Editing Platformer (section)

==Naming==
Various names were used in the years following the release of the first established game in the genre, ''[[Donkey Kong (arcade game)|Donkey Kong]]'' (1981). [[Shigeru Miyamoto]] originally called it a "running/jumping/climbing game" while developing it.<ref>{{cite magazine | url = https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/12/20/master-of-play | title = Master of Play | first = Nick | last= Paumgarten | date = December 13, 2010 | access-date = May 25, 2020 |magazine = [[The New Yorker]] }}</ref> Miyamoto commonly used the term "athletic game" to refer to ''Donkey Kong'' and later games in the genre, such as ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' (1985).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yamashita |first1=Akira |title=Shigeru Miyamoto Interview: The Culmination of The Athletic Game Genre |journal=[[:ja:マイコンBASICマガジン|Micom BASIC]] |date=8 January 1989 |issue=1989–02 |language=ja}}</ref><ref name="Miyamoto Reveals All">{{cite web |last=Gifford |first=Kevin |title=Super Mario Bros.' 25th: Miyamoto Reveals All |url=http://www.ugo.com/games/super-mario-bros-25th-miyamoto-reveals-all.html |website=[[1UP.com]] |access-date=October 24, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150105015455/http://www.ugo.com/games/super-mario-bros-25th-miyamoto-reveals-all.html |archive-date=January 5, 2015 |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

''Donkey Kong'' spawned other games with a mix of running, jumping, and vertical traversal, a novel genre that did not match the style of games that came before it, leaving journalists and writers to offer their own terms.<ref name="i am error naming">{{cite book | first = Nathan | last = Altice | title = I Am Error: The Nintendo Family Computer / Entertainment System Platform | chapter = Chapter 2: Ports | pages =53–80 | isbn = 9780262028776 | publisher = [[MIT Press]] | date = 2015 }}</ref> ''[[Computer and Video Games]]'' magazine, among others, referred to the genre as "Donkey Kong-type" or "Kong-style" games.<ref name="i am error naming"/><ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Computer and Video Games]]|title=Gorilla Keeps on Climbing! Kong|pages=40–1|issue=26 (December 1983)|date=16 November 1983|url=https://archive.org/details/computer-video-games-magazine-026/page/n38/mode/1up}}</ref> "Climbing games" was used in Steve Bloom's 1982 book ''Video Invaders'' and 1983 magazines ''[[Electronic Games]]'' (US)—which ran a cover feature called "The Player's Guide to Climbing Games"—and ''TV Gamer'' (UK).<ref name="Bloom">{{cite book |last1=Bloom |first1=Steve |title=Video Invaders |date=1982 |publisher=Arco Publishing |isbn=978-0668055208 |page=[https://archive.org/details/book_video_invaders/page/n49 29] |url=https://archive.org/details/book_video_invaders}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=The Player's Guide to Climbing Games|journal=Electronic Games|date=January 1983|volume=1|issue=11|page=49|url=https://archive.org/stream/Electronic_Games_Volume_01_Number_11_1983-01_Reese_Communications_US#page/n47/mode/2up|access-date=2015-03-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160319134356/https://archive.org/stream/Electronic_Games_Volume_01_Number_11_1983-01_Reese_Communications_US#page/n47/mode/2up|archive-date=2016-03-19|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Reviews Explained: The Game Categories |journal=TV Gamer |date=March 1983 |page=76 |url=https://archive.org/details/tv-gamer-magazine-1983-03/page/n75?q=climbing+games |location=London}}</ref> Bloom defined climbing games as those where the player "must climb from the bottom of the screen to the top while avoiding and/or destroying the obstacles and foes you invariably meet along the way". Under this definition, he listed ''[[Space Panic]]'' (1980), ''Donkey Kong'', and, despite the top down perspective, ''[[Frogger]]'' (1981) as climbing games.<ref name="Bloom"/>

In a December 1982 ''[[Creative Computing]]'' review of the Apple II game ''Beer Run'', the reviewer used a different term: "I'm going to call this a ladder game, as in the 'ladder genre,' which includes ''[[Apple Panic]]'' and ''Donkey Kong''."<ref>{{cite journal |title=Stocking Stuffers: Beer Run |journal=Creative Computing |date=December 1982 |volume=8 |issue=12 |pages=62, 64 |url=https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1982-12/page/n63/mode/2up}}</ref> That label was also used by ''Video Games Player'' magazine in 1983 when it named the [[Coleco]] port of ''Donkey Kong'' "Ladder Game of the Year".<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Video Games Player 1983 Golden Joystick Awards |magazine=Video Games Player |date=September 1983 |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=49–51 |publisher=Carnegie Publications |location=United States |url=https://archive.org/details/Video_Games_Player_Vol_2_No_1_1983-09_Carnegie_Publications_US/page/n47/mode/2up}}</ref>

Another term used in the late 1980s to 1990s was "character action games", in reference to games based around named protagonists, such as ''Super Mario Bros.'',<ref>{{cite book |last1=Horowitz |first1=Ken |title=Playing at the Next Level: A History of American Sega Games |date=21 October 2016 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |isbn=978-0-7864-9994-6 |page=82 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hxhmDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT94}}</ref> ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'',<ref>{{cite book |title=Conference Proceedings: Conference, March 15–19 : Expo, March 16–18, San Jose, CA : the Game Development Platform for Real Life |date=1999 |publisher=The Conference |page=299 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_UA-AQAAIAAJ |quote=what do you get if you put ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' (or any other character action game for that matter) in 3D}}</ref> and ''[[Bubsy]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Now Playing |magazine=[[Nintendo Power]] |date=July 1993 |issue=50 |pages=102–4 |url=https://archive.org/details/Nintendo_Power_Issue001-Issue127/Nintendo%20Power%20Issue%20050%20July%201993/page/n105/mode/2up}}</ref> It was also applied more generally to [[side-scrolling video game]]s, including [[run and gun video game]]s such as ''[[Gunstar Heroes]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Viewpoint |magazine=[[GameFan]] |date=September 1993 |volume=1 |issue=10 |pages=14–5 |url=https://archive.org/details/Gamefan_Vol_1_Issue_10/page/n13/mode/2up}}</ref>

''Platform game'' became a common term for the genre by 1989, popularized by its usage in the United Kingdom press.<ref>{{cite book | title = Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life, 2016 Edition | first= Chris | last =Kohler | isbn = 9780744004243 | publisher = [[Brady Games]] | date = 2016 | chapter = Chapter 3: The Play Control of Power Fantasies: Nintendo, Super Mario, and Shigeru Miyamoto | pages = 23–76 }}</ref> Examples include referring to the "''[[Super Mario]]'' mould" (such as ''[[J.J. & Jeff|Kato-chan & Ken-chan]]'') as platform games,<ref name="CVG">{{cite journal |title=Complete Games Guide |journal=[[Computer and Video Games]] |date=16 October 1989 |issue=Complete Guide to Consoles |pages=46–77 |url=https://retrocdn.net/images/9/98/CompleteGuideToConsoles_UK_01.pdf#page=46 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210105072332/https://retrocdn.net/images/9/98/CompleteGuideToConsoles_UK_01.pdf  |archive-date=5 January 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref> and calling ''[[Strider (arcade game)|Strider]]'' a "platform and ladders" game.<ref name="TGM">{{cite magazine |title=Capcom: A Captive Audience |magazine=[[The Games Machine]] |date=18 May 1989 |issue=19 (June 1989) |publisher=[[Newsfield]] |location=United Kingdom |pages=24–5 |url=https://archive.org/details/the-games-machine-19/page/n23/mode/2up}}</ref>