2D Platformers are Less Limited than 3D Platformers

TWITTER:   / htwogamedesign  

This video will be short because I'm ill and don't want to do any work. If this video is a bit rambly then that's why.

2d platformers are actually less limiting than 3d platformers.

Might seem counter intuitive, but I was playing through A Hat in Time and had a bit of an epiphany. Platforming in a 3d environment is a much different experience than platforming in 2d. Specifically, anything involving high levels of precision in a 3d space is much more tricky than something similarly precise in 2d.

This has been understood by game devs for a very long time. Nintendo understood this all the way back since before 1996 when they released super mario 64. They realised that jumping on an enemies head in 3d is much more difficult than it was in 2d. The lack of depth perception in a 3d space makes jumping ontop of a small enemy tedious to do. So they gave mario some melee attacks, a punch and a kick. So that you can jump on the goomba's head if you want, but if you want you can also punch it in the mouth to dispatch it instead.

So what else does this sort of limitation affect?