Hey!
What do you think is the hardest genre to programm a game?
And what is the easiest from this 3?
2D RPG(Breath of Fire 2)
http://palgn.com.au/media/pics_inside/art_9809_id_2_mw_260.jpeg
[b]2D Space-Shooter/b
2D Jump&Run(Super Mario)
IMO the hardest genre to program is a MMORPG.
Out of the 3 you listed i’d say 2D Space-Shooter(Gradius) is the easiest and the hardest is 2D RPG(Breath of Fire 2).
always ALWAYS depends on the scope
but in general
RPG hardest
SHMUP easiest
when talking about these 3 genres
obviously you can have crazy stuff in a shmup, but standard shmups are pretty much straightforward, thinking thunder force 2 for example.
in jump&runs you have to do more level design and physics
now in RPGs, its whole bunch of stuff
much much level design, enemies, sprites, story & dialog writing
you even have data structures for items and stuff
spells
and then you haven’t even started with the battle system yet.
I started creating a top down FF6 style RPG. Then switched to a sidescrolling view (zelda 2) because of less sprite work.
Nowadays it’s a sidescrolling action RPG (Castlevania, Metroid, Ninja Gaiden (Nes), Muramasa (Wii)) and I have graphics artists, so it wouldn’t matter.
Bottom line: I think there is hardly a more difficult genre to get vast and right, but also the most enjoyable.
Don’t start with a RPG or keep it quite simple.
Especially in battle system you CAN use only few sprites and effects (FF1) but you can also have very much, with action based battle systems - Star Ocean 2 comes to mind.
Yeah in a MMORPG you have all the trouble a RPG has plus networking, social features and stuff; and generally much content.