I Want to Get Over My Platformer Trauma, Suggestions?

[Valkerion]

So I've been avoiding platformers for basically all my gaming life post Genesis. The instant death falls or spikes always frustrated me as a kid. The check points that make you do it all over again if you die at the boss. Just the whole process I just hated as a kid. Games with a more combat focus I was into but never beat either like Vectorman, Shinobi, and some random others I got experience with. Once the playstation rolled around I got more into RPG's and other adventure/action games but just actively avoided the platforming stuff. But any time someone asks me what my favorite Mario game is... don't got one, I kinda hated all of them, Mega Man, #1 most frustrating thing I've ever tried to do lol, and so on.

I've played some metroidvania games and quite enjoyed most of them since they rarely have the usual tropes of platforming games. Stuff like Symphony of the Night and Megaman ZX I've completed and really liked. In fact I think I've only played other Castlevania games like that.

So are there any newer games that can help me get over my bias. Any that people would suggest to ease me in. Got a few weeks vacation coming so nows a good a time as any I guess to try and knock one out.

Currently have:
PS4
Switch
PC
3DS
Vita

Also should say, I got Mario 3D world on Wii U but never played it. So if people suggest that I might give it a try.

 

[LuigiBlood]

Kirby games in general that'll make for a small treat

 

[Rosebud]

Ratchet & Clank, I'm not a fan of platformers but love this game

 

[Static]

Also should say, I got Mario 3D world on Wii U but never played it. So if people suggest that I might give it a try.

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If you already have it it couldn't hurt. Fire it up, give it 10 or 15 minutes. If you don't love it, leave it.

If you're willing to try a sonic game, Sonic Mania is currently on sale on Steam and it's very well received. I haven't played it myself though, and I personally always found those games a little bit mean. Have you ever tried a game like Super Meat Boy? They're challenging, but their habit of removing any downtime has a way of easing the frustration of all those spike pits. Celeste was the latest one of these I played and I adored it to the high heavens even as I cursed its name while trying to play through its very hardest levels. It also has a selection of assists you can turn on to tone down the difficulty with a great degree of granularity. You have a Switch so you also have access to the absolutely amazing Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, and while it's a very challenging game too, Funky Kong's addition has the fun side effect of making it a much more approachable game.

I really should've just recommended Tropical Freeze alone. Damn that game's good.

 

[Valkerion]

Oh yeah!

I played Ratchet and Clank PS4 a few months ago and genuinely enjoyed it.

The die and instant load and die/instant load titles like Meat Boy never looked interesting to me so I might not be down for that. I did like Hardcorps Uprising on PS3 though, but I played the arcade mode with unlocking add-ons every few runs.

Kirby games in general that'll make for a small treat

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Which Kirby game, there are seemingly a ton of them and not sure which ones are platformers or other types of games.

 

[Static]

And if none of these look or sound appealing, it's okay to just keep disliking platformers.

This was supposed to be an edit.

 

[CaptainK]

Which Kirby game, there are seemingly a ton of them and not sure which ones are platformers or other types of games.

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Kirby: Triple Deluxe (3DS)
Kirby: Planet Robobot (3DS)
Kirby Star Allies (Switch)

All three are good platformers

 

[LuigiBlood]

Which Kirby game, there are seemingly a ton of them and not sure which ones are platformers or other types of games.

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Kirby Super Star (Ultra), Kirby's Return to Dream Land, Kirby Triple Deluxe, Kirby Planet Robobot and Kirby Star Allies are good starts.

Kirby Star Allies is the easiest one (outside of the new Another Dimension mode) IMO if you wanna start slow, Kirby Super Star may be the hardest of all of them (still easy enough), but there are very little death traps that I can remember and dying by falling is pretty rare as soon as you float so...

 

[MrBadger]

Which Kirby game, there are seemingly a ton of them and not sure which ones are platformers or other types of games.

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If you can only play one, Planet Robobot on 3DS is the best one without a doubt. Triple Deluxe on 3DS is also pretty good. It's really hard to recommend the one on Switch though, unless co-op is a huge draw for you

 

[Panic Freak]

Ori on PC.

 

[Fireblend]

Super Mario 3D World is an outstanding game. Sounds like a no brainer to me considering you already own it.

 

[Valkerion]

Pretty sure I'll give 3D World a real attempt when I get around to hooking the Wii U up again at some point, got too many unfinished games on it. Curious about other franchises though as well.

I've always liked Mega Man despite not being able to beat any of his traditional titles. Legends and ZX are all I've been able to manage.

 

[J-Spot]

IIRC Rayman Origins and Legends do away with the life system and have pretty generous checkpoints. Might be worth a play if redoing levels is your concern.

 

[Deleted member 8752]

Man, platformer are still my main #2 genre after all these years. My honest thought process is to not really overthink this and choose a platformer made by Nintendo. Their level design language is so intuitive these days that they basically teach you how to play without you even realizing it. Any Supet Mario game or Kirby game should be good for you. Not all Yoshi games are good though, I'd only recommend Woolly World or the original Yoshi's Island right now.

I'd also recommend sonic mania - but I think this is maybe a bit too advanced for a platforming novice to be honest.

And as much as I love love love Mega Man games, I'd steer clear in your particular situation.

SM3DW is probably the best game for you overall. It's very balanced and enjoyable. One of the best games for a new platforming fan to play in my opinion. And pretty much a master class in level design.

 

[mxbison]

Rayman Legends starts off pretty easy, has checkpoints and lots of creativity and variety in levels.

No idea why this game is never mentioned when discussing patformers, it's one of the best imo.

 

[Kinsei]

The Donkey Kong Country games. 1-3 and Returns are available on 3DS and Tropical Freeze is on Switch.

 

[Deleted member 16908]

Mario Odyssey is very easy.

 

[Deleted member 36622]

I hear you, i've been through this since the first platformers i played back in my childhood (even hard ones like Lion King which apparently people thought it was hard) weren't momentum based, so the first time i played Super Mario i had that moment of confusion on understanding how to run and jump at the same time.

My suggestion is play Kirby's Adventure (either on 3DS or Switch through the NES catalogue): it's the Kirby therapy, ideal when you want to feel good about yourself.

Kirby has its own weird mechanics (like the final jump at the end of the level, it took me a while to understand what i was supposed to do), but once you understand those, the game is designed to be enjoyed by everyone, at the same time the level design in this specific entry is very good, it doesn't treat you like an idiot, if you die you don't lose much, power-ups are meaty so you can always recover health or lives,...
no stressful countdowns, no hundreds of enemies to deal with or dodge,...

 

[Deleted member 3465]

Although you don't have the system listed I'll say I never fully enjoyed a platformer until Mario Galaxy and afterwards it's sequel. Completely blew my mind and I'd go with that if you have a Wii U since you mention 3D World. 3D World is pretty great too if you start there ^^. Personally never really enjoyed Mario games either as a child and there's nothing wrong with that.

Kirby is also a great suggestion for getting started. Superstar or Robobot would be perfect.

 

[King Dodongo]

Yoshi comes out later this month.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

If you want some light puzzles, relative low stress, and generous checkpoints in a platformer, I recommend trying the Unravel games.

 

[ThatsMyTrunks]

I'm gonna self promote for a moment:
kuso is a platforming game that seems incredibly challenging at first glance but you can play the game with unlimited lives and you can set your own checkpoints. And it's purely a platforming game, there's no attack or anything. It's not quite as easy as a Kirby game, but it should scratch the itch.

It's on Switch for $5 and has a really good soundtrack (which is the only thing I didn't do for the game).
https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/kuso-switch

 

[grmlin]

Ori and the blind Forest. One of the very best games this gen, and while it gets tough, it's a joy to master it.

Btw: I'm a jump and run noob who ignored these games for the last 20 years. Played them a lot when I was young.

 

[Revolsin]

Azure Striker Gunvolt is tight action platforming at its near-finest.

Made by the same developers as Mega Man ZX and Zero, it's not actually that hard but lord is it incredibly fun. The fast as hell platforming is an amazing time, especially in the 2nd game(more incoming too, it's an ongoing series!).

Get the Striker version on Switch as it includes some great updates for the first game too on top of the second game.

 

[Dyle]

Celeste and Donkey Kong Country Returns:Tropical Freeze are probably going to be best for you. They both get fairly hard, enough to be exciting but not too much to be frustrating, but have lots of options for tweaking the difficulty to your liking and allowing you to progress easily

 

[Zoantharia]

You have 3D World! There's your answer! Brilliant game all around, and a joy to play. First few worlds are quite simple, they should ease you in nicely. Difficulty ramps up nicely from World 5 or 6, but never excessively (until you get to Champion's Road, that is...)

 

[SMD]

If you want an easy game to get into, try Kirby. If you want something with a good learning curve, Super Mario 3D World. If you fancy yourself a modern take on classic platformers, Sonic Mania. If you want something that isn't an out and out platformer, Shovel Knight.

I know you said you wanted a new game but for me the GOAT is still Super Mario World.

 

[Deleted member 8752]

I'm gonna self promote for a moment:
kuso is a platforming game that seems incredibly challenging at first glance but you can play the game with unlimited lives and you can set your own checkpoints. And it's purely a platforming game, there's no attack or anything. It's not quite as easy as a Kirby game, but it should scratch the itch.

It's on Switch for $5 and has a really good soundtrack (which is the only thing I didn't do for the game).
https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/kuso-switch

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Looks cool.

 

[Luis Carretero]

Mario Odyssey is very easy.

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Yeah, you should try Mario Odyssey

Is very good, is more about the exploration of the environment with some platform along the way. Is such a treat

 

[Valkerion]

I'll check out of some of the suggestions here next week for sure. Going to start with 3D World on Wii U. Pretty interested in Kirby as well so I'll do some research on which one to try out in that regard. Thanks for the opinions and suggestions so far guys!

 

[night814]

Rayman Legends starts off pretty easy, has checkpoints and lots of creativity and variety in levels.

No idea why this game is never mentioned when discussing patformers, it's one of the best imo.

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Probably because that was kind of the death of Rayman and they moved to mobile which I'll never understand. Game is definitely great and is a shame it never got a proper follow up.

Super Meat Boy is a really fun challenging platformer. Bite sized levels that can be really challenging but far from impossible.

 

[SofNascimento]

Get Claw

It's both forgiving in its plataforming but it always show you just how much you can improve.

 

[Cocolina]

I've played some metroidvania games and quite enjoyed most of them since they rarely have the usual tropes of platforming games. Stuff like Symphony of the Night and Megaman ZX I've completed and really liked. In fact I think I've only played other Castlevania games like that.

So are there any newer games that can help me get over my bias.

Click to shrink...

Check out Outland, it's on PC

 

[RedDevil]

Regardless of your experience with classic Mega Man, you can always try the Mega Man 11 demo, it's on PC, PS4 and Switch.

 

[alexbull_uk]

LittleBigPlanet is a favourite of mine. Not particularly punishing but a decent challenge and very inventive. Can be had cheap, too.

You can go PS4 or Vita. The Vita version is actually really good, better than you'd probably expect and perhaps the best in the series.

 

[catpurrcat]

IIRC Rayman Origins and Legends do away with the life system and have pretty generous checkpoints. Might be worth a play if redoing levels is your concern.

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Totally agree (especially Legends). These are Nintendo quality platformers with excellent innovation and art.

Not sure I agree with the tropical freeze recommendations despite it being my favorite modern platformer. It can be very frustrating at times and some levels have trial-and-error sections that are annoying. Other than that it's a 10/10 game.

 

[signal]

Alundra ~

 

[RadicalDreamer]

Oh my goodness, how has no one mentioned Hollow Knight yet? As another person who generally dreads platforming sections of games, I've really come to love the experience in Hollow Knight. While platforming is an important aspect of the game, most of the truly frustrating challenges are optional and not required to advance in the main story. I've stained the world with so many shades after dying countless times, but it has taught me to learn from my mistakes and keep getting better.

 

[super moustique]

Also should say, I got Mario 3D world on Wii U but never played it.

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That was my suggestion before checking your thread, do it ! :)

 

[Wozman23]

The platformer genre has such a variety of experiences:

140 if you like minimalism and rhythm mechanics. Also it can be beat in under an hour.
Rayman Origins/Legends for their whimsy, creativity, and art style
Velocity 2X if you like vertical scrolling SHMUPS. It's half SHMUP, half platformer.
Octahedron if you like arcade experiences.
Snake Pass if you want something that feels completely fresh. The controls take a little time to grasp, but once you get them it is sublime.
Sound Shapes for similar reasons to 140.
Astro Bot Rescue Mission if you have PSVR.
Sly Cooper is more action/platformer like Ratchet & Clank.
Tearaway if you want an artsy, creativity promoting game similar to the stuff Nintendo releases.

Plus there are plenty of great metroidvanias like Guacamelee, Ori, Yoku's Island Express...
And plenty of puzzle platformers like Snapshot, the Trine series, Little Nightmares, Inside, Fez...

 

[Valkerion]

Alundra ~

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Horrible person. Also already playing it lol. At like 8 hours and only at Kline's Dream, think theres like 60% more of the game to do lol. This thing is nuts.

 

[galv]

 

[Skyfireblaze]

Just saying if you have a PC with a somewhat capable CPU you can also dump your 3D World copy and play it emulated in CEMU, the game in higher-res really shines! Otherwise I echo Iconoclasts, Gunvolt and the 3DS Kirby games! :)

 

[Majukun]

super meat boy

time to rip that band-aid all at once

 

[Pirateluigi]

I'm gonna self promote for a moment:
kuso is a platforming game that seems incredibly challenging at first glance but you can play the game with unlimited lives and you can set your own checkpoints. And it's purely a platforming game, there's no attack or anything. It's not quite as easy as a Kirby game, but it should scratch the itch.

It's on Switch for $5 and has a really good soundtrack (which is the only thing I didn't do for the game).
https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/kuso-switch

Click to shrink...

Much props to you. I loved this game.

 

[Jakke_Koala]

Guacamelee. Great colorful metroidvania's with pretty good combat. Bit of hit and miss humor and great soundtrack. The first one iq really cheap when it's on sale

 

[Quinton]

Hey, this has been an informative thread for me as well. Thanks for making it, OP.

 

[Bitterman]

Start off with something light like mario3dland/world and mario odyssey Then you can try playing shovel knight which is also not very difficult IMO. Rayman origins and rayman legends are also good at this stage. You may also try sunset overdrive on PC coz it has combat mixed in and is a ton of fun. Guacamelee games are great too.

Then after all this, you should proceed to playing more challenging ones like Ori1 and soon ori1, Super Meat Boy, Celeste and Hollow Knight (this is more of a metroidvania though). You can play the post-game content for mario 3dworld/odyssey for a good challenge.

Also be sure to play Mario galaxy games on wiiU/emulator.

 

[jotun?]

super meat boy

time to rip that band-aid all at once

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surprised nobody said it earlier

yes it's difficult, but it takes all the pain out of dying, with short levels and restarting instantly

 

[MattHeus]

Ori and the blind forest is amazing. It gets a bit tough towards the end, but still is a pretty acessible platformer.