There are some side-scrolling games that have navigation within areas that make them seem in one way or another more like they had "depth". There's 2-3 ways to do it, not all of them very interesting or impressive. All of these usually involve exists that are entered by going "up" or "down" (a path away from the screen or towards the screen).
Variants:
1) Parallax layers : each up/down path swaps between parallax layers of the level. Simple, straightforward and quite easy to get the hang of. Technically the hardest of the 3 to implement (and probably rarest with it).
2) Non-parallax layers : same as above, but each layer is on separate map, but beyond the visual side works the same. May have other implications too, such as no enemy movement between layers unlike above.
3) Intersecting maps : The actual direction and link points do not function like with the above two. The cardinal directions left and right represent change depending on the location.
... for example, a small set of maps can form an H, with 2 edge maps that are linked by a map in the middle. Can be confusing tho if the links are always at 90 degree angles and at set lengths, it's easy, going at other angles and alternating lengths this can become very confusing however. Very rare, likely due to the inherent confusion it causes.
Example games:
1) Disney's Hercules
2) UnEpic, and many older sidescrollers
3) Fortune Summoners, one or more of the Quest for Glory games probably. Odin Sphere possibly (circularly linked locations with pathways leading to other similar circular locations).
Personally I would prefer if these are considered separate of single-shot "rooms" being accessed in similar manner, which should be tagged too I think.
Fake 3D navigation in side-scrollers
The existence of towards-screen entrances/exits should be marked separately. Only variant #1 implies they exist in a way that can also be enforced (if it can't, it's not variant #1).
Barbarian II has #2 or #3 too.
Somewhat related to this is when the enemies can move via the scenery layers (not stuck in them as part of the scenery) but the player can't. This happens in Deadlight at least, but I'm fairly sure there are other games with it.
Heroes of the Lance
The more I study HotL, the more I think the hall of columns is actually a semicircle and everything else is straight and at 90° angles.
I wouldn't think it's explicitly 4th kind of this, but rather one of the already stated (no.3 I think) with non-euclidean geometry (that tag is not very good when it's only sparsely present or mostly unnoticeable).
Another game with non-Euclidean geometry is actually Duke Nukem 3D (there's a level with circular room/hallway that you need to go around twice to actually reach the other side) and possibly anything made with the same game engine, since it's fairly simple to create overlapping but separate spaces in it.
Another game with non-Euclidean geometry is actually Duke Nukem 3D (there's a level with circular room/hallway that you need to go around twice to actually reach the other side) and possibly anything made with the same game engine, since it's fairly simple to create overlapping but separate spaces in it.
Correction to previous post, not non-Euclidean but impossible geometry, though I can not say that heroes of the lance example is that really, the map just seems confusing. I'm still fairly sure it's the type 3 kind however (there's no need for it to align perfectly).
Sun at Night and Batman: Arkham Origins: Blackgate have type 3.
Blackgate blurs this quite a bit since it's 3D game locked in side-scrolling 2.5D perspective while the map respects the 3D nature entirely, so it's pretty much what type 3 is in most natural form (it's not fake, but the gameplay is 2D).
Blackgate blurs this quite a bit since it's 3D game locked in side-scrolling 2.5D perspective while the map respects the 3D nature entirely, so it's pretty much what type 3 is in most natural form (it's not fake, but the gameplay is 2D).