the.com/platformer
the genre where falling to your death is always, somehow, entirely your fault.
means a game built around jumping between surfaces with precise timing, where mastering movement itself is the whole point.
from traces to 1980s arcade and home computer games like donkey kong and jumpman, where hardware couldn't do much except draw platforms and a guy who jumps between them, so that became the entire genre.
first onedonkey kong, 1981, arguably invented the jump button
coyote timenamed grace-period trick lets you jump after leaving a ledge
speedrun obsessiongenre most rebuilt around frame-perfect glitch routes
for instance
super mario bros — 1985, defined side-scrolling momentum physics for 40 years
celeste — 2018, turned punishing precision into a story about anxiety
super meat boy — 2010, made instant respawn the whole design philosophy
hollow knight — 2017, fused platforming with sprawling metroidvania exploration