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Why Haven't 3D Graphics Surpassed 2D Game Art?
Thanks to GameSpot for its 'GameSpotting' article discussing the longtime game player's "soft spot" for 2D games, and why, in the author's view, "3D polygonal graphics still haven't entirely surpassed 2D game art." He explains: "In a way... I think the cinematic power of gaming almost took a step back with the transition from 2D to 3D. 2D game characters are displayed precisely how the artist chooses to display them to you. There is no extraneous frame of animation to be found. 3D game characters, meanwhile, are yours to control, so you may rotate them and view them from whichever unflattering angle you like." It's also argued: "2D games handle collision detection (or the interaction between two characters or objects) better than 3D games do... [and] I think 2D game characters still have the capacity to display more-lifelike emotions than 3D game characters do."
you can use 3d badly, yes.
you can use 2d very badly too.
both can be used well too.
personally do you want to go back into having 2d graphics on a 3d game? candelabras that look the same to every direction kinda suck.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
There's a number of excellent strategy RPGs that do the same thing, as far as combining 2D sprites with 3D environments-- including Final Fantasy Tactics, La Pucelle, and Disgaea. Because the characters are typically small and superdeformed, perhaps something would be lost by making them 3D...
You need a GBA, if you don't already have one. (and I suspect you do, if you're that addicted to the 2D platformers) It's the last vestige of 2D gaming, and more than a few of the games are truly great. If you don't like playing on a tiny screen, get a cheap-o used gamecube (I think they're like $70) and a gameboy player, which plugs into the bottom of it. Then you can enjoy a steady stream of new 2D content, at least until the "scourge of 3D" moves into handheld territory in the next generation. Which, of course, will push you into cell-phone gaming-- but that's still at least a year or two away.
In a 2d game there's less space. If there's a monster in front of you, it blocks the entire path and you'd have to jump over it. In a 3d game there'd also be the option of running around the monster. To prevent that the monster could be made larger and the path narrower, but that would be problematic. How would you make a goomba in a 3d Mario game block a path? You'd have to make a very narrow path that's easy to fall off.
Since it's easier to see what's going on in a 2d game since there's nothing obstructing the view you could also demand higher precision. One-hit-kill 3d games are pretty rare and 3d platformers often suffer because judging distances and such isn't easy in 3d.
Besides, the original Metroid was damn hard/frustrating even compared to Super Metroid.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
Look at Suikoden III. It does it fantastically. Instead of having super high poly count faces with textures that make them look like zombies, and eyes that stare off into space, all the people in the game have low poly count faces, and a 2D facial texture is mapped onto it, so they can quicky change the expressions on the face.
It makes a huge difference. You can see characters looking at each other. NPCs look like they're actually engaged in conversation because they make eye contact with each other. Characters look pissed on-screen and not just in the little 2D portrait that sometimes matches their expression in the lower text box.
If more people would go with this method, I think we'd have less of these types of debates.
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Another example of 3D environment with 2D play style that I think really works is the battle system in Tales of Symphonia. Everything happens in a 3d environment, but when you target an enemy you face that enemy on a linear plane. You can only move forward, backward or jump. The camera is always a decent distance from the monsters on screen, allowing you to be aware of all the other monsters. Want to doge an attack? Switch to another monster, refocusing the linear plane your character is on. This technique is actually key in order to dodge the effects of some of the higher level spells later in the game.