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SOJ The Gallery · 3D Platformers
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The 3D Platformers Gallery

The years games learned to move in three dimensions.

Between 1996 and 2001, the platformer rebuilt itself around a camera, an analog stick, and open ground to explore. Nintendo wrote the grammar with Super Mario 64, Rare answered with the Banjo games and then detonated the genre's family image with Conker, and on the PlayStation, Sony's own studios shipped Ape Escape and the Crash Bandicoot trilogy. This gallery walks them in covers, Japanese and American side by side, and says plainly where a Japanese edition was redesigned, and where one never existed at all.

SUPER MARIO 64

Nintendo EAD · Nintendo 64 · 1996
Super Mario 64 American Nintendo 64 box art
America · 1996
Wing-capped Mario soars over Peach's castle, months before the Nintendo 64 reached American shelves in force.
 Super Mario 64 Japanese Nintendo 64 box art
Japan · 1996
The same flight, recomposed for the tall Japanese box: Mario ringed by the promise of 3D action, running, swimming, jumping, flying.
The History
The History of Super Mario 64: the camera built first, 120 Power Stars, and 11.91 million copies.
The Shindou Edition
What is different about the Shindou version? Japan's 1997 re-release added Rumble Pak support and quietly removed the speedrunners' favourite glitch.

BANJO-KAZOOIE

Rare · Nintendo 64 · 1998
Banjo-Kazooie American Nintendo 64 box art
America · 1998
Banjo, Kazooie, Bottles and a giant green Gruntilda hand, the whole cast crammed into one jungle frame.
 Banjo-Kazooie Japanese Nintendo 64 box art
Japan · 1998
Japan renamed it Banjo to Kazooie no Daibouken, Banjo and Kazooie's Big Adventure, and gave the pair a cleaner portrait inside a wooden ring.
The History
The History of Banjo-Kazooie: the cancelled RPG inside it, Grant Kirkhope's shape-shifting score, and three million copies.
The Unfinished Secret
Why was Stop 'n' Swop never finished? Six coloured eggs, an Ice Key, and a plan that depended on the Nintendo 64 remembering.

BANJO-TOOIE

Rare · Nintendo 64 · 2000
Banjo-Tooie American Nintendo 64 box art
America · 2000
Bear and bird are back, says the box, with a skeletal Gruntilda's remains nowhere in sight and Mumbo's skull grinning at the edge.
 Banjo-Tooie Japanese Nintendo 64 box art
Japan · 2000
The Japanese box keeps the Big Adventure name and adds a puzzle-piece 2, the pair mid-leap with Mumbo and a Jinjo below.
The History
The History of Banjo-Tooie: bigger, connected worlds, a working train, and the sequel that swallowed its own leftovers.

CONKER'S BAD FUR DAY

Rare · Nintendo 64 · 2001 · No Japanese edition
Conker's Bad Fur Day American Nintendo 64 box art
America · 2001
Conker with a beer, Berri on the logo, and a printed warning under the box: this game is not for anyone under age 17.
SOJ gold owl, marking a cover that does not exist
Japan · No edition
There is no Japanese box to find. Conker's Bad Fur Day was never released in Japan, so this shelf holds the gap open on purpose.
The History
The History of Conker's Bad Fur Day: a 64MB cartridge, a bar-room marketing tour, and only about 55,000 copies in its first month.
The Change
Why did Conker go from a family game to an adult one? It began as Twelve Tales, Rare's cutest game, and the previews yawned.

APE ESCAPE

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan · PlayStation · 1999
Ape Escape American PlayStation box art
America · 1999
The Pipo monkeys swarm the logo in their siren helmets, close enough to read the alarm lights on their heads.
 Ape Escape Japanese PlayStation box art, Saru Get You
Japan · 1999 · Saru Get You
At home it is Saru Get You, and the cover is a wall of monkey faces: the helmet sirens are the whole design.
The History
The History of Ape Escape: Soichi Terada's breakbeat chase music, monkeys with names and siren helmets, and a 90 on Metacritic.
The Two Sticks
Why did Ape Escape need two analog sticks? It was the first game that refused to run without a DualShock, and the second stick was the net.

CRASH BANDICOOT

Naughty Dog · PlayStation · 1996
Crash Bandicoot American PlayStation box art
America · 1996
The American Crash bursts through the box grinning, all teeth and green eyes. Japan looked at this face and asked for a different one.
 Crash Bandicoot Japanese PlayStation box art
Japan · 1996
The Japanese Crash, redrawn in fifteen minutes: huge round eyes, a small closed smile, a smaller tuft of hair. The redesign is the story of this shelf.
The History
The History of Crash Bandicoot: Willy the Wombat, a mascot built for Sony, and a trilogy that sold more than seventeen million copies.
The Japanese Redesign
Why does Crash look different in Japan? A comparison document, a fifteen-minute fix, softer levels, and a dancing mascot on television.

CRASH 2 AND CRASH 3

Cortex Strikes Back 1997 · Warped 1998
Crash Bandicoot 2 American PlayStation box art
America · 1997
Crash 2 in America: the green-eyed grin again, with Cortex looming over the Warp Room.
 Crash Bandicoot 2 Japanese PlayStation box art
Japan · 1997
In Japan the redesigned Crash flashes a peace sign, spiral eyes and all, under the title Cortex no Gyakushuu, Cortex Strikes Back.
 Crash Bandicoot Warped American PlayStation box art
America · 1998
Warped in America: Crash on a motorcycle, Coco and a baby dinosaur behind him, time travel as a selling point.
 Crash Bandicoot 3 Japanese PlayStation box art
Japan · 1998
Japan's Warped cover puts the softened Crash and Coco on the dinosaur's back. This scan is the Japanese PlayStation the Best reissue; the art is the Japanese cover Crash.
The Trilogy's History
One history covers all three games: thirteen months for the sequel, ten and a half for Warped, and a million copies in Japan.
More from the Library →
MORE FROM THE 3D PLATFORMERS ARCHIVE →
One shelf of eighty-two in the Library. Browse them all →

THE FIRST WORD

New pages and new pieces, first.