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Comment by b1ue64 | Hacker News Reader

2d side scrolling games are still popular today*

I’m not sure if it is at the same level though. Both in terms of how mainstream they are and the calibre/size of the development studios behind them. I can’t off the top of my head think of a modern “AAA” sidescroller.

Have they done a 2D Mario recently?

They're rumoured to be working on it: https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/mario-games-2d-nintendo-sw...

There was also New Super Mario Bros. and New Super Mario Bros DS which were fantastic. There's also Super Mario Maker...so; yeah.

The last two installments of Mario had 2D sections and prior to that Nintendo had several releases of 2D Mario games used as launch games for their platforms.

Sonic Mania?

Metroid Dread maybe? Amazing game either way.

Metroid Dread is probably the latest significant AAA sidescroller.

Samus Returns was also incredible.

Lol that game makes me so stressed. When the robot shows up I experience dread, so mission accomplished. I had to stop playing it after awhile I just didn’t find the “Dread” parts fun. I’ll go play something less stressful like Elden Ring.

Aside the name, what does make Metroid Dread a triple-A title, though? After playing Blasphemous, Huntdown, Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth, and a few others for the past year, I can't say Metroid Dread has a distinctive trait that would make it standing out as AAA. The competition from indie studios is tough nowadays, many of them release AAA-grade titles without labelling them as such.

AAA used to simply imply good graphics. These days it tends to refer to that and the hand-craftedness of things. Like every moment being designed for some player impact. The new Tomb Raiders are the most emblematic of this imo, though not in a good way. AAA games tend not to feel like a set of standard mechanics and actors arranged in different levels. They have a lot more special circumstances. Worst case this is just cut scenes. Commonly it's special control schemes for specific situations that break the standard game design and may be cool or may suck. I haven't played any of these titles, including Metroid so I can't comment. But... idk Hollow Knight was an excellent 2d side scroller with beautiful art that was clearly not AAA to no detriment, imo. Nintendo does things their own way too so it's always funky.

In my headcannon this transitioned most clearly with the cultural shift of Halo 3 being AAA to CoD4 being AAA.

> AAA used to simply imply good graphics

Often, yeah, but it doesn't feel like that's what people mean by it in this comment chain.

For a specific example, I would say that the recently announced Hades 2 is an AAA roguelike, even though it isn't trying to be michael-bay-tier in the graphics department at all. Disclaimer: not to be confused with artstyle and the overall visual presentation, both of which were just fantastic in the original Hades, and I expect just as much from Hades 2.

Would Ori and the Blind Forest count? 2D, awesome and hand crafted in every way but I think the publisher wouldn't count as large?

No I wouldn't say it is a triple A but it is a legitimate installation of the franchise.

“AAA” refers to any game made by a larger publisher with a large budget. The general sentiment is they have large budgets so higher expectations are reasonable.

> I can't say Metroid Dread has a distinctive trait that would make it standing out as AAA.

I have never been aware of a meaning of AAA other than "current-generation graphics". Where do distinctive traits come into it?

Wikipedia edit history [1] suggests the definition has been a matter of some debate, but the current definition has more or less been static since a few months after the article was created; i.e. high costs, high-profile and high-expectations.

By that definition, a AA game could definitely look better than an AAA game, although it would be unexpected. On the other hand, BioWare's recent titles and the entire Cyberpunk 2077 debacle seems to have shaken things up quite a bit and many people now seem to have have _lower_ expectations on AAA titles, because the major players aren't trusted to release good titles worth their money.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=AAA_(video_game_i...

> By that definition, a AA game could definitely look better than an AAA game,

Of course...?

> although it would be unexpected.

No it wouldn't; that would be completely normal. I didn't say AAA meant attractive graphics. I said it meant current-generation graphics. Compare a screenshot of Escape from Monkey Island to one of Curse of Monkey Island. No one is going to argue that Escape looks better. But if you released a beautiful 2D-animated game in 2000, that wouldn't be "current" technology.

Not sure if Wii U is modern, but since it's on Switch too...

Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze? That's 100% a triple A 2D platformer, with incredible graphics, some damn impressive level design that takes advantage of multiple foreground layers and numerous interconnected level specific mechanics and one of the best soundtracks in recent times.

there's a newish crash bandicoot too

Trine

"I can’t off the top of my head think of a modern “AAA” sidescroller."

Dead Cells is great.

Rayman Legends on Nintendo Switch (2017) is one example, I guess?

Ori and the blind forest?

They really don't have to be "AAA" to be a decent product. My nieces and nephew(ages 4-6) are all playing a Hotel Transylvania app on their tablets, which is a pretty straightforward collectathon platformer with a gajillion levels and a three-star ranking to encourage them to speedrun it. There are a lot of games like it, but as a plain-vanilla flavor of platformer it definitely does the job, and those kinds of games are F2P and generally well produced, with plenty of animation; the mobile market has some of the most extravagant budgets for 2D gaming, it just doesn't read as "premium" because of the business model and positioning.

When we go upmarket from that it's more often a sidestep into indie games, which can address a specific niche better.

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