Games - Flip-screen

Home > Listing Index > Games > Flip-screen

	Games - Flip-screen

In computer and video games, the term flip-screen (sometimes also known as flick-screen) refers to games in which the playing environment is divided up into single screen portions (usually viewed from above, though sometimes from the side, or, more seldom, via an isometric view). Players see only one such screen at a time, and normally move to the next screen by having the player character/vehicle exit the current screen via one of the display's edges. At the point when the screen-to-next-screen move is performed, the picture abruptly "flips" to the next screen, hence the technique's name.

This mode of gameplay was very common in 2D platform and maze games on 8-bit home computers and video game consoles during the 1980s, but with the maturing of the graphics programming state-of-the-art on existing platforms, as well as the industry's move to more powerful 16-bit computers and consoles, the flip-screen technique was gradually replaced by playing environments that scrolled (i.e. those where the player remains in the centre of the screen while the environment "moves" past).

Examples of flip-screen games include Atic Atac, Jet Set Willy and Sabre Wulf. There were also games that had some, but not all, of these aspects. The Legend of Zelda, for instance, also divided its environment into separate screen-sized sections (or rooms). However, instead of instantaneously flipping to a new screen when the player reached an edge, the transition between screens was actually achieved by rapid scrolling.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Flip-screen ]

Searches on eBay

flip-screen