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What is your favorite PLATFORMER all time? And why?
- Thread starter MajulaDream
- Start date
2D: Super Mario Land 2: SIx Golden Coins or DKC2. SML is super unique and absolutely nails its atmosphere, I've loved it for years. DKC2 on the other hand is perfect in every way a 2D platformer can be, great music, fantastic level design, good art style, everything works.
3D: Super Mario Galaxy. The sense of grandeur, the incredible music, fantastic levels, nothing else even comes close imo.
3D: Super Mario Galaxy. The sense of grandeur, the incredible music, fantastic levels, nothing else even comes close imo.
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2D: Earthworm Jim because it was a stellar game and a big part of my youth.
3D: Astro Bot because it's an almost surreal experience with fantastic gameplay.
3D: Astro Bot because it's an almost surreal experience with fantastic gameplay.
For some reason the game that popped to mind was Skullmonkeys. I get its creator is a serious problem, but back in the PS1 era all I knew is that I loved that game.
Here's a little bonus room 'cause I know you've had it tough,
and here's a little bonus tune 'bout collecting real cool stuuuff.
Here's a little bonus room 'cause I know you've had it tough,
and here's a little bonus tune 'bout collecting real cool stuuuff.
Yoshi's Island. It's creativity the game, not just in its art but in its mechanics, level design and bosses as well. It keeps throwing new stuff at you. The snow levels are particularly good. Also, touch Fuzzy, get dizzy.
There are lots of very good platformers about, but Rayman Legends stands above them all for me - this is due to a mixture of aesthetic, music, level design and the fact it contains almost all the good levels from Origins as a bonus as well.
Top Ten in No Particular Order™
Crash Bandicoot (NST)
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (NST)
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
Crash of the Titans (2P Co-Op especially)
Celeste
Super Meat Boy
Ape Escape 3 (or 2 depending on my mood)
Super Mario Odyssey
Super Mario Sunshine
Rayman Origins
Crash Bandicoot (NST)
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (NST)
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
Crash of the Titans (2P Co-Op especially)
Celeste
Super Meat Boy
Ape Escape 3 (or 2 depending on my mood)
Super Mario Odyssey
Super Mario Sunshine
Rayman Origins
Super Mario 64, it still plays great to this day, has excellent level design, great soundtrack, which will stick with me for ever. And I know, definitely a lot of nostalgia and rose tilted glasses in the choice, but honestly even if it aged like milk, it'd still be my favorite. Simply due to it being the first game I completely playthrough with my grandad, it hold a tremendously big spot in my heart.
Super Mario Bros 3.
Great mix of variety, length and gameplay. And it has a bit of challenge to it to, unlike games like Super Mario World - it's a bit too easy to even be in contention
Runners up would be S3&K, Warioland 1, Super Mario 64 and the SNES version of Prince of Persia.
Great mix of variety, length and gameplay. And it has a bit of challenge to it to, unlike games like Super Mario World - it's a bit too easy to even be in contention
Runners up would be S3&K, Warioland 1, Super Mario 64 and the SNES version of Prince of Persia.
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I was the cousin with the Genesis back in the day, while my other cousin has the SNES; everyone played the shit out of Sonic 3 & Knuckles at my place, but when we were over at the cuz's house, we all fawned over Super Mario World...so it's really hard to pick between the two! But I'd definitely say those two are top two for me.
I'm assuming we're talking about both 3D and 2D platformers here and, in that case, it's easily Super Mario Galaxy. It has tight and focused level design, introduces new ideas frequently throughout the game, has a stellar soundtrack, a great art style that allows it to look better than many last gen games, and even had a cute story with Rosalina. Even Super Mario 64 doesn't resonate with me as much as this one
yoshi's island
it strikes the right balance between great visuals, fun gameplay, challenge, great level design, good to speedrun or take your time, and good music.
it strikes the right balance between great visuals, fun gameplay, challenge, great level design, good to speedrun or take your time, and good music.
I think it might be Celeste now, normally I would pick any Mario game, but Celeste is just amazing and the gameplay feels really good.
It's a toss-up between Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country 2 for me.
SMW is wonderful in its simplicity. So much variety with so few basic elements, it controls like a dream, it has tons of secrets and the level design is impeccable. It's also a wonderfully fair game if you don't count some cheap stuff in the extra levels.
DKC2 though... it's pure platforming with a dash of exploration and collecting. It's even purer than a Mario game. You can just jump, roll and float - no fireballs, no capes with the potential for endless floating, no significant power-ups. It's just skill, observation and pattern recognition. The secrets are challenging, the variety is great, the overall design is fantastic and the music is outstanding. The only thing I don't like about the game is the boss fights - just too bland and repetitive, but that was Rare for you.
SMW is wonderful in its simplicity. So much variety with so few basic elements, it controls like a dream, it has tons of secrets and the level design is impeccable. It's also a wonderfully fair game if you don't count some cheap stuff in the extra levels.
DKC2 though... it's pure platforming with a dash of exploration and collecting. It's even purer than a Mario game. You can just jump, roll and float - no fireballs, no capes with the potential for endless floating, no significant power-ups. It's just skill, observation and pattern recognition. The secrets are challenging, the variety is great, the overall design is fantastic and the music is outstanding. The only thing I don't like about the game is the boss fights - just too bland and repetitive, but that was Rare for you.
The first Super Mario Bros. Although World and 3 are better, the first is my favourite. The reason my NES mini is always connected. I can start and finish a game in ten minutes, and I have finished this game 1000's of times and always come back.
2D:
- Super Mario World for being so all-round great.
- Yoshi's Island for the varied and amazing enemy design.
- Celeste for the super tight platforming challenges.
3D:
- Meh, today I'll say Mario Galaxy and Mario Sunshine. The former for the epic journey and variation, the second for the great controls and freedom while still being challenging.
Honorable mentions:
New Super Mario Bros U and Super Mario 3D World, both for the co-op which elevates them to something else.
- Super Mario World for being so all-round great.
- Yoshi's Island for the varied and amazing enemy design.
- Celeste for the super tight platforming challenges.
3D:
- Meh, today I'll say Mario Galaxy and Mario Sunshine. The former for the epic journey and variation, the second for the great controls and freedom while still being challenging.
Honorable mentions:
New Super Mario Bros U and Super Mario 3D World, both for the co-op which elevates them to something else.
I'd add that it's rules are clear too. Red dots have multiple exits. It's annoying in something like NSMBU(DX) that you have to infer multiple exits from map design. I prefer when games set out a challenge and let you work towards beating it.
Also the colour palette is delightful. So many great things.
Knack probably cause it has couch coop, dynamic combat, and family fun. Really though the key is the de-emphasized jumps, I know its a good game because im good at it
3D: Super Mario Galaxy
Creative, beautiful, and full of variety. It's also a game that operations within my skill level, which is another huge plus for me. First 3D Mario game I got all the main collectables in.
2D: Gargoyle's Quest
Strong gimmick that it explores well through clever level design. It's one of the few platformers that deems floors optional, which creates a fascinating flow to the stages. It slowly expands your moveset too, which not many platformers do.
Creative, beautiful, and full of variety. It's also a game that operations within my skill level, which is another huge plus for me. First 3D Mario game I got all the main collectables in.
2D: Gargoyle's Quest
Strong gimmick that it explores well through clever level design. It's one of the few platformers that deems floors optional, which creates a fascinating flow to the stages. It slowly expands your moveset too, which not many platformers do.
Oh man what a wonderful game, haven't played since I was a kid but I still remember the FFFFFFFFFF password that gave you tons of things
Oh god, this is so hard for me, because there's so many wonderful games to give love to in this genre for all their own reasons, with their own high points and low points that I love all the same. Even just purely speaking about 2D platformers this is the case. There's just so much to love and I absolutely can't narrow it down to just one thing.
Like, for instance, Yoshi's Island has an absolutely gorgeous art style, fantastic level design and music, unique bosses and midboss concepts in each world that don't really get reused, etc. However, it's one weakness is that it kindaaaa sucks to 100%, since you have to get all the Red Coins/Flowers/Stars in each level in one go. This is particularly annoying in levels like the skiing level. This wouldn't be too big of a deal if the collectibles were just nice bonuses, but bonus levels are hidden behind collecting them all. So it's a minor thing, but when we're talking the top tier of games, that's the kind of thing I'm talking about when it comes to strengths and weaknesses even with my absolute favorite 2D platformers (which Yoshi's Island is absolutely one of).
Or Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze for instance. In its case, fantastic level design (including smart placements of the Snowmads/smart differentiation between the different types of Snowmads and how you're supposed to deal with each and why, as in, it being very clear which ones you can dispatch however you want, which you have to attack from the sides or above, which you have to use particular attacks on, etc), AMAZING music, very fun to control DK & crew, pretty good variety of level settings/art design of the levels, etc. But in its case, for me, the bosses are its weak point. Like Yoshi's Island, they are all pretty unique from each other. But I wasn't the biggest fan of the bosses following a formula of like 3 phases that each require 3 hits each or whatever as I personally felt that made them drag on a bit and I was mostly there for the platforming stages and wasn't that invested in the bosses to begin with. So again, it's a small thing, but that's the type of thing I'm talking about when it comes to the top of the top and it being so hard to narrow down an absolute favorite, especially since the strengths/weaknesses are in different categories (in Yoshi's Island, the weakness being 100% related, whereas in DKC:TF its about the bosses--totally different pros/cons, making it hard to rank).
Then there's something like New Super Luigi U/New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (Switch). Absolutely fantastic level design, Nintendo absolutely knows their stuff when it comes to 2D platformers. Challenge Mode was also a wonderful idea, giving the game even more content in a wonderful way. As someone who sucks terribly at platformers, I also loved the addition of the character of Nabbit as basically a "cheat" system/easy mode that still felt fun to play, unlike previous implementations like the Super Guide where you were basically just watching as an AI Luigi went painfully slowly through the level. Having the option to play the game on god mode and only have to worry about pits/lava/getting crushed was great (and it certainly doesn't hurt that Nabbit is cute). But on the other hand, the game does use the same basic settings for the worlds that Nintendo has been using since SMB3 and SMW and though it was touched up for the Wii U, it's still nonetheless using the basic archetypes of the NSMB artstyle and music. I don't care about those type of things as much as most people, as in, the artstyle and music don't actively bother me and I don't have active problems with them at all and think the game itself looks fine. But nonetheless, when comparing it to something like say Tropical Freeze which feels much more creative with its aesthetics, it's the kind of thing that comes to mind that makes it hard for me to pick (especially when the "flaws" of each game are different, art-style vs. how the game handles bosses).
Celeste is also incredibly high up there. Some absolutely fantastic levels and platforming, great music, and I love the themes of the game's story. I also absolutely LOVE the assist mode of the game and how much control that gives you to play the game the way you like. Again, being someone who sucks and who sometimes just wants to play these games for the exploration and just try and find collectibles and stuff at times when I'm in that kinda mood, that kind of stuff very, very strongly appeals to me and I greatly appreciate and gives it strong points in its favor. On the other hand, compared to games like Tropical Freeze or Yoshi's Island or even NSMB, Celeste doesn't have that much diversity in the settings and aesthetics of its levels. That of course makes sense because it's a game about a girl climbing a mountain, that is, the game is largely centered in one location, but when it comes to the best of the best and which one is my absolute favorite... you get the drill by now. It's just hard to say which set of pros and cons I truly put above any of the others like that.
And I could do absolutely the same thing with other games I absolutely consider to be among my favorite platformers, such as VVVVVV, Rayman Origin, Kirby's Epic Yarn, etc. I love them all, and think they're all absolutely fantastic and that's why my favorites, but when it comes to just picking my one absolute favorite platformer, it's just incredibly hard for me because I so easily recognize their respective strengths and weaknesses but saying which set matters the most/least to me and picking a definitive favorite for 2D platformers... I just can't do that. I hope that makes sense.
Strangely though, for 3D platformers, that's much easier for me: Super Mario 3D World. I just love the feel of actual platforming in it (which is a problem in many of the earlier beloved 3D platformers, such as say Super Mario 64, which barely require much in the way of actual platforming/more than just the basic jump here and there until say Tick Tock Clock and Rainbow Ride. Of course, 64 is still a great game, but not really what I'm looking for in a 3D platformer exactly). Absolutely fantastic music like World-Bowser and Hisstocrat, and just the aesthetics of World-Bowser itself while I'm at it. It also has a very fair and generous completion requirement (in it's case, the amount of Green Stars you need to collect) that doesn't feel overbearing at all (I bring this up because other beloved 3D platformers, like in this case Banjo-Kazooie are a bit high with the number of Jiggies/Notes you need to get access to the final Grunty fight. Great game all the same, but I'm not a fan myself of needing to get like 90% of everything in a collectathon platformer to get to the final boss). And of course the optional Green Stars/Stamps giving you plenty of reason to explore the levels inside and out, especially since some are hidden in really clever ways (like, I remember really liking what they did with Hands on Hall's collectables).
And just how pure FUN the levels were to play. Like, Red Hot Run for instance. It's definitely a bit tricky at fist, or at least it was for me (like I said, I suck; I make no secret of that fact. xD). But then I kept it, and when I got it, I GOT IT. And it was just an absolute blast to just be able to blast through that level as Toad at full speed (not that you have much of a choice but going full speed in that level), and that was something I was easily able to do again and again and again, and still have a blast with it, which is a feeling few other individual levels in 3D platformers have ever given me. Usually, no matter how much I enjoy a level, I'm good to move on once I finish it. But levels like that in 3D world were very easy for me to revisit.
The only 3D platformer that really comes close is probably Galaxy, which I have very similar thoughts about. Fantastic diversity of levels/worlds/settings. Absolutely fantastic music. And I greatly appreciate how you only need 60/120 Power Stars to beat the game, which gives you so many different routes you can take to beat the game, so many different combinations to try, which makes the game itself very replayable (which is one of my main critiques of Super Mario Sunshine: needing to beat the Shadow Mario mission in each of the main worlds, and the Shadow Mario Mission always being one of the last ones means you have to do all the same main Shines each time you play it so while you can change the order you play them in, you still have to get those Shines all the same). However, what makes me put 3D World above Galaxy 1 these days is something that many people actually see as a detriment of the game: the timer. Or rather, not the timer itself, since I don't like the timer itself and wouldn't mind if it wasn't there at all, but rather how comparatively "bite-sized" many of the levels of 3D World are. They're as long as they need to be, and no longer. That makes it very easy for me to either make the decision to just move on to a different level, or just replay them over and over and over again, like I went in to about Red Hot Run above. Those kind of bite-sized levels just personally suit my tastes more these days.
So yeah, while for 2D it's pretty hard and like Tropical Freeze/Yoshi's Island/NSMBU DX/Celeste/VVVVVV/etc are all definitely up there and fighting for that spot for their own reasons, for 3D I'd definitely have to go for Super Mario 3D World as it achieves the best balance of what I'm looking for in a 3D platformer while being a fantastic game.
Like, for instance, Yoshi's Island has an absolutely gorgeous art style, fantastic level design and music, unique bosses and midboss concepts in each world that don't really get reused, etc. However, it's one weakness is that it kindaaaa sucks to 100%, since you have to get all the Red Coins/Flowers/Stars in each level in one go. This is particularly annoying in levels like the skiing level. This wouldn't be too big of a deal if the collectibles were just nice bonuses, but bonus levels are hidden behind collecting them all. So it's a minor thing, but when we're talking the top tier of games, that's the kind of thing I'm talking about when it comes to strengths and weaknesses even with my absolute favorite 2D platformers (which Yoshi's Island is absolutely one of).
Or Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze for instance. In its case, fantastic level design (including smart placements of the Snowmads/smart differentiation between the different types of Snowmads and how you're supposed to deal with each and why, as in, it being very clear which ones you can dispatch however you want, which you have to attack from the sides or above, which you have to use particular attacks on, etc), AMAZING music, very fun to control DK & crew, pretty good variety of level settings/art design of the levels, etc. But in its case, for me, the bosses are its weak point. Like Yoshi's Island, they are all pretty unique from each other. But I wasn't the biggest fan of the bosses following a formula of like 3 phases that each require 3 hits each or whatever as I personally felt that made them drag on a bit and I was mostly there for the platforming stages and wasn't that invested in the bosses to begin with. So again, it's a small thing, but that's the type of thing I'm talking about when it comes to the top of the top and it being so hard to narrow down an absolute favorite, especially since the strengths/weaknesses are in different categories (in Yoshi's Island, the weakness being 100% related, whereas in DKC:TF its about the bosses--totally different pros/cons, making it hard to rank).
Then there's something like New Super Luigi U/New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (Switch). Absolutely fantastic level design, Nintendo absolutely knows their stuff when it comes to 2D platformers. Challenge Mode was also a wonderful idea, giving the game even more content in a wonderful way. As someone who sucks terribly at platformers, I also loved the addition of the character of Nabbit as basically a "cheat" system/easy mode that still felt fun to play, unlike previous implementations like the Super Guide where you were basically just watching as an AI Luigi went painfully slowly through the level. Having the option to play the game on god mode and only have to worry about pits/lava/getting crushed was great (and it certainly doesn't hurt that Nabbit is cute). But on the other hand, the game does use the same basic settings for the worlds that Nintendo has been using since SMB3 and SMW and though it was touched up for the Wii U, it's still nonetheless using the basic archetypes of the NSMB artstyle and music. I don't care about those type of things as much as most people, as in, the artstyle and music don't actively bother me and I don't have active problems with them at all and think the game itself looks fine. But nonetheless, when comparing it to something like say Tropical Freeze which feels much more creative with its aesthetics, it's the kind of thing that comes to mind that makes it hard for me to pick (especially when the "flaws" of each game are different, art-style vs. how the game handles bosses).
Celeste is also incredibly high up there. Some absolutely fantastic levels and platforming, great music, and I love the themes of the game's story. I also absolutely LOVE the assist mode of the game and how much control that gives you to play the game the way you like. Again, being someone who sucks and who sometimes just wants to play these games for the exploration and just try and find collectibles and stuff at times when I'm in that kinda mood, that kind of stuff very, very strongly appeals to me and I greatly appreciate and gives it strong points in its favor. On the other hand, compared to games like Tropical Freeze or Yoshi's Island or even NSMB, Celeste doesn't have that much diversity in the settings and aesthetics of its levels. That of course makes sense because it's a game about a girl climbing a mountain, that is, the game is largely centered in one location, but when it comes to the best of the best and which one is my absolute favorite... you get the drill by now. It's just hard to say which set of pros and cons I truly put above any of the others like that.
And I could do absolutely the same thing with other games I absolutely consider to be among my favorite platformers, such as VVVVVV, Rayman Origin, Kirby's Epic Yarn, etc. I love them all, and think they're all absolutely fantastic and that's why my favorites, but when it comes to just picking my one absolute favorite platformer, it's just incredibly hard for me because I so easily recognize their respective strengths and weaknesses but saying which set matters the most/least to me and picking a definitive favorite for 2D platformers... I just can't do that. I hope that makes sense.
Strangely though, for 3D platformers, that's much easier for me: Super Mario 3D World. I just love the feel of actual platforming in it (which is a problem in many of the earlier beloved 3D platformers, such as say Super Mario 64, which barely require much in the way of actual platforming/more than just the basic jump here and there until say Tick Tock Clock and Rainbow Ride. Of course, 64 is still a great game, but not really what I'm looking for in a 3D platformer exactly). Absolutely fantastic music like World-Bowser and Hisstocrat, and just the aesthetics of World-Bowser itself while I'm at it. It also has a very fair and generous completion requirement (in it's case, the amount of Green Stars you need to collect) that doesn't feel overbearing at all (I bring this up because other beloved 3D platformers, like in this case Banjo-Kazooie are a bit high with the number of Jiggies/Notes you need to get access to the final Grunty fight. Great game all the same, but I'm not a fan myself of needing to get like 90% of everything in a collectathon platformer to get to the final boss). And of course the optional Green Stars/Stamps giving you plenty of reason to explore the levels inside and out, especially since some are hidden in really clever ways (like, I remember really liking what they did with Hands on Hall's collectables).
And just how pure FUN the levels were to play. Like, Red Hot Run for instance. It's definitely a bit tricky at fist, or at least it was for me (like I said, I suck; I make no secret of that fact. xD). But then I kept it, and when I got it, I GOT IT. And it was just an absolute blast to just be able to blast through that level as Toad at full speed (not that you have much of a choice but going full speed in that level), and that was something I was easily able to do again and again and again, and still have a blast with it, which is a feeling few other individual levels in 3D platformers have ever given me. Usually, no matter how much I enjoy a level, I'm good to move on once I finish it. But levels like that in 3D world were very easy for me to revisit.
The only 3D platformer that really comes close is probably Galaxy, which I have very similar thoughts about. Fantastic diversity of levels/worlds/settings. Absolutely fantastic music. And I greatly appreciate how you only need 60/120 Power Stars to beat the game, which gives you so many different routes you can take to beat the game, so many different combinations to try, which makes the game itself very replayable (which is one of my main critiques of Super Mario Sunshine: needing to beat the Shadow Mario mission in each of the main worlds, and the Shadow Mario Mission always being one of the last ones means you have to do all the same main Shines each time you play it so while you can change the order you play them in, you still have to get those Shines all the same). However, what makes me put 3D World above Galaxy 1 these days is something that many people actually see as a detriment of the game: the timer. Or rather, not the timer itself, since I don't like the timer itself and wouldn't mind if it wasn't there at all, but rather how comparatively "bite-sized" many of the levels of 3D World are. They're as long as they need to be, and no longer. That makes it very easy for me to either make the decision to just move on to a different level, or just replay them over and over and over again, like I went in to about Red Hot Run above. Those kind of bite-sized levels just personally suit my tastes more these days.
So yeah, while for 2D it's pretty hard and like Tropical Freeze/Yoshi's Island/NSMBU DX/Celeste/VVVVVV/etc are all definitely up there and fighting for that spot for their own reasons, for 3D I'd definitely have to go for Super Mario 3D World as it achieves the best balance of what I'm looking for in a 3D platformer while being a fantastic game.
Super Mario Galaxy
It's creative levels, it's amazing soundtrack and great controls just make it a great time.
It's creative levels, it's amazing soundtrack and great controls just make it a great time.
Does Inside count? If so, that. Platforming is not the best but the game is an utter masterpiece.
If not then Jak and Dexter: percursor's legacy. That game blew me away as a kid, love the levels, the characters and story. Platforming was good and interesting.
If not then Jak and Dexter: percursor's legacy. That game blew me away as a kid, love the levels, the characters and story. Platforming was good and interesting.
This is really hard but I would definitely have to put DKC2 near the top along with Super Mario World. In terms of modern platforming, I absolutely love Celeste. Really blew me away.
