Sometimes you don't realize how good you have it until something you treasure fades away. That's how I think many fans of 3D platformers probably feel when looking back on the PS2 era and comparing it to the generations that followed. In many ways the sixth generation of consoles (PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube) represented the apex of the 3D platforming genre. It was the last time when big developers and publishers (other than Nintendo) put their resources into AAA platformers, and the end-result was a healthy, competitive landscape that encouraged trying new things to spice up the formula.
Nowadays when people think of 3D platforming one of two things comes to mind: Mario and indies. That's it. During the sixth-generation of consoles we had a whole assortment of 3D platformers from a variety of developers, some of which genuinely challenged Mario's 3D platforming throne at the time depending on how you felt about Sunshine on the GameCube. It was a time when mega-talented devs like Naughty Dog and Insomniac were engaged in a friendly rivalry as two AAA second-party developers trying to one-up each other with their 3D platforming trilogies in the form of Jak & Daxter and Ratchet & Clank, respectively.
Both series attempted to add something new to the well-established 3D platforming model that had been started by Mario 64 years prior and then expanded upon by the successive works of Nintendo, Rare, and several others during the PS1/N64 era. The Jak series started as a technically stunning open-world collectathon that wore its Crash and Mario 64 inspirations on its sleeve and then moved into more polarizing and experimental territory in its sequels with the introduction of weapons and GTA-esque mission structures. The Ratchet & Clank games were more consistent in their approach from one entry to the next, and they differentiated themselves from others in the genre by giving the player access to an abundance of wildly inventive and fun firearms and gadgets.
The big three on PS2 carried the 3D platforming torch for years.
Pictured Left-to-Right: Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Ratchert & Clank, Sly Cooper
Then of course you had Sucker Punch throwing their hat into the ring with their stealth-focused Sly Cooper trilogy. The Sly games focused on level variety, endearing character writing, and an attractive cel-shaded art style to carve their own niche within the competitive genre space at the time. I'm just giving a few of the more obvious examples of great 3D platformers of the time, but of course there were plenty of others on Xbox and GameCube as well.
While I personally feel that Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 represent the genre at its absolute peak in terms of overall quality, they were released in a generation that otherwise gave us very few 3D platformers. Beyond that, moving into the current generation, the genre seems to have settled into a disappointing groove with only one great 3D Mario per generation and then a handful of well-meaning but unpolished indie efforts. While we were in the midst of the sixth generation I think we might have taken the abundance of 3D platforming goodness for granted since it seemed like a natural evolution of what came before, and we didn't realize how things would change in the future.
Simply the best, but sadly mainline Mario games are the only real competition in town now.
I'm sure that none of this is all that enlightening to anyone who has been following gaming for the last few decades, but it felt good to rant a little bit. The indie 3D platformers of today have not been able to fill the void left behind after the end of the sixth gen, IMO, because many of them either lack the polish of their AAA predecessors or simply miss the point of what made those sprawling 3D worlds fun to explore and jump through.
