I’m shocked there isn’t a thread for the genre considering most of SRK’s fondest gaming memories stem from it and how often people here wish for modern games to measure up to the impossible standards set by the 2D sidescrollers of yesterday. Platformers are my favorite, there’s nothing that can compare to a well designed one and the genre IMO exemplifies how smart level design and catchy but repetitive music can trump millions of on screen enemies or “depth” or any other benefits of technology. It’s also interesting to note how unlike other genres platformers emphasize the levels instead of the character you play as.
Am I the only person who would rather play Mario 3 (the best one or at least tied with SMG1…no I haven’t played SMG2 yet) over any of the God of War, MGS, etc?
In the past decade platformers have been stagnant but it’s nice to see a small revival XBLA and PSN. However 3d platformers are still largely lacking why is that? The only great one I’ve seen in the past 5 years is Super Mario Galaxy and besides that the only other worthwhile mention is the Prince of Persia reboot which would have been great had it not infuriatingly easy and devoid of any puzzles as the series is known for. I really hope the new one isn’t as brain dead and actually has more puzzles.
What’s your top 5 platformers? and the one that doesn’t get enough credit? For me at the moment:
Shinobi 3DS
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
Rocket Knight Adventures
Sonic 2
Sonic 3
Everyone at least here on SRK played Dynamite Heady, Ristar, Vectorman, and the other so called “underrated” games but Jak 2 REALLY doesn’t get proper recognition it’s one of the best and most innovative platformers out there but at best people think of it as “the open world game” instead of a great one.
List of great platformers on XBLA (originals not ports of older games):
Bionic Commando: Rearmed
Braid
LIMBO
Megaman 9
Megaman 10
N+ (really hard)
Rocket Knight (one of my favorite games of this generation it plays exactly like an oldschool game)
Shadow Complex
Splosion Man
The Dishwasher
Winterbottom
1.Super Mario Bros. 3 (SOTN is better, but it was my first video game)
2.Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (which is, in reality, one of the best games ever created)
3.Ninja Gaiden 1&2
4.Super Metroid
5.Sonic 2
I would say most of the Ratchet & Clank series, Sly Cooper, Jak 1-3, obviously the 3D Marios, haven’t played much else as far as 3d platformers go besides those though.
Joint 5th between Super Mario Bros. 3 and SMB: The Lost Levels.
The typical answer there. There are a ton of great platformers that are on the tip of my tongue but I just cannot remember them. Gaming for me never got better than the 16 bit era and I still find myself looking back and playing those games, which is probably why my answer is limited. But hey that’s just nostalgia talking.
Two japanese 16 bit games that I am actually looking to try (once I have my Megadrive modded) are Magical Hat Flying Turbo Adventure and Captain Lang. As far as I’m aware Turbo Adventure is the Japanese version of Decap Attack which I myself am not a fan of but it looks a lot better with the quirky, colourful graphics.
I’ve been playing a lot of Platformance: Castle Pain on the XBLA Indie section. Was only a dollar and have gotten way more than that out of it. SO much fun.
The most legit 3D platformers are probably Crash bandicoot, the 3D Mario games, Trine, Jak and Daxter series, Sly Cooper series, and the Ratchet and Clank series. Those last four are sooooooooo good.
You aren’t a platform-head unless you’ve at least done a leg in some games in those last three series. Serious.
As far as 3d platformers go nothing comes close to Super Mario Galaxy the music, level variety, planet hopping, costumes, and how every little thing comes together is perfect I never felt like anything was added needlessly. Perhaps more then any other game I’ve ever played it embraces the third dimension so it plays nothing like a 2D platformer but is still fun for the same reasons, I can’t wait to start SMG2 as I heard I’ve read it’s very hard:tup:
Other notable 3d platformers:
Ratchet and clank series (especially a crack in time the clank time clone segments and multi stage boss battles are too epic)
Sly Cooper series
Crash series (3’s open world approach made me want every crash game to be that way)
POP series yes even the easy as fuck 2008 reboot which wasn’t great but showed off how fun simple running and jumping can be
Mario series yes even Sunshine and while 64 is still a great game today by comparison the worlds are kind of on the bland side
Sonic adventure series
Metroid Prime series
I just picked up a copy off eBay for £2.50 boxed in good condition. I really am a sucker for those old platformers. Most of the Mickey Mouse games and even The Lion King were good for the Megadrive also. Disney used to licence some pretty good games, back in the day anyway.
I think the most underrated platformer I’d like to bring to widespread attention is X-Men 2: Clone Wars. The level design is fantastic, the character are varied flawlessly to cater to any player’s style, and almost all of the boss fights are unbelievably cool. Also, the game gets really fucking hard on later levels. I still consider this the best X-Men game ever.