this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2026
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Mario 64? Kinda yeah, because the Mario franchise has been more or less alone in the 3D platformer space, and everything since 64 has either been expansions on it like Sunshine, Galaxy and Odyssey, or that time they made the same 2D-but-in-a-3D-engine game 5 or 6 times. New Super Mario 3D World Land Wii U Switch.
Ocarina of Time is kind of similar: the classic Zelda franchise is kind of alone, especially after the 16 bit era ended nothing has really played like a Zelda game. They've only made like six of them; OoT got the formula almost perfectly right on the first try even if they were pretty much just re-implementing ALttP in 3D. Majora's Mask took the same engine and assets and made a heartburn simulator. I personally think it's less pleasant to play because of the constant time pressure but it's the most interesting one to study. Wind Waker returns to the formula with the sailing gimmick as "we gotta do something different" and as a way to mask loading screens. Twilight Princess was a reaction to fan clap back at Wind Waker's perceived childishness, it's basically OoT again, It's also the most blatantly unfinished. Skyward Sword is just Wind Waker but worse. The control scheme is hideous. You can feel Nintendo corporate breathing down the necks of the dev team talking about "we went full Japanese on motion controls this console generation and the best we have to show for it is the pack-in bowling demo. Put in as many motion controls as possible, even if the joystick would make more sense. After that they gave up and started making Just Cause games.
You didn't really make much of a case for those genres not evolving drastically, but kind of just went on a rant about Zelda games for a minute. Starting with Mario, there have been plenty of full 3D platformers out there. Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank just to name a few. Arguably the genre as a whole has fallen out of favor, but even so there has never been a shortage of games in the genre, at least some of which would introduce their own unique mechanics and innovations.
And Zelda? Are you one of those people who actually think Ocarina of Time has aged well? There has been plenty of others, such as Alundra, Elemental Gimmick Gear, Darksiders, Psychonauts, Beyond Good and Evil, and Okami. Speaking of evolution specifically, while Metroid is primarily credited as creating the "metroidvania" subgenre, it has to be noted that Metroid itself was directly influenced by Zelda and the subgenre as a whole is really just sidescrolling Zelda clones. But the advent of that subgenre is one such example of one of the directions the genre as a whole has evolved.
In terms of modern games, I would argue Star Wars Fallen Order, and Survivor, have both scratched more of the Zelda-style itch than Zelda games have in years.
And this isn't even getting into all the indie games out there. CrossCode is both a stellar action rpg as well as having distinct Zelda-like puzzle elements. A Hat in Time seems to have gotten relatively popular for a 3D platformer. Apparently Spongebob games keep being churned out. Celeste. Yoku's Island Express. Yooka-Laylee. Sonic games keep coming out. LittleBigPlanet. It Takes Two. Neon White. The Rayman series.
It's so easy to think of examples of games that have refined or pushed the envelope in those genres in many ways, since Mario 64, and OoT came out. All of these genres have become much more since then.