How The 90s Platformer Could Dominate Gaming All Over Again
1. Nintendo Already Does It
If you have a Switch, you’ve got the likes of Kirby and the fantastic Super Mario Odyssey to enjoy to your heart’s content. But that’s the problem. You’ve got them, and other consoles go without, begging for scraps like scruffy teenagers with a tracksuit full of newspaper asking ‘penny for a guy?’.
I’m not suggesting Nintendo should stop being so greedy and share their games with the rest of the class, but if you envious over Breath of the Wild, you had another open world explorer like The Witcher 3, Dragon Age Inquisition and Monster Hunter World to scratch that Zelda itch. Jealous over Mario though? Watch some gameplay on Twitch I guess? There was no real alternative. Could a new IP in platforming be the next PlayStation or Xbox breakout star?
Which brings us back to the start, as platformers often do.
Gaming companies will rarely take a risk unless it’s been fully calculated. But with Crash topping the charts, Cuphead sweeping awards and Nintendo still having the family market firmly cornered, I have to ask: Will the platformer soon be back for good?