Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine Issue 36
Demo Derby
Game Mess Mornings 04/22/24
GrubbSnax
8-4 Play 4/19/2024: LEAVE IT TO BEAVERS
8-4 Play
The Community Spotlight 2024.04.20
The Community Spotlight 2024.04.13
Community Endurance Run XIV - April 12-14
Game » consists of 16 releases. Released Apr 10, 1999
3D Platformers are games where movement, traversal and mainly jumping is the core of the gameplay. They are a tridimensional equivalent of 2D platformer one of the most popular video game genres in the third and fourth generation of video game consoles.
Running at 60 FPS is standard for arcade & PC games, but hardware restrictions of consoles often force developers to aim for lower framerates in order to preserve visual detail or allow greater scale. 3D console games hitting 60 FPS are thus uncommon, though the trend of re-releasing games on newer hardware has technically resulted in more 3D console games hitting 60 FPS.
Stereoscopic 3D that works without the assistance of any other accessories (i.e. colored glasses).
Backtracking is the act of navigating through previously explored areas, usually for the purpose of progressing in an objective-based adventure game. Players who are lost may also backtrack to reorient themselves.
Bonus levels, rounds, or stages give players a chance to gain extra points, powerups, or lives. Occasionally bonus stages will play completely different than the rest of the game, like as a slot machine or pinball minigame.
Bosses are enemies that fight you at the end of a level or at a significant point in the story.
A boss fight is a culminating challenge that pits the player against one or more enemies representing a greater threat and/or difficulty than those previously faced. These scenarios typically feature unique antagonists.
This shows you how long you have until you start wishing you had gills. When your breath runs out, you may take damage, or you may expire right there, depending on how sadistic the game designers were!
Potentially deadly in the real world, annoying and funny in the animated world.
Charging is the action of pressing & holding down a button or particular direction on the controller. Its purpose is to build up a powerful blast or burst of energy to take out an opponent or cause critical damage.
Climbing is a common tradition in games, particularly platformers. There is often a particular type of surface that can be climbed, and it has a recognizably different look than other surfaces in the game. Climbing ladders or stairs doesn't count.
Collectibles are items such as coins, rings, gems, packages etc. that can be gathered, usually for some kind of reward, or sometimes to simply beat a level. Often (almost too often) the source of earning achievements and trophies on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Cartridges are typically one specific color for a particular console. But, on occasion, a game is released with a different color either for a limited edition, special occasion, or for marketing.
A non-interactive sequence within a game most often used for plot advancement.
The concept of a helpless female character in desperate need of rescuing by the protagonist, in most cases from a villain, or from a form of impending doom.
In a franchise, it entails the second game that takes on a gritty and dark tone to distinguish it from the first.
Usually done for stylistic purposes, these characters or objects lack limbs connecting their hands or wheels or other extremities to their body. The resulting appendage merely floats in mid-air in a mildly disturbing way.
Spectrasonics Distorted Reality is a sample library commonly used in compositions.
Spectrasonics Distorted Reality 2 is a sample library used in many video games, movies, and television shows.
A double jump is the ability to jump while already in mid-air to get some extra lift. In reality, double jumps are not possible and violate fundamental laws of physics.
The 1998 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) took place at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia on May 28-30.
The 1999 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles California on May 13-15.
The 2000 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California on May 11-13.
An Easter Egg is an intentionally hidden cheat or hidden content in a video game, also known as a "secret".
When a character goes to the edge of a platform and starts to wobble. Most commonly seen in side-scrolling platformers.
Fairies appear in many games, usually as a race that will assist players with magic. Fairies are almost exclusively female.
Cold-blooded aquatic animals that have scales and breathe through gills.
It's not just for airplanes anymore: Game mascots and MMO players alike have taken to the skies. Players can use flight to quickly navigate large levels, find hidden items, or take opponents down.
In some video games, when some characters talk, what they say has absolutely no meaning, at least to the player. Whether it has any meaning to the character speaking is another matter entirely.
An early API by 3dfx for hardware accelerated 3D graphics on PC.
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