NintendoForce

Issue #67: Sidescrolling Showdown – September/October 2023

Added 2023-08-21 20:01:03 +0000 UTC

2D, or not 2D? That is the question.

It's been over 30 years now since Nintendo began to transition away from two-dimensional game worlds and started to put more of a spotlight on 3D environments instead. (I look at the original Star Fox, released in 1993, as the game that began that movement.) For a while there -- especially in the back half of the '90s during the age of the N64 -- 2D gaming was really looked at as "behind the times." 3D was the wave of the future! Why would anyone still want to play the old style of games?

Sidescrollers suffered most severely. I still recall when Castlevania: Symphony of the Night went on sale in late 1997, and the collective response from gamers was pointing and laughing at it, since it dared to still be a 2D sidescroller! Haughty N64 fans turned their noses up at it, confident that the 3D Castlevania sequel that was due to be launched soon after would be far superior. (It wasn't.)

Enough time has passed now, though, that the early years of pure anti-2D negativity have faded away, and the game industry now fully embraces both sidescrolling adventures and look-anywhere 3D camera quests as well . . . for the most part. The shadow of that late '90s era does still linger in gamers' general assessment of the value of 2D titles when compared to 3D ones -- people will play them, but probably not without a complaint or two about how they shouldn't be sold for "full price" if they're only going to offer two dimensions' worth of game worlds to explore.

Well, I for one think 2D sidescrollers are more than worthy of a full investment of both cash and time, and I'm thrilled that two major new releases will be shoring up that argument soon! Both Sonic and Mario -- the titans who carried the industry in the years before the 3D transition began -- are bringing us back in time to pre-1993 2D worlds of wonder. This issue of NF highlights both of their new efforts, along with several other sidescrollers that we think also deserve your support! So please enjoy this magazine -- with each page prepared in full 2D.

Digital subscribers, the email to download your PDF copy of this issue will be going out later this week. Keep an eye on your inbox!

Print subscribers, your physical copies are in production now and will be mailed to you later this week. We've gotten back to a more normal shipping timeline for this issue – I know the last one arrived later than normal for a lot of you, since we pushed it back a week to be able to include late-breaking Nintendo Direct news. This one should be speedier!

Alongside this new issue going out, I'm also getting ready to launch the "Late Pledges" pre-order store for our new book, The Impact of Iwata, in partnership with BackerKit. That should be going live later this week as well, for anyone who missed the Kickstarter campaign! I'll post another notice when it's gone live.

Thanks as always, NF faithful! This issue has been a fun one, and I hope you all enjoy the custom-commissioned cover art (made by uJidow) that brings the Sonic and Mario casts together in one image!

~ Lucas M. Thomas