The 3D platformer genre had a fascinating evolution not just across the years, but also across competing systems. Especially in the 90s to late 2000s when the word “exclusive” had more weight to it. I would know, I was one of those jealous PlayStation owners who couldn’t get most Nintendo systems since they had no real presence in Kuwait. But we now live in an age where everything is more readily available, so it became easy for me to catch up on the games I missed out on as a kid, including our very own star of this article, Super Mario 64.
Yeah, not only was it missing the “Bros” in its title, which was crazy enough on its own, but it was also the first mainline 3D Mario title to date. Although, I don’t think you’re here to learn about that as I’m sure this is your 50th time seeing an article about it, give or take. Rather, your attention is perhaps fixated elsewhere, more towards the other star here, Ratchet & Clank.
Yes, while it is easy to think of Crash, Spyro or Jak (or even Ape Escape if you’re feeling quirky) as the faces of PlayStation, I do find Ratchet to be the most interesting to dissect out of the earlier Sony platformer IPs. This is thanks to Insomniac being secretly huge Nintendo nerds, which feels funny to say in hindsight given how heated console wars used to be.
But all the tiny little nods Insomniac makes towards Nintendo platformers are nothing to scoff at. As an example, Spyro already felt like a far smoother Banjo Kazooie at times, and Ratchet & Clank only further cements that trend by focusing on the other big N64 collectathon; Mario 64.
Now admittedly, I did lie a bit earlier because it’s frankly tough to make the following point about SM64 without at least a brief refresher. See, you may have mixed up Mario and Banjo a few times in your memory. At least going by what traits people attribute to each game. From what I could gather, almost all the credit for defining the collectathon genre goes almost solely to Mario, meanwhile Banjo is mostly remembered as just a good game. Nothing wrong with that assessment, except for the fact it’s probably completely backwards.
See, if you go back and play SM64 and Banjo again, you’ll find all the usual stuff we associate with collectathons can be actually found in Banjo first, things like giant scale interconnected worlds, a gargantuan number of collectibles and progression gates being locked by both larger and smaller collectibles, jiggies and notes being an example, the latter of which functioned rather differently from what you’d find in Super Mario 64. This is why I’ve made the connection between Spyro and Banjo. Meanwhile, SM64 was almost entirely mission-based.
Now you did have the 100 coin star missions, but those needed to be done in a single run, which only further cemented SM64’s heavy task-oriented nature. Something similar can be found in another secret love letter; Ape Escape, but that’s a topic for another time. How does R&C factor into all this? To answer that, we must highlight 64’s other defining trait; the controls.
Not only does R&C have beat-for-beat a near identical control layout and scheme, save for a few differences since it’s also a shooter, but the mindset behind SM64’s crazy parkour can be carried over into Ratchet & Clank, with the game constantly encouraging smooth movement complemented by beautiful cartoony animation. Things don’t end there, as we need to address what we highlighted as being the other defining feature of SM64’s structure’s and that is the mission-based progression.
R&C does a respectable job at emulating SM64’s somewhat specific formula. It’s usually considered a little ambitious to ask the player to constantly perform unique tasks without the game borderline turning into a glorified minigame simulator, but Insomniac found an organic way to implement that system while ironing out many of its potential quirks.
While Ratchet & Clank opts for a stage-based progression system, you seldom finish those by just reaching the end. Instead, there’s often a particular task you gotta complete to obtain an “infobot” that contains coordinates to your next planet, which is somewhat similar to Mario 64’s story related items like keys and whatnot. And similar to that game, each stage in R&C is a small hub area that loops back to itself once the stage is done.
Now to keep things leveled, you shouldn’t take this as some kinda “Mario and Ratchet are the same game” post since naturally, the two games still have stark differences. R&C is a third-person shooter with a plot that satirizes consumerism and capitalism while simultaneously making butt-crack jokes. It couldn’t be more different even if it tried, but that contrast only strengthens the charm of these similarities. Let’s not forget they were exclusive to competing hardware, it goes to show that underneath all the marketing jargon, game developers were mature enough to put all that aside and carry their inspirations with their heads held high. There’s definitely a lesson to be learned here about healthy competition and unique ideas.
How about you? Any two games on your mind that seem different, but are more similar than they might seem? You’re welcome to speak your mind in the comments below.
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