Forced scrolling platform games

nem · Post by **nem** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 6:01 pm

Forced scrolling in shooting games is more or less the norm, but this feature seems rarely incorporated in platform games (both run and gun and jump and run). Of the top of my head I can only think of Super Mario Land 2 (Gameboy) and Chelnov (Arcade, Megadrive).

BrianC, I'm looking at you.

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 6:06 pm

...And the 2D Forum is looking at you

Yes, there is one other I know of, for PC Engine: Genji Tsuushin Agedama.

Daedalus · Post by **Daedalus** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 6:12 pm

There's a couple on the edge of my mind, but I can't remember them at the end of the moment.

For the NES, I can think of one - Street Fighter 2010. It had a couple arena areas, but all the scrolling areas were forced scrolling.

I guess you could count Jekyll & Hyde as well... Jekyll's half was normal, but it was forced scrolling as Hyde.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 6:43 pm

nem wrote:Forced scrolling in shooting games is more or less the norm, but this feature seems rarely incorporated in platform games (both run and gun and jump and run). Of the top of my head I can only think of Super Mario Land 2 (Gameboy) and Chelnov (Arcade, Megadrive).

BrianC, I'm looking at you.

Super Mario Land 2 has some stages like that - but then again, Super Mario Bros 3, Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island have them as well.

320x240 · Post by **320x240** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 6:44 pm

Moon Patrol, Son Son, Wonderboy III (Monsters Lair).

Genji Tsuushin Agedama is by far the most shmup-like of those mentioned and my current favourite. Some of the levels are a bit too easy, but at least the game doesn't troddle along at a snails pace like Monsters Lair. The bosses are walk overs though.

I did a google search for 'auto scrolling platformer' and similar phrases and it seems this genre is as much hated as the shmup genre. A quality sign.

Incidentally, I'm making an auto-scrolling platform shooter myself at the moment (see the girl in my avatar) and this time it looks like I'm actually going to finish a game. I'm aiming to bring the intensity of platformers/run'n guns closer to that of a shmup. Fast scrolling, non-stop action, flair. Basically, I'm trying to kick Treasure's butt.

kengou · Post by **kengou** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 7:36 pm

I love those sorts of levels in the couple Mario games they appear in. Definitely a shmuppy feel. I'd be very interested in any other platformers that use forced-scrolling.

Post by **Ghegs** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 7:43 pm

Daedalus wrote:For the NES, I can think of one - Street Fighter 2010. It had a couple arena areas, but all the scrolling areas were forced scrolling.

Was gonna mention this as I've been playing it recently. Those stages work nicely. And I remember trying Genji Tsuushin Agedama way back when, but not being really impressed with it. It just felt boring most of the time. The stage design, what I saw of it, didn't seem to take advantage of the forced scrolling (something SF2010 does at least somewhat) at all, it's just like a normal platformer except with forced scrolling.

Having watched Arino play through Chelnov in an episode of Game Center CX, I'd say it looks the best of the bunch...the scrolling's fairly fast paced and the game's hard enough. I'm going to have to try it out one of these days.

The subgenre's certainly hard to get right.

Mortificator · Post by **Mortificator** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 7:51 pm

Psycho Soldier!

The part of Rondo of Blood where Behemoth chases the player has forced horizontal scrolling. Also, a couple Castlevania games, like Dracula's Curse and I think Adventure, had forced vertical scrolling.

320x240 · Post by **320x240** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 9:13 pm

Mortificator wrote:Psycho Soldier!

Of course! A slightly lacking 'update' of Son Son.

Hany on the Road is another game in the Son Son vein:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3ray3C9yno

320x240 · Post by **320x240** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 9:21 pm

Ghegs wrote:And I remember trying Genji Tsuushin Agedama way back when, but not being really impressed with it. It just felt boring most of the time. The stage design, what I saw of it, didn't seem to take advantage of the forced scrolling (something SF2010 does at least somewhat) at all, it's just like a normal platformer except with forced scrolling.

Yes, the game doesn't make very good use of natural obstacles (even in the waterfall parts of the first level you can run from platform to platform) focusing instead on the enemies as obstacles. Even that part leaves a lot to be desired as it's implemented rather sloppily.

No_not_like_Quake · Post by **No_not_like_Quake** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 3:04 pm

China Warrior...

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 4:20 pm

No_not_like_Quake wrote:China Warrior...

Damn flying potatoes.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 4:33 pm

Turrican wrote:
nem wrote:Forced scrolling in shooting games is more or less the norm, but this feature seems rarely incorporated in platform games (both run and gun and jump and run). Of the top of my head I can only think of Super Mario Land 2 (Gameboy) and Chelnov (Arcade, Megadrive).

BrianC, I'm looking at you.
Super Mario Land 2 has some stages like that - but then again, Super Mario Bros 3, Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island have them as well.

I think Yoshi's Island DS has some as well. I especially like the airship levels in Mario 3.

Some platform games with forced scrolling I can think of on the top of my head are Sonic the Hedgehog GG/SMS, Balloon Kid, Balloon Fight's World Tour mode, Dynamite Headdy, Wario Land 1 GB, the SMB Game & Watch stand alone handheld, and various Kirby games.

Mortificator · Post by **Mortificator** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 7:06 pm

That reminds me, several Sonic games have had forced scrolling for boss fights. First Eggman fight in S&K, Knuckles fight in Triple Trouble, pretty much every boss in Advance 2...

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 7:10 pm

I think the real rarity here is something like Chelnov which has forced scrolling all the time - bits of forced scrolling are pretty common (waterfalls, rocks crumbling at you, speed sections and so on)...

Post by **Ghegs** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 7:46 pm

Turrican wrote:I think the real rarity here is something like Chelnov which has forced scrolling all the time - bits of forced scrolling are pretty common (waterfalls, rocks crumbling at you, speed sections and so on)...

If I ever get a Megadrive, Chelnov is one the titles I'll be getting. Another thing I like about it is how the player and enemy sprites are fairly small. It frees up the space and the game can send lots of enemies from multiple directions without ever feeling cluttered. I like it when games do that. Seems awfully few do, though.

320x240, when's that game of yours getting ready?

indstr · Post by **indstr** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 7:49 pm

I was replaying Sky Blazer (SNES) last night and there are a couple of forced scrolling shmup-like levels. They're not very good/fun/challenging, but they are still there. Love this game so much, beautiful graphics & music

320x240 · Post by **320x240** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 10:17 pm

Ghegs wrote:320x240, when's that game of yours getting ready?

Sometime in January. Here's a little mock-up shot of the first level. I'm trying to give it a little Scandinavian feel.

indstr · Post by **indstr** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 10:35 pm

Looks promising... keep up the good work man

Frederik · Post by **Frederik** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 12:51 am

Haha, I enjoy your animated sprite a lot. I don´t know if this was intended or not, but it looks like she is lifting her skirt a bit as to be able to run faster. Very cute

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 1:12 am

Mortificator wrote:Knuckles fight in Triple Trouble

I need to play that more. I just picked it up not too long ago.

kengou · Post by **kengou** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 2:32 am

I just remembered Kaizo Mario World has a pretty awesome autoscrolling level:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbDh_zrJSik

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 3:34 am

320x240 wrote:
Ghegs wrote:320x240, when's that game of yours getting ready?
Sometime in January. Here's a little mock-up shot of the first level. I'm trying to give it a little Scandinavian feel.

Looks cool. That also reminds me. There's a christmas themed Atari 2600 Homebrew game named Reindeer Rescue that is an autoscrolling platformer.

Here is the page for it:
http://www.atariage.com/software_page.h ... belID=2747

Here is a page with the ROM (third post down):
http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.ph ... eer+rescue

cfx · Post by **cfx** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 9:13 am

320x240 · Post by **320x240** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 11:52 am

Thanks for all the comments. I'll work harder to finish it now.

cfx wrote:Lilian Fourhand from doujin circle French Bread is forced-scrolling somewhat like Chelnov:

THE BASTARDS BEAT ME TO IT!

Looks interesting. The actual platform part seems to leave a lot to desire though.

No_not_like_Quake · Post by **No_not_like_Quake** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 2:15 pm

Looks interesting, 320x240. Kind of gives me an Atomic Robokid vibe (no, I don't think that game deserves a 10/10). Actually, probably more of a Wardner vibe.

elfhentaifan · Post by **elfhentaifan** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 2:22 pm

i always hated those stages in super mario

Frederik · Post by **Frederik** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 10:06 pm

elfhentaifan wrote:i always hated those stages in super mario

Yeah, me too.

Some of these games here actually look pretty interesting though- if you can shoot, at least.

320x240 · Post by **320x240** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 9:16 am

Some of these games here actually look pretty interesting though- if you can shoot, at least.

My game started out as a Pitfall clone but after a while I felt something was lacking so I added auto-scrolling. There where still something lacking so I added shooting and that is what was needed. I have a hard time playing platformers that have 'only' jumping in them myself, unless they are single-screen.

320x240 · Post by **320x240** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 4:38 pm

Ballon Kid on the Gameboy should count as an auto-scrolling platformer, especially if you choose to ditch the balloons completely... Hello Kitty World on the Nes is more or less the same game but the increased resolution means you can see more of your surroundings at any time.

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