Not long ago, I was playing a game on the Wii called “Muramasa: The Demon Blade”.  This game is a side-scrolling action game, and it got me thinking about something likely much more than a normal person should have.  But, since I’m already thinking about it, I may as well drag you into my thoughts, as well.

We’re all familiar with side-scrollers, right?  Lots of old games were this format.  “Mario” and “Metroid” and “Sonic” and “Donkey Kong”.  And I can keep going to take up space, but I shan’t.  These games were often like this on the old consoles, such as the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis, but then that began to change.  I remember when the Nintendo 64 came out, we started to get these fancy, new 3D games, like “Super Mario 64”, “Donkey Kong 64”, and a new series I found superbly delightful, “Banjo-Kazooie”.  You didn’t really see side-scrollers so much anymore, except on handhelds and the “Kirby” series, which has remained in that format to this day.  And as you’d expect, side-scrollers that became 3D continued to be 3D down through the years because, well, what’s new and fancy usually becomes commonplace.  We haven’t seen a decline in graphics over the years, and a series that gains the addition of voice acting usually doesn’t lose it.  Nevertheless, I’ve been noticing a trend lately. Continue reading The Return of Side-Scrollers and a Quick Discussion of Other Trends in Gaming →