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The NES advantage.

facattack

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I could be wrong, but I don't believe there were many side-scrolling games on game systems before the NES came out. I have an Intelivision game pad that plugs into a TV. Don't think there were any side-scrollers on that.

But the other thing was NES games were much more colorful as well. (Witness the differences between Mario Bros. on Atari 2600 and Super Mario Bros. on NES.) Other early NES games like Kid Icarus & Metroid also scrolled vertically and even allowed you to backtrack to areas you were before to find newer items.

Game systems before the NES just had static screens that might load up another screen after you completed the level. NES games were also more complex, providing goals more complicated than just acquiring a high score. Witness the licensed game Faxanadu where you armed a simple peasant with armor and magical spells as the game progressed.
 

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There was side scrolling computer games well before the NES...

A few examples:
Sidescrolling Games for the Commodore 64 from 1983
http://www.gb64.com/search.php?d=18...file=0&adv_sid_file=0&adv_working=0&b=Go!&a=6

Sidescrolling Games for the Commodore 64 from 1984
http://www.gb64.com/search.php?d=18...file=0&adv_sid_file=0&adv_working=0&b=Go!&a=6

I also know that there was side scrolling games for the SEGA SG-1000 that came out 1983... And there probably were some for the Atari 5200 and ColecoVision as well.
 
Also, does Defender count as a side scroller? It isn't a platform game, but yet it scrolls. Many Skramble games were also around in the early days.
 
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