Side-scrolling video game

This article is about the video game genre. For the graphic novel by Matthew Loux, see SideScrollers (graphic novel).

A side-scrolling game or side-scroller is a genre of video games in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters generally move from the left side of the screen to the right in order to reach their goals.

The most popular sub-genre of the side-scroller is the platform game, which are action games that feature jumping, climbing, and running characters who must be guided through many diverse levels. Games such as Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog are among the most famous side-scrollers of this type.

The side-scrolling format is also popular among Beat 'em ups, like the popular Double Dragon series. However these games tend to allow you to move up and down as well as left and right. Side-scrolling is even used in certain role-playing games such as the 2D Castlevania: Symphony of the Night or the Korean MMORPG MapleStory.

In recent years side-scrolling games have been largely phased out in favor of 3D games, which allow characters to move in all directions, rather than just forward or backward. Side-scrolling is still a popular format on handheld systems such as the Game Boy Advance, since many games are ports, and because of the limited memory of such handheld systems. For the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable there are many games which you can move in all directions, such as Super Mario 64 DS, as well as side scrollers, such as Sonic Rush. This is not to say that the genre is entirely dead, however, as games such as New Super Mario Bros. on the DS, Alien Hominid on the Gamecube/PS2 and the upcoming Action RPG Odin Sphere are examples of modern sidescrollers. Also, side scrolling remains popular in online games, as the simpler nature of the game makes them easier to create.

There are several multiplayer side-scrolling games, including Soldat and Gunster: Rain of Bullets.

Another popular style of side-scroller is the side-scrolling shooter typified by games like R-type and more recently Jets'n'Guns. In this game style the player usually starts with a basic ship that flies from left to right and acquires Power-ups that allow them to face an ever increasing horde of enemies. The popularity of this genre traces its roots back to such fast paced games as Defender. This genre also relates to the shooter game type in which players control vehicles while the game scrolls vertically; the differences in game type between R-type and Ikaruga are small - vertical vs. horizontal scrolling and graphics style.