The year was 2015, I was finishing up my junior year of high school and entering into my senior year. I was subscribed to and following a lot of the major gaming community channels on YouTube at the time and was up to date with all the biggest events in the medium. I learned firsthand of the tragedy of Satoru Iwata's passing, as well as the fascinating heartwarming story of the dude that found his very own old gaming collection with his own writing on them at a game store. It was also during this time when I learned of a project being worked on by a group of former employees of RareWare - The same group that created such classics such as Diddy Kong Racing, Banjo Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, and Banjo Tooie - Some of my earliest recollections within the medium of gaming, and to this day, some of my favorite games of all time...
The project that these former employees were working on was none other than "Yooka Laylee", which was being advertised as a spiritual successor to Banjo Kazooie, or, in other words, the Banjo Threeie that we never got. The project met all of its kickstarter goals instantaneously, and was most certainly being overhyped within the gaming community. I honestly was no different, and there's an video on my old BanjoAndConkerDDR YouTube account that details how I was also very much excited for this project, this game, to come out.
Two years later - 2017 - I got the game on day one, played the game on day one... And haven't touched it since. I wanted to like this game so bad, I really did, but I couldn't force myself to. This was not the Banjo Threeie that I wanted. All of the level design, fun challenges, and overall charm that made Banjo Kazooie and Banjo Tooie a joy to play were most certainly absent in this very outing. There are only about four or five levels in the entire game if I am remembering correctly, and the levels are all way too big and barren, have no central landmark to make navigating them easy, collectables are scattered all over the place and do not guide you to where you want to go, there are instances where you exit a room behind a cliff yet the camera is panned behind the cliff and you can't see that you're walking off a ledge, the transformations were not interesting in the slightest and the missions involving them only felt like a chore, and overall, this game was just boring and tedious, and I gave up after a couple hours and haven't touched it since. Matter of fact, I eventually sold it at GameStop, if I remember correctly. This is not to necessarily say that Yooka Laylee is a bad game, though it one I certainly disliked. I have come across a few that do enjoy this game, and by all means, if you like the game, please, do like it, it's my loss for not enjoying it.
In that same year of 2017, two more 3D platformers came out - Super Mario Odyssey, which is an exclusive title of the Nintendo Switch, and A Hat in Time, a multiplat. With these two games, along with Yooka Laylee, 2017 was the year of the 3D platformer revival... Of course though, while I got to play Yooka Laylee on day one, the same wasn't true for the other two. I didn't own a Switch until 2021, so I wasn't able to play Super Mario Odyssey, and I didn't find out about A Hat in Time all that much, due to the fact that by 2017, I was more following music news than gaming news.
But by 2021, I finally got my Switch. Super Mario Odyssey was one of the earlier games I got for the console, while A Hat in Time I also got that year, but a bit later.
Super Mario Odyssey is often regarded by Nintendo fans as a masterpiece, as well as a return to the 64 and Sunshine style of 3D Mario, as opposed to the more linear Galaxy and 3D World style. I did like Mario Odyssey, but a masterpiece? No. And a return to the 64 and Sunshine style? Double no. Yes, the level design in most of the levels in 64 and Sunshine were non-linear, but they were still focused with one goal in mind, and you were booted out of the level upon collecting a star or a shine, plus all levels were held together by a hubworld. Odyssey has no hubworld (the Odyssey ship doesn't count) and is instead divided into sandbox-style levels with scattered power moons that can be collected at random without booting Mario back into the hubworld upon collecting them. 64 and Sunshine were far more like Galaxy than Odyssey, with having a hubworld, central mission focus, and booting Mario back into the hubworld upon catching the main collectable, not to mention Galaxy did have a few nonlinear levels and 64 and Sunshine had a few linear levels. Odyssey is in its own subgenre when it comes to the 3D Mario games, a sandbox 3D Mario, a bit like the Sly Cooper games, minus the first one which was a Crash Bandicoot clone. But even the Sly Cooper games had a focus and difficulty ramp that Odyssey definitely lacks. With the moons being scattered randomly and the worlds being so big, collecting the moons in Odyssey becomes a chore way too quickly, and it's especially worse in barren kingdoms such as Sand Kingdom and Wooded Kingdom. Also, the kingdoms lacks a cohesive difficulty ramp and might as well be interchangeable. Granted, none of this is to say Mario Odyssey is a bad game. Cappy was a wonderful addition and possessing enemies was a lot of fun, and there were kingdoms in the game that I liked such as Lost Kingdom and Luncheon Kingdom. It's a fun game, but most certainly flawed in too many, at least to me. If you disagree with my assessment, by all means, please do, I hope you got more enjoyment out of the game than I did. It's my loss I didn't enjoy it as much, not yours.
So, Yooka Laylee was a game I flat out didn't like, and Mario Odyssey was one I liked, but not that much...
Finally,. there's A Hat in Time... I first got the game in the summer of 2021, about a couple or so months after I got my Switch... And, I must say... This has easily become one of my favorite games of all time... It might actually be my favorite 3D platformer of all time, rivalled only by Banjo Kazooie, Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, and Super Mario Galaxy. First off, this game is filled to the brink with charm, especially the main character Hat Kid. The platforming, the namesake of the genre itself, was absolutely top notch and so much fun in this game, especially within the time rifts that were so much fun to explore. All of the levels felt compact and easy to navigate, and all the missions were creative and fun to accomplish, with none of them feeling like a chore - Maybe with the exception of Ship Shape, but even that one can be made easier with the Time Stop badge. Speaking of Ship Shape, it is recommended that this game is bought with the Nyakuza Metro and Arctic Cruise DLCs if you do get the game, as they complete the game, and they together with the game are cheaper than an average $60 Switch game. The atmosphere of all the levels was grandiose, with Mafia Town being a wonderful homage to Delfino Plaza from Super Mario Sunshine, the Halloween Town - esque themes of Subcon Forest, the cyberpunk vibes of Nyakuza Metro, the vibes of Arctic Cruise that remind me of a Pixar movie, and best of all, the time rifts... Especially with that beautiful music... Battle of the Birds, Alpine Skyline, and Time's End had more subtle vibes, but were still a lot of fun to play around in. There are only 7 levels in total, but the game will last you a good ten to twenty hours if you're shooting for goiong for all 56 time pieces... This is by no means to say A Hat in Time is perfect, but then again, outside of Tetris or Mahjong, what game is perfect?
I may do a more indepth review of Mario Odyssey and A Hat in Time alone some time in the future. For now, this is just a general overview of my opinion of the big three 3D platformers that came out in 2017 that brought about this new age of 3D platformers. It has been six years since 2017, and though 3D platformers most certainly had the revival of reaching the mainstream dominance they had back in the 5th and 6th gaming generations, they are most certainly far more popular now than they have been throughout the late '00s and early '10s, and a lot of the new interest in the genre is being generated by newfound fan appreciation of Mario Odyssey and A Hat in Time instead of coming from a source of nostalgia for the 3D platformers of the 5th and 6th gaming generations, so the genre most certainly has been heading in a positive direction within the mainstream gaming community.
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