History Main / TwoAndAHalfD

* ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'': The games ''[[VideoGame/ShantaeRiskysRevenge Risky's Revenge]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/ShantaeHalfGenieHero Half-Genie Hero]]'' onwards features a "layered" approach, where you can hop between the foreground, regular-ground, and background in certain areas.

Let's not dwell on the confusing terms that are sure to arise for 2½D games on the stereoscopically-3D UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS.

* ''VideoGame/SuperCastlevaniaIV'' allowed Simon to use gates in the first level to go in front of, or behind, a fence. Doing so would allow him to traverse obstacles in front of or behind said fence. There were other similar parts through the game as well, including enemies that appeared from the fore/background.

** ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'' is a UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS remake of ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'' that employs 3D models in a 2D playfield.

* Classic UsefulNotes/NeoGeo fighter ''VideoGame/FatalFury'' (and its descendants) allow a player to jump from the foreground to the background, and to launch attacks back and forth. The jumps were replaced by slides and the system was progressively refined over the course of the series until being completely dropped in ''VideoGame/GarouMarkOfTheWolves''.
* ''VideoGame/SavageReign'' allows an upper and lower plane. Especially notable is that in some stages, the "upper plane" consists of hanging off something [[RuleOfCool while fighting.]]

* ''VideoGame/DragonBallFighterZ'' follows the same style as the ''Xrd'' games.
* Modern fighting games like ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' and ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'' feature 2D combat with 3D engines, allowing different cinematic views during certain moves or scenes. (Such as Ultra Moves in the former, and Fatalities in the latter.) Around the same time, the little known ''VideoGame/StreetFighterOnlineMouseGeneration'' for the PC was also not full 3D.
* The ''VideoGame/StreetFighterEX'' titles (''SFIV'' actually owes a lot of its design to the ''EX'' series), although many were erroneously under the impression that ''EX'' was purely 3D.

* The ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' fighting games for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS allow you to 'line jump' between two planes to avoid attacks and play keep-away.
* One of the downloadable packs for ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'' is the Black Mask campaign. In the action campaign, the normally 3D game becomes a side-scrolling beat-em-up that still uses the standard 3D graphics.

* After years of keeping alive the spirit of "dot art" sprites, ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXIV'' went for 3D graphics (previously, the only ''KOF'' games to use 3D graphics was the ''Maximum Impact'' sub-series, but leaned more into the 3D aspect of the game). The game remains a 2D fighter, however. Previously (for ''XII'' and ''XIII''), SNKP had been using 3D character models as templates to create sprites from but did not actually use the 3D models in-game. This style would also be used for ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXV'', with a notable update to its art direction.

* ''VideoGame/CrossbowWarriorTheLegendOfWilliamTell'': Most of the levels are rendered in 3D, but [[PlayerCharacter William Tell]] moves in 2D, barring a couple of levels that have him moving forward in a 3D environment.

* ''VideoGame/NinjaBattleHeroes'': The game is played in 2D, but it has 3D graphics, to the point that enemies can appear in the background and attack from there. [[PlayerCharacter Saizo Kirigakure]] can't go back there to attack them, but he can throw ninja stars at them from the foreground, or summon Kamanosuke Yuri to attack them.

* ''Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie'': In the game for the SNES, you could press the shoulder buttons to flip to the "back" or the "front" to avoid obstacles, such as in the very first level to avoid cars. The enemies could do this as well.
* ''VideoGame/{{Bug|1995}}'': An experimental take on 2½D, the titular character (a 2D sprite) could move through a 3D maze.
* ''VideoGame/DuckDodgersStarringDaffyDuck'', a Nintendo 64 game, was a 3D platformer with 2½D sections.
* The ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' series has a few:
** ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards,'' uses 3D character models that move along a 3D curving path.
** ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'' and ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'' are traditional 2D Kirby games, but with 3D graphics.
** ''VideoGame/KirbyTripleDeluxe'' plays with this by having both a foreground and a background available in many stages, with enemies able to attack from the background in a manner similar to Kirby 64.
** ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'' has some pathways in a similar vein to ''Kirby 64'' and returning the background/foreground feature from ''Triple Deluxe''. There are also bosses that attack in the background similarly to the last two games, such as Gigavolt, Clanky Woods and [[spoiler:Dedede Clone]].
** While ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand'' is a [[VideoGame3DLeap fully 3D game]], it has an interesting mechanic created accommodate players to the 3D gameplay. The game calculates hit detection based on the camera's angle, so depending on the angle, if an attack looks like it hit an enemy, [[https://twitter.com/gosokkyu/status/1506883854636036098 it will register a hit even if the attack didn't actually connect]].
* The ''VideoGame/{{Klonoa}}'' series, which uses all of the tricks listed above and more. Klonoa can even be controlled in three dimensions, even if he's limited to only two.
* ''VideoGame/Pandemonium1996'' was a 2D platformer in a 3D environment. Stuff like spiral stairs, or two paths at different heights splitting into different directions, was common.

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** The 2D segments in ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' are really this. The only thing keeping them from being 3D is the complete inability to move to the side under ''your own'' power (which you have in the 3D segments) -- you can easily be, and often are, moved in the third direction by bumpers, spiral paths, and paths with loop-de-loops.
** ''VideoGame/SonicColors'' also does this, but with greater focus on the 2D platforming aspect.
** ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' plays with this trope to varying extents with its two playable characters: Modern Sonic's use is similar to Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Colors with its 3D/2.5D shifts at certain points of a given level; Classic Sonic's use, on the other hand, is all 2.5D. The 3DS version, meanwhile, is entirely 2.5D except for parts of the final boss battle.
** ''VideoGame/SonicRush'' and [[VideoGame/SonicRushAdventure its sequel]] plays in 2D (except for bosses, in which the paths curve and twist, thus being 2.5D), but Sonic and Blaze are 3D models with outlines put around them to make them look 2D. This allows segments where Sonic and Blaze are "closer to or further away" from the screen during certain level specific gimmicks. The DS version of ''Sonic Colors'' by Dimps uses the same engine and gameplay style as the ''Rush'' games.
** The ''VideoGame/SonicRivals'' series for the PSP has 3D graphics, and linear paths that twist and curve.
** ''VideoGame/SonicCD'' had Metallic Madness zone, where you could go behind certain walls to progress and get powerups, before going back into the front again to continue the level proper.
** ''VideoGame/SonicMania'' brings back Metallic Madness, where it introduces a gimmick that lets Sonic enter parts of the level in the background.
** ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4 Episode II''. The entire game is in 2½D, more than ''Episode I'' is, Sonic is fully rendered in 3D and the levels are in 3D but you move along a 2D path. In fact White Park Act 2 and the Boss Act has you running along a roller coaster track and there are springs that'll send Sonic to the tracks in the background and vice versa.
** ''VideoGame/SonicSuperstars'' follows ''Sonic 4 Episode II''[='s=] lead, having the playable characters and zones rendered in 3D, but keeping most of the action on a 2D plane. Like the White Park boss (and Metallic Madness in ''Sonic Mania''), certain zones feature gimmicks that transfer characters between the foreground and background.
* ''Franchise/MegaMan'':
** ''VideoGame/MegaManX7'' danced between 2D and 3D without much warning. ''VideoGame/MegaManX8'' might be a better example, as it stayed in 2D but had some occasional 3D-esque moments.
** ''VideoGame/MegaMan11'' is the first game in the ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'' series to use 3D graphics, and still keeps the traditional 2D gameplay.
** ''VideoGame/MegaManNetworkTransmission'' is the only game in the ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' series to use 3D graphics, but it features 2D action-platforming gameplay similar to the classic ''Mega Man'' series.
* ''Goemon's Great Adventure'' is done in full 3D, but the character can only move along one plane. The paths curve and branch off, but outside of towns, left and right are your only choices.
* ''VideoGame/ViewtifulJoe'' and its sequel are both like this.
* ''Franchise/DonkeyKong'':
** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'' was designed this way. It not only features levels with full-fledged 3D visuals that are still played in 2D fashion, but in some of them Donkey and Diddy have to use barrels to launch themselves to a part of the scenery that is located in the background and keep exploring from there. This reaches a logical conclusion in the Temple level of World 8 (Volcano), where the Kongs complete small tests to proceed further into the level's backside, instead of going forward or backward.
** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze'' expands on what ''Returns'' did by adding curving paths and Camera Perspective Switch during segments like barrel cannon sequences and RocketRide levels. Certain MinecartMadness levels also involve jumping back and forth between parallel rails.

* ''VideoGame/DukeNukemManhattanProject'' constrains the action to a plane, but can make the playable plane go around corners or allow the player to move between planes in certain areas by hitting the up-arrow in locations marked as such.
* Most platforming levels in ''VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet'' and its sequels take the layered approach. However, thanks to the LevelEditor, a good deal of user-generated levels opt for a different genre or disable moving between layers.
* ''VideoGame/{{Oddworld}}'' is a purely 2D side-scroller, but has several levels with two layers. Sometimes the player can go to the background layer, sometimes the background layer simply has enemies that shoot at the player.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fez}}'' plays around with this considerably. All the action is 2D platforming, but the engine is 3D and allows rotating the level to form a new perspective. Manipulating camera angle to exploit the RuleOfPerception is a core gameplay mechanic. For example, if you have several disconnected chunks of a ladder, and you rotate the camera so they appear to line up, then as long as you stay at that angle you can climb them as if they were a single connected ladder.
%%* The 3DS version of ''VideoGame/CaveStory'' counts, especially because the graphics are both polygonal 3D ''and'' stereoscopic 3D.
* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadowMirrorOfFate'' on the 3DS is one of these, featuring 2D-style platforming but with 3D graphics and a few [[{{backgroundboss}} bosses]] who move in and out of the background [[{{multistagebattle}} as the fight proceeds]].
%%* ''Final Exam'', a HackAndSlash {{spinoff}} of the ''VideoGame/{{ObsCure}}'' series.
* ''VideoGame/TheAdventuresOfLomax'' utilizes this at times, with you moving between various planes of the level set in the background and foreground. There are also some obstacles that attempt to use 3D perspective, like spiky balls that are attached to a chain and swing towards and away from the screen.
* Both ''VideoGame/ClockworkKnight'' games are 2D platformers that use 3D graphics.
* ''VideoGame/AnotherSight'' has three dimensional graphics and two-dimensional gameplay, for the most part, although Kit can hide behind some objects in the foreground and background. Hodge and Kit are actually on slightly different layers of the world, which means Hodge can be blocked by things Kit can walk around and vice versa; usually Hodge is behind Kit, but sometimes he weaves in front of her to jump on foreground elements.
* ''VideoGame/{{Wells}}'' is rendered in 3D, but plays 2D.
* ''VideoGame/MightyNo9'' features 3D visuals also powered by Unreal Engine 3, but its gameplay solely 2D like its spiritual predecessor.
* ''VideoGame/BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight'' uses 3D graphics and powered by Unreal Engine 4, but its gameplay is 2D similarly to past IGA-vania titles. It does play around with this, however, by having the game rotate the screen and Miriam can traverse areas in this fashion.
* ''CID the Dummy'', an obscure UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} platformer, is set on a 2D plane and uses 3D grapics, but the titular character controls in 3 dimensions. This, alongside the poor controls, can cause you to experience several extremely cheap deaths.
* ''VideoGame/CrescentPaleMist'' uses 3D graphics for the environments and visual effects, but the gameplay is 2D and allows players to jump between different 2D planes at key points at a given level. Many of the 2D sprites are also uses pixel art for the characters and hand-drawn sprites for the enemies.
* ''VideoGame/NappleTaleArsiaInDaydream'' uses 2D platforming and curving, though linear, paths. It switches to FreeRotatingCamera for its HubLevel.

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** Some gaming media outlets classify the ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' series as this, depending on whose reviews you read. While Mario can move in three dimensions, the areas he moves through tend to be narrow and reminescent of traditional sidescrolling levels and ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' gets a lot of milage out of the "Layers" variant. ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' only complicates things by being a 2D platformer you can ''flip'' to 3D in some instances.
* There's an example of the "3D game with a 2D interlude" variety in the 2D platforming stages of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded''.

* The VideoGame/RAYSeries is best-known for the limited degee with which the player interacts with the third dimension. Your two basic weapons are a standard shot that attacks same-altitude enemies, and lock-on HomingLasers that can target enemies below you that your shot cannot hit. Additionally, while the latter two games in the series, ''[=RayStorm=]'' and ''[=RayCrisis=]'', use 3D graphics, ''[=RayForce=]'' is notable for achieving 3D effects with ''2D sprites''; the effect is especially pronounced at the end of area 4 when you descend through a fissure into the underground city below.

* ''VideoGame/VerticalForce'' for the Platform/VirtualBoy had a button to move the player's ship between two layers.

%%* If the top entry wasn't enough for you, try its SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/{{Astebreed}}''!

** ''Mario Clash'', also on the Platform/VirtualBoy, was basically ''VideoGame/MarioBros'' with action taking place on a separate foreground and background, connected (of course) by pipes. Shells could be aimed from one into the other. The cancelled ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hua4kVJDNKc VB Mario Land]]'' (which ''Mario Clash'' was originally a {{minigame}} from) also let Mario enter the background, and had top-down segments as well.

* ''VideoGame/VerticalForce'' for the UsefulNotes/VirtualBoy had a button to move the player's ship between two layers.

** ''Mario Clash'', also on the UsefulNotes/VirtualBoy, was basically ''VideoGame/MarioBros'' with action taking place on a separate foreground and background, connected (of course) by pipes. Shells could be aimed from one into the other. The cancelled ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hua4kVJDNKc VB Mario Land]]'' (which ''Mario Clash'' was originally a {{minigame}} from) also let Mario enter the background, and had top-down segments as well.

*** While the first game is mostly 2D, there are brief segments that introduce fire bars and platforms that rotate along a z-axis, as well as a final boss that attacks Yoshi from the background that many future games replicate.

* ''VideoGame/{{Backbone}}'' is an AdventureGame which plays like a 2D side-scroller, with 2D characters in a 3D environment.

** The ArtShift of ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'' works like this, with the overworld and battle arenas being in 3D while most of the characters and enemies are represented by 2D sprites (except within the giant battles).
* ''VideoGame/BugFables'': Being based on ''Paper Mario'', the game has full 3D areas with the cast with 2D paper designs.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrails'': The [[VideoGame/TrailsInTheSky Liberl]] and [[VideoGame/TrailsFromZero Crossbell]] games have three-dimensional worlds with characters shown as SuperDeformed semi-2D sprites.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' is 2.5D; the player walks around in a two-dimensional grid based world, but structures around the player change perspective as they move around. Stuff like buildings and terrain are 3D, but the characters and most objects used flat sprites, the battles are still full 2D.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' is also grid-based, but has a couples of areas where the camera shifts or rotates, by contrast with the (mostly) fixed camera from previous games.
** The 3DS games ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' and ''VideoGame/PokemonOmegaRubyAndAlphaSapphire'' are the first main series games to be completely in 3D, even within battle and even with characters found within the overworld. The game still plays similarly to past games, however, only with more animations for characters other than their walking animation and the ability to move in 8 directions or more (depending on where you are within the game world and, in the case of ''X and Y'', whether you have the roller skates or the bike on you at the time or not).

* ''VideoGame/SolatoroboRedTheHunter'' is set in a 3D environment (mostly, there's still {{Invisible Wall}}s everywhere), but while the main character and enemies are in 3D, everyone else is an animated 2D cutout.

* ''VideoGame/CrossbowWarriorTheLegendOfWilliamTell'': Most of the levels are rendered in 3D, but [[PlayerCharacter Williem Tell]] moves in 2D, barring a couple of levels that have him moving foreward in a 3D environment.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bug}}'': An experimental take on 2½D, the titular character (a 2D sprite) could move through a 3D maze.

** The ''VideoGame/{{Sonic Rush|Series}}'' series plays in 2D (except for bosses, in which the paths curve and twist, thus being 2.5D), but Sonic and Blaze are 3D models with outlines put around them to make them look 2D. This allows segments where Sonic and Blaze are "closer to or further away" from the screen during certain level specific gimmicks.
** The underrated ''VideoGame/SonicRivals'' series for the PSP has 3D graphics, and linear paths that twist and curve.
** ''VideoGame/SonicCD'' had Metallic Madness zone, where you could go behind certain walls to progress and get powerups, before going back infront again to continue the level proper.
** ''VideoGame/SonicMania'' brings back Metallic Madness where it introduces a gimmick that lets Sonic enter parts of the level in the background.

* ''CID the Dummy'', an obscure UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} platformer, is set on a 2D plain and uses 3D grapics, but the titular character controls in 3 dimensions. This, alongside the poor controls, can cause you to experience several extremely cheap deaths.

* ''CID the Dummy'', an obscure UsefulNote/{{Wii}} platformer, is set on a 2D plain and uses 3D grapics, but the titular character controls in 3 dimensions. This, alongside the poor controls, can cause you to experience several extremely cheap deaths.