Why won't you jump when I tell you to!?
 

I love a good patformer game. I just beat Jak 2 and Rachet and Clank and was entertained to the very last. The only problem I have is when you have to do a frustrating part over and over and over. In Jak 2 I had to blast my way through what felt like thousands of guards to escape with something I needed. I died something like fifteen times in a row before I beat it. I havn't been that frustrated since I was trying to get all the red coins in Tick Tock Clock back in Super Mario 64.

What does everyone think about platformers?

They're dandy, sure, but give me a good plot and I'm all set to go.

I like platformers a lot, but I don't grab everyone that comes out. I only buy ones that get really good reviews, like Jak II (Favorite Platformer Ever) and Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando (Doesn't seem as good as the original...)

What is a platformer? I'm not familiar with this genre...

Platformers were traditionally sidescrollers, like Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Ghosts ahd Goblins, and such.

Currently, they've gotten 3D, and one would hope that you can get the same playability out of them, but mostly they've all been item fetching games.

That started with M64, which was the win, and got picked up by Rareware and driven into the ground (see DK64).

I enjoy a good action game. I don't generally go out of my way to play them, but if friends accidentally leave their PS2's hooked up to my TV or I find a good cache of SNES ROM's on the LAN I'll give them a go.

don't really care for them. I prefer fighters and rpgs

Old school platformers are the best. I agree with the "item collection" comment on new platformers. Unfortunately I haven't been able to grab Jak 2 or Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando yet because of a lack of Sony Equipment. Honestly the platformer genre has been taken out of quality. The only good one I've played in recent years is Super Mario Sunshine.

Has anyone else noticed a decline in "death" and "game over" in recent years. Hell, even for 7 years. I remember when you had three lives, and if you fell down a hole, you started over from the beginning. They just don't do that anymore. If you had to start over today, you would be outraged. It just ticks me off. That's one of the biggest complaints on certain FPS's especially for the PC. "There's no mid-level saving" Wah! Cry me a river! Try losing on level 250 of Pac-Man and then see how sad you are.

Viewtiful Joe is a good old skool-style action/2D platformer. TRY IT NOW!!!

Oldskool rules. Me and my homey Matt were playing Altered Beast on my Dreamcast last night, and it was so corny we were literally rolling on the floor laughing. With corny spoken phrases such as "RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE!" "WELCOME TO YOUR DOOM!" and "POWER UP!" are too hilarious to pass up.

I think the 3-D genre was ruined when Rare introduced the "Collect 50 Billion bananas of 5 colors! Or all 300 jiggys! Plus jinjos and other collectibles! MWAHAHAHA!" All this collecting of crap ruined it for me. Until VJ came out. Then all was gooder in the world :D