I've toying around with the idea of doing an indie-side scroller, not for the nostalgia of it, but to create something that matches today's hardware.

What other enhancements would we be seeing had 3D not taken over?

The engine I'm using has:

*High resolution (I will use the same resolution as PSP at 60 fps, but not necessarily for the purpose of pitching the game.)
*Pixel-perfect collision
*2D physics
*Can use entire RGBA images for backgrounds, and a separate invisible layer for collision.
*Does support an unlimited number of parallax layers (will limit this to 5).
*Practically unlimited memory for more animations, larger graphics, etc.

Im working on one of those! dont think it'll have much of any of those features though...

Like the arcade version of strider plus a grappling hook and graphics that look like Guilty Gear. Man, control in 2d games is so tight.

2D gameplay is awesome, it's all about precision.

I'm a fan of Capcom and Guilty Gear, and since those pixel art styles seem to read extremely well on small screens (and since I do art for mobile games), I'll go with something similar. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Hey aesir, mind posting shots of your game??

Absolutely spot on... been thinking about this for absolutely ages...
Just cause a game is 3d doesnt mean the interface should be.

Just think what you could do with Stridor now? And only having to make assets and animation look good from one set direction would mean massive time saving and easier style control. Yep, way to go.

heh snowfly, wish I was that far along. The coder is still building all the basics, and Im still just starting on the art side.

PSP resolution? Is 640x480 too high?

Pixel perfect collision isn't always desirable, I've played a Katakis "clone" (well, completely unrelated game that claims to be related) with pixel-perfect collision, I hated it. Shmups, for example, should give you some leeway when it comes to collision (many shmups give your ship a one-pixel hitbox...)

PSP res is 480x272.

King - Strider would defineatly kick ass. That was one of my favs back in the day. A good remake of Boulder Dash or Dig Dig would also be tight. Oooh, ooh, and Xevious! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

hehe, sounds like what i already did, only the game we made got simplified as production moved forward. You can set out to do big shit but when push comes to shove its either going to get simplifed or die.

In the mean time check out Glace, its the second link in my sig.

Glace is really fun Godzero. My wife loves the characters, and I think the look of the game is great.

"What would 2D games be like now?"

More fun and innovative than most 3D games. Me love Gish.