Platform games appeared at the beginning of the 1980s. As of 2006, the genre is far less dominant, representing a 2% market share (compared to 15% in 1998), but still commercially viable, with a number of games selling in the millions of units.ĭonkey Kong level demonstrates extensive jumping between platforms, the genre's defining trait. No genre before or since has been able to achieve a similar market share. At the peak of their popularity, it is estimated that between one-quarter and one-third of console games were platformers. Platform games were, at one point, the most popular genre of video game. Platform themes range from cartoony "mascot" games to science fiction and fantasy epics.
Europe, North America, and Japan have played major parts in the genre's evolution. While commonly associated with console gaming, there have been many important platform games released to arcades, as well as for handheld systems and home computers. However, it is not a pure genre and is very frequently coupled with elements of other genres, such as the shooter elements in Contra, the adventure elements of Flashback or the RPG elements of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. The term itself describes games where jumping on platforms is an integral part of the gameplay, and came into use some time after the genre had been established, but no later than 1983. Platform games originated in the early 1980s, and 3D successors were popularized in the mid-1990s.
Games where jumping is automated completely, such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, fall outside of the genre. These mechanics, even in the context of other genres, are commonly called platforming, a verbification of platform. The most common unifying element to games in this video game genre is a jump button other jump mechanics include swinging from extendable arms, as in Ristar or Bionic Commando, or bouncing from springboards or trampolines, as in Alpha Waves. It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps. A platform game (or platformer) is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles (jumping puzzles).