Now that I think about it, a lot of what I love about these games is also applicable to Kirby Tilt n Tumble on the Gameboy Color. th-cam.com/video/WTEMQLqvaZY/w-d-xo.html
Spyro was the most whimsical, magical thing imaginable to my little 8 year old brain. Picking up sparkly gemstones and gliding around some pastel cloud sunset world? Oh hell yeah, sign me up. I didn't get a memory card until I was older so I would spend all Saturday trying to play as far as I could through the game. I remember once I finally got to the final homeworld around bedtime, but I couldn't bear to turn it off and start over, so I just left my PS1 on all night and turned the TV off.
I’ll love Spyro till the day I die I stg. The reignited trilogy only made that love go even higher because it was like playing the game again as a child but with the level of graphical detail that my imagination filled in.
Spyro was the first franchise I played on my PS1, and I fell in love with it. Getting the games for Christmas is a core memory for me. I also didn't have a memory card at first, so I did my best to beat the games in one sitting until I got one 😂
It's very rare to find platformers with that 90s charm to it, from what I've seen. The only modern game in recent memory I can think of that gave me that feeling was A Hat In Time.
Banjo was the first time I controlled a character in 3D. I was barely able to read, but that game was so kind and patient with its exploration, letting you take your time, focused on you taking in every single detail, to the point where the game's "final" boss fight is a quiz asking you just how much you paid attention to everywhere you went and everything you collected. To me, Banjo wasn't just Rare's little goofy 3D Mario 64 variant that they themselves admit to it being, it was this celebration of 3D space, of exploration, of movement, of collection. It's one of the most pure experiences of being a video game, I felt like I was discovering a world that the people behind it were just as mystified by creating it, and I adore it to this day. But hearing you talk about the Cliff Town jump in Spyro 1 blowing your mind absolutely takes me back. There are few video games that give me that same sense of discovery feeling that Banjo did, of seeing something and going "oh that's a cute deta-- WAIT I CAN GO THERE? AND THERE'S LEVEL HERE?!" Spyro 1 was a whole game of that, especially through its second and third worlds, and is one of the games that really beautifully captures that entire experience the whole way through, as you've really neatly illustrated. I feel like I'd just be restating points you already made commenting further, so consider this a very rambly way of saying "AGREED"! Because of this, 3D platformers have remained my favorite genre. I love seeing how they manage to add mechanical complexity or narrative weight to their obstacle courses, how developers intend for them to be laid out and how much you can end up avoiding the beaten path with the tools given to you. Or even seeing how these 90's platformers would progress into the next decade, the foundations laid by Rocket: Robot on Wheels leading to Sucker Punch's excellent Sly Cooper games, or Naughty Dog's Crash trilogy leading to the Jak... well the first one, at least, or all of the little influences that came together to form the identity of Psychonauts. It's neat! I like it! Good video makes me happy! I did, however, not like Ocarina of Time as a kid. Because Link couldn't jump on command like Banjo, so I thought something was wrong with his knees and he was weak.
Hello PKong I'm Michael, we talked about Diddy Kong in Smash on Twitter and I want to do it again. You made a video asking why does Diddy have some elements of his reckless nature in Subspace but not in his moveset??? I have a theory, while Diddy could afford to be reckless in DKC 1. The same thing can not be said for DKC 2, he was smart in that game. Unlike DKC 1, in DKC 2 Diddy had to throw things at boss battles in oder to beat them. This is probably the reason Sakurai gave Diddy the banana peel, to represent both Diddy's intelligence and the feel of DK boss fights. Even in DK 64 while Diddy was cocky, his battle with Dogadon taught Diddy the hard way that he needs to be more careful in order to survive. So Sakurai probably likes Diddy's reckless nature for story reasons, and couldn't figure out how make a reckless moveset without turning him low tier??? The reason Caption Falcon has risky moves, is because F-zero is all about high risk high reward. The good news is that Diddy in mob smash, does represent the feel of DKC levels because I didn't need to use Banana Peel.
I still remember my time playing Spyro when I was a kid. One of the first games I ever played in my life, actually I can quite recall whether it was Spyro or Pokemon Red that was my first gaming experience but I do know that I had a blast running around with my dragon buddy for hours.
Spyro 1 dethroned Banjo Kazooie as my favorite 3D platformer when I finally played it on the reignited trilogy. The simplicity in exploration is absolutely phenomenal. Insomniac said “You’re a dragon, go be a dragon” and it’s so wonderfully engaging from beginning to end. Do the sequels do some things better? Yes, but the freedom in how you tackle stages in that first game combined with Spyro’s movement is so satisfying. In many ways, I consider it the best spiritual successor to Super Mario 64.
@@robertlauncher they're both amazing but yeah Spyro and banjo came out the same year, growing up I had Spyro and didn't play banjo until I was older but they both expanded upon the 3d Mario formula in different ways.
@@robertlauncheryeah. I also prefer Spyro's mini games and collectibles a bit more. The banjo mini games for jiggies are more challenging than fun, while Spyro is more fun than challenging like ice hockey with rhynocs or skateboarding. I just started playing tomb raider remastered and I'm kinda shocked the tomb raider trilogy isn't talked about as much too. It came out the same time as sm64, and although I think sm64 has a superior control scheme, I prefer the vast worlds and levels in tomb raider.
Growing up in this period of time was pretty magical, but it's an experience that's lost to time as you had to be there to get the hype and perspective of what was happening. I feel like you've perfectly summed up that feeling in this video Tama. Times were tough when it came to picking the treasure out of heaps of trash, but we got through it and the industry learned so much in such a short time. The Gamecube/PlayStation 2/Dreamcast era would then be the culmination of everything before it, a gauntlet of titles where the developers went all out to make the greatest games they could, and it's all thanks to the design philosophies these early 3D platformers laid out. Maybe that era could be a part 2 to this video? 🤔 Anyways I just want to end by saying this video was yet another banger! 🙂
If you asked me whether I love 3D platformers, I would have told you a definitive "No!", and yet, this video reminded me that the majority of my most treasured gaming memories, and the most fun I've had gaming are, in fact, with 3D platformers. Kind of mindblowing. Great video, you really nailed what makes these games great, how they approached the new challenge of the third dimension differently, and how that changes the feeling of the games.
Totally understand your love for 90s-00s platformers, I'm the same way and have been for decades lol. But I also do understand your love for Spyro because I love the purple little guy as well (don't we all? lol). When it came to the good old 90s platformer battles of whether you preferred Crash Bandicoot or Spyro the Dragon, while I genuinely did like both, I would always lean slightly more towards Spyro. Spyro just had this whimsical, magical, and ethereal world to me and that mixed with the cartoony visuals and the open world feel to it was just so intoxicating to little me. I remember my mom seemed to really like the aesthetic as well and I remember she would watch me play the game, it's one of my favorite memories to think about. And I also remember how me and brother were scared sh@tless of the level Toasty, so much so we never completed it LOL We were so terrified of the "hell hounds" (we called them) and couple that with the creepy music, we just couldn't do it haha. Which is funny because when I got older and was no longer afraid of the dogs, Toasty has become one of my favorite levels in the game and I love the level's theme song
It is amazing to think of all of the details that went on behind the scenes for these games and consoles. Inventions like programmable pipelines, LOD switching, all manner of control and game flow layouts... As an adult I look back with wonder at the technical and design merits of how we got these games. Crash Bandicoot probably belongs on your list, Tama. It actually had to hack/corrupt PSX firmware to fit on the console, and put a great deal of emphasis on Crash's quirky animations. It was somewhat on-the-rails compared with the truly open games you focused on, the missing link between 2D and 3D platformers. Around this same era, I very much enjoyed the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games also. They had similar features to that of mainstream platformers, but a different cadence (a consistent cycle of slow buildup and frenetic action). It's not a genre I stuck with as an adult, but I would very much group it with the platformers, the same way you view Zelda. Also, for anyone who is nostalgic for Banjo Kazooie, there's a modern game called Cavern of Dreams you need to play. It's adorable, and nails the Rare N64 aesthetics. It's on Steam. (edit) Spesking of adorable, this thumbnail is 11/10. 😂 ❤
Spyro was the very first 3d platformer I'd ever seen at age 6. I think thats why the original trilogy and it's soundtrack is so close to my heart to this day...
Interesting that Crash Banicoot wasn’t mentioned considering it is a much more straight adaptation of 2D platformer design. Most 3D Platformers are more like adventure games with open spaces. Like when I see Spyro gameplay, it doesn’t even register that it is a platformer. One thing I find interesting is how action Platformers really had a challenge adapting. They kinda stopped making new action platforming franchises after Super Mario Bros. 3, and almost all the big action platforming franchises had to either switch genres like Ninja Gaiden or Metroid, or struggled like Castlevania and Contra. I personally am more of a 2D platformer guy as I prefer the perspective a lot more and I prefer 3D games to focus on combat, although I love the 3D Mario games.
The thumbnail is adorable. Mario, Spyro, and Sonic are games that defined my early 2000's 3D Platformer history as well as my sister. This is a 2003 game, but another platformer that defined my 3D Platformer history was "Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg" from Sonic Team. It's a game where you platform through each stage and mission with an egg. You defeat enemies and collect fruit to grow the egg. Eventually you'll hatch them to awaken cute animal buddies (or a powerup) that can help you deal with the enemies in the stages. Your goal is to complete the mission objective and collect the "Emblem of Courage". The multiplayer was fun as well. While it's competitive, my sister and I used it as a sandbox to play with the cute animals (and the occasional SEGA character Like Sonic or NiGHTs).
Love your Love Letter! Really gave me a new perspective that Spyro was great because of it's simplicity and forgiving checkpoints. You don't really notice how big of difference that is until you compared to other games at the time. It only makes me love it more for all that time in my childhood exploring Spyro's worlds. Honestly vary few games have touched Spyro feeling of exploration as much as Spyro had for me, something about it is perfectly captures childlike wonder and fun.
There was a special feeling of the early boom of 3D. Watching so many developers let their ideas and dreams run wild, while pushing the systems to their limits! I still go back and beat Banjo and Sonic every couple years. Those two especially sit close to my heart. The world's used to feel so massive when I was a kid I would spend hours running around wanting to see everything. Loved this video
A shame tomb raider isn't covered but i share your feelings about Spyro one of the few platformers i love and still play very often. cheers for the video. I want to say in many ways the exploration element in Spyro how you traverse and are rewarded with "hidden locations" might have taken its roots from tomb raider at least it gives me the same sense of exploration of "wow can i really be here in the level design" you were used to levels being so closed off that it kind of blew my mind back in the day when games just let you explore the entire level instead of having invisible walls or blocks you off.. a key aspect i think both Spyro and Tomb Raider does exceptionally well.
I'm always floored by how well Spyro the Dragon has aged when I go back and replay it. It controls better than even a lot of PS2 and PS3 platformers. One of my favorite early 3D platformers is Rocket: Robot on Wheels. Its basic movement is much slower-paced than Mario, Banjo, or Spyro, but in exchange, it has one of the most sophisticated physics engines of its time, and this results in a sense of weight throughout the entire experience. You jump on a crate in water and it buckles under you before bobbing back up. Platforms on a hinge will sway back and forth as you move across them. Stuff like that. And it's not just the game showing off its fancy engine. The awkward weightiness replicates the feel of something like bumper cars, and you really feel that when you get into one of the vehicles in each level and get to move around much faster with that same physics engine. The game takes place in an amusement park the day before opening, and the game really taps into that childhood fantasy of getting free roam of an empty park.
The spyro games were the first ones I ever played. The level design and movement are still great even after all of these years. He keeps trying to fade into obscurity over time (it's been 4 years since reignited), so it's always nice to see the first few games talked about and enjoyed
i feel like i say this with each of your uploads but few people are as good at this youtube thing as you. it just feels more and more rare to have such tight scripts like this, perfectly articulating your points and giving such a cozy vibe but you keep doing it. thank you for such a great video, you keep outdoing yourself and this is no exception
As someone who was also alive at this point, I don't think I really appreciated until much later how seamless so many of these games felt as an evolution from their 16-bit predecessors. Spyro is particularly impressive with how much the PSone was more known as the console with pre-rendered backgrounds or small corridors in comparison to N64 titles.
Rocket is badass! Its use of Newtonian physics in a console game of that time is seriously ambitious and also well-executed. Really creative and cool problem-solving design. Everybody has to at least check it out before they die!
Loved this video, LOVED the decision to examine Ocarina of Time as a platformer, and LOOOOOOVE the thumbnail!! So thankful TH-cam led me to this channel 🙏🏻
I think jumping flash has gotten more love in recent years, but I think it still deserves more than it gets. It's a truly unique pre sm64 first person platformer that looks and sounds incredible.
Watching your videos on repeat has been amazing stress relief for me since late 2020. It's clear that you love what you do and want to make quality video essays. That's why I'll stay subscribed regardless of how long each project takes!!
It really is impressive just how well some of these platformers handled a first 3D outing! Many things about them still hold up and are a joy to handle today. Some, like Sonic Adventure for me personally, have some of the best feeling momentum that is yet to be replicated. And that's not all bad nowadays, especially with so many new indie 3D platformers appearing, I've been getting my fix. And if anyone ever wants to return to that classic feel of the originals with some fresh new design concepts, there are romhacks and mods to enjoy, especially for Mario 64.
Spyro will always be my favorite: no time limit, no time bonuses, etc. Just relaxing fun going through whimsical worlds. Spyro is a game I'll never beat 100% and I'm ok with that. ❤
How have I not found this channel until now? Thanks for taking me down nostalgia road. That Dreamcast of mine is coming out of storage for Sonic Adventure very soon.
TH-cam are you fucking shitting me? I have been subscribed for TEN GODDAMN YEARS, and you put a Tamashii Hiroka video in my feed NOW? Didn't care to cycle them in with the other THOUSANDS of game dev videos ive binged over the years? Now I gotta catch up. I'll have to find a babysitter!
3D platformers are my absolute favorite gaming genre. They are so fun and creative, I can never get tired of them. We can never get enough 3D platformers, heck I’m even working on my own 3D platformer myself with a few friends.
I was just slightly too young to try my hand at the original Spyro, but I have extremely fond memories of watching my older brother play the game. It was so magical and invoked a sense of awe in me even just watching. I eventually booted up our old PS2 a few years back to completed the game myself and I'm pleased to say it was an absolute blast! Maybe it's nostalgia speaking, but I firmly believe that game is still better than many released today. I certainly had more fun playing it than most recent games that's for sure.
There is a lot of underappreciated love for the early 3D platformers. My first platformer was Super Mario 64 and I loved these ever since. Yeah, most of them may not hold up well, but the fact that there was so much risk and experimentation with this genre makes me happy and we would have a lesser video game experience without them.
Awesome video! I'm a lover of 3D platformers myself. Clive N Wrench, despite its many flaws, really takes me back to a simpler time of playing 90's platformers, and although it needs polish, I could happily play it again and again to get that dose of nostalgia
I grew up playing Super Mario Bros 1, 2, and 3, along with Super Mario World. Those games were my life until I got a Playstation in 98, then Crash Bandicoot 1, 2, and 3 along with Spyro became my worlds. But by 2001 I got my Dreamcast, I had Sonic Adventure which was so much fun but I started changing. I was becoming a teenager and sports became my world. I never had any platformers on Playstation 2, or 3 so I missed anything those eras had. Now I'm close to my mid thirties and I recently started playing the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro remakes on my Playstation 4 and I pull out the Snes Mini and get some Super Mario World in when I can. Miss those simple games sometimes lol but everyone grows up and things change.
I remember playing Spiro the Dragon on my brand new PS1 and being absolutely motion sick in the first 5 minutes of game play. That was my introduction to the Playstation. It was not fun at all. Later on, I player mario 64 and it was a delight! The camera in 64 didnt make me physically sick! And I loved the experience. Long story short, I regret my parents not getting me a nintendo in first place instead 😞. I never let them forget it. Lol
You've done it again queen, setting the bar for us all 😍💜💜 Another amazing video!! You really are insanely gifted at writing/speaking about each video topic, & I'm once again reminded that retro gaming is largely unmatched 💘💘
great vid! it's been fun scrolling through your old vids after being recommended this one. if I hadn't kicked the pokéhabit after playing an unhealthy amount of gen 2, I probably would'a been with ya since the beginning. delightful!
Bomber man 64 is one of the platformers from that time that may have felt a little rocky at first, but looking back now I feel it's underrated. Alot of talent went into using remote bombs as platforms and bridges to get to special areas and items
As much as I love seeing your Pokémon content; seeing you dedicate time for 90’s platformer video games is refreshing and badass. The analogies to perfecting Sonic levels akin to performing music are mind blowing, being a professional musician & music teacher myself. 🤣 I’ve been following you since I was a teenager, so it’s amazing seeing the adaptation of influences from your older styles of presentation to the present. Keep it up, Tama. ✊🏼🔥
Great video! bring me down memory lane and i for sure loved the imagination of the platformers. I would also say that spyro has always had some chill music but sonic had that hype music :3
Great video Tama. This really did take me back to when I used to play and experience these 3D platformers. I will say Crash Bandicoot had a unique style of platforming where it took linear level designs seen in other 2D platformers and made them into forward Hallway-like stages. Spyro is definitely my favorite open world platformer though. Conker and Rayman also did it well.
As someone who also loves every one of these games, please try A Hat in Time, Spark the Electric Jester 3 and Psuedoregalia if you haven't already! They're the most fun I've had with 3D platformers since the late 90s
So much love for these games, they've stayed relevant after all this time for a reason. On a technical level, they've obviously been surpassed in terms of graphics or mechanics, but that's because they're what defined the genre.
Spyro 2 is what introduced me to Gaming, I remember being mesmerised by its graphics as all I saw up until then was other kids playing Super Mario land it will hold a special place in my heart and it’s
I’ll always fondly remember 90s 3D platformers. They’re what got me into game programming in the first place, and I still want to make my own spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie someday. Spyro was my first exposure to PlayStation so that has a particular soft spot in my heart. I also miss the vertex lit aesthetic that Nintendo 64 games had. Modern lighting is cool and all, but there’s something nostalgic and imaginatively inspiring about the lighting in older 3D titles. Nowadays everything is pushing for realism which I wish wasn’t as big of a push as it is. I hope some indie developer manages to capture that N64 look perfectly someday, though with the way game engines are now, they make it really easy to do more realistic lighting but really hard to use the more cartoony vertex lighting. Anyway that’s just me rambling some of my thoughts while watching. 😂
Growing up as an 80s/90s kid, I was blown away with the transition to 3D. I love 3D exploration adventure games like Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Castlevania Legacy of Darkness and Mega Man Legends. Which I find interesting that CV:LoD and MML came out of 2D Platformers. As far as 90s era 3D Platformers, I loved: Gex Crash Bandicoot Sonic Adventure And Conker's Bad Fur Day (I know it's 2000)
oh my gosh YES i love the break down of spyro's controls vs other 3d platformers you did. maybe that's why it was my favorite as a kid. and still to this day it's one of my favorite 3d platformers even without all the complex platforming controls. maybe even because of it. c:
I never got to play the Spyro games since my mom never got me a PlayStation. Once I played the Reignited Trilogy, I loved the heck out of them. The gameplay is so much fun and easily replayable. Oh and of course Spyro is so adorable❤❤😍💜
Didn't make the 90s cutoff, but Ratchet 'n Clank was peak childhood platforming for me. I can remember playing Donkey Kong Country during after-school-care, Sonic in my grandparents basement with my cousin, and Spyro in my best friend's parent's room at the crack of dawn while they were trying to sleep because I knew no boundaries and they were (and still are) some of the coolest people.
oh my god it's so weird to see you without the blue hair 😭 it is really pretty tho that video was really cool and i agree with a lot you said (even though i think counting oot is kind of a stretch xD, but i can see how the points you made are valid :> i was really only hoping you would talk about crash bandicoot but i think that is kind of a mixed one since it blends 2d and 3d sections and even the 3d ones are kind of 2d inspired in the way you could say mario 3d world is just like 2d mario but in 3d, so i think it makes sense it didn't showed up since the ones you mentioned are more like collectatons
My first three video game were Busby 3D (lolyes), Gex: Enter the Gecko (which I actually think is good), and a Bugs Life in Christmas of 98 alongside a PS1 and definitely contributed to seeing 3D Platformers as my favorite genre to this day. Within a year I would discover Crash and Spyro with instant love and a decade later would finally experience Banjo Kazooie and Super Mario 64, somehow despite having a 64 since 2000 our family would go around getting those two titles for along time until I bought them myself. Exploring those little worlds bring a lot more than exploring these modern big open worlds that are just tick marks on a map.
Spyro is where it’s at for me. The levels are a spectacle, even more so in the remake, and it is just a super fun game to play. Spyro ended up becoming a bit of a comfort character for me. When I feel down (or let down by other games), I know that Spyro is there to cheer me up like a good old friend.
I wanna make a game with a funny little 3d guy some day. I just love hearing people talk about these types of games, they were easily most of what I played when I was younger and I'm always on the lookout for when people make games that hearken back to this era.
Spyro and Rayman were definitely my favorites of the era, I didn't grow up the banjo or 3D sonic, and I always found Mario 64 too challenging to get much further than the first bowser fight. I am a big 3D zelda fan, but I liked it despite the platforming elements, since I didn't feel I had a knack for it. One I would be interested in hearing you talk about is Rayman 2 and the transition that it made from 2D to 3D. I really appreciated it's music and atmosphere compared to the usually brighter other 3D contemporaries. Another one I wasn't great at but had fun with was Croc, he's got a very cute and simplistic design but the levels were definitely challenging after you got past the first few.
Bomberman Hero is still my all-time favorite (Spyro a close second), it may have been much more linear than a lot of 3D platformers... but that soundtrack 🤩 and of course playing as my favorite video character in a huge new world was the most amazing gaming experience of my life ❤
Growing up on Pokémon and Crash was really great. I like playing the Gen 1 Pokémon & PS1 crash games and then going on to play Gen 4/5 and Crash 4 to see how much they’ve evolved. Still hoping for a *proper* Crash/Spyro crossover one day. It’s a shame a new Spyro doesn’t seem to be happening after the remake after Crash got new content
Yeah, I liked Reignited Trilogy just as much as the N-Sane Trilogy, and after they announced Crash 4 I really hoped we'd get the true 4th Spyro game as well, am still upset that hasn't happened yet. As far as I was aware both remake bundles did well sales well and reviews well. And I was always more of a Spyro fan than Crash
About the Mario vs Sonic debate, I feel like Sonic puts more emphasis on learning the level, while Mario puts more emphasis on learning... Mario. The controls may feel clunky and obtuse at first, but as you play, you slowly master the movement until you can eventually zoom through the level like Sonic. Of course, Sonic explicitly rewards you with a score at the end of the level, while Mario doesn't. This is where speedrunning comes in, giving you a reason to improve against your own and other people's times. If you look at someone playing the game for the first time, and then you look at the 120 star world record, they almost look like different games. This is only possible because the controls and the level design give you complete freedom to approach every mission in different ways. To me, this slow learning curve is the most fun part. (Yes I also love '90s 3D platformers a normal amount and I appreciate this video a lot)
To let you know that I love me some good ol' 3D platformers too! Besides, they're one of my favorite genres of games ever! Back when you can make games with super wacky ideas and having a lot of fun with those ideas in a 3D space without a care in a world whatsoever. There was no huge corporation looking at them and throwing them all away all because they thought it was not "realistic" enough, it's all about how the developers wanted to make the games that they wanna make and discovering good or bad ideas by actually trying them out. That is a perfect environment for making any video game, even 3D platformers. On top of these mentioned, I love Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & CLank, Dr Muto, Sly COoper, Vexx, Ty The Tasmanian Tiger, Blinx The Time Sweeper, Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, Voodoo Vince and even Croc to name a few. ^_^
Banjo-Kazooie is still one of my all-time favorite games, easily in my top 5. That game has a such a smooth and rewarding gameplay loop and a remarkably charming style. =D
Spyro Year of the Dragon was my shit as a kid. I adored that game so freakin' much. Rayman 2 The Great Escape is also another personal favorite. That universe is so freakin' bizarre, I love it.
Now that I think about it, a lot of what I love about these games is also applicable to Kirby Tilt n Tumble on the Gameboy Color. th-cam.com/video/WTEMQLqvaZY/w-d-xo.html
At some point I'd really like your opinion on Palworld. everybody has a different take on this game and id love to hear yours.
@@katamichi8003 My take is that I already know it's not for me and I'm not going to try it.
@@Tama-Hero and now we have Cavern of Dreams
@@Tama-Heronow I wanna see your take even more. But I’m of the belief that people shouldn’t suffer for their work, so I won’t push it.
So tama did u ever try to do glitches or find shortcuts in any of the rareware games as a kid?
Spyro was the most whimsical, magical thing imaginable to my little 8 year old brain. Picking up sparkly gemstones and gliding around some pastel cloud sunset world? Oh hell yeah, sign me up. I didn't get a memory card until I was older so I would spend all Saturday trying to play as far as I could through the game. I remember once I finally got to the final homeworld around bedtime, but I couldn't bear to turn it off and start over, so I just left my PS1 on all night and turned the TV off.
I've been there. I don't know how much it cost in electricity, but as a child, it was so worth it.
The reignited trilogy doesn’t capture that original magic, i know exactly what you mean
I’ll love Spyro till the day I die I stg. The reignited trilogy only made that love go even higher because it was like playing the game again as a child but with the level of graphical detail that my imagination filled in.
Spyro was the first franchise I played on my PS1, and I fell in love with it. Getting the games for Christmas is a core memory for me. I also didn't have a memory card at first, so I did my best to beat the games in one sitting until I got one 😂
@@HardboiledBread I recommend Hat in Time as a successor to Spyro.
After hearing you talk a bit about how much you love the Spyro games, I’m really glad you finally made a full video on the subject
It's very rare to find platformers with that 90s charm to it, from what I've seen. The only modern game in recent memory I can think of that gave me that feeling was A Hat In Time.
Banjo was the first time I controlled a character in 3D. I was barely able to read, but that game was so kind and patient with its exploration, letting you take your time, focused on you taking in every single detail, to the point where the game's "final" boss fight is a quiz asking you just how much you paid attention to everywhere you went and everything you collected. To me, Banjo wasn't just Rare's little goofy 3D Mario 64 variant that they themselves admit to it being, it was this celebration of 3D space, of exploration, of movement, of collection. It's one of the most pure experiences of being a video game, I felt like I was discovering a world that the people behind it were just as mystified by creating it, and I adore it to this day.
But hearing you talk about the Cliff Town jump in Spyro 1 blowing your mind absolutely takes me back. There are few video games that give me that same sense of discovery feeling that Banjo did, of seeing something and going "oh that's a cute deta-- WAIT I CAN GO THERE? AND THERE'S LEVEL HERE?!" Spyro 1 was a whole game of that, especially through its second and third worlds, and is one of the games that really beautifully captures that entire experience the whole way through, as you've really neatly illustrated. I feel like I'd just be restating points you already made commenting further, so consider this a very rambly way of saying "AGREED"!
Because of this, 3D platformers have remained my favorite genre. I love seeing how they manage to add mechanical complexity or narrative weight to their obstacle courses, how developers intend for them to be laid out and how much you can end up avoiding the beaten path with the tools given to you. Or even seeing how these 90's platformers would progress into the next decade, the foundations laid by Rocket: Robot on Wheels leading to Sucker Punch's excellent Sly Cooper games, or Naughty Dog's Crash trilogy leading to the Jak... well the first one, at least, or all of the little influences that came together to form the identity of Psychonauts. It's neat! I like it! Good video makes me happy!
I did, however, not like Ocarina of Time as a kid. Because Link couldn't jump on command like Banjo, so I thought something was wrong with his knees and he was weak.
Hello PKong I'm Michael, we talked about Diddy Kong in Smash on Twitter and I want to do it again.
You made a video asking why does Diddy have some elements of his reckless nature in Subspace but not in his moveset??? I have a theory, while Diddy could afford to be reckless in DKC 1. The same thing can not be said for DKC 2, he was smart in that game. Unlike DKC 1, in DKC 2 Diddy had to throw things at boss battles in oder to beat them. This is probably the reason Sakurai gave Diddy the banana peel, to represent both Diddy's intelligence and the feel of DK boss fights. Even in DK 64 while Diddy was cocky, his battle with Dogadon taught Diddy the hard way that he needs to be more careful in order to survive.
So Sakurai probably likes Diddy's reckless nature for story reasons, and couldn't figure out how make a reckless moveset without turning him low tier??? The reason Caption Falcon has risky moves, is because F-zero is all about high risk high reward.
The good news is that Diddy in mob smash, does represent the feel of DKC levels because I didn't need to use Banana Peel.
knees weak, triforce heavy
Spyro, crash, croc, and gex are some of the games that got me into gaming as a kid and Spyro year of the dragon is one of my favorite games
I still own all of these 😂
I still remember my time playing Spyro when I was a kid. One of the first games I ever played in my life, actually I can quite recall whether it was Spyro or Pokemon Red that was my first gaming experience but I do know that I had a blast running around with my dragon buddy for hours.
Spyro 1 dethroned Banjo Kazooie as my favorite 3D platformer when I finally played it on the reignited trilogy. The simplicity in exploration is absolutely phenomenal. Insomniac said “You’re a dragon, go be a dragon” and it’s so wonderfully engaging from beginning to end. Do the sequels do some things better? Yes, but the freedom in how you tackle stages in that first game combined with Spyro’s movement is so satisfying. In many ways, I consider it the best spiritual successor to Super Mario 64.
Banjo is still its own masterpiece, though
@@robertlauncher they're both amazing but yeah Spyro and banjo came out the same year, growing up I had Spyro and didn't play banjo until I was older but they both expanded upon the 3d Mario formula in different ways.
@@mania4270 I probably like Banjo’s worlds more, but Spyro’s movement is on par if not better than their inspiration in my opinion.
@@robertlauncheryeah. I also prefer Spyro's mini games and collectibles a bit more. The banjo mini games for jiggies are more challenging than fun, while Spyro is more fun than challenging like ice hockey with rhynocs or skateboarding. I just started playing tomb raider remastered and I'm kinda shocked the tomb raider trilogy isn't talked about as much too. It came out the same time as sm64, and although I think sm64 has a superior control scheme, I prefer the vast worlds and levels in tomb raider.
Growing up in this period of time was pretty magical, but it's an experience that's lost to time as you had to be there to get the hype and perspective of what was happening. I feel like you've perfectly summed up that feeling in this video Tama. Times were tough when it came to picking the treasure out of heaps of trash, but we got through it and the industry learned so much in such a short time. The Gamecube/PlayStation 2/Dreamcast era would then be the culmination of everything before it, a gauntlet of titles where the developers went all out to make the greatest games they could, and it's all thanks to the design philosophies these early 3D platformers laid out.
Maybe that era could be a part 2 to this video? 🤔
Anyways I just want to end by saying this video was yet another banger! 🙂
If you asked me whether I love 3D platformers, I would have told you a definitive "No!", and yet, this video reminded me that the majority of my most treasured gaming memories, and the most fun I've had gaming are, in fact, with 3D platformers. Kind of mindblowing. Great video, you really nailed what makes these games great, how they approached the new challenge of the third dimension differently, and how that changes the feeling of the games.
Totally understand your love for 90s-00s platformers, I'm the same way and have been for decades lol. But I also do understand your love for Spyro because I love the purple little guy as well (don't we all? lol). When it came to the good old 90s platformer battles of whether you preferred Crash Bandicoot or Spyro the Dragon, while I genuinely did like both, I would always lean slightly more towards Spyro. Spyro just had this whimsical, magical, and ethereal world to me and that mixed with the cartoony visuals and the open world feel to it was just so intoxicating to little me. I remember my mom seemed to really like the aesthetic as well and I remember she would watch me play the game, it's one of my favorite memories to think about. And I also remember how me and brother were scared sh@tless of the level Toasty, so much so we never completed it LOL We were so terrified of the "hell hounds" (we called them) and couple that with the creepy music, we just couldn't do it haha. Which is funny because when I got older and was no longer afraid of the dogs, Toasty has become one of my favorite levels in the game and I love the level's theme song
1997 and 1998 are both underrated and absolutely fantastic years for gaming! So many new franchises saw the light of day in those two years alone.
I honestly loved playing Dk 64 so much when I was younger! Crystal Caves soundtrack is unbelievably good.
It is amazing to think of all of the details that went on behind the scenes for these games and consoles. Inventions like programmable pipelines, LOD switching, all manner of control and game flow layouts... As an adult I look back with wonder at the technical and design merits of how we got these games.
Crash Bandicoot probably belongs on your list, Tama. It actually had to hack/corrupt PSX firmware to fit on the console, and put a great deal of emphasis on Crash's quirky animations. It was somewhat on-the-rails compared with the truly open games you focused on, the missing link between 2D and 3D platformers.
Around this same era, I very much enjoyed the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games also. They had similar features to that of mainstream platformers, but a different cadence (a consistent cycle of slow buildup and frenetic action). It's not a genre I stuck with as an adult, but I would very much group it with the platformers, the same way you view Zelda.
Also, for anyone who is nostalgic for Banjo Kazooie, there's a modern game called Cavern of Dreams you need to play. It's adorable, and nails the Rare N64 aesthetics. It's on Steam.
(edit) Spesking of adorable, this thumbnail is 11/10. 😂 ❤
Spyro was the very first 3d platformer I'd ever seen at age 6. I think thats why the original trilogy and it's soundtrack is so close to my heart to this day...
Interesting that Crash Banicoot wasn’t mentioned considering it is a much more straight adaptation of 2D platformer design. Most 3D Platformers are more like adventure games with open spaces. Like when I see Spyro gameplay, it doesn’t even register that it is a platformer.
One thing I find interesting is how action Platformers really had a challenge adapting. They kinda stopped making new action platforming franchises after Super Mario Bros. 3, and almost all the big action platforming franchises had to either switch genres like Ninja Gaiden or Metroid, or struggled like Castlevania and Contra.
I personally am more of a 2D platformer guy as I prefer the perspective a lot more and I prefer 3D games to focus on combat, although I love the 3D Mario games.
The thumbnail is adorable. Mario, Spyro, and Sonic are games that defined my early 2000's 3D Platformer history as well as my sister. This is a 2003 game, but another platformer that defined my 3D Platformer history was "Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg" from Sonic Team. It's a game where you platform through each stage and mission with an egg. You defeat enemies and collect fruit to grow the egg. Eventually you'll hatch them to awaken cute animal buddies (or a powerup) that can help you deal with the enemies in the stages. Your goal is to complete the mission objective and collect the "Emblem of Courage".
The multiplayer was fun as well. While it's competitive, my sister and I used it as a sandbox to play with the cute animals (and the occasional SEGA character Like Sonic or NiGHTs).
Rayman 2 The Great Escape was a really underrated one of these
Love your Love Letter! Really gave me a new perspective that Spyro was great because of it's simplicity and forgiving checkpoints. You don't really notice how big of difference that is until you compared to other games at the time. It only makes me love it more for all that time in my childhood exploring Spyro's worlds. Honestly vary few games have touched Spyro feeling of exploration as much as Spyro had for me, something about it is perfectly captures childlike wonder and fun.
There was a special feeling of the early boom of 3D. Watching so many developers let their ideas and dreams run wild, while pushing the systems to their limits!
I still go back and beat Banjo and Sonic every couple years. Those two especially sit close to my heart. The world's used to feel so massive when I was a kid I would spend hours running around wanting to see everything.
Loved this video
A shame tomb raider isn't covered but i share your feelings about Spyro one of the few platformers i love and still play very often. cheers for the video.
I want to say in many ways the exploration element in Spyro how you traverse and are rewarded with "hidden locations" might have taken its roots from tomb raider at least it gives me the same sense of exploration of "wow can i really be here in the level design" you were used to levels being so closed off that it kind of blew my mind back in the day when games just let you explore the entire level instead of having invisible walls or blocks you off.. a key aspect i think both Spyro and Tomb Raider does exceptionally well.
I'm always floored by how well Spyro the Dragon has aged when I go back and replay it. It controls better than even a lot of PS2 and PS3 platformers.
One of my favorite early 3D platformers is Rocket: Robot on Wheels. Its basic movement is much slower-paced than Mario, Banjo, or Spyro, but in exchange, it has one of the most sophisticated physics engines of its time, and this results in a sense of weight throughout the entire experience. You jump on a crate in water and it buckles under you before bobbing back up. Platforms on a hinge will sway back and forth as you move across them. Stuff like that. And it's not just the game showing off its fancy engine. The awkward weightiness replicates the feel of something like bumper cars, and you really feel that when you get into one of the vehicles in each level and get to move around much faster with that same physics engine. The game takes place in an amusement park the day before opening, and the game really taps into that childhood fantasy of getting free roam of an empty park.
Oh! I haven't watched a Tama video in a while! I would have loved to have you as a friend in elementary when these games were coming out :3
The spyro games were the first ones I ever played. The level design and movement are still great even after all of these years. He keeps trying to fade into obscurity over time (it's been 4 years since reignited), so it's always nice to see the first few games talked about and enjoyed
i feel like i say this with each of your uploads but few people are as good at this youtube thing as you. it just feels more and more rare to have such tight scripts like this, perfectly articulating your points and giving such a cozy vibe but you keep doing it. thank you for such a great video, you keep outdoing yourself and this is no exception
As someone who was also alive at this point, I don't think I really appreciated until much later how seamless so many of these games felt as an evolution from their 16-bit predecessors.
Spyro is particularly impressive with how much the PSone was more known as the console with pre-rendered backgrounds or small corridors in comparison to N64 titles.
I’ve got a real soft spot for Rocket: Robot on wheels, and Banjo-Kazooie is just my jam.
Rocket is badass! Its use of Newtonian physics in a console game of that time is seriously ambitious and also well-executed. Really creative and cool problem-solving design. Everybody has to at least check it out before they die!
Loved this video, LOVED the decision to examine Ocarina of Time as a platformer, and LOOOOOOVE the thumbnail!! So thankful TH-cam led me to this channel 🙏🏻
I think jumping flash has gotten more love in recent years, but I think it still deserves more than it gets. It's a truly unique pre sm64 first person platformer that looks and sounds incredible.
Off topic but I literally watched your Sonic the Fighters video this week
Watching your videos on repeat has been amazing stress relief for me since late 2020. It's clear that you love what you do and want to make quality video essays. That's why I'll stay subscribed regardless of how long each project takes!!
It really is impressive just how well some of these platformers handled a first 3D outing! Many things about them still hold up and are a joy to handle today. Some, like Sonic Adventure for me personally, have some of the best feeling momentum that is yet to be replicated. And that's not all bad nowadays, especially with so many new indie 3D platformers appearing, I've been getting my fix. And if anyone ever wants to return to that classic feel of the originals with some fresh new design concepts, there are romhacks and mods to enjoy, especially for Mario 64.
You briefly showed Space Station Silicon Valley and Rayman 2 - would love to see a little more about those!
Spyro will always be my favorite: no time limit, no time bonuses, etc. Just relaxing fun going through whimsical worlds.
Spyro is a game I'll never beat 100% and I'm ok with that. ❤
How have I not found this channel until now?
Thanks for taking me down nostalgia road. That Dreamcast of mine is coming out of storage for Sonic Adventure very soon.
TH-cam are you fucking shitting me?
I have been subscribed for TEN GODDAMN YEARS, and you put a Tamashii Hiroka video in my feed NOW? Didn't care to cycle them in with the other THOUSANDS of game dev videos ive binged over the years?
Now I gotta catch up. I'll have to find a babysitter!
To this day Banjo Kazooie is still my favorite game of all time!
3D platformers are my absolute favorite gaming genre. They are so fun and creative, I can never get tired of them. We can never get enough 3D platformers, heck I’m even working on my own 3D platformer myself with a few friends.
I was just slightly too young to try my hand at the original Spyro, but I have extremely fond memories of watching my older brother play the game. It was so magical and invoked a sense of awe in me even just watching. I eventually booted up our old PS2 a few years back to completed the game myself and I'm pleased to say it was an absolute blast! Maybe it's nostalgia speaking, but I firmly believe that game is still better than many released today. I certainly had more fun playing it than most recent games that's for sure.
Omg the thumbnail is so perfect I love it 😭❤️
There is a lot of underappreciated love for the early 3D platformers. My first platformer was Super Mario 64 and I loved these ever since. Yeah, most of them may not hold up well, but the fact that there was so much risk and experimentation with this genre makes me happy and we would have a lesser video game experience without them.
Great video! I love the thumbnail especially!
Awesome video! I'm a lover of 3D platformers myself. Clive N Wrench, despite its many flaws, really takes me back to a simpler time of playing 90's platformers, and although it needs polish, I could happily play it again and again to get that dose of nostalgia
I grew up playing Super Mario Bros 1, 2, and 3, along with Super Mario World. Those games were my life until I got a Playstation in 98, then Crash Bandicoot 1, 2, and 3 along with Spyro became my worlds. But by 2001 I got my Dreamcast, I had Sonic Adventure which was so much fun but I started changing. I was becoming a teenager and sports became my world. I never had any platformers on Playstation 2, or 3 so I missed anything those eras had. Now I'm close to my mid thirties and I recently started playing the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro remakes on my Playstation 4 and I pull out the Snes Mini and get some Super Mario World in when I can. Miss those simple games sometimes lol but everyone grows up and things change.
I remember playing Spiro the Dragon on my brand new PS1 and being absolutely motion sick in the first 5 minutes of game play. That was my introduction to the Playstation. It was not fun at all. Later on, I player mario 64 and it was a delight! The camera in 64 didnt make me physically sick! And I loved the experience. Long story short, I regret my parents not getting me a nintendo in first place instead 😞. I never let them forget it. Lol
I miss the wild west days of early 3D gaming. Not in the "I wish I could go back" sort of way, but the pure experimental game development sort of way.
There's Crash Bandicoot too, which had great design in terms of gameplay and levels
You've done it again queen, setting the bar for us all 😍💜💜 Another amazing video!! You really are insanely gifted at writing/speaking about each video topic, & I'm once again reminded that retro gaming is largely unmatched 💘💘
great vid! it's been fun scrolling through your old vids after being recommended this one. if I hadn't kicked the pokéhabit after playing an unhealthy amount of gen 2, I probably would'a been with ya since the beginning. delightful!
Amazing video, Tama! I grew up with these games as well and still love revisiting them to this day!
Bomber man 64 is one of the platformers from that time that may have felt a little rocky at first, but looking back now I feel it's underrated. Alot of talent went into using remote bombs as platforms and bridges to get to special areas and items
i miss this era old school 3d platformers were so much fun.
I love the thumbnail for this video so much lmao. The perfect vibe
As much as I love seeing your Pokémon content; seeing you dedicate time for 90’s platformer video games is refreshing and badass. The analogies to perfecting Sonic levels akin to performing music are mind blowing, being a professional musician & music teacher myself. 🤣 I’ve been following you since I was a teenager, so it’s amazing seeing the adaptation of influences from your older styles of presentation to the present. Keep it up, Tama. ✊🏼🔥
Great video! bring me down memory lane and i for sure loved the imagination of the platformers. I would also say that spyro has always had some chill music but sonic had that hype music :3
Great video Tama. This really did take me back to when I used to play and experience these 3D platformers. I will say Crash Bandicoot had a unique style of platforming where it took linear level designs seen in other 2D platformers and made them into forward Hallway-like stages. Spyro is definitely my favorite open world platformer though. Conker and Rayman also did it well.
Great as always to get a video from you! I miss the 90s platformers as well.
As someone who also loves every one of these games, please try A Hat in Time, Spark the Electric Jester 3 and Psuedoregalia if you haven't already! They're the most fun I've had with 3D platformers since the late 90s
So much love for these games, they've stayed relevant after all this time for a reason. On a technical level, they've obviously been surpassed in terms of graphics or mechanics, but that's because they're what defined the genre.
Spyro 2 is what introduced me to Gaming, I remember being mesmerised by its graphics as all I saw up until then was other kids playing Super Mario land
it will hold a special place in my heart and it’s
I’ll always fondly remember 90s 3D platformers. They’re what got me into game programming in the first place, and I still want to make my own spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie someday. Spyro was my first exposure to PlayStation so that has a particular soft spot in my heart.
I also miss the vertex lit aesthetic that Nintendo 64 games had. Modern lighting is cool and all, but there’s something nostalgic and imaginatively inspiring about the lighting in older 3D titles. Nowadays everything is pushing for realism which I wish wasn’t as big of a push as it is.
I hope some indie developer manages to capture that N64 look perfectly someday, though with the way game engines are now, they make it really easy to do more realistic lighting but really hard to use the more cartoony vertex lighting. Anyway that’s just me rambling some of my thoughts while watching. 😂
If you haven't heard of Corn Kidz 64 or Pseudoregalia yet, i think those may make you happy.
@@jurtheorc8117 I'll look into them. Thanks!
Growing up as an 80s/90s kid, I was blown away with the transition to 3D. I love 3D exploration adventure games like Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Castlevania Legacy of Darkness and Mega Man Legends.
Which I find interesting that CV:LoD and MML came out of 2D Platformers.
As far as 90s era 3D Platformers, I loved:
Gex
Crash Bandicoot
Sonic Adventure
And Conker's Bad Fur Day (I know it's 2000)
Tama gushing about stuff she loves is my favorite genre of Tama videos
sonic adventure is my favourite game ever, i played it on repeat as a child and ive replayed it a few times as an adult and i still love it.
oh my gosh YES i love the break down of spyro's controls vs other 3d platformers you did. maybe that's why it was my favorite as a kid. and still to this day it's one of my favorite 3d platformers even without all the complex platforming controls. maybe even because of it. c:
I never got to play the Spyro games since my mom never got me a PlayStation. Once I played the Reignited Trilogy, I loved the heck out of them. The gameplay is so much fun and easily replayable. Oh and of course Spyro is so adorable❤❤😍💜
Also anyone else imagine Spyro making squeaky toy noises on that thumbnail?
It's so easy to forget how 3D games are what they are thanks to the developers who made those early games. Great byte-sized retrospective!
Didn't make the 90s cutoff, but Ratchet 'n Clank was peak childhood platforming for me. I can remember playing Donkey Kong Country during after-school-care, Sonic in my grandparents basement with my cousin, and Spyro in my best friend's parent's room at the crack of dawn while they were trying to sleep because I knew no boundaries and they were (and still are) some of the coolest people.
Great video, cute thumbnail. Much nostalgia feels. Love revisiting those games from time to time. I prefer spyro games before that reboot 2006. Peace.
Love the "only seemed to unlock" line while unlocking the door in the footage at like 7:15
oh my god it's so weird to see you without the blue hair 😭 it is really pretty tho
that video was really cool and i agree with a lot you said (even though i think counting oot is kind of a stretch xD, but i can see how the points you made are valid :>
i was really only hoping you would talk about crash bandicoot but i think that is kind of a mixed one since it blends 2d and 3d sections and even the 3d ones are kind of 2d inspired in the way you could say mario 3d world is just like 2d mario but in 3d, so i think it makes sense it didn't showed up since the ones you mentioned are more like collectatons
My first three video game were Busby 3D (lolyes), Gex: Enter the Gecko (which I actually think is good), and a Bugs Life in Christmas of 98 alongside a PS1 and definitely contributed to seeing 3D Platformers as my favorite genre to this day. Within a year I would discover Crash and Spyro with instant love and a decade later would finally experience Banjo Kazooie and Super Mario 64, somehow despite having a 64 since 2000 our family would go around getting those two titles for along time until I bought them myself. Exploring those little worlds bring a lot more than exploring these modern big open worlds that are just tick marks on a map.
Spyro 2 was the first game I ever owned. It and 3 are still two of my fav games of all time
Legacy of Kain : Soul Reaver & Ape Escape forever goated
Spyro is where it’s at for me. The levels are a spectacle, even more so in the remake, and it is just a super fun game to play. Spyro ended up becoming a bit of a comfort character for me. When I feel down (or let down by other games), I know that Spyro is there to cheer me up like a good old friend.
I'm so glad I grew up in the era of games like sonic heroes and other 2000's platformers.Definitely my favourite era of games!
I wanna make a game with a funny little 3d guy some day. I just love hearing people talk about these types of games, they were easily most of what I played when I was younger and I'm always on the lookout for when people make games that hearken back to this era.
I love them too I love them too Tamashii. I will never let go of my game collection from that era. All the best and keep doing what you do best :)
Everything you said is so spot-on, my favourite vid of 2024 so far!!
Spyro and Rayman were definitely my favorites of the era, I didn't grow up the banjo or 3D sonic, and I always found Mario 64 too challenging to get much further than the first bowser fight. I am a big 3D zelda fan, but I liked it despite the platforming elements, since I didn't feel I had a knack for it.
One I would be interested in hearing you talk about is Rayman 2 and the transition that it made from 2D to 3D. I really appreciated it's music and atmosphere compared to the usually brighter other 3D contemporaries. Another one I wasn't great at but had fun with was Croc, he's got a very cute and simplistic design but the levels were definitely challenging after you got past the first few.
such a nostalgic time! it randomly reminded me of a lunchables 3d pop-out model from banjo kazooie i had as a kid
Much more fun to hear you talk about games you love instead of ones you hate! :)
Excellent video, brought so much nostalgia. I really wanna go replay Spyro now.
That is the cutest thumbnail ever.
Can we make a petition to have Tama play Crash Bandicoot please
Great video, really liked hearing your take on these games.
"The thrill of moving a little guy in 3D space" is a shockingly good descriptor for 3D platformers even today lol
amazing video! it rlly makes u miss how whimsical games used to be
Bomberman Hero is still my all-time favorite (Spyro a close second), it may have been much more linear than a lot of 3D platformers... but that soundtrack 🤩 and of course playing as my favorite video character in a huge new world was the most amazing gaming experience of my life ❤
I finished the video! Nice analysis about 3D games. She likes beer🍻
Growing up on Pokémon and Crash was really great. I like playing the Gen 1 Pokémon & PS1 crash games and then going on to play Gen 4/5 and Crash 4 to see how much they’ve evolved.
Still hoping for a *proper* Crash/Spyro crossover one day. It’s a shame a new Spyro doesn’t seem to be happening after the remake after Crash got new content
Yeah, I liked Reignited Trilogy just as much as the N-Sane Trilogy, and after they announced Crash 4 I really hoped we'd get the true 4th Spyro game as well, am still upset that hasn't happened yet. As far as I was aware both remake bundles did well sales well and reviews well.
And I was always more of a Spyro fan than Crash
I have a deep love for these games but I was so bad at them I never finished a single one. Really need to revisit them at some point.
About the Mario vs Sonic debate, I feel like Sonic puts more emphasis on learning the level, while Mario puts more emphasis on learning... Mario.
The controls may feel clunky and obtuse at first, but as you play, you slowly master the movement until you can eventually zoom through the level like Sonic.
Of course, Sonic explicitly rewards you with a score at the end of the level, while Mario doesn't. This is where speedrunning comes in, giving you a reason to improve against your own and other people's times. If you look at someone playing the game for the first time, and then you look at the 120 star world record, they almost look like different games. This is only possible because the controls and the level design give you complete freedom to approach every mission in different ways.
To me, this slow learning curve is the most fun part.
(Yes I also love '90s 3D platformers a normal amount and I appreciate this video a lot)
I miss these, 3D platformers are so fun. You perfectly captured why Spyro is my favorite of them
To let you know that I love me some good ol' 3D platformers too! Besides, they're one of my favorite genres of games ever! Back when you can make games with super wacky ideas and having a lot of fun with those ideas in a 3D space without a care in a world whatsoever. There was no huge corporation looking at them and throwing them all away all because they thought it was not "realistic" enough, it's all about how the developers wanted to make the games that they wanna make and discovering good or bad ideas by actually trying them out. That is a perfect environment for making any video game, even 3D platformers. On top of these mentioned, I love Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & CLank, Dr Muto, Sly COoper, Vexx, Ty The Tasmanian Tiger, Blinx The Time Sweeper, Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, Voodoo Vince and even Croc to name a few. ^_^
Banjo-Kazooie is still one of my all-time favorite games, easily in my top 5. That game has a such a smooth and rewarding gameplay loop and a remarkably charming style. =D
Rocket: robot on wheels on n64 is so underrated its from suckerpunch who would go on to do sly cooper & infamous
(also spyro 3 is peak fiction)
In terms of games you didn't cover, Megaman Legends is one of the most charming games I've played. Playing it feels like a warm hug
Spyro Year of the Dragon was my shit as a kid. I adored that game so freakin' much.
Rayman 2 The Great Escape is also another personal favorite. That universe is so freakin' bizarre, I love it.
Spyro was the first game i ever finished so it always holds a special place for me