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FREE-RANGE PLATFORMING

Looking back at Nineties 3D platformers

RETROBATES MULL OVER THE SCENE’S MOST INTRIGUING ISSUES

DARRAN JONES

NICK THORPE

TIM EMPEY

Banjo-Kazooie is on the cover this issue. As a result, we’ve decided that it was high time that we collectively reminisce about the three-dimensional revolution of the late-Nineties, when the emergence of powerful new hardware allowed developers to redefine what a platform game could and should be.

NICK So, 3D platformers then – is it safe to assume that Super Mario 64 was everyone’s starting point on those?

TIM Nope, never played it, not once. So my first was Crash Bandicoot from a demo disc. And that disc may have had the demo for Jumping Flash! 2, which was more fun than Crash I reckon.

NICK Yes! In this magazine, we love and respect the amazing Jumping Flash! series.

DARRAN It’s not exactly 3D but Bug is definitely the first game I played. What a game-changer Super Mario 64 was though. You have to feel almost sorry for virtually everything else that came after it.

NICK See, I’m pretty sure that Mario was the first one I saw, but Tomb Raider was the first one I actually played. It just gets left out of the conversation somewhat, because Lara Croft isn’t a cuddly animal mascot. But yeah, I remember playing games like Croc and Gex 3D on the PlayStation and pretending they came close to Mario.