Most platformers nowadays are just collectathons with 0 meaningful platforming

[Stupid Clown]

It's very rare that an actual good platformer releases. Especially an actual good 3d platformer. Collectathons have unfortunately cannibalized much of the genre. What happened is that devs realized most normies are incapable of platforming that requires any skill. So to compensate for their games being overly easy, they put the focus on finding hidden collectibles. This is very annoying because it basically ruins what made platformers good in the first place aka platforming.

The last truly great platformers were Super Mario Galaxy 2, the new Donkey Kong Country games, and Rayman Origins.

 

[Stupid Clown]

I have no issue with collecthon gameplay if it's done well. (Ie: Rayman Origins a game I often replay and hundred percent) the issue with most platformers is that they lock too many collectables behind non platforming with tedius mini games like the frisbee moons in Mario Odyssey.

I'm not entirely opposed to gimmicks either. Rayman Origins mosquito smhup levels are really fun. Mario Galaxy has a lot of fun gimmicks such as the ball rolling or manta races. The issue is that, most modern platformers have very tedious mini games that are jank and boring.

 

[naizuri]

only 3d platformer i can think of that is worth watching people do runs of is mario 64

 

[Stupid Clown]

only 3d platformer i can think of that is worth watching people do runs of is mario 64

Mario 64 is a very average game. Although it can be entertaining to watch people do speed runs. What's a shame is how people misunderstood its design. The main focus in Mario 64 is not the act of collecting stars. The main focus is the platforming which the stars are used as carrot on a stick to get players to engage with.