads had a couple of levels where all you did was descend)
 
PixelJunk Eden. It's not a typical platformer, but I think it qualifies. If anyone reading this isn't familiar, you basically climb upwards towards your goals through a psychedelic garden of sorts.

Edit - Sorry, I just caught the multiple screens part. My bad. I'd find a better example but I'm not well versed with retro games.
 
Snuggler said:
PixelJunk Eden. It's not a typical platformer, but I think it qualifies. If anyone reading this isn't familiar, you basically climb upwards towards your goals through a psychedelic garden of sorts.

Edit - Sorry, I just caught the multiple screens part. My bad. I'd find a better example but I'm not well versed with retro games.
Click to expand...

Eden definitely applies.
 
Snow Bros. (?)

YboUI.png


Remember playing it a lot back then too.

(?)
Not sure if it counts, since while it consists on "going up"; the main focus is beating all enemies and you can only go up o the next screen once you beat all of them.
 
Some of the stages in Klonoa Moonlight Museam on the Wonderswan are more vertical in nature and you even have to use the system in Tate mode to play them.

One of the many reasons why it is the best Klonoa game.

qeJxs.jpg
 
not going up ALL the time ... but you does it so muych that deserves a mention

DK Jungle Climber
A17rT.jpg


Also, half of the worlds in World of Goo


Also, this pretty much sums up Shadow of the Colossus
 
revolverjgw said:
Bonus question because there's probably not many games that are totally vertical- what's your favorite vertical section of a normal platformer?
Click to expand...

DKC games are pretty good for this, usually in the form of moving stages where something life threatening is heading up from the bottom of the screen like Ripsaw Rage from DKC3.
Other example include...
Castle Crush from DKC2
Perilous Passage from DKCR, damn this level was horrible, those electric bugs towards the end are were the bane of my life.
You'd often find that level archetypes were all about heading upwards, DKC2 had the castle keep and mineshaft stages, DKC3 had the Cliffs, Tree and Waterfall levels which I always considered to be the best in the game, well except Kong-Fused Cliffs because fuck that stage.
 
Sonic 1 on the Master System/Game Gear. There's a map of the island shown between the levels displaying Sonic's ascension to Robotnik.

Sonic starts at the coastal Green Hill Zone, crosses ravines with a series of bridges to reach the Jungle Zone, ascends up a waterfall, overcomes flooded ruins, emerges in the mountainous Scrap Brain Zone, chases Robotnik to the highest tower and through a network of sky pylons, and finally confronts and defeats the evil doctor far above the island on the Sky Base.

Nothing but up.
 
jediyoshi said:
Tobes Vertical Adventure.
Steam Page, there's a demo available.
Did a little review a while back.
Click to expand...
Really weird what happened with the Xbox Indie version of the game. Was released, some thought that $3 was "too much", nice impressions but problematic controls, some days later the game got patched to the new controls, but apparently sales didn't pick up. Around summer last year it's released on Steam, while also disappearing from the Indie games section of Xbox Live.

Don't know if it was ever explained or if it's a glitch. Still have it on my purchase history at least.

Alextended said:
^ huh, didn't know they made Tobe a franchise, neat.
Click to expand...

Steam's version is the same game as the Xbox version; unless I'm missing something.
Answered in post #49!
 
Mama Robotnik said:
Sonic 1 on the Master System/Game Gear. There's a map of the island shown between the levels displaying Sonic's ascension to Robotnik.

Sonic starts at the coastal Green Hill Zone, crosses ravines with a series of bridges to reach the Jungle Zone, ascends up a waterfall, overcomes flooded ruins, emerges in the mountainous Scrap Brain Zone, chases Robotnik to the highest tower and through a network of sky pylons, and finally confronts and defeats the evil doctor far above the island on the Sky Base.

Nothing but up.
Click to expand...

I don't think you get what we're talking about here...
 
I think Banjo Kazooie had a stage where you were going up a giant tree... memory may be failing me though.

Also theres tons of going up platformers on the iOS.. but I cant even remember the names.
 
Atomski said:
I think Banjo Kazooie had a stage where you were going up a giant tree... memory may be failing me though.

Also theres tons of going up platformers on the iOS.. but I cant even remember the names.
Click to expand...

There was indeed such a stage, Click Clock Wood. You'd likely be heading up that tree 4 times, once for each season. There are some pathways on the way up being built across the year as well as leaves you can use to climb that are only accessible in Summer and Autumn/Fall.
 
fernoca said:
Steam's version is the same game as the Xbox version; unless I'm missing something.
Click to expand...
I'm referring to all the different Tobe games. Hookshot Escape that I linked, Vertical Adventure that he linked, and a few more.
 
Alphahawk said:
I don't think you get what we're talking about here...
Click to expand...

I know exactly what the thread is about, I'm just offering a different interpretation of the question. Sonic 1 is a vertical progression told through horizontal levels.

With the exception of Jungle Zone act 2, which is a strictly vertical progression, to such a degree that actual downward movement causes immediate death:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uYkxzKPDfU#t=3m33s

(Every time the screen moves up, the area below it is instantly rendered as a fatal).
 
Alextended said:
I'm referring to all the different Tobe games. Hookshot Escape that I linked, Vertical Adventure that he linked, and a few more.
Click to expand...
Oh! Now that's news to me! :O!
-Vertical Adventure
-Great Escape
-Hookshot Escape

Good to see that it 's still around
 
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