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 5 releases. Released Jan 27, 2005
Sure, these days have almost every game sporting the newfangled 3D, but way back when, everyone had to live with plain old 2D. 2D, or two dimensions, limit the game to scrolling backgrounds, but some games even now make use of this basic concept.
Levels that progress forward by themselves at a fixed rate.
An immature childish person. It wears diapers and whines a lot, much like old folks. Babies are considered cute by most people.
The game mechanic of blowing into a microphone to simulate blowing air in a game.
Potentially deadly in the real world, annoying and funny in the animated world.
Fish that shoot out of the water with great speed in Super Mario Bros. If not jumping through the sky, they can be found in the oceans of the Mushroom Kingdom.
Sometimes designers add old-school things on purpose to enhance game design. These games tend to be heavily inspired by hardware limitations of older systems. NES, Atari 2600, and early computer platforms (DOS, Commodore 64, MSX, etc...) are common sources of inspiration.
The concept of purchasing media and having it delivered over the internet. No physical representation of this content is given, and although the content resides on the user's hard drive they are typically granted a license to the product, rather than ownership of it.
A feature in Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 3DS games allowing linked multiplayer with only one cartridge.
The ability to draw or paint in a game, whether as a gameplay mechanic or just a fun bonus.
DS games that feature gameplay elements requiring the player to speak or blow into the handheld's built-in microphone.
The character kicks his feet while he jumps to increase horizontal movement.
Goonies are recurring flying enemies that appear intermittently throughout Yoshi's games. They aren't much of a threat alone, and are often useful as stepping stones for Yoshi.
In many games there is a ranking system, the players with the highest point value are listed in a "high score" table.
The opposite of open-ended gameplay, linear gameplay uses scripted events, Quick time events, cut scenes, and a restricted path to tell a story exactly how the writer intends, and control elements of the action.
A mole that is featured in the Mario franchise.
Platforms conveniently moving you towards your destination to allow the crossing of large expanses which would otherwise be impossible to cross.
Never Ending Games is a self-explanatory concept in which a game is unbeatable and never ends, due either to the game having no true ending or because the game is not saved (or truly continued) after the last section of the game.
Games that can be played with one hand, typically using only half of a standard controller or only the mouse/keyboard.
Power Ups can be used to give the controlling character, or any other character, temporary or permanent upgrades.
Games with randomly (or rather, procedurally) generated environments create new levels from predetermined pieces each time the game is played.
Shy Guys are masked hoodlums of the Mushroom Universe.
Side-scrolling games present the world as viewed perpendicular to the direction the characters are facing on screen. With a heavy focus on lateral movement, objectives are often met by moving from one end of a stage to the other.
A Snifit is a Shy Guy who spits bullets from behind the mask on their face.
A game that takes gameplay mechanics, characters, or story elements from an existing series in a separate and different direction, sometimes changing genres along the way.
A two-dimensional image or animation overlaid into a scene. The foundation of early 2D games, making up everything from props to the player-controlled character.
Games whose main character is so egotistical that the whole game just HAS to be named after them.
Characters that fight with their tongues - often this involves characters with long, extendible tongues.
Totaka's Song is a hidden easter egg in a number of Nintendo's games dating back to the early 1990s. It can typically be accessed by waiting for a set period of time at a specific place.
Games that are controlled partially or entirely with a touch screen.
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