7 Platformer Mechanics You NEED to Play | Game Bites

Hey everyone! About the Bomb Chicken and Mega Man 11 bits:

The goal with this series was to build up an anthology of different combinations of game design mechanics bundled for various needs. I appreciate all of your feedback on it and I understand your thoughts on the matter. Thank you for checking this one out, and I'll work on this in the future.

Did you know that Christian Whitehead and his team for Sonic Mania were severely underpaid resulting in the cancellation of Vertebreaker.

I'm a mobile gamer and all of these are PC exclusive so rip me🙃

I’m a simple man.
I see a Nitrome game, I click!

honestly some games gave us a new way of solving a puzzle.. like celeste have more than one way to travel a big distante with is lessons

Sonic mania is just new super sonic bros DS

Did you rip the Megaman part straight from your Megaman video?

Shovel and hollow knights life system is pretty good.

Loving the Nitrome attention!

The drop dash sucks with the old level design

So Bomb Chicken is just Bomberman 64, but vertically-oriented, and a sidescroller

That bit about Celeste totally recontextualizes the way I look at that level design! I beat the game and made a platformer but I’m surprised I never saw this!

I was the 420th like. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

My friend said u r kewl so I think u r kewl 2😉

Who did it better, super Mario odyssey or crash of the titans

A video on how the Kirby series does fanservice would be a pretty fun video

I know you may think that this is because of trends but could you talk about the monsters in Fortnitemares? Apart from the gold one, all monsters are just players in tutorial mode. Even the cube where they come from could act as a kind of tutorial on bases, as you can destroy them with practically anything.

Man, I still haven’t gotten around to getting The Messenger. I’ve been hearing really good things about it since it’s release

Sorry, but the title is just silly. "7 Platformer Mechanics you need to play" ? You don't really play mechanics, they are part of the game you play.

If you’re into 2d platformers i can recommend Runbow

This video's title doesn't make much sense. Not a bad video at all, but maybe just "top 7 platformer mechanics" would have been enough.

This is a great selection. I love platformers, and though I've not played shovelknight, I think Ducktales is a fair trade off for it!

Celeste is pretty much got tier though.

SoNiC hAs HaD a RoCkY hIsToRy

I really hate the Shovel Knight life system. I think Odyssey implemented this idea much better. My problem is that once you lose the coins, you are rewarded not for keeping trying the level, but for leaving the level and doing it all over again.

Show Notes:
– The Messenger Cloudstep (0:48)
– Celeste Climb (2:17)
– Bomb Chicken Bomb Lay (3:50)
– Sonic Mania Drop Dash (5:18)
– Mega Man 11 Double Gear (6:58)
– Shovel Knight Gold Drop (8:41)
– Super Mario Odyssey (10:08)

Actually, the game that makes me love climbing in platformers first was Contra 3. (Even though Ninja Gaiden did it first, I think)
One of the most epic and memorable boss battles I've had was climbing up a high cliff while shooting a giant climbing mech.

Also, I believe Sonic Runners had the prototype of the Drop Dash mechanic.
You can't charge up a dash in mid-air because it's an auto runner, but if you manage to get to high ground and drop down, you'll get a speed boost.

It's super cool to realize that platformers are far from dead

Every sonic game from now on should be made from fans and stay 2D. I do not trust SEGA's experiments with the franchise anymore. Also I think that it would be nice if there was a mechanic in sonic games where you can have sonic go extremely fast, but make sonic less capable of platforming while using the mechanic

(Me being a fanboy again) HOLLOW KNIGHT
It’s best at everything and al it’s mechanics

Sorry

Hey Skip, this is prolly gonna get mixed up in the other comments but i still wanted to say I'm really loving these videos, you dont suffer from the normal problems that most starting youtubers have, like bad mic quality, overly long intro, etc. I'm serious when i say you have an incredible amount of potential to make this a career! I really look forward to the content youve got in store for us!

would you ever talk about guacamelee? its one of the best platformers ive ever played

I was just playing Mario Odyssey as this video popped up in my notifications
I agree with those that I have played and I'm curious about those which I haven't (sadly no money to spare but that can be fixed later)
Not much to add here, just wanted to drop by and send support your way 😛
Keep it up dude, your videos will only get more viewers as time goes on and I'm glad, you deserve them

Once again, fantastic video. It was great to see you touch on Celeste, im sure I've mentioned it quite a few times. You also brought my attention to Bomb Chicken, a game i initially brushed off.

Also, this might be a personal pet peeve. Im a little annoyed by tbe constant use of whenever people talk about Sonic, "Sonic's had a rough time transitioning from 2D to 3D." It's just a personal thing im tired of hearing every time i click a video about the Blue Boi. The section was still good however. Just a minor personal issue. I lool forward to the next upload.

Oh man, I could go on about how much I love Celeste… I’ve never played a platformer with such a meaty story (that doesn’t slow down the game in anyway), and is still able to maintain amazing platforming sections! I truly appreciated the game when I did Chapter 7 C-Side and spent HOURS, as well as over 1000 deaths until I could finally beat it. But somehow, I never got frustrated, which still baffles me to this day…

On another note, I think Hollow Knight should’ve been included in here. Not only do I think it’s the best Metroidvania out there, but it’s my favorite 2D platformer of all time! If you haven’t played it, what are you waiting for! And it’s only $15… Feels like a crime getting such an amazing game that can last over 60 hours for 100% (not counting all the DLC and hard mode…) for only $15.

Oh, so that's how it works in Shovel Knight! Hollow Knight does pretty much the same thing, and I love it! Death doesn't necesarily wipe all of your progress, but it's not meaningless either. It's a great balance to have.

Found your channel a few days ago and I love it

Alright alright, good video, fantastic writing as always and everything but this one felt a little bit below average compared to your other videos. While I haven't seen to many of your videos (or I have just learned watching your videos all of them and you've only started you-tube relatively recently) this one felt like explanations were lacking specifically in the messenger's cloud step which having not played the game I don't understand how it works. In addition I feel bad about saying it like this but it really was just lazy reusing the bomb chicken clip in it's entirety down to the footage from your nitrome video.
Good video but has some issues to fix

For some reason, I never really enjoyed the original Shovel Knight. However, for some reason, the two spinoffs were an incredibly fun, in my opinion. I was trying to figure out why I felt that way, and I think I've finally figured it out.

The money dropping system is a fantastic replacement for the outdated lives system, there's no doubt about it. However, this mechanic quickly loses it's charm once you get stuck in a loop of dying trying to get your gold back, only to lose more gold in the process. Turns out, the reason got so frustrated with the death system was actually due to two mostly unrelated mechanics, that when combined, completely ruined my experience of the game.

Those two mechanics are knockback and pits instantly killing you. See, the thing is, I almost never died from losing all my health. That giant bar at the top of my screen was meaningless, especially after I started using the Troupple elixirs. Nearly every time I died was because of a COMPLETELY UNAVOIDABLE situation where I would be hit by an enemy or projectile, lose all control of Shovel Knight, and go flying into a pit, which would instantly kill me.

Now, let's look at the other two Shovel Knight games and see how both attempted to fix this issue. Plague of Shadows, my personal favorite, gives the player the tools to avoid the pits of death, but keeps the game challenging at the same time. You see, Plague Knight has the ability to charge up a sort of mid-air boost, which if used quickly enough can get you out of a sticky situation. However, this needs to be charged by holding the attack button down, and if you're holding said button down, you CAN'T ATTACK. This creates an interesting dynamic where you can't constantly be preparing for the worst, as you won't be able to do much in terms of surviving.

Specter of Torment, on the other hand, simply allows you to buy an item which, upon falling into a death pit, reduces your Health and Darkness (the game's version of Magic) and respawns you on solid ground, rather than instantly killing you. I used this during the game's harder levels with no regrets, but I really dislike this mechanic, as it's basically a hidden "easy mode" that you can use.

It's worth noting that both of these games include special items that require magic to use, but can save your life and get you out of a pit. These are also pretty great, but unlike the boost ability from Specter of Torment, are a test of the player's reflexes rather than their skill.

I hope you enjoyed reading GAME BYTES – COMMENT EDITION, haha. This took me way too long to type.

Just a complain with a thing, not with the video, but Nitrome had been making flash games way before mobile gaming, with the same kind of mechanical depth and simplicity in platformers.

Bomb Chicken looks really fun. And I agree with you on Mario Odyssey; the whole game flows together so well. Mario has always been about jumping to some extent, and Odyssey made it super satisfying.

Shovel knight's game mechanic of losing your gold when you die works great, but another similar concept that I think is executed slightly better is from hollowknight. In this game, you collect "soul" from attacking enemies, and this soul can be used to either cast spells or restore your health. Before getting any upgrades, you can only store enough soul to preform up to 3 spells or heals.
But, when you die, not only do you lose all of your money, (a much larger risk than in shovel knight) but you also have a crack in your soul container, making it so that you can only store 2/3 the amount you normally have.
Of course, all you have to do to retrieve your gold and fix your container is to defeat a shadow spirit haunting the location of your death. Be you are at a serious disadvantage with less soul at your disposal, and it can be tricky to defeat the shadow spirit without getting killed again, therefore losing all the money you had originally forever.

Luckily, later in the game, you can summon your shadow spirit to a safe location to easily take it out by paying a gypsy with a harder to find collectable, the rancid egg. These eggs aren't too tricky to obtain, but getting a lot quickly can be a chore. So do you spend the egg that you found, knowing that it's going to be a bit of a pain to find more, or do you risk losing your money and take on your spirit surrounded by the enemies that killed you?

I feel that this is much better that shovel night. In that game, if you miss a jump or die to enemies, you can try again, and the biggest risk is losing a bit of your gold.
But in hollow knight, rushing in and failing means that gold is lost forever. It adds a layer of risk and strategy to dieing. And I love that.

(ps, I might be biased, because I've been playing hollow knight for 10 hours this week, and I'm in love so far)

I always get surprised by the quality of these videos considering you have a low amount of subscribers, it goes to show that you aren’t doing this just for money. Keep up the good work! 👍