What draws you to 3D platfromers?

[Lizard64]

What is it about games like Banjo Kazooie that you can't get from other genres?

If you strip away all the flashy visuals, music, aesthetics etc, do they still hold up? What makes you enjoy playing them?

[Nightpaws]

[Jellyfunk]

Just gameplay?

The freedom of movement. A platformer character can outmaneuver anybody in an Assassin's Creed game.

[supergardie]

But the prettiness is a big part of the appeal to me! I can be incredibly shallow sometimes, also I'm drawn to colourful, shiny things. I love exploring the magical worlds and seeing all the pretty things hidden within. I like jumping around; I'm a child. I don't know, I'm bad at putting my feelings into words. Nostalgia has a big part in it now, but I couldn't tell you for sure what drew me in to begin with, since I was maybe seven years old at the time, and I'm twenty-four now. I think it's the sense of adventure you get from wandering around combined with the simplicity of a platformer. When I was a kid, I loved exploring forests and things (surprise surprise, I'm a huge Zelda fan). It was so exciting to just wander around and see what I could find.

[polomi]

I like to run around and jump all over the place. It boils down to that, but that alone is not enough. It needs to be colorful, the soundtrack needs to be great, and so on.

[Xellos]

[Taylor]

I like exploring the worlds and discovering secrets. I enjoy searching for and finding things, but on top of that, platformers like Banjo contain a lot of puzzles and challenges. There's good variation in what you do; perhaps more variation than any other game genre.

If it's fun just to run around, you know you're onto a winner.

[dotEXE]

I love the exploring, collecting, learning moves aspect of Banjo Kazooie and 3D platformers, but I think a core facet that some people fail to understand is that Banjo Kazooie was a LOT more than just collecting items to open doors and learn skills. Or at least, I think people understand it, but don't pay attention to it.

Banjo Kazooie for me is a cohesive, charming, hilarious universe. The bright colors, nonsense speech, brilliant thematic worlds and characters created an experience that took the game far beyond just collecting and jumping. Banjo Kazooie and Tooie just absolutely ooze charm and wonder. And on top of that the characters interact with each other in really meaningful ways. You really feel that Banjo and Kazooie are friends who sometimes lightly jab at each other. And the NPCs have the same level of attention. Every single character has, well, character! I wanted to know more about these characters. I looked forward to seeing what Bottles, Jamjars, Gobi, Grunty and her sisters, King Jingaling, etc. will say next. Even on the N64 they had well-developed personalities and motivations. Even Bullion Bill who was barely in the game was interesting.

AND THE SECRETS! Stop N' Swop added an entire additional layer of wonder, keeping me hooked long after I 100%d the game. And the Mega Glowbo adventure in Banjo Tooie. Finding these little easter eggs was awesome! And the secret puzzles in Banjo's house. Becoming a washing machine. I mean seriously, how great were those games!?

I love the 3D platforming and collecting (I played DK64, Jak & Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, etc) but the characters and feel of the world is what really sets these games apart, for me.

Edit: And the music. I mean, you can't strip that away. Every portion of the experience adds up to what makes it a fantastic game. It's the whole that matters, even though the parts are also great. You wouldn't take bass and cellos out of a symphony and expect the same end result.

[Thomx]

The adventure and sense of exploration! There just isn't the same level of immersion in 2D. 3D has you feel like you're really exploring a world.

[Pgcrooner]

I've always had a love for platformers. It's a nice change of pace from the over saturated AAA gritty "mature" titles we see so much of these days.

[Epic Elliot]

FUN! exploring a magical world full of fun things to try & figure out. open world

[DarkTone]

Mainly the controls and the quest.

Easy or complicated, I want to enjoy myself getting from A to B. Nintendo 64 had a HUGE hand showing 2D to 3D can be done, and I want to see that continue today.

[Krvavi Abadas]

Definitely nostalgia for me, i grew up playing Donkey Kong 64 and Super Mario Sunshine. So i'd say that's what caused it to turn into one of my favorite game genres.

[lavamario]

I like the feeling of being able to revisit a world and or hub and thinking there's still some secret hidden away in the corners of the maps. In Banjo, the game lead me to believe there was ALWAYS something to discover. I always thought there was something behind the Grunty picture in the entrance. And I always thought you could open the gates of Rusty Bucket Bay and cruise out into new remarkable territory with new secrets to discover, so you better believe I spent hours searching that world. Those things weren't possible, but what's important to me is that the game made me feel like it was plausible. Things like Stop N Swop and well placed secrets and switches made me feel this way the whole game. It was euphoric.

In Mario 64, I could often feel the same way. Moments that made me feel like this are going behind the Boo painting in the haunted house, crawling inside the igloo, finding a world hidden inside of the walls instead of the usual painting, looking up at the ceiling for the flying cap, or even just finding new things in the castle. In retrospect, a lot of these are rather obvious "secrets", but any kid in those days would get blown away. It's what spawned all those playground rumors about Luigi being in Mario 64. I'd like this aspect to be refined and catered to older audiences in future platformers, so that they can feel that magic again (basically have secrets within secrets within secrets).
And yet, I often wait years when revisiting these games just so I can forget everything and rediscover it later. With Banjo, I was able to rediscover it when the XBLA port came out, and I felt just like a kid again, so I don't attribute the feeling to simply playing games as a child and being amazed by everything in general.

I cherish this mystical feeling more than anything, and no other game can match Banjo in this except for its sequel. Aside from this, 3D platformers often have excellent mobility(wall jumping, kazooie's moves, etc), tight controls, immersive worlds, exciting unlockables, and memorable characters with matching music. All of it is essential, but all of those elements rely on a world with secrets worth exploring. And when a 3D platformer delivers on this, it quickly climbs up the ranks among my favorite games of all time.

I'd wish more platformers had master-quest type modes with insane difficulty though. That would rock my socks.

[noahcopeland44]

I like the freedom of movement that comes from the third-person view. You can see all around you in all directions and can move in any of those directions. I have trouble enjoying first-person games because I feel like I can't see the world around me.

I also like the sensation of jumping in video games, which adds to the freedom of movement. It's give you a sense of agility.
"See that coin up there on that ledge? Yeah, I can get up there. No prob."

The collection and exploring in games like Banjo can add to the experience. It rewards you for looking around the place. The freedom of movement you have makes it enjoyable to explore the place.

[polomi]

[wacky ducky]

The emphasis on novelty and the semi-open structure. Open world games have tons of exploration but they are empty, inconsistent, lack a sense of progression and lack a proper difficulty curve. Linear games don't let me choose what to do. Collectathons combine the best of both worlds. Dark Souls has a similar appeal but without the novelty and satisfying controls.

I think the genre is really underexplored. There's an opportunity for Playtonic to become a genre-defying company.
Imagine something like this but as a proper game. That would truly be the Dark Souls of platformers.

[Scrubber]

As with any game, a good plot and good characters. Yooka Laylee was lacking both.

[wacky ducky]

[rocho]

Exploring, memorable characters with different clever puzzles tied to them. I so like when puzzles are interconected or when you clear a puzzle it opens a subsequent one.

I should make an enfasis on clever puzzles and memorable characters. (A background story or why that character ended up there in the first place is a good start).