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.
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