A platformer is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels with uneven terrain and suspended platforms of varying height that require jumping and climbing to traverse. Other acrobatic maneuvers may factor into the gameplay, such as swinging from vines or grappling hooks, jumping off walls, gliding through the air, or bouncing from springboards or trampolines.
Argonaut Games PLC was a British video game developer founded in 1982. It was known for the Super NES video game Star Fox and its supporting Super FX hardware, as well as for Croc: Legend of the Gobbos and the Starglider series. The company was liquidated in late 2004, and ceased to exist in early 2007.
The Super FX is a coprocessor on the Graphics Support Unit (GSU) added to select Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) video game cartridges, primarily to facilitate advanced 2D and 3D graphics. The Super FX chip was designed by Argonaut Games, who also co-developed the 3D space rail shooter video game Star Fox with Nintendo to demonstrate the additional polygon rendering capabilities that the chip had introduced to the SNES.
Jeremy Elliott "Jez" San OBE is an English game programmer and entrepreneur who founded Argonaut Software as a teenager in the 1980s. He is best known for the 1986 Atari ST game Starglider and helping to design the Super FX chip used in Star Fox for the Super NES.
Sonic Labyrinth is an action-puzzle game developed by Minato Giken and published by Sega for the Game Gear in 1995. The game features Sonic the Hedgehog exploring maze-like stages from an isometric perspective. Dr. Robotnik has robbed Sonic of his trademark speed, so Sonic walks slowly but can roll into a ball and dash across the stages.
Gearbox Software is an American video game development company based in Frisco, Texas. It was established as a limited liability company in February 1999 by five developers formerly of Rebel Boat Rocker. Randy Pitchford, one of the founders, serves as president and chief executive officer. Gearbox initially created expansions for the Valve game Half-Life, then ported that game and others to console platforms. In 2005, Gearbox launched its first independent set of games, Brothers in Arms, on console and mobile devices. It became their flagship franchise and spun off a comic book series, television documentary, books, and action figures. Their second original game series, Borderlands, commenced in 2009, and by 2015 had sold over 26 million copies. The company also owns the intellectual property of Duke Nukem and Homeworld.
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos is a platform game developed by Argonaut Software and published by Fox Interactive. It was released in North America in September 1997 for the Sony PlayStation, and later that year for the Sega Saturn and Microsoft Windows. Taking place in the fictional setting of the Gobbo Valley, Croc: Legend of the Gobbos follows a young crocodile named Croc, who sets out to rescue a group of furry creatures known as Gobbos from the evil magician Baron Dante.
Croc 2 is a platform game developed by Argonaut Software and published by Fox Interactive. The sequel to Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, it revolves around the title character going on a quest to search for his missing parents, as well as saving the Inventor Gobbo from a revived Baron Dante.
Feral Interactive is a British video games developer and publisher for macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows platforms. It was founded in 1996 to bring games to Mac and specialises in porting games to different platforms.
NHL 2K was a series of hockey games developed by Visual Concepts. It was published by Sega Sports from 2000 to 2004, and 2K from 2005 to 2014. The games are officially licensed from the National Hockey League and NHL Players Association.
The Pinball of the Dead is a pinball video game developed by Sega's Wow Entertainment division and published by Sega in Japan and THQ in North America. It was released for the Game Boy Advance on June 19 and July 4, 2002, in North America and Japan, respectively. Based on Sega's The House of the Dead series of light gun games, particularly The House of the Dead and The House of the Dead 2, the game contains three tables and includes a "Challenge" mode. Full-motion video sequences and audio samples from previous games were also added. The game was first announced during the 2001 Nintendo Space World. Composer Hitoshi Sakimoto was involved with making the game's music.
Fox Interactive was an American video game publisher based in Los Angeles, California. The company published games based on 20th Century Fox properties, yet also published several original titles, such as Croc: Legend of the Gobbos.
Two Tribes B.V. is an independent video game developer based in Harderwijk, Netherlands. Founded in 2001 by Martijn Reuvers and Collin van Ginkel, it develops its own intellectual property and games for franchises. As announced on 10 March 2016, the office closed in September 2016, after the release of Rive. However, Two Tribes continues development of the Nintendo Switch version of Rive, as well as supporting older games.
Jet Grind Radio is a video game for the Game Boy Advance system, which is based on the Dreamcast title of the same name. The game was developed by Vicarious Visions and published by THQ.
5th Cell is an independently owned American video game developer founded in 2003 as 5th Cell Media, LLC. led by Jeremiah Slaczka and Marius Falhbusch. The company is most well known for creating the Drawn to Life and Scribblenauts series.
Kim Possible video games are a series of action platformer games based on Disney's animated television series Kim Possible. They were mostly released for the Game Boy Advance (GBA) and Nintendo DS; the game Disney's Kim Possible: What's the Switch? was released for the PlayStation 2.
American Girl is a series of video games developed by various studios and distributed by American Girl.
Croc is scrolling platform game for the Game Boy Color developed by British studio Virtucraft and published on 6 June 2000 by THQ under license from Fox Interactive and Argonaut Software. It is a 2D remake of the 1997 3D platform game Croc: Legend of the Gobbos with similar gameplay. The game follows Croc, a crocodile, on a quest to save a race of furry creatures called Gobbos from the evil Baron Dante. The game received mixed reviews from critics.
