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Scrollers
The move from Donkey Kong (1981) to Super Mario Bros. (1985) represents a major paradigm shift in how video games are played. In both games the goal is to reach the exit, but in Donkey Kong there is no screen-scrolling, the entire level is immediately visible to the player. In Super Mario Bros. the screen must be scrolled to find and reach the exit. This enabled the creation of larger levels for the player to uncover and traverse.
In some games the exit is represented by an obstacle, such as a boss in Mega Man (1987).
| Scrollers | |
vs. | |
Proto-Scrollers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exit-based | = | Exit-based | ||
| Screen scrolling | ≠ | No screen scrolling | ||