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[Ben_Hurr]

You know what my favorite one is?

Nonsensical geometry.


LaMulana's hell temple was a notorious offender, haha
So what kinds of platformingdirty video game tricks do you like?  

[Stwelin]

Surely this applies to more than just platformers. I know a lot of RPGs that have "mystical forests" that seem to lead people in loops with senseless geometry and the like. I think one of the Kings Quest games did this - Princeless Bride.

Anyway, aside from just platformers, i like the trick of nonsensical 3d space. A small building that is magically HUGE inside (without changing "rooms" - that is - seamless transition). Doors without buildings that lead to other places: you can stand on either side of the door, but going through takes you somewhere else. I think one of the Myst games did this, or something of this flavor, i forget!

 

[Xion]

I'm not entirely sure what the question is...?

[Shiny]

[John Nesky]

The later castle levels in Super Mario Bros 1 had a similar effect: Depending on the path you took (high road vs. low road) the path may or may not be an infinite loop.

EDIT: I always thought those one-way platforms were sort of a strange feature, especially in games like Wario Land where you're not allowed to fall through them after landing on them. It makes for neat puzzles though.

EDIT 2: The fence in Super Mario World and also in Castlevania IV, which separates characters in the background from ones in the foreground.

[Xecutor]

I have somewhat different idea for mind-bending platformer.
1) Imagine that some items do block field of view.
For example there is empty room with box on the ground.
Space behind the box  is not visible to character.
Now you jump behind this box. Nothing here too.
But now place where you have been before is not
visible to you.
You jump back to the box and ... there is new box there!
Feature - parts of level that are not visible to character can change.
There can be items that make block transparent to
prevent certain things from disappearing...
2) Any 1 block width/height passage can be a portal.
Portal like in Prey. But without any visual hint that
this is portal.
You walk thru narrow passage and other side of this
passage is different room.
But if you jump over this passage - you are in old room again.

By combining this two features you can make
really big one room platformer!

Add to this 'slightly horror atmosphere', like
signs that someone was there a few moments ago,
probably some notes for the player, and it can
be pretty fun game
I'm trying to make a prototype for this,
but stuck with some technical issues...

[Ben_Hurr]

That actually sounds like an awesome idea, you should make that thing.

I'll just make my game with one way screens that lead to other screens they shouldn't logically lead to combined with warping doors. 

[Pineapple]

Get a decent motion blur effect by just alpha-masking the background you draw onto the screen, rather than a completely solid image.

[Chaoseed]

Surely this applies to more than just platformers. I know a lot of RPGs that have "mystical forests" that seem to lead people in loops with senseless geometry and the like. I think one of the Kings Quest games did this - Princeless Bride.

Anyway, aside from just platformers, i like the trick of nonsensical 3d space. A small building that is magically HUGE inside (without changing "rooms" - that is - seamless transition). Doors without buildings that lead to other places: you can stand on either side of the door, but going through takes you somewhere else. I think one of the Myst games did this, or something of this flavor, i forget!

 

Yeah, it's always frustrated me how developers spent so much effort simulating Euclidean space when there are all sorts of other interesting things you could do.  (One counterexample is Prey.)

A while back I made a Deus Ex level featuring an infinite spiral staircase.  When you got up far enough it would secretly teleport you down a couple of turns.  Because the stairway was dark, it was basically impossible to see the teleport happen.  I was rather proud of that.

[Ben_Hurr]

After playing Eversion for the first time, I'm starting to think map 'layering' is a handy trick to have. 

[Core Xii]

The infinite staircase in Super Mario 64.

[J. R. Hill]

I was thinking of making a game like the one in the OP (which reminds me of the last castle of Wonder Boy in Monster World) but with scrolling screens.  So basically if you hit checkpoint x, all the stuff offscreen that you just passed becomes something new (and more hellish) so that every time you try to back away from a challenge, you get hit with a harder one.

[SirNiko]

Bad powerups are always a dirty trick.

I'm playing Prince of Persia (The original) and there are poison potions that damage you if you drink them (In theory you can recognize them by sight, but good luck with that). Legacy of the Wizard did the same thing, where monsters sometimes dropped poison that would hurt you if you picked it up. You had to sit and wait for it to despawn, which was a pain because it was slow, and monsters could respawn while you were waiting.

Then there was Dinowarz on the NES. Monsters sometimes dropped new weapons, but if you picked up a new weapon you lost all the powerups you had collected for the older weapons. On top of that, there was one weapon that was so terrible that you never wanted it under any circumstances. I was playing that with some buddies once, and the climax of any level was when the Shit Weapon dropped and we had to make a narrow jump over it to avoid collecting it.

-SirNiko

[s0]

Dude, you totally forgot roguelikes, they're all about that shit.

[FishyBoy]

All this talk of impossible spaces reminds me of a really cool Duke Nukem 3D level:

[Ben_Hurr]

I should've just named this thread "FAVORITE GAMES WITH IMPOSSIBLE SPACES" already.  
It seems to go alot with gaming territory.

More edit:
760 degrees of Duke.  I actually never noticed that in that level.  

This is another good example: Each of the four rooms occupy the same space, and the tunnels in the floors all lead to a different room!

[Tycho Brahe]

You know what my favorite one is?

Nonsensical geometry.


LaMulana's hell temple was a notorious offender, haha
So what kinds of platformingdirty video game tricks do you like?  

EXACTLY THIS happens in batman arkham asylum. it really freaked me out, then I got freaked out some more when I found out why it was happening. then I got freaked out at what happened next. then I kicked some dudes and it was all ok.

[baconman]

I kinda like "dimensional wrapping" ...you know, like how a Pacman or original Mario can exit one side of the screen and reenter on the other side? Now, if only you could do that in Galaga or Arkanoid...

 

[TwilightVulpine]

Something that is less tricky, but kind of funny when you realize it is how north and south, and west and east touch each other in some game maps that wrap.

[snowyowl]

VVVVVV does that in some levels; going off the edge of the screen takes you to the next screen (and the map makes perfect Euclidean sense), except in one sector where exiting the level anywhere but through a specific area causes you to wrap around to the other side of the level. And the entrances are not in the same place as the exits (sometimes the entrances aren't anywhere at all), so you can enter a level and have no means of going back. Slightly scary when you think about it (what does the character see when changing rooms?)

And somebody mentioned Eversion? On the last level, going right loops you back to a checkpoint unless you've solved the puzzle in the current area. Part of the reason is that it respawns the bad guys when you do (you need to bounce off their heads in some places). By the way, going left from the checkpoint is impossible due to an impenetrable wall of darkness. I don't even know.