New Side Scrolling Games

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From retro 8-bit classics to the latest indie releases, platformers are one of the biggest genres in video game history. With an established presence on the Xbox One, a wide range of memorable platforming experiences are now available on the console. These are the top titles available in 2018.

Find the best free to play Side Scrolling MMORPG games including 2D and 3D Side Scrolling MMOs and other side-scroller games (side-view camera angle).

Ori and the Blind Forest

Ori and the Blind Forest delivers a moving narrative and gorgeous art style, wrapped around its platforming gameplay. You'll come to learn that even with Ori's abilities, the game's forest is as brutal as it is breathtaking, while responsive controls make every second feel worthwhile. A successor is also on the horizon, meaning there's no better time to pick up the game. Ori and the Blind Forest is an unmissable experience, priced at $20.

Celeste

  • Side-scrolling games present the world as viewed perpendicular to the direction the characters are facing on screen. With a heavy focus on lateral movement, objectives are often met by moving from one end of a stage to the other.
  • We have over 1973 of the best Side Scrolling games for you! Play online for free at Kongregate, including Straw Hat Samurai: Duels, Raze, and Earn to Die.
  • Dec 22, 2016  During a Nintendo Director on September 1, 2016, Nintendo unveiled a new Pikmin title that would be a side-scrolling action game for the 3DS and would be.

Celeste is among Xbox One's latest platformers to receive widespread acclaim, with a streamlined, lightweight take on the genre. Despite its simple trio of jumping, dashing, and climbing, fast reflexes are essential to overcome its complex puzzles. Intertwined is a gripping narrative, raising the bar for the genre, establishing it among the best of this generation. Celeste is available via the Microsoft Store for $20.

Cuphead

StudioMDHR's Cuphead pays homage to simpler times, from its hand-drawn 1930s aesthetic to sleek run-and-gun gameplay. Although centered around high-stakes boss battles, the side-scroller also features brutal platforming levels. It's not for the faint-hearted but packs appealing traits for platforming junkies. Cuphead is available digitally via the Microsoft Store, and it costs $20.

Sonic Mania

After a long string of Sonic games with subpar critical response, Sonic Mania marks a huge turning point for the series. Regarded by many as one of the best Sonic games to date, the game calls back to series' golden era, with retro 2D side scrolling gameplay. Sonic Mania is available now via Amazon, priced at $20.

INSIDE

Named our favorite puzzle game of 2016, INSIDE is a mind-blowing, unmissable platforming experience for the Xbox One. Taking control of an unnamed boy, players will uncover the secrets of the game's monochromatic dystopia through a range of atmospheric puzzles.

With finely tuned gameplay, an effective art style and an ending that'll render you speechless, INSIDE is a must-buy platformer for any Xbox One owner. INSIDE is best purchased for $16, via a double pack featuring LIMBO.

Unravel

Unravel is yet another platformer with a touching narrative, following a yarn-based figure through the countryside in search of lost memories. As its title suggests, 'Yarny' unravels his body over time, in order to solve puzzles and climb across the landscape. With only a limited amount of yarn on his body, players must make sure to collect spare balls of yarn to prevent him from unraveling entirely. Unravel is another unforgettable Xbox One tale, priced at $20.

Hue

Hue is a heart-warming adventure-based platformer, which uses color and ingenious environmental design to generate its puzzles. Given the ability to change the color of the game' backdrop, players must use this to navigate the world, phasing objects in and out of existence. As more colors are collected, puzzles will becoming increasingly complex, but never stray too far away from the game's principal values. Hue is available for $15 via Microsoft.

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Limbo

Limbo is a puzzle platformer from Playdead, met with acclaim for its polished graphical and audio presentation, and intuitive gameplay mechanics. There's an eerie vibe, from the moment you wake up in a forest, to the first time you encounter one of the game's creatures. Although a few years old, it's an iconic release of the previous console generation. Limbo is best purchased alongside 2016's INSIDE, via a $16 double pack on Amazon.

Best Side Scrolling Games Pc

Shovel Knight

Shovel Knight has received it fair share of praise since its debut back in 2014, which led to a port of the game on the Xbox One. The retro-style platformer is an amazing nostalgia trip for many gamers, with side-scrolling platform and combat. Solely using a shovel, players must fight their way through the world's creatures, digging up treasure along the way. For any fan of 8-bit platformers, Shovel Knight is an essential purchase, priced at $25 via Microsoft.

Your call

Which other platformers should have a place on this list? Let us know in the comments, and we may include your suggestions in our next update.

Updated December 6, 2018: Added Celeste and Cuphead in the latest refresh.

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An example of side-scrolling video game

A side-scrolling game, side-scroller, or horizontally-scrolling game is a video game in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters can generally only move to the left or right. These games make use of scrolling computer display technology. The move from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling graphics, during the golden age of video arcade games and during third-generation consoles, would prove to be a pivotal leap in game design, comparable to the move to 3D graphics during the fifth generation.[1] Although side-scrolling games have been supplanted by 3D games,[citation needed] they continue to be produced.

  • 2History

Use of side-scrolling[edit]

A common use of the side-scrolling format is in the platform gamegenre. Platform games are action games that feature jumping, climbing, and running through many diverse levels. Super Mario Bros. (1985) is among the most famous side-scrollers of this type.

The side-scrolling format is also popular among beat 'em ups, such as the popular Battletoads series. Side-scrolling is sometimes used in role-playing video games such as the 2DBookworm Adventures Deluxe or the KoreanMMORPGMontaro. Often in beat 'em ups the screen will scroll to a certain point then stop and require the enemies on screen to be defeated before it moves on.

Another popular use of the side-scrolling format is in the shootergenre, typified by games like R-type, and more recently Jets'n'Guns. In this game style the player usually starts with a basic ship that flies from left to right and acquires Power-ups that allow them to face an ever increasing horde of enemies. This genre traces its roots back to such fast-paced games as Defender.

With video games that use side-scrolling, often the screen will scroll forward following the speed and direction of the player character, and can also scroll backwards to previously visited parts of a stage. In other games or stages the screen will follow the player character but only scroll forward, not backwards, so once something has passed off the back of the screen it can no longer be visited. Some games have stages where the screen scrolls forward by itself at a steady rate, and the player must keep up with the screen, attempting to avoid obstacles and collect things before they pass off screen. The screen in shoot 'em ups such as R-type often side-scrolls by itself in such a way. The Mario series has used all of three of these different ways of side-scrolling.

For the most part, the screen of a side-scrolling video game follows the player character and tries to keep it near the center of the screen. Other games will adjust the screen with the character's movement, making the character off-center in the opposite direction of its movement, showing more space in front of the character than behind.

A game can use the side-scrolling mechanic without being considered a side-scrolling game. One such game is Awesomenauts, where a side-scrolling mechanic is used, but since the objective is not simply met by scrolling to the side, it is not considered a side-scroller.

History[edit]

Side-scrolling shooters[edit]

Sega's Bomber was a side-scrolling shooterarcade game released in April 1977.[2]Defender (which has a controversial release date of either 1980 or 1981), released by Williams Electronics, was a major breakthrough in that it allowed the game world to extend beyond the boundaries of a single static screen. Defender included a mini-map, or radar, also used in the 1980 games Battlezone and Rally-X.

In 1981, Scramble was the first side-scroller with multiple, distinct levels.[3] The art of the side-scrolling format was then greatly enhanced by parallax scrolling, which is used to give an illusion of depth. The background images are presented in multiple layers that scroll at different rates, thus objects closer to the horizon scroll slower than objects closer to the viewer. Moon Patrol is usually credited with introducing this feature in 1982,[4] though Taito's Jungle Hunt also features parallax scrolling and was released the same year.

In 1984, Hover Attack for the Sharp X1 was an early run & gun shooter that freely scrolled in all directions and allowed the player to shoot diagonally as well as straight ahead. 1985, saw the release of Thexder, a breakthrough title for platform shooters.[5]

In 1985, Konami's side-scrolling shooter Gradius gave the player greater control over the choice of weaponry, thus introducing another element of strategy.[3] The game also introduced the need for the player to memorise levels in order to achieve any measure of success.[6]Gradius, with its iconic protagonist, defined the side-scrolling shoot 'em up and spawned a series spanning several sequels.[7]

1987's Contra was particularly acclaimed for its multi-directional aiming and two player cooperative gameplay.[citation needed] However, by the early 1990s and the popularity of 16-bit consoles, the scrolling shooter genre was overcrowded, with developers struggling to make their games stand out.

Side-scrolling racing games[edit]

Taito's Speed Race, a 1974 racing game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, featured overhead vertical scrolling.[8]Kee Games' Super Bug (1977)[9] and Atari's Fire Truck (1978)[10] have a top-down view multi-directional scrolling. Both games are black and white, though Super Bug uses a yellow overlay in the center of the screen. In 1980, Namco's color driving game Rally-X also allowed scrolling in multiple directions, and it is possible to pull the screen quickly in either direction.[11] It also features an early example of a radar, to show the car's location on the map.[12]

Activision's Grand Prix is a side-scrolling racing game for the Atari 2600 published in 1982. By 1984, there were other racing games played from a side-scrolling view, including Nintendo's Excitebike[13]SNK's Jumping Cross.[14] and Mystic Marathon from Williams Electronics, a horizontally scrolling footrace between fantasy creatures.[15]

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New Side Scrolling Games For Pc Best

Scrolling platformers[edit]

The first scrolling platform game was Jump Bug, a platform-shooter released in 1981. Players controlled a bouncing car and navigated it to jump on various platforms like buildings, clouds and hills. It featured levels that scrolled both horizontally and vertically.[5]

In 1984, Pac-Land took the scrolling platformer a step further, aspiring to be more than a simple game of hurdle jumping. It was not only a successful title,[16] but it more closely resembled later scrolling platformers like Wonder Boy and Super Mario Bros. It also featured multi-layered parallax scrolling.[17] That same year saw the release of Legend of Kage,[18] which offered levels that extended in all directions. Sega released Flicky,[19] a simple platformer with horizontally scrolling levels that featured their first mascot character. Namco followed up Pac-Land with the fantasy-themed Dragon Buster the following year.[20]

Nintendo's platform game Super Mario Bros., released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, became the archetype for many scrolling platformers to follow. The title went on to sell over 40 million copies according to the 1999 Guinness Book of World Records. Its success contributed greatly to popularizing the genre during the 8-bit console generation. Sega attempted to emulate this success with their Alex Kidd series, as well as with the Wonder Boy series. The later Wonder Boy games were also notable for combining adventure and role-playing elements with traditional platforming.[21]

Side-scrolling beat 'em ups[edit]

In 1984, Hong Kong cinema-inspired Kung-Fu Master laid the foundations for side-scrolling beat 'em ups with its simple gameplay and multiple enemies.[22][23] Also in 1984, Karateka successfully experimented with adding plot to its fighting action. It was also the first side-scroller to include cutscenes.

In 1986, Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun deviated from the martial arts themes of earlier beat 'em up games and introduced street brawling to the genre. The Western adaptation Renegade (released the same year) added an underworld revenge plot that proved more popular with gamers than the principled combat sport of other games.[24]Renegade set the standard for future beat 'em up games as it introduced the ability to move both horizontally and vertically.[25]

In 1987, the release of Double Dragon ushered in a 'Golden Age' for the beat 'em up genre that lasted nearly 5 years. The game was designed as Technos Japan's spiritual successor to Renegade,[24] but it took the genre to new heights with its detailed set of martial arts attacks and its outstanding two-player cooperative gameplay.[24][26]Double Dragon's success largely resulted in a flood of beat 'em ups that came in the late 1980s,[26] where acclaimed titles such as Golden Axe and Final Fight (both 1989) distinguished themselves from the others.[24]Final Fight was Capcom's intended sequel to Street Fighter (provisionally titled Street Fighter '89),[27] but the company ultimately gave it a new title.[28] Acclaimed as the best game in the genre,[29][30]Final Fight spawned two sequels and was later ported to other systems.[28]Golden Axe was acclaimed for its visceral hack and slash action and cooperative mode and was influential through its selection of multiple protagonists with distinct fighting styles.[31] It is considered one of the strongest beat 'em up titles for its fantasy elements, distinguishing it from the urban settings seen in other beat 'em ups.[32]

On the IBM PC[edit]

Side-scrolling was a well-known phenomenon in arcade, and various home computer and console games of the 1980s, as they often possessed hardware optimised for the task like the Atari 8-bit family[33] and Commodore 64, but IBM compatible PCs did not. Smooth scrolling on IBM PCs in software was a challenge for developers. There were a small number of PC ports of smooth scrolling arcade games in the early 1980s, including Moon Patrol[34] and Defender.[35] The second version of Sopwith, released in 1986, also featured smooth scrolling.

In 1990 John Carmack, then working for Softdisk, developed a smooth scrolling technique known as adaptive tile refresh. The technique was demonstrated in with the proof-of-concept game Dangerous Dave in Copyright Infringement, which was a clone of the first level of Super Mario Bros. 3, but with Mario replaced by the character Dangerous Dave of earlier Softdisk games.[36] The success of the demonstration led Carmack and others at Softdisk to resign and form their own company, id Software. Id Software went on to develop Commander Keen that same year, which was the first publicly available PC platform game to feature smoothly-scrolling graphics.[37]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^IGN Presents the History of SEGA: Coming Home, IGN
  2. ^Bomber: Side-Scrolling Shooter!, Sega
  3. ^ abGame Genres: Shmups, Professor Jim Whitehead, January 29, 2007. Retrieved June 17, 2008.
  4. ^'History of Computing: Video games - Golden Age'. Thocp.net. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
  5. ^ abIGN: The Leif Ericson Awards, IGN
  6. ^Brian Ashcraft (2008), Arcade Mania! The Turbo-Charged World of Japan's Game Centers, p. 76, Kodansha International
  7. ^Kasavin, Greg, Gradius Collection Review, GameSpot, June 7, 2006 Accessed February 12, 2009
  8. ^Bill Loguidice & Matt Barton (2009), Vintage games: an insider look at the history of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the most influential games of all time, p. 197, Focal Press, ISBN978-0-240-81146-8
  9. ^'Kee Games Super Bug (1977)'. YouTube.
  10. ^'Arcade Game: Fire Truck (1978 Atari)'. YouTube.
  11. ^Gaming's Most Important Evolutions (Page 3), GamesRadar
  12. ^Rally-X at the Killer List of Videogames
  13. ^Excitebike at the Killer List of Videogames,
  14. ^Jumping Cross at the Killer List of Videogames
  15. ^'Mystic Marathon'. Arcade Museum.
  16. ^'Pac-Land'. Arcade History. Retrieved 2006-11-21.
  17. ^'Namco History Vol 4'. Anime Densetsu. Retrieved 2006-11-24.
  18. ^'Legend of Kage'. Arcade History. Retrieved 2007-01-31.
  19. ^'KLOV: Flicky'. KLOV. Retrieved 2007-01-31.
  20. ^'Dragon Buster'. Arcade History. Retrieved 2007-01-31.
  21. ^'Hardcore Gaming 101: Wonderboy'. Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
  22. ^Spencer, Spanner, The Tao of Beat-'em-ups, Eurogamer, Feb 6, 2008, Accessed Mar 18, 2009
  23. ^Kunkel, Bill; Worley, Joyce; Katz, Arnie, 'The Furious Fists of Sega!', Computer Gaming World, Oct 1988, pp. 48-49
  24. ^ abcdSpencer, Spanner, The Tao of Beat-'em-ups (part 2), EuroGamer, Feb 12, 2008, Accessed Mar 18, 2009
  25. ^Evolution of a Genre: Beat 'Em Ups, ABC Television, Nov 6, 2007. Retrieved March 24, 2009.
  26. ^ abCassidy, William, Hall of Fame: Double DragonArchived 2009-08-18 at the Wayback Machine, Gamespy, Jan 5, 2003, Accessed, March 24, 2009
  27. ^Did You Know? Volume 1: Street Fighter '89Archived 2008-07-01 at the Wayback Machine, Capcom, Accessed Aug 17, 2009
  28. ^ abKalata, Kurt, Final Fight, Hardcore Gaming 101, Accessed Feb 04, 2010
  29. ^Navarro, Alex, Final Fight ReviewArchived 2009-07-07 at the Wayback Machine, GameSpot, May 10, 2007, Accessed Mar 21 2009
  30. ^Ashcraft, Brian, Clip: Top Ten Beat 'Em UpsArchived 2009-02-01 at the Wayback Machine, Kotaku, Mar 16, 2007, Accessed Mar 21, 2009
  31. ^Kasavin, Greg, Golden Axe ReviewArchived 2007-01-28 at the Wayback Machine, GameSpot, Dec 1, 2006, Accessed Mar 19, 2009
  32. ^Cassidy, William, Hall of Fame: Golden AxeArchived 2009-08-18 at the Wayback Machine, GameSpy, June 8, 2003. Retrieved March 24, 2009.
  33. ^'Chapter 6: Scrolling'. De Re Atari. Atari, Inc. 1982.
  34. ^'Moon Patrol (1983) DOS PC Game CGA Graphics'. YouTube.
  35. ^'Defender IBM PC Booter Gameplay (Atarisoft 1983)'. YouTube.
  36. ^John Romero. 'Planet Romero: Dangerous Dave in 'Copyright Infringement''. Archived from the original on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  37. ^'Guinness World Records: First PC platform game to feature smooth scrolling'. Retrieved 18 July 2012.

39.In September 2018, a new side-scrolling 2D game was released.HiLord(Android), Hi Lord(iOS)

References[edit]

  • Steven L. Kent. The Ultimate History of Video Games, ISBN9780761536437
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