

More recent examples of this subgenre have abandoned 2-D side-scrolling for 3-D worlds offering a much wider range of movement and more challenges.īeat-em-up games feature players advancing through a level while engaging in hand-to-hand combat with a series of opponents. They inspired many imitators and were for a time the most popular kind of video game. line of games were all examples of more complex platform games. Nintendo later resurrected the character, renamed him “Mario,” and created one of the most enduring franchises in video game history.


Jumpman starts at the bottom of the screen and works his way up by climbing or jumping. It featured a character called “Jumpman” who had to rescue a captive woman from his angry pet gorilla. Nintendo’s 1981 Donkey Kong is generally considered the first true example of this subgenre. Platform games require the avatar to frequently jump on platforms of various levels while navigating around obstacles and fighting enemies. Time limits and simple puzzles are other common characteristics.Īction games have diversified into a number of subgenres. The primary challenge of action games arises from the coordination and quick reactions necessary to maneuver the avatar. Typically, action games are divided into levels. An action game is a video game in which the player controls a character, or avatar, through various challenges or obstacles, generally while fighting enemies and collecting objects which increase the avatar’s power or the player’s score or number of extra lives.
