Maze Games to Platformers (again?) (Racing Games pt. 5)

Taxonomy of Virtual Spaces

This is a continuing history of the evolution of early car racing games as analyzed according to each game's visuo-spatial configuration. Be sure to read part 1 and part 2 and part 3 and part 4 before continuing.

This post covers the earliest racing games and shows how they may connect to the genre of maze games.

Head-Onkyo Alien

Head-On (SEGA/Gremlin, 1979)

I previously wrote that SEGA's hit racing/maze game was likely influenced by early single-screen race games like Gran Trak 10 (Atari, 1974) and was likely an influence on Pac-Man (NAMCO, 1980).

Heiankyo Alien (Denki Onkyō Corporation, 1980)

Another important maze video game from that year was Heiankyo Alien (1979), which started out as an Apple II game created by a group of students at Tokyo University. Heiankyo Alien was designed over "two days" and inspired by a go game board though Head-On could have possibly been an influence if it was released early enough in the year. It may have simply been a case of simultaneous invention, where different developers were unaware of each other when they both created narrow passageway maze games.

Heiankyo Alien is no dot-eater. The human player character must dig pit traps in the maze to capture roving alien monsters. Once caught in a pit (seemingly falling into a space "under" the screen), the player must bury the alien before it can escape from the trap. Once all aliens are trapped, a new wave of aliens starts wandering the streets.

What is certain is that Denki Onkyō Corporation had developed a Head-On clone (unclear if it was licensed from SEGA or not) and reused the same arcade PCB to port Heiankyo Alien! When SEGA licensed Heiankyo Alien, it was also manufactured with Head-On boards (and renamed the game as Digger (1980) for the US market). Even if one game was not inspired by the other, there is a strong technological tie between the two games. The upgrade from Apple II prototype to Head-On PCB moved the game from a simple discrete spatial model to a continuous spatial model.

Space Panic (Universal Co. Ltd., 1980)

As I extensively posted about previously, there is strong evidence that Heiankyo Alien became a critical inspiration for Space Panic (Universal Co. Ltd., 1980), what is often considered the first "platformer game." The Space Panic gameplay turns the earlier game on its side, almost literally. 4-way movement is almost identical, with the characters locked to moving vertically on ladders and horizontally by walking on platforms (no jumping). The player digs holes to trap the aliens, knocking them through the floor when buried, and squashing any other alien caught underneath. The player may also drop through a hole for a quick trip to the floor below.

All of this gameplay is only possible with the addition of gravity. Which leads me to my theory...

Platformers are Maze Games with Gravity

At least, this holds true for many platformers that don't include jumping. These are what I sometimes call "ladder" platformers, where jumping is not a major method of navigation (at least, not vertically). I would make the argument that Donkey Kong counts as a ladder platformer but Donkey Kong Jr. does not. Maze games typically lock the player into orthogonal movement along proscribed paths. Gravity gives objects a different way to move toward the bottom of the screen and adds a new wrinkle for navigation.

Example figure from Atari Graphics and Arcade Game Design (Jeffrey Stanton and Dan Pinal, 1984, Arrays Inc., pg. 387)

This theory is not entirely new. Many game writers in the 1980s classified these platformers as maze games before the new genre became prevalent, as the examples below show.

"While most people do not think of games like Donkey Kong and Apple Panic as maze games, they too require a set of movement rules to keep the player confined to floors and ladders" (Jeffrey Stanton and Dan Pinal, Atari Graphics and Arcade Game Design, Arrays Inc., 1984, pg. 387) (see figure above).

"Donkey Kong [is] a game that looks a little like a race game with intelligent obstacles... Apple Panic... is like a maze game in some ways and like a combat game in others" (Chris Crawford, The Art of Computer Game Design, Osborne/McGraw Hill, 1984, pp. 29-30).

Crawford's comparison of Donkey Kong to a "race game" is because the goal of most levels is to move from starting point to the finish line as quickly as possible. The rivet stage is the only one that has a set of objectives to complete (remove all 8 rivets). Also note that Apple Panic (Broderbund, 1981) was an unlicensed port of Space Panic for Apple II and was far more prevalent example in the USA than the original arcade game.

Donkey Kong is "more like being in a cartoon than any other maze game" (Walter Lowe, Jr., Playboy's Guide to Rating the Video Games, PBJ Books, 1982, pg. 257).

Donkey Kong and Popeye are games where "the player element on the screen can be moved to different parts of the screen, which is basically a maze. The concept of each of these games is different; most are obstacle courses with some maze-like features" (Paul Kordestani, Gamester's Guide to Arcade Video Games, Tab Books, 1983, pg. 15). "Burger Time is a maze game..." (pg. 297).

Platformer games (side elevation orthographic, gravity down) can thus be seen as an augmentation or evolution of the visuo-spatial configuration of most maze games (plan orthographic, no gravity).

A "Cartoony" Spatial Paradigm? pt. 7 (Platformer character analysis)

Taxonomy of Virtual Spaces

This post continues my exploration toward evaluating a spatial paradigm of "cartoony" digital games, which evolved through the early 1980s. Part one analyzed two important early titles, namely Cutie Q and Pac-Man. Part two looked at some Pac-Man clones and Frogger. Part three analyzed some "maze shooters" and "maze looters." Part four explores how maze games evolved into platform games. Part five examined "maze tunneler" games where the player digs their own mazes as they explore. Part six looks at games that use a mix of elevation projections.

This post analyzes the development of character designs in early platformer arcade games from 1980-1984, when "cartoony" games were particularly popular. Unlike the typical connection of platfomers with jumping, most of these games were "climbing" or "ladder" games where the player cannot jump (Space Panic, Bagman, BurgerTime, Monster Bash, Popeye, Kangaroo, Elevator Action, Mr. Do's Castle, Mappy, Mr. Do's Wild Ride). Following this is an analysis of Monster Bash, a 

Early Platformer Game Characters

Early arcade platformer game characters 1980-1984

• Space Panic - Side view. See my analysis of this game here and details on the transition from maze games to platformer games. The "Spaceman" is simply and orthographically illustrated with little more definition than a stick figure. The character is limited to a three color palette (2 bits per pixel of color data (allows for palette of 3 colors + transparency) times 256 pixels (16 rows x 16 columns) equals 512 bits or 64 8-bit bytes per frame of sprite information).
• Donkey Kong - Side view. See my analysis here. Mario is far more detailed than the Spaceman protagonist of Space Panic. Both characters are limited to a three color palette and the same sprite size, but Mario has far more detail that would be recognized as cartoon-like. Still, his projection reads as orthographic.
• Bagman - Side view. This game's character graphics are closely adapted from Donkey Kong. The legs are shaped the same as Mario's, along with the convict's sideburns and the guard's hair and hat.
• BurgerTime - Side view. See my analysis here. Peter Pepper's sprites have around 7 different colors and so probably use 3 bits per pixel for color data.
• Donkey Kong Jr. - Side view head, 3/4 view body. DK Jr.'s sprite is 32 pixels wide, twice as wide as Mario and most other sprites shown here. This allows for more horizontal character details and pixels for illustrating a 3/4 view for Junior, though it makes for an awkward platformer character shape.
• Monster Bash - Side view. See below for further analysis. 
  
• Popeye - 3/4 view. See my analysis here. It is easy to see just how huge the characters in Popeye seemed in comparison to most other arcade games of the era. Popeye is about twice as wide and four times as tall as the typical 16 x 16 pixel sprite and the Brutus sprite is even bigger. It is well-known now that Donkey Kong started out as a Popeye-licensed design, but changed before the game was completed. According to research by Kate Willaert, one reason was because it was difficult to create a recognizable Popeye illustration in a 16 x 16 image. One year later, Ikegami Tsushinki developed some innovative arcade hardware capable of displaying very large sprites for Nintendo with Popeye. 
• Kangaroo - Side view. A female protagonist, a rarity at the time. "Mama Roo" is a mother kangaroo fighting and climbing to rescue her "Baby Roo" from monkey kidnappers. The large image size and wide color palette allow for a lot of details, though Mama Roo is still illustrated only in a side view.
• Mario Bros. - Side view head, 3/4 view body. Mario grows up, with 16 x 32 (or maybe 16 x 24?) sprites and a 7 color palette (3 bits per pixel).
• Elevator Action - Side view. Agent 17 has tall 16 x 24 sprites and a 7 color palette with effective animations, though his standing image is flatly illustrated.
• Mr. Do's Castle - Side view. See my analysis here.
• Mappy - 3/4 view. Hiroshi "Mr. Dotman" Ono's pixel art skills are on display here with his illustration for the titular mouse police officer working to defeat a gang of cat thieves. Appears to be a 7 color palette.
• Arabian - Side view.
• Flicky - Side view. Small birds in the Sonic the Hedgehog series of games would take the name of "flicky" from this game.
• Bomb Jack - Side view head, 3/4 view body. The character's body is at a slight 3/4 view with two "buttons" visible on the front of his costume.
• Mr. Do's Wild Ride - Side view. Mr. Do returns in another platformer, this time with an outline drawn around his sprite.
• Pac-Land - 3/4 view. The 32 x 32 image gives Namco's artists plenty of room to add details to Pac-Man in his in a platformer. This game's character models were modified from Namco's original designs when imported to the United States to better match Hanna Barbera's Pac-Man animated TV series that debuted in 1982. The original Pac-Man design had different eyes and sported a jaunty Tyrolean hat, making him look like a Bavarian hiker. 

Aesthetically speaking, Nintendo and Namco the best-looking "cartoony" sprites of this group. In the few short years examined here, sprites became more colorful as 7-color palettes replaced earlier 3-color palettes. Larger sprites could certainly catch one's attention, but the 16 x 16 standard remained a viable character size for many games through the 1980s.

Analysis of Monster Bash

This curious 1982 platformer game from Sega has the hero climbing ladders and fighting against classic monsters from films like Dracula and Frankenstein. The game is a good example of the transitional period from maze games to platformers as the game has both platforming and maze game levels with no change in character graphics or movement.

Monster Bash intro screen

The intro screen serves as a map of the three different levels in the game. Dracula House and Frankenstein Castle are both illustrated in orthographic, elevation projection with a front view. Chameleon Man Graveyard is illustrated in oblique, plan projection in with a bird's-eye view. This makes the map look disjointed, but each projection matches the method used in each different level.

Monster Bash "Dracula House"

"Lil' Red" the hero must face off against Dracula in his house, lighting candles and touching a sword to power up a zapper weapon to defeat the vampire. Lil' Red and the bat enemies are illustrated in orthographic side and front/back views. The larger Dracula sprite is illustrated in 3/4 view. They all explore the environment illustrated in front elevation projection.

Monster Bash "Frankenstein Castle"

This level has the same visuo-spatial configuration as Dracula House, above.

Monster Bash "Chameleon Man Graveyard"

In the Chameleon Man Graveyard, gameplay shifts to that of a maze game with an overhead view, although there is no change to character graphics or movement controls. The relatively small Chameleon Man "boss" character is illustrated in the same orthographic side and front/back views as Lil' Red. The environment is completely different from the other levels, with a plan oblique projection.

This game further supports the theory that early platformer games, especially "ladder" games, evolved from and are derivations of maze games. 

A "Cartoony" Spatial Paradigm? pt. 6 (Mixed elevation projections)

Taxonomy of Virtual Spaces

This post continues my exploration toward evaluating a spatial paradigm of "cartoony" digital games, which evolved through the early 1980s. Part one analyzed two important early titles, namely Cutie Q and Pac-Man. Part two looked at some Pac-Man clones and Frogger. Part three analyzed some "maze shooters" and "maze looters." Part four explores how maze games evolved into platform games. Part five examined "maze tunneler" games where the player digs their own mazes as they explore.

This post examines the "facing" of cartoony sprite characters drawn to game screens using elevation projections (side-facing or front-facing). Pac-Man and Super Mario Bros. both use a mix of front and side views with characters sharing the same game space. Mario's sprites evolved through different projections over several games until settling into a 3/4 view: side-facing but slightly twisted to show detail on the front of the character. This matches the acting method of "cheating out," where actors in profile will turn slightly toward the camera or audience to be seen better.

Back to Pac-Man

Pac-Man level 256 glitch

I wrote up a visuo-spatial analysis of Pac-Man way back in part one of this series, copied here:

Pac-Man Visuo-Spatial Analysis: The game screen emulates an orthographic plan view of a maze (not unlike a hedge maze) seen from overhead. It could be argued that the maze is seen from the side, but the lack of gravity that pulls to the bottom of the screen (this is not a platformer) and similarity to overhead driving games like Head On support a view from above. The character images are shown in orthographic front and side elevation views, much like in Cutie Q. This creates an incongruity between characters and their environment, one that I wrote about before (see the Orthographic Projection section). The game has a sense of continuous 2-D game space limited to a single screen (fixed frame) with a cylindrical topology (characters may move directly from one edge of the maze to the other by using the side tunnels).

Pac-Man characters

The characters of Pac-Man are illustrated in two different types of elevation projections. The ghost monsters look around toward the direction they are moving, but they read as front-facing because both eyes are visible to the player. Pac-Man is seen as side-facing, clearly showing his opening mouth in profile. The characters are drawn as if facing in different directions, yet they still read as if they are sharing the same space.

The Front-Facing Goomba

Super Mario Bros. Goomba, Koopa Troopa, and Super Mario

In Super Mario Bros., most enemy characters are drawn in a side-facing projection with two frames of animation, like the Koopa Troopa above. When such a character moves in the opposite direction, the frames of animation are flipped to face the other way. The Goomba is unusual in that it is a front-facing character with only one sprite frame that is mirrored left and right to give the illusion of a walking animation.

Blooper and Toad are the only other front-facing characters in SMB 1. Lakitu and Cheep-Cheep are drawn in 3/4 view. All other characters are side-facing.

As revealed by designer Takashi Tezuka in an Iwata Asks interview, The Goomba was the last character designed for the game and there were very few bytes available for additional graphics in the game cartridge's CHR-ROM chip. The team only had room for one 32 x 32 sprite that could be "animated" by flipping the image. They settled on a front-facing character that would look fine walking either left or right.

Early Incarnations of Mario

The Australian author and pixel artist known as NFGMan analyzed several different eras or generations of early Mario sprite designs. These sprites are organized by shared qualities in visual style rather than being strictly organized by year. This shows how different artistic styles may overlap in time and a single art style may transcend hardware devices.

"Mario 1.0" sprites, image from NFG Games The Evolution of Mario

Standing Mario sprites in the first image:

• Donkey Kong (1981, arcade)
• Donkey Kong Jr. (1982, arcade) (as the villain)
• Mario Bros. (1983, arcade)
• Wrecking Crew (1985, NES)
• Super Mario Bros. (1985, NES) (with Super Mario sprite)
• Super Mario Land (1989, Game Boy) (with Super Mario sprite).

Each of these early Mario sprites features a side-facing head seen in profile. Each Mario head shares distinctive features, with one visible eye, a crooked nose, sideburns, and bushy long hair.

The sprite bodies are drawn in different facings. The Donkey Kong sprite is close to a side view with one foot in front of the other, ready to move forward. The Donkey Kong Jr., Mario Bros., and Wrecking Crew bodies are drawn in more of a 3/4 view, with the front of Mario's overalls visible. Note that Mario's feet are pointed in both directions, ready to turn on a dime and start running. The Super game sprites all have front-facing bodies with body weight balanced in both the left and right directions.

"2nd Gen Mario" sprites, image from NFG Games The Evolution of Mario

Standing Mario sprites in the second image:

• Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988, NES) (with Super Mario sprite)
• Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990, NES) (with Super Mario sprite)
• Donkey Kong (1994, Game Boy)

This era of Mario sprites is notable for their dark outlines that help the character stand out from many different types of backgrounds.

Mario's hat has undergone a change, now looking more like a newsboy or fisherman's cap than the previous baseball cap appearance. The SMB 2 head is turned in a 3/4 view, with both eyes and both sides of Mario's mustache visible, but the other two games return to a side view profile. SMB 2 and SMB 3 give Mario a cartoonishly round nose while DK '94 gives Mario back his crooked, original nose.

The SMB 2 and SMB 3 bodies are at a slight 3/4 view, with both of Mario's overall buttons visible in his Super incarnations.

The DK '94 design, with its side view profile, crooked nose, and long hair, is intentionally anachronistic to harken back to Mario's arcade Donkey Kong roots. However, he does retain the big eyes and updated cap.

"The Mario Renaissance" sprites, image from NFG Games The Evolution of Mario

Standing Mario sprites in the third image:

• Super Mario World (1991, SNES) (with Super Mario sprite)
• Super Mario All-Stars (1993, SNES) (SMB 1 design, with Super Mario sprite)
• Super Mario All-Stars (1993, SNES) (SMB 2 design, with Super Mario sprite)
• Super Mario Land 2 (1992, Game Boy) (with Super Mario sprite)

Mario's design did not change much in the transition from the NES to the SNES, but the 16-bit system did allow the characters to be drawn with more colors. Super Mario All-Stars rereleased the original three Super Mario Bros. games with updated art on the SNES.

Super Mario World and Super Mario Land 2 designs closely follow the 3/4 view, round nose, and big eyes seen in the original SMB 2 design. The Super Mario All-Stars designs mostly follow the original games, with the exception that the All-Star SMB 1 uses graphics nearly identical to SMB 3 (not shown). 

Over 12 years of development (not counting DK '94), Mario's design evolved from a flat profile view to a full-body 3/4 view, giving an enhanced sense of dimensionality to the character and conveying more facial details.

To be continued...

A "Cartoony" Spatial Paradigm? pt. 4 (Platformer Evolution)

Taxonomy of Virtual Spaces

This post continues my exploration toward evaluating a spatial paradigm of "cartoony" digital games, which evolved through the 1980s. Part one analyzed two important early titles, namely Cutie Q and Pac-Man. Part two looked at some Pac-Man clones and Frogger. Part three analyzed some other maze games that do not feature "dot eater" gameplay: "maze shooters" and "maze looters."

This post looks at how maze games evolved into platformer games.

[Addendum 7/27/26]

How early platformer games are really maze games with gravity.

[End addendum 7/27/26]

Heiankyo Alien/Digger

The original Heiankyo Alien (The University of Tokyo's Theoretical Science Group (TSG), 1979, NEC PC-8001 computer game)

The Japanese arcade version of Heiankyo Alien (Denki Onkyō Corporation, 1980, arcade game)

The USA arcade release of Digger (Sega-Gremlin, 1980, arcade game)

Heiankyo Alien is little-known in the west, but may be one of the most influential digital games. The player avatar is a Kyoto policeman 1000 years in the past when the then-capital city of Japan was called Heian-kyō. The player is pursued by alien invaders roaming the maze-like streets of the city. Our heroes only defense is to dig holes in the street for the aliens to fall into, then refilling the holes before the alien escapes.

This maze game was released before Pac-Man and could have easily been an influence on Pac-Man. Like Frogger, which I analyzed previously, this game has a concept gravity and layered space. An alien may fall "into" the holes, falling below the main layer of the streets.

Heiankyo Alien/Digger Visuo-Spatial Analysis: The original game was developed by students at the University of Tokyo and was released for NEC's PC-8000 series of computers. Like many other maze games I reviewed previously, the environment is projected in a plan orthographic view. Due to graphical limitations, this first iteration used symbolic representation of the game agents, as seen by the yellow spade (player avatar) and red circles (aliens) seen in the top image above. Gameplay space is not continuous, but is instead limited to a layered, 2-D grids of discrete spaces and gravity in the z-axis of the screen. This single-screen game has a fixed frame.

Denki Onkyō Corporation created an arcade version and upgraded the game's graphics and spatiality. The player character is shown in profile with an orthographic side elevation view. The aliens are shown in more of a 3/4 view, with an orthogonal horizontal oblique view. This version features layered, continuous, 2-D spaces. 

Sega-Gremlin changed the game slightly for the USA arcade audience, changing its name to Digger. Any story of alien invasion and the Heiankyo policeman are replaced with the player in a "maze-like desert canyon" digging holes to defeat spider-like "creatures" (Digger Arcade Flyer, Sega-Gremlin, 1980).

Crazy Climber

Crazy Climber screen shot. No, that is not Donkey Kong!

Crazy Climber (Nichibutsu, 1980) is an early "climbing" game that was released to the Japanese arcades in November, 1980 (Masumi Akagi, Arcade TV Game List, Domestic/Overseas Edition (1971-2005), Japan: Amusement News Agency, pg. 55) and in the USA by Taito one month later (Akagi, pg. 127). The player avatar hero climbs to the top of a building while overcoming obstacles that include a giant ape - 10 months before the release of Donkey Kong!

This game can't really qualify as a "platformer" as it is missing an important ingredient: platforms. The player constantly climbs the building until they reach the top, almost like a platformer level comprised of nothing but ladders. It features an unusual two-joystick system: one each to navigate the player avatar's left and right hands. Left/right movement is possible, but the primary direction the player moves is up (they can't go down unless they fall).

Lupin III Visuo-Spatial Analysis: Spatially, this game is very similar to later "smooth scrolling" platformer games. The environment and agents are shown in an orthographic front elevation view (well, "rear" view for the player avatar). Gameplay happens on a continuous, layered 2-D space with a background layer (inside the building, where "antagonist" residents (Crazy Climber Service Instruction, Nichibutsu, 1980, pg. 4) hide behind windows). It features a smooth-scrolling framing device with vertical mobility (up only). It also has a mini-map (on the left edge of screen) and gravity down to bottom of screen.

Space Panic

Player avatar digging a hole in Space Panic

Space Panic (Universal Co. Ltd., 1980) is another "climbing" game, released in Japan one month after Crazy Climber in December, 1980 (Akagi, pg. 15) and in the USA in February, 1981 (Akagi, pg. 165). It is a major leap forward in digital maze games, one that owes much to Heiankyo Alien. The player avatar "man" is in a multi-level structure with limited oxygen (represented by the timer bar near the top of the screen). Three types of aliens, monster, boss, and don, are invading the building and the man's only defense is to dig holes to trap them and then bury them to make them fall (Space Panic Operation, Maintenance, and Service Manual, Universal Co. Ltd., 1980, pg. 3).

The player's view is looking at a series of straight, narrow platforms connected by ladders. The nature of the building is never explained (Space station? Alien structure? Exoplanet cave system?), but oxygen is in short supply here. The platforms are malleable enough that the man may punch holes in them with what looks like a simple shovel. The existence of platforms, ladders, and gravity give credence to calling this the first platformer game. It is missing one key ingredient of platforming as we know it - jumping.

Digging holes and burying aliens in Space Panic (above) and Heiankyo Alien (below)

The Retrogame Deconstruction Zone blog has a thorough comparison of Space Panic and Heiankyo Alien on their site. The gif above is referenced from that page, showing the actions of moving, digging, trapping, and burying in both games. That site is under the impression that Space Panic should not be considered as "the first platformer" as it does not fit the definition of platformers as we know them now (must include jumping). However, they also admit that genres are fluid and they aren't really convinced of their own argument.

What makes sense to me is that Space Panic is the first of a different kind of platformer: one that involves climbing ladders, trapping enemies by manipulating those platforms, and no jumping.

Apple Panic screen shot

Where Space Panic was not very successful in arcades in the west, Ben Serki's unlicensed clone Apple Panic (Broderbund, 1981, computer game) was quite successful on Apple II home computers. It was later ported to other popular computer platforms in 1982 and even spawned its own series of clones.

Mr. Do's Castle screen shot

Mr. Do's Castle (Universal Co. Ltd., 1983, arcade game) (a.k.a. Mr. Do! vs. Unicorns in Japan) seems to be Universal's attempt to refine their original Space Panic formula using their successful new character, Mr. Do. Instead of digging, little clown player avatar knocks blocks out of the floors with a hammer. Certain ladders can be moved left or right to change the playfield and there are a number of innovative ways to complete each level.

The environment (platforms) and background (windows in castle wall) are drawn in elevation oblique view, allowing some dimensionality and depth to be inferred. There is a sense of space (blue sky) beyond the window, but all gameplay takes place only on a single, 2-D plane inside the castle.

Lode Runner (Atari 8-bit) screen shot

Doug Smith's Lode Runner (Broderbund, 1983, computer game) refined the Space Panic formula further and became a huge hit. It was ported to seemingly every home computer on the market and spawned a number of sequels. The athletic player avatar must collect gold bars (squares) and avoid guards, who can also pick up and carry gold. In addition to ladders, characters can move across horizontal "hand over hand bars." Guards can be dropped into holes to temporarily incapacitate them (and force them to drop any carried gold). Once all gold bars are collected in a level, the player is free to move to the next level by moving to an exit ladder that appears, giving some sense of a page-flip frame mobility that moves the player to another point in space.

One other important development of Lode Runner is this is one of the first commercial games to include its own level editor. This tool allowed the developers to easily create dozens of challenging or aesthetically interesting levels (like the triple-crown Broderbund logo in the screen shot above). It also allowed Lode Runner players (including this author!) to get their first taste of level design.

This "ladder/digger" take on platformer gameplay probably reached its peak with the Lode Runner series, which saw releases through the 1990s and even a Lode Runner for XBOX 360 (2009). Few other titles use the same basic formula in the past several decades, such as Moraff's Escapade (Moraffware, 1996, Windows computer game), The Worlds of Billy (Intense Entertainment Interactive, 1997, DOS computer game), and The Worlds of Billy 2 (Global Star Software, 2002, Windows computer game). The Space Panic style of platforming was completely overshadowed by the run-and-jump style that emerged from Donkey Kong.

Space Panic Visuo-Spatial Analysis: While most previous maze game environments are understood in my analysis as plan (overhead) views, this game has ladders and gravity that reinforce the environment's orthographic side elevation side view. The game agents use similar orthographic front (aliens) and side (man) elevation views. This single-screen game has a fixed frame and gravity down toward the bottom of the screen. All gameplay takes place in a continuous space on a 2-D plane. Except where noted above, the other games of this type use the same visuo-spatial construction.

Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong screen shot

Nintendo first released Donkey Kong (Nintendo, 1981) in Japanese arcades in August, 1981 (Akagi, pg. 57) and Nintendo of America brought it to the USA in October, 1981 (Akagi, pg. 150). Much ink has been spilled about how this game set the stage for the legions of platformer games that followed, notably with the addition of the "jump" button.

Donkey Kong seemed so different that it was hard to classify when it was released. Video Games Magazine editor Steve Bloom called it "another bizarre cartoon game, courtesy of Japan" (Bloom, Video Invaders, 1982, pg. 181) and rightfully noted its similarities to Crazy Climber and Space Panic. Electronic Games magazine lumped all these games together into the category of "climbing games" ("The Player's Guide to Climbing Games," Electronic Games, vol. 1, no. 11, pp 49-56). Game designer Chris Crawford, creating his own "taxonomy of computer games" found Donkey Kong impossible to categorize and described it as "a game that looks a little like a race game with intelligent obstacles" (Crawford, The Art of Computer Game Design, 1984, pg. 29). 

Donkey Kong Visuo-Spatial Analysis: Is almost exactly like Space Panic, which Donkey Kong's first level looks suspiciously similar to. What is different is the incorporation of an overall story structure broken up into 4 different screens as Mario ascends the building. I don't know if Shigeru Miyamoto ever called out Crazy Climber as an influence, but he wanted this game to have a smooth-scrolling climb to the top of the structure. However, that wasn't possible due to the Radar Scope (Nintendo, 1980, arcade) hardware this game had to be based on. Instead, Miyamoto and his team implemented a simple page-flip framing device for different sections of the building to be played as individual game screens.

[Addendum 5 Sep 2023]

BurgerTime (a.k.a. Hamburger)

BurgerTime (Data East/Midway, 1982)

Data East released this game as Hamburger in Japanese arcades in August 1982 (Akagi, pg. 47) and Data East USA rebranded the game as BurgerTime, launching the game with Midway for the US audience in December of that year (Akagi, pg. 115).

After the release of Donkey Kong in 1981, many platformer games with run-n-jump gameplay followed in its wake. Notable games that quickly innovated on the DK spatial paradigm (without being outright clones) include Miner 2049er (Big Five Software, 1982), Kangaroo (Sun Electronics, 1982), Chuckie Egg (A&F Software, 1983), Hard Hat Mack (Electronic Arts, 1983), and Jumpman (Epyx, 1983). Each of those games features jumping as an important aspect of navigating space and avoiding hazards.

BurgerTime has no jump button and appears to be influenced by the Space Panic style of "climbing platformer" than DK. Like Space Panic, enemies are defeated by dropping them down by one or more elevation levels or by crushing them by dropping something on top of them. Unlike Space Panic, the theme is about making hamburgers at a fast food restaurant while being pursued by killer eggs, sausages, and pickles. The player avatar has a limited-use pepper weapons that can temporarily stun enemies in case the player gets cornered.

BurgerTime Visuo-Spatial Analysis: Same as Space Panic.

Popeye

Nintendo of America brought the Popeye arcade game to the USA in November 1982 (Akagi, pg. 128) ahead of Nintendo's Japan launch of the game in December 1982 (Akagi, pg. 57).

"Popeye-1" Nintendo design document signed by Miyamoto, March 1981

It is an oft-told story that Donkey Kong started development as a Popeye game licensed from United Features, and Shigeru Miyamoto's design document above bears that out. The level sketch looks almost exactly like the first stage of DK, with Brutus holding a captive Olive Oyl and rolling "beer barrels" at a tiny Popeye. The design had to be changed at the last minute, either due to delays in reaching a licensing agreement or due to technical limitations in displaying detailed "cartoony" sprites of the Popeye characters. Nintendo released an official, licensed Popeye platformer in the following year, one with greater graphical capabilities that allowed it to display large, detailed sprites.

Popeye is another non-jumping platformer. The player avatar climb stairs, ladders, stair-like ship's rigging or simply drop down to reach a different platform. Miyamoto has stated that his original design for DK was about "climbing through a maze" and jumping was only added later. The Popeye/DK transitional design document above bears this out. The control scheme in the bottom right only uses a 4-way joystick (with no jump or punch button) and the "up" direction is only used to climb ladders. Later designs for the two games each added a button, jump for DK and punch for Popeye.

Popeye Visuo-Spatial Analysis: Similar to Space Panic, with a limited elevation orthographic foreground image plane (the "THRU" signs on the right and left sides of the screen and some tufts of grass). Some of the navigable game environment is rendered in horizontal oblique projection (the staircases seen in the gif image above).

To be continued...

Game Genres, pt. 5: Mark J. P. Wolf's Interactive Genres for Classifying Video Games

Previously, I reviewed early game genres as developed through the lenses of marketplace leaders, an expert player, and a professional game developer. This set of game genres was developed by an academic, Mark J. P. Wolf. Wolf was one of the earliest scholars in the field of game studies and has written and published 23 books, mostly on the subject of digital games.

The Medium of the Video Game, Wolf (2001)

Wolf's The Medium of the Video Game (2001) includes the chapter "Genre and the Video Game" where he outlines what he sees as the core categorizations for digital games.

Wolf takes guidance from Ed Buscombe's essay "The Idea of Genre in the American Cinema" in that genre elements may appear in a film's iconography, structure, and theme. Iconographic genres like "Western" and "science fiction" (what I previously referred to as milieu) may work for narrative games, especially those inspired by cinematic tropes, it doesn't really work for nonnarrative and abstract games. Additionally, two different games in the same iconographic genre or theme may be very different experiences for the player. Wolf moves away from these cinematic concepts of film genre by focusing on the classifications of interactivity seen in digital games.

Wolf notes that games may best fit into multiple genres (Pac-Man is primarily a "Collecting" game, as the player's primary objective is to eat all of the dots on the screen. Secondarily, it also falls under the "Escape" and "Maze" genres).

• Abstract - Arkanoid, Breakout, Q*bert, Tempest (with Shoot 'Em Up), Tetris (with Puzzle)
• Adaptation - Games that are adapted from card games (Casino), cartoons (The Simpsons), comic books (X-Men), film (Star Wars), sports (Atari Football), etc.
• Adventure - Games set in a freely explorable "world" usually made up of multiple, connected rooms or screens, involving an objective more complex that catching, shooting, capturing, or escaping. Adventure, Tomb Raider, Venture.
• Artificial Life - Games involving the growth or maintenance of digital creatures. The Little Computer People, The Sims (with Management Simulation).
• Board Games - Board game adaptations and digital games that play like board games. Culdcept, Monopoly, Quest for the Rings.
• Capturing - Capture objects or characters that move away from and evade the player character. Keystone Kapers, Surround (with Escape).
• Card Games - Card game adaptations and digital games that play like card games. Solitaire, Uno, Casino (with Gambling).
• Catching - Catch objects or characters that do not move away from or evade the player character. Stampede, Circus Atari, Kaboom!
• Chase - "See Catching, Capturing, Driving, Escape, Flying, and Racing."
• Collecting - Collect objects that do not move. Pac-Man (with Maze and Escape), Amidar (with Abstract).
• Combat - One vs. one shooting challenge. Combat, Outlaw.
• Demo - Demonstrate games or system.
• Diagnostic - Test the functioning of a system.
• Dodging - Avoid projectiles. Frogger (with Obstacle Course), Journey Escape.
• Driving - Night Driver, Pole Position.
• Educational - Games designed to teach. Basic Math, Mario Teaches Typing.
• Escape - Escape pursuers or get of of an enclosure. Pac-Man (with Collecting and Maze), Surround (with Capturing).
• Fighting - One on one fighting without the use of firearms. Boxing (with Sports), Mortal Kombat, Tekken.
• Flying - Flying games where shooting an opponent is not the main objective. Flight Unlimited (with Training Simulation), Solaris. 
• Gambling - Slot Machine, You Don't Know Jack (with Quiz).
• Interactive Movie - Dragon's Lair, Space Ace.
• Management Simulation - Aerobiz, M.U.L.E.
• Maze - Dig Dug, Lode Runner, Tunnel Runner.
• Obstacle Course - Frogger (with Dodging), Pitfall!, Jungle Hunt.
• Pencil-and-Paper Games - 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe, Noughts and Crosses, Hangman.
• Pinball - Pachinko!, Sonic Spinball, Video Pinball.
• Platform - Crazy Climber, Donkey Kong, Lode Runner (with Maze).
• Programming Games - Player writes short programs to control an agent in the game. Omega, CRobots.
• Puzzle - Tetris (with Abstract), 7th Guest, Myst (with Adventure).
• Quiz - Fax, You Don't Know Jack (with Gambling), Trivial Pursuit (with Adaptation).
• Racing - Win a race or cover more ground than an opponent. Mario Kart 64 (with Driving), Slot Racers (with Dodging).
• Rhythm and Dance - Keep time with a musical rhythm. Beatmania, PaRappa the Rapper, Samba de Amigo, Space Channel 5.
  
• Role-Playing - Diablo, Phantasy Star, Ultima, Interstate '76.
• Shoot ’Em Up - Shoot at and destroy a series of opponents or objects. Asteroids, Berzerk, Galaga, Zaxxon, Missile Command.
• Simulation - "See Management Simulation and Training Simulation"
• Sports - Atari Baseball, Bowling, Fishing Derby (with Catching), Pong (with Table-Top Games), Sky Diver.
• Strategy - Ataxx (with Abstract), Chess (with Board Games), M.U.L.E. (with Management Simulation).
• Table-Top Games - Table-top games that require physical skill or action. Battle Ping Pong, Electronic Table Soccer!, Pocket Billiards!, Pong (with Sports), Virtual Pool.
• Target - Primarily aim and shoot at targets that are not in motion. Air-Sea Battle, Carnival, Shooting Gallery.
• Text Adventure - Planetfall, Zork.
• Training Simulation - Games that simulate a realistic situation for the purpose of training and usually the development of a physical skill (such as driving or piloting). Comanche 3 (with Flying), Flight Unlimited (with Flying), Police Trainer.
• Utility - Have a purpose beyond that of entertainment, although they may be structured similarly to games. Basic Programming, Diagnostic Cartridge (with Diagnostic), Infogenius French Language Translator, Sped Reading.

This is a highly detailed system of genre classification. I see the usefulness of classifying games by a core game mechanic (like Capturing, Escaping, or Target), but some categories are non-games (Utility and Diagnostic), confusing (I would expect Table-Top Games to be board, card, and role-playing games), or questionably applied (in what way is Q*bert abstract?).

Looking closer at Wolf's definition of "Abstract" games, he describes them as having "nonrepresentational graphics" and often a non-narrative objective, which may involve "visiting, filling" or "destroying the screen," though they may have characters that are "anthropomorphic in design" (2001, pg. 117). Wolf's non-narrative objective aspect puts his definition in line with "abstract strategy" board games and puzzles, such as chess, checkers, Othello, and peg solitaire. However, he specifically does not include digital versions of such board games in this genre.

My problem is that almost all of Wolf's "Abstract" examples (Arkanoid, Amidar, Ataxx, Block Out, Breakout, Marble Madness, Pac-Man, Pipe Dream, Q*bert, and Tetris) use representational graphics. Ataxx and Pipe Dream play like abstract strategy board games, which he would exclude from the genre if they were adaptations. Arkanoid, Block Out, Breakout, and Tetris all feature shapes that are more than abstract geometric forms (the shapes are meant to represent bricks and blocks). Amidar, Marble Madness, Pac-Man, and Q*bert all feature cartoonish characters existing in representational, if sometimes impossible, spatial structures (Q*bert is no more abstract than the famous works by M. C. Escher).

Some of his examples arguably have abstract elements. Tempest's high-speed, neon world of geometric shapes in conflict is akin an electronic edition of Lissitsky's Suprematist Bolshevik propaganda works like Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge (1919). [Side note: for a true digital game version of Suprematist works, you must play Chris Totten's Lissitsky's Revenge (2015).] In both cases, the shapes are more symbolic than abstract.

Qix (Atari, 1982, arcade game)

Qix is one case of a game with a truly abstract element: the titular Qix, a shapeless series of rainbow-colored lines that undulate around the environment and threaten the tiny, diamond-shaped player avatar. Where Tempest's lines create identifiable and distinct shapes (bow tie-shaped "flippers," the staple-shaped "blaster" player avatar), the Qix has no specific form. It is an unpredictable, chaotic force that the player must work to contain and control as they claim the game's territory by drawing walls on the screen.

EarthBound (Ape Inc., 1995 (originally Mother 2 in Japan, 1994))

A good example of what I'd consider abstraction in digital games is seen in battle sequences in the Super NES game EarthBound (see image above). Most of the game world is presented with typical CRPG spatial structures (with some brilliantly unexpected breaks in reality, as I've written about before). When a battle starts, the environment is replaced with a truly abstract background comprised of multiple colored, morphic shapes layered on top of each other. This puts the scene in ambiguous space, a term I adapted after attending Bruce Block's lectures on cinematic production, which he later collected in The Visual Story (2013). The subject of the scene (the Starman Jr. enemy) is clearly represented but its location in the world is unspecific, non-representational, and non-symbolic (in other words, abstracted). Wolf did not use EarthBound as an example of an abstract game in this essay.

Next, I'll review Mark J. P. Wolf's classification of game spaces, something much more applicable to my own research.