Jumping For Joy - The History of Platform Video Games

Jumping For Joy - The History of Platform Video Games written by Chris Scullion

and published by White Owl Books - £25 - Hardback - Pages 168

The platformer is one of the most well-loved video game genres ever, having

entertained players for over 40 years. Jumping For Joy is a celebration of everything

platform games have to offer, spanning their entire history. The first part of the book

is a complete guide to every platform game starring Mario, Nintendo’s mascot and the

most popular video game character of all time. With nearly 80 games featured in this

section, it’s the definitive history of a true gaming hero. There are always two sides to

every story, though, so the second part of the book focuses on every one of the 50+

platformers starring Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario’s former rival. After this it’s the book’s

main course: a huge 100-page section detailing 50 other iconic and notable platform

games covering the entire history of gaming, from the days of the Atari 2600 and ZX

Spectrum all the way up to the Nintendo Switch, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. Whether

you’re a long-time veteran of platform gaming or a newcomer who wants to learn more

about one of the most entertaining genres in video games, this is the perfect book for

you. And there are some bad jokes in there too, if that’s your thing.

A really good book to read, but then I did spend endless years as a teenager playing

many online platform games on various computers. This book as I said was like trawling

back through those teenage years. Some I remember quite clearly, others I had

completely forgotten about. Now Sonic the Hedgehog and the Super Mario Bros were

the two main big hitters in the platform world, and I would like to make a special mention

to Donkey Kong. Half of the book does reveal all the games I played, and the second

half then reveals the games I know much less well and probably when I had to grow up

and be sensible and get a job. The book is very comprehensive and I didn’t realise how

many games were related to such few characters. The book is full of info and I loved all

the facts throughout.