The Parallax scrolling gallery

[hudson]

Hi guys, any chance we could have a go at curating some fine examples of parallax scrolling in retro video games? Such a nice effect. Simple looking really, but it's such a lovely effect.

I'll start.

MUSHA Aleste on Megadrive. Don't look down! The hot lava awaits!

[eastyy]

first comes to my mind

[charlesr]

[charlesr]

Basic, but what a cool and massively trippy game. Iridis Alpha:

[charlesr]

Also, Hawkeye had a fixed background layer and was smoooooth. Worth clicking the link just for the music.

[QualityChimp]

Always loved the ending of Mega Drive Strider:

[Leon Retro]

Air Zonk has impressive parallax on each level.



Still really impressive.

[hudson]

It's sometimes hard to remember that the PC Engine was an 8-bit machine.

[Leon Retro]

It's sometimes hard to remember that the PC Engine was an 8-bit machine.

But the 16-bit GPUs can do amazing things. Makes it a Turbo 8-bit console.

[ZipZap]

It's sometimes hard to remember that the PC Engine was an 8-bit machine.

What this shows is that bits weren't as important as the advertisers would have us believe.

[Brad]

Basic, but what a cool and massively trippy game. Iridis Alpha:

I prefer the sequel, Idris Elba

[Neon Ignition]

Always loved the ending of Mega Drive Strider:

He'd get to that incident faster if he wasn't crab walking sidewards

[dyer60]

He'd get to that incident faster if he wasn't crab walking sidewards

I almost spilt my coffee over my laptop laughing at this!

[samanosuke]

I was thinking of games with really impressive, multi-layer parallax scrolling such as Jim Power or Lionheart on the Amiga, or the original Rayman on PlayStation/Saturn, but in the end decided to post stuff that’s a bit clever instead.

First up is Toy Story for the MegaDrive, specifically the first level. Really clever use of a second background layer scrolling at almost the same speed as the top layer thus creating a sense of depth to some of the objects. Combine this with line-scrolling floor and a third layer in the background, and the game looks almost 2.5D-esque a la Clockwork Knight.



Next up is Lord of the Sword for the Master System. It used very basic line scrolling to create depth as many 8-bit titles used to, but the developers kept the lower part of the line-scrolled background the same colour as the main background to give the illusion of full-screen parallax. My young mind was blown when I first saw it, but after a while I realised it was just a clever trick.

Forward to 0:46 to see the effect:



Then we get to Zas on the Gameboy. I mean, what kind of witchcraft is going on here? Parallax scrolling AND transparency. ON A GAMEBOY? Surely not!



Lastly, okay, so it’s a Neo Geo, and Neo Geos can do anything, but hey, Stage 2 of Blazing Star (4:48) is so good I thought it put the 32-bit consoles to shame back in the day. Still damn impressive even today:



I’m going to add one more to this post, this time for the worst parallax I’ve ever had the misfortune to witness. I even finished the game back in the day in spite of it, and rather enjoyed it although not nearly as much as Books I & II. Sorry PCE fans, but ladies and gentleman, I present to you the abomination that is Ys III:

[samanosuke]

Forgot one more...

Robocod for the Game Gear. Not only is it full-screen parallax, but what’s really impressive is also how fast and smooth the scrolling is. Strangely the Master System version doesn’t have parallax. Perhaps it was developed earlier or is there some sort of hardware exploit on the Game Gear that isn’t on Master System hardware? I thought the two were identical other than lower resolution, double on-screen colours, and stereo sound on the GG?