Editor's Note: Having recently started playing Mega Man 10 myself, I can certainly appreciate a good 2D game. Jeremy offers up five examples as to how this dimension still has plenty of fight left in it. -Greg

Video game evolution over the years has diverged down different paths. The dawn of 3D meant that, like all new technology, developers flocked to it in droves. Now we see it as the standard style in which games are designed.

2D games have all but disappeared from retail, and though it has seen new life thanks to digital distribution, it still doesn’t occupy the mindshare it used to. Many people see it as “old” and therefore as an evolutionary dead end. This isn’t the case in the slightest, however. Modern game designers are still finding new ways to stretch 2D, proving that it is a viable perspective that continues to evolve as developers gain more design insight. Here are five modern 2D heroes that show as much innovation as their 3D contemporaries.

Presentation Innovator: Odin Sphere (PS2)

Odin Sphere is a game no one even imagined was possible. Retro consoles could not come close to reproducing the effect because they didn’t have the graphical fidelity. At the same time, modern designers -- such as Castlevania mastermind Koji Igarashi -- lamented that making high-quality 2D visuals on consoles was prohibitively expensive, not to mention unpopular.

But Vanillaware took everyone by surprise when they released this PS2 classic. Gorgeously animated character models paired with breathtaking painted backgrounds raised the bar for artistry in games. Their other games share this quality as well. GrimGrimoire, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, and even import Princess Crown are all in a league of their own graphically. Odin Sphere, though, is by far their strongest statement.

Narrative Innovator: Mother 3 (GBA)

Gameplay-shaping narrative has been a buzzworthy concept for the past few years, as has immersion. However, you wouldn’t expect to find them in a game with sprites for characters. Yet this is exactly what makes Mother 3 so endearing. It has the same appealing art style as predecessor EarthBound but utilizes a different structure to great effect.

The entire game is based around a single island, which is populated by a town of people whom you interact with throughout the game. Each NPC sprite is individual and recognizable, as is their personalities as you talk to them.

Watching both the town and the townspeople change enriches the story like none before. Perhaps most impressive is how the game uses sprite animation to convey narrative elements. Because of this, the scene at the end of the first chapter is one of the most heart-rending of any game period. It’s a shame Mother 3 never made it Stateside, because a game so full of moments like this needs to be played.

Brawler Innovator: Castle Crashers (XBLA)

Let’s be blunt: Most old-school brawlers don’t hold up today. You can inject some fun into them with multiplayer, as seen earlier this year with Final Fight: Double Impact, but the basic gameplay is repetitive and lacks variety. So it is somewhat surprising that Castle Crashers succeeds as much as it does.

It uses the same basic brawler concepts of beating up enemies on an isometric plane, but it jazzes things up in several key areas. Online multiplayer ups the fun quotient as expected, but the game’s real innovation is in replay value. Hidden weapons and pets are scattered throughout the game to find, which plays into the multiplayer aspect by allowing for the passage of information schoolyard-style as you’re playing with different people. Throw in a bizarrely cartoon-like art style with the game’s unique brand of humor and you have a weird and wonderful experience.

Poor initial netcode killed a lot of enthusiasm for the game, but if you can get online working, you’re in for a treat.

Hyperactive Innovator: Half-Minute Hero (PSP)

2D is no stranger to RPGs given that the retro landscape was flooded with them, featuring many common elements that eventually became standard tropes. But while they have become tired through overuse, that doesn’t mean that they can’t be utilized creatively.

Enter Half-Minute Hero, a deconstruction of 8-bit RPGs. By breaking the formula into pieces and attaching a short time limit to them, these familiar pieces seem to go by at breakneck speed, making them into something that feels more like an action game. The pixel art aesthetic further drives home the point of transforming something familiar into something new.

It’s a lesson designers would do well to learn: Classic gameplay hasn’t been completely used up. There is always potential to do something new with established paradigms.

Subtle Innovator: Mega Man 9 (WiiWare/PSN/XBLA)

This game has been talked to death. It marked a triumphant return to hardcore consciousness and was hailed for its consistency to the old games. But while Mega Man 9 re-established the franchise as something to be taken seriously again, it also sported innovations no one would see but would unknowingly come across as they played.

The level design effectively mimicked that of the best Mega Man games, but not quite. You see, every design decision was informed by modern sensibilities. So while the game feels like a lost chapter in a retro series, it’s actually a modern refinement.

The same holds true with the visuals. They are consistent with the 8-bit style of the old games, but many elements could not have been done on the NES. That this kind of fakery is undetectable is a smart bit of design. So while this game is a statement on the timelessness of classic gameplay, it also proves that new can intermingle with old without feeling out of place.