Though as a sidescroller it naturally lacks some of the typical tactical depth of a roguelike,
Woah, disagree. The type of 'board' has very little if anything to do with the tactical depth of a game. If anything, a sidescroller cuts out an 'unnecessary' dimension and requires the developer to focus on more important aspects of 'tactical depth.'
There are only two aspects of the board that is important in regards to gameplay, whether it is 2d or 1d- the distance from enemies and the features of the terrain. There are ancillary qualities like LOS, but that can be represented in 1d or 1.5d. There is nothing about 2 dimensions that make a game
inherently more tactical.
If we consider a roguelike, what does the 2nd dimension of the board actually do for gameplay? It's more enjoyable to explore from a player's point of view, but it inherently does close to nothing for 'tactical depth.' If anything, it creates the artificial illusion of depth, but having that extra dimension of movement doesn't really do anything.
I create distinction between 1d and 2d which isn't immediately clear- I put a platformer in the 1.5d category-- Jumping, relative to its meaning in gameplay, serves as a 'portal' to another area of the level. If we separate a level in terms of what areas must be jumped to, then we have a perfectly one dimensional game. Roguelikes can similarly be reduced to a literal one dimension (moving to the right is a 1-bit right shift, moving down is an 8-bit right shift- you can even play chess in 1 dimension).
In this way, sidescrollers and grid-maps have no literal difference in terms of INHERENT complexity. If you want a tactically interesting game, design it to be interesting in the first dimension and transliterate it to the second. Games that start in the second may 'feel' more 'tactical,' but whether they are or not has nothing to do with the dimensionality of movement.
Fighting games, for example, are typically one-dimensional games. You can either move toward your opponent or away (jumping is a shift in gravity or position-- a stance, you don't actually
move relative to the board), there isn't really anything else to consider- only the distance between you and your opponent. Fighting games are, also, incredibly tactical.
