It is my firm belief that there are three questions (Jared's questions) which must be answered during the design process for any game and that not answering any of these three questions will result in an incoherent game.

1)What is the game about?
2)How does the game set about doing it?
3)What punishment/reward systems will the game use to accomplish this?

Genre is used to describe what a game is but only is part of the answer to question #1.

Let's examine Sonic. This game is about speed. Speed was what we came for more than graphics or boss fights or anything else.

The game had a few great features to keep the speed going. There were bumpers that would immediately turn Sonic around whenever you hit a secret area so that you wouldn't have to slow down.
Of course the key is the reward/punishment systems that are in place. The rewards exist in the form of rings, points, extra-lives, and chaos emeralds. Lives and points are gained through completing the stages fast. Emeralds are gained by collecting rings and beating a level with plenty. Punishments take the form of injury to the character which will do one or more of three things: diminish the player's rings, kill the character, or get rid of Sonic's momentum.

What we get is two goals that are in conflict: getting the rings needed enter bonus stages and get chaos emeralds, and going fast.

The punishments are doled out when a character collides with an enemy or falls a pit.

There are a couple of frustrating areas in the game that most player agree weren't quite as fun. First was the secret areas with rings hidden where there appeared to be lethal falls. Second was the lava flow where Sonic had to stand on blocks that slowly floated across dangerous lava. What do these two parts have in common?

The secrets in pit paired rewards with behavior that exists counter to the game's logic. Diving into the pits is considered bad and often fatal, and requiring it to get rewards is poor form.
The lava flow is the other side of the coin in that it required the player to give up positive behavior (speed) to avoid the negative (getting burned in the lava). Neither scene offers any particular challenge beyond engaging in contrary behavior.

Note in the description there was no mention of the platform genre. It was all about the speed. These priciples apply across media and genres.