   Games like Bug!
  Hello all,I'm drawing a blank here and it is difficult to search for this...Remember Bug! for the Sega Saturn and PC circa 1995, one of the first 3D platformers and it restricted your movement to a track?Anyone know of other games like this? I'm especially looking for recent Indie or Hobby endeavors.   
  'Twas the very first game I played on the system.  I must admit that after playing, perhaps, over 12 systems, I can't think of many platformers exhibiting the "track" format.  Bomberman Hero, for the N64, had some levels that were track-esque, but you could still move diagonally....Just remembered Grid Runner for the same system.  That game is definitely tracked, but it's not a platformer...more like strategy or puzzle game.   ;  The "Crash Bandicoot" series of games on the playstation were on tracks.   ;Quote:Original post by deathtrapThe "Crash Bandicoot" series of games on the playstation were on tracks.In the first Crash Bandicoot the camera was restricted to a single track but the motion was pretty free.Something like the original Klonoa might be closer, I think.  The action is basically completely 2-dimensional (with occasional forward/backward motion but mostly only for doors) >This video has some gameplay starting at about 2:30.  Is that the kind of thing you're looking for?   ;  I don't remember if the Pandemonium! and Tomba titles had that sort of platforming, but something in the back of my mind is hinting at it.   ;  I loved playing Klonoa 2. And I hadn't heard about those two Ravuya but I checked them out and they seemed to be similar to Klonoa in restricting you to a single track that winds around a 3D environment.It's close, but most of these games are from the same era. I wonder why (mostly on the indie scene) no one wants to try these games. It would be easier than a true 3D platformer. Nevertheless it would be a fair amount of work for content and art.   ;  I guess I overlooked that group. Games like those in the [main] Klonoa series are often referred to as "2.5D platformers".  Some other examples of such titles include the Clockwork Knight series (Saturn, of course), Goemon's Great Adventure (N64), Skeleton Warrior (Saturn and PSX), and Iron Man and X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal (Saturn and PSX). On the other hand, there was the first Pac-man World which was about as tracked as BMH.Man, I edited this post so many times it's tear-jerking.  I hate getting old.[sad][Edited by - shuma-gorath on February 1, 2008 10:36:53 PM];  I suspect they're all from the same era because they died out pretty quickly after Mario 64 was released. Additionally, I would also hazard a guess that those games were an artifact of the platforms (*cough* Saturn) that they were released on.   ;Quote:Original post by BoderIt's close, but most of these games are from the same era. I wonder why (mostly on the indie scene) no one wants to try these games. It would be easier than a true 3D platformer. Nevertheless it would be a fair amount of work for content and art.Part of it is, I think that it would almost seem wasteful to make 3D models that a person can't interact with, particularly since people expect to be able to break/deform just about everything around them.I've always wondered if it would be possible to remake the original Crash Bandicoot with fully pre-rendered levels.  That sounds kind of weird, but given that the camera moves on a single track at a single speed, you could just prerender a "video" of the camera going through the environment and then render the characters, enemies, and objects in real time.   ;  Sin & Punishment for the N64 was kind of a running shooter.  It of course was too cool to come out in North America (or possibly anywhere outside Japan, not sure).For more of the side-scroller variety there was Wild 9 for the Playstation, and of course the Viewtiful Joe games, not quite the same thing though.   