Know of any 2D side-scrolling open world platformers?

I need something to play, for research. Preferably something that's not split into small-ish areas (Metroid) or screen-size rooms (VVVVVV, Hero Core, Redder). Just one big seamless world (or close to). I'm really struggling to think of any games like that.

OldSoulCyborg wrote:I need something to play, for research. Preferably something that's not split into small-ish areas (Metroid) or screen-size rooms (VVVVVV, Hero Core, Redder). Just one big seamless world (or close to). I'm really struggling to think of any games like that.

Most games don't work like that that I can think of. It's really hard to design a good platformer with an "open world" as you describe because you then have little or no possibility to shuffle areas around as you design for better structure, and of course, you can skin enclosed areas for visual variety, which is always nice.

Shadow of the Beast 2 occurs as a possibility.

Wasn't Empire Strikes Back on the Game Boy rather like that? :shifty:

I just remember having a massive map poster for it, so I could be wrong...

TheTurnipKing wrote:Most games don't work like that that I can think of. It's really hard to design a good platformer with an "open world" as you describe because you then have little or no possibility to shuffle areas around as you design for better structure, and of course, you can skin enclosed areas for visual variety, which is always nice.

Yeah, there's definitely a lot of pitfalls with a game like that. We (my friend and I) may be in over our heads with this project, but I'm thinking ahead and have come up with some clever ideas for the editing tools that should make my job (game design + graphics) much easier.

Thanks for the video, it was pretty informative. SotB2's world map is segmented, but I can see some similarities between it and what I have in mind for my little project.

OldSoulCyborg wrote:
TheTurnipKing wrote:Most games don't work like that that I can think of. It's really hard to design a good platformer with an "open world" as you describe because you then have little or no possibility to shuffle areas around as you design for better structure, and of course, you can skin enclosed areas for visual variety, which is always nice.

Yeah, there's definitely a lot of pitfalls with a game like that. We (my friend and I) may be in over our heads with this project, but I'm thinking ahead and have come up with some clever ideas for the editing tools that should make my job (game design + graphics) much easier.

Thanks for the video, it was pretty informative. SotB2's world map is segmented, but I can see some similarities between it and what I have in mind for my little project.

It's segmented for size, rather than design. The Amiga only had so much RAM, and it was pushing the system pretty hard. Infact, according to Retro Gamer, they wanted to add more depth to the first game, but they actually had to scale back the effects and lose parallax layers and things in order to give themselves any room for maneuver.

I can see a lot of pitfalls.

Oh yeah, might be worth taking a look at eternal daughter by the creator of spelunky. Been a long time though, I don't recall if it's flipscreen or not.

Nodes of yesod and Arc of Yesod
Jet set willy and various clones
Dynamite dan 1 & 2
Monty on the run and all the others

The speccy was awesome for that genre.

How about Another World?

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night has got to be top of the list. I know there are 'loading' rooms and it has different areas like Catacombs, Library etc but it feels like one big level. Super Metroid is pretty much like this too.

Isn't Cave Story a bit like that?

Game can be downloaded for free.

http://www.cavestory.org/downloads_game.php

It's been a while since I played them but Knytt and Within a Deep Forest might be of interest to you.

Shadow complex on xbla is one seamless world.

Trollie Wallie on the C64.

From 1:37 onwards you get a preview of the layout.

TheTurnipKing wrote:Oh yeah, might be worth taking a look at eternal daughter by the creator of spelunky. Been a long time though, I don't recall if it's flipscreen or not.

I've been meaning to try that. Now I do, only to find out it doesn't run well on my computer. Crashed once and had some slowdown+audio bugs.

Shadow Complex: I played the demo when it came out, wasn't too fond of it. Kind of feel like giving it another shot now. Even though it is split up into different areas it does feel very seamless (judging from what I played of the demo and what I've seen in videos). That's probably due to the almost complete lack of a pause when going from room to room. Is it XBLA only?

Cave Story: Only finished it twice. Need to play it again soon. Please tell me it's out on WiiWare in Europe...

Nifflas' work: Played Knytt Stories and NightSky, need to try the rest.

Commodore 64: Hmm... sorry to say, but those don't appeal to me much. Probably lots to be learned from studying some of those games, but it's not for me.

Yeah, i'm quite horrified by how badly Eternal Daughter runs on modern machines, though I guess I can't really expect much from a Multimedia Fusion game.

I didn't get any crashes, but it runs in a tiny window in the middle. Even when I use compatability mode to make it run at 640x480 it still doesn't take up the full screen.

Exile on the Amiga. One great big level.

Game map

Oh, and Zillion on the Master System is one big game. Very good, too.

TimeGhost wrote:Exile on the Amiga. One great big level.

Game map

A strange choice. Not Exile in itself, you understand, but the middle-of-the-road A500 version, over and above either the technically more impressive BBC Micro version, or the graphically best A1200 version.

I can only go by the version I've played, man! It's technically impressive on all platforms, really. Did you ever manage to finish it?

This bit:

Quite far on, where you eventually have to use the rubber dinghy to solve a puzzle involving the game's surprisingly decent phsyics engine. A combination of extreme frustration eventually resulting in a

moment when you finally manage it. One of the hardest games in existence, mainly down to the tight as strawberry float fuel and ammo management.

It is, of course, an 8-dimensionally scrolling game, though, and not side-scrolling as OldSoulCyborg requested. :shifty:

Not even close to finished it. :lol:

How about Black Lamp? I think that was kinda open world...

Or the Dizzy games?

Know of any 2D side-scrolling open world platformers?

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