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1[[quoteright:287:[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alttp_three_quarters.png]]]]
2[[caption-width-right:287:[[DepthPerplexion Perspective doesn't work this way.]]]]
3A method of portraying three dimensional space in a two-dimensional plane. Basically, it's a tilted bird's eye view perspective in which both the top and front of an object is seen at the same time, and the vertical axis indicates both height and depth.[[note]]Technically speaking, it's a very distant bird's eye view, zoomed to very high levels, with perspective not working "properly" because of high viewing distance.[[/note]]
4
5Most games that have this perspective will still have character sprites as if they've being viewed straight on, though some will have a more SuperDeformed style. (This was the usual way of drawing character sprites and things like trees in older games dating back to the Platform/{{Atari 2600}}, though the lack of graphical detail caused by low resolutions and limited memory generally disqualify such games as examples.)
6
7Very popular during the 16-bit era for {{JRPG}}s, as well as {{RTS}} games in the 1990s.
8
9Despite console games having largely abandoned this style in favor of full 3D graphics, it remains popular in handheld systems due to the lower demands on the system, although its appearances even there are growing rarer as portable hardware becomes more powerful.
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11This view sometimes leads to secrets being hidden on the backs of buildings, [[BehindTheBlack which should logically be visible to the character but aren't to the player]].
12
13See also IsometricProjection, TopDownView and SideView. For more information, see UsefulNotes/GraphicalPerspective.
14----
15!!Examples:
16
17[[foldercontrol]]
18
19[[folder:Action Adventure]]
20* ''Android Two'' for the Platform/ZXSpectrum, which was actually sold as a 3D game, may have been the first game to use this perspective consistently. Characters are properly silhouetted in front of walls, but partly hidden behind them.
21* The overhead segments of ''VideoGame/BlasterMaster''.
22* Most ''Zelda'' games until the debut of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime''. (Handheld titles still used this kind of perspective until the launch of the Ocarina of Time remake for the 3DS.)
23** [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI The original]], at least was a very strange example that mixed top-down and ¾ view in the same game. Walls were top-down, and trees and stumps were a squashed ¾ view.
24** ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' primarily used a side-view for its action segments, and only used a ¾ view for its overworld.
25** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' had quite a good ¾ view for its sprites, though inside walls were top-down.
26*** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds'' reuses the same ¾ view as ''A Link to the Past'' despite having 3D graphics, though it changes into a close-up view when Link turns into a painting. [[http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss298/thatother1dude/fuckingeuclidhowdoesitwork.jpg The way the game achieves this]] is a rather hilarious demonstration of liberties this trope takes with real-life perspective: they make ''everything'' lean back to an absurd degree to give the illusion of ¾ view.
27** Platform/GameBoy titles follow the same guidelines as above for the tiles, but sprites are SideView.
28* Probably every third-person action-adventure-RPG or RPG made solely by [[Creator/StrategicSimulationsInc SSI]] in the early 1990s (see also ''Dark Sun'' in RPG):
29** ''VideoGame/AlQadimTheGeniesCurse''
30** ''[[Franchise/{{Thunderscape}} Entomorph: The Plague of the Darkfall]]''
31* ''VideoGame/QuantumReplica'': The game is viewed from above in this manner.
32* ''VideoGame/TheLegendsOfOwlia'': The game is viewed like this.
33[[/folder]]
34
35[[folder:Action Game]]
36* ''VideoGame/GateOfDoom''
37* ''{{VideoGame/Gauntlet}}''
38* ''VideoGame/HauntingStarringPolterguy''
39* ''Indiana Jones - Temple of Doom'' NES game had a hybrid of this view and overhead view.
40* ''VideoGame/LastAlert''
41* ''VideoGame/MadAgeAndThisGuy''
42* ''VideoGame/{{Overcooked}}''
43* ''VideoGame/Overcooked2''
44* ''VideoGame/SparkTheBattleDog''
45* ''VideoGame/ZombiesAteMyNeighbors''
46[[/folder]]
47
48[[folder:Adventure Game]]
49* ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndHisDesktopAdventures''
50* ''VideoGame/MsDirector''
51* ''VideoGame/NinetySix''
52* ''VideoGame/ThePrinceOfLandis''
53* ''VideoGame/SpiritsOfAnglerwoodForest''
54[[/folder]]
55
56[[folder:Beat 'em Up]]
57* ''Avengers[=/=]VideoGame/HissatsuBuraiken''
58* ''[=DownTown=]''
59[[/folder]]
60
61[[folder:Platform Game]]
62* The Dark Castle, Mirage Palace and Dragon's Hole levels in ''VideoGame/BrutalMario'', as well as other ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' hacks using ''Seiken Densetsu 3/Secret of Mana'' graphics.
63* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' uses this on the world map screen, which causes, for instance, the peak of Yoshi's Island to obscure a small corner of the unconnected Donut Plains.
64[[/folder]]
65
66[[folder:Puzzle]]
67* ''VideoGame/{{Frobot}}'': The game is viewed from an above perspective, with all of the southern walls visible.
68* ''VideoGame/SpellingJungle'': In an unusual case, it's only some things in each level - Wali, the animals and Tricksters, the Abominable Snowman, the All-Terrain Vehicle and some of the collectible items - that are seen this way. Everything else, such as trees, stone walls and movable items like the boulders/giant snowballs and ice blocks, are viewed strictly from above.
69[[/folder]]
70
71[[folder:Real-Time Strategy]]
72* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer''' and ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlertSeries Red Alert]]'': Tanks are not ''exactly'' viewed from above, and soldiers definitely aren't.
73[[/folder]]
74
75[[folder:Roguelike]]
76* ''VideoGame/DungeonsOfDredmor''
77* ''VideoGame/{{Elona}}''
78* ''VideoGame/{{Nuclear Throne}}''
79* ''VideoGame/{{SYNTHETIK}}''
80* ''VideoGame/ShatteredPixelDungeon'', in an upgrade from [[VideoGame/PixelDungeon the original's]] graphics.
81[[/folder]]
82
83[[folder:Role-Playing Game]]
84* ''VideoGame/{{Albion}}'' when it isn't using 3D.
85* ''VideoGame/AlQadimTheGeniesCurse'', in contrast with most of SSI's other Forgotten Realms games (which use first-person perspective).
86* ''Arcus Odyssey'' mixes this perspective up a little by giving most of the levels a 45-degree slant.
87* ''VideoGame/{{Brandish}}'' is an unusual example where this perspective rotates with the player.
88* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''
89* ''VideoGame/CitizensOfEarth''
90* All three ''TabletopGame/DarkSun'' video games:
91** ''Dark Sun: Shattered Lands''
92** ''Dark Sun: Wake of Ravager''
93** ''Dark Sun: Crimson Sands'' MMORPG.
94* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest''
95* ''{{VideoGame/Dragonstomper}}''
96* ''VideoGame/ElementalGimmickGear'', except for {{Boss Battle}}s, which are in full 3D.
97* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''. The DS remake of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' uses a similar technique to ''A Link Between Worlds'' to maintain this perspective with 3D graphics.
98* The ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' series.
99* ''VideoGame/HolyUmbrella'' (towns only)
100* ''VideoGame/LunarTheSilverStar'' and ''VideoGame/LunarEternalBlue''.
101* The ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' series.
102* The ''VideoGame/{{Mother}}'' series, though it had a different perspective in towns (and used IsometricProjection in a city).
103* ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}''. The move to the Platform/NintendoDS with Gen 4 allowed them to use more a proper perspective, though this trope still applied when in buildings. They avert the trope in a few towns in Gen 5. By Gen 7, this trope is fully averted, bringing the camera down to proper third-person perspective
104* ''VideoGame/QuestArrest''
105* MediaNotes/RPGMaker provides tilesets to create this kind of perspective.
106* ''VideoGame/SlimeForestAdventure''
107* ''The Speris Legacy'' (a console-style ActionRPG for the Platform/{{Amiga}})
108* The 2D ''VideoGame/WorldOfMana'' games:
109** ''VideoGame/ChildrenOfMana''
110** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyAdventure'' (which also got a 3D remake mimicking this perspective)
111** ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana''
112** ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana''
113* ''VideoGame/ShiningForce'' series.
114* The London Life pack-in game from ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheLastSpecter''.
115* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}''; one of the puzzles in the ruins has a button that rotates the map so the player can see it from different perspectives.
116* ''VideoGame/SheDreamsElsewhere''
117* ''VideoGame/UnhappyEverAfter''
118* ''VideoGame/{{Wasteland}}''
119* ''VideoGame/{{Xak}}'' series
120** ''Xak: The Art of Visual Stage''
121** ''Xak II: Rising of the Redmoon''
122** ''Xak: The Tower of Gazzel''
123** ''Xak III: The Eternal Recurrence''
124** ''Fray in Magical Adventure''
125** ''The Tower of Cabin''
126* Most of the 2D ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' games:
127** ''VideoGame/YsIAncientYsVanishedOmen''
128** ''VideoGame/YsIIAncientYsVanishedTheFinalChapter''
129** ''VideoGame/YsIVMaskOfTheSun''
130** ''VideoGame/YsIVTheDawnOfYs''
131** ''VideoGame/YsVLostKefinKingdomOfSand''
132[[/folder]]
133
134[[folder:Shoot 'em Up]]
135* ''VideoGame/TheGuardianLegend'' for the stages inside NAJU; the flying stages use TopDownView.
136* Mattel's ''VideoGame/ArmorBattle'' for the Intellivision has all its matches taking place in gamefields with this view.
137* ''VideoGame/TimeBandit'' uses this perspective for all maps.
138[[/folder]]
139
140[[folder:Simulation Game]]
141* ''VideoGame/{{RimWorld}}'' for the local map where the main gameplay (player colony, caravan encounters etc.) takes place; the world map uses TopDownView.
142* The original ''VideoGame/SimCity'' used an inconsistent mix of ¾ and top-down perspectives; later games switched to IsometricProjection.
143* ''VideoGame/StardewValley''
144* ''VideoGame/WolfDOS''
145[[/folder]]
146
147[[folder:Stealth-Based Game]]
148* The 2D ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' games.
149[[/folder]]
150
151[[folder:Third-Person Shooter]]
152* ''VideoGame/{{Voxatron}}'' has this, though the camera may be tilted a bit upward and downward.
153[[/folder]]
154
155[[folder:Wide-Open Sandbox]]
156* The computer game ''Lego Loco''
157* ''VideoGame/UnchartedWatersNewHorizons'' had this, but only in ports.
158[[/folder]]
159
160[[folder:Other]]
161* ''VideoGame/{{Basingstoke}}'' is viewed like this.
162* ''VideoGame/ForkParkersCrunchOut'' is viewed in such a way.
163* ''VideoGame/LunaRPGMaker'': Being an MediaNotes/RPGMaker Game, it's viewed from this perspective.
164* ''VideoGame/MeanSanta'': This is how the interior of houses is viewed. The outside is shown [[SideView to Santa's side]].
165* ''VideoGame/NinjaOutbreak'' is viewed in this manner.
166* ''VideoGame/WelcomeToBoonHill'' is viewed this way.
167[[/folder]]

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