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Great Platformers
So that VVVVVV thread made me think about some of the fun platformers I've played over time, and all the ones I remember my friends playing but I never got the chance to. So, I figure, why not make a thread for those of us that have missed out on various gems here and there.
The only game I can say I've really played that wasn't super common was The Lost Levels from Mario All Stars. It was difficult as hell, but I managed to beat every level in that stupid game without using save states. I remember one particularly cruel part in one of the last stages where you had to make a blind full-speed jump and hope there wasn't a piranha plant waiting for you on the other side. I remember a bunch of my friends playing N and getting a real kick out of it, though I never seemed to catch on because I failed so hard at wall-jumping (which is kinda ironic since it's a feature I wish more platformers put in :(). So what are some of your favorites? Or, even if it's not a favorite, what's out there that's at least worth playing for a little while? |
Well obvious ones are the Banjo games. Brilliant stuff, but platformer fans had to have played these.
I did really like Oddworld Munch's Oddysee for Xbox. Great humor in a similar vein to the Banjo games. I will admit I never played the original 2d ones though. Quite a unique game in my opinion. -Sonic Adventure as well. -Bubble Bobble too if that is even a platform game. - Are the Jet Set Radio games platformers? Lots of jumping and shit in there. Very high quality, nothing like it. Personally, I want to try Psychonauts at some point in the future. |
Psychonauts is one of the best platformers I've ever played. I bought it on steam for $10, and it was well worth it.
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Cave Story.
Some are still reluctant to play. |
Seconding N+, jumping ninjas never seems to get old.
A bog standard title nowdays is Super Mario World, but the custom levels and worlds that have come out years after the game has added to the re-playability, and I still pick it up and play a bit on occasion. Also, two of the most enjoyable free games I've come across are Knytt and Knytt Stories, which are relaxing (or "Ambient") and intriguing platformers. |
I forgot. Trine is also an excellent platformer. You can switch between three classes instantly to traverse terrain, pick up unreachable items and so on.
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I really didn't like Trine. At all. It was like a weak ass Lost Vikings. Seconding Cave Story, adding in VVVVVV, seconding psychonauts, adding in Yoshi's Island, and thirding Cave Story cause it is that good.
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Jak and Daxter. It was a very colorful game and the animation was really smooth with literally no lag at all. It could be challenging at times, but it was also fun. If you have a PS2 and love platformers, then I definitely recommend it and its sequel if you can find them.
I'll 2nd Sonic Adventure, Super Mario World, and Yoshi's Island. Top quality stuff there. |
sonic 3 + sonic and knuckles.
Case closed. Shut it down. |
I've played the majority of my platformers during my nes and snes days, but ever since I've gotten into rpg's , playing platformers has been pretty much been on the backburner but instead of naming platformers that are pretty much well known I decided to pick out a few platformers I think people should definitely try out.
One of my favorite platformers for the nes is an awesome game known as Power Blade. It is pretty much a clone of mega man but it is actually a pretty awesome game and would recommend anybody give it a try. The music is pretty good, the weapons and levels very well designed and the bosses are actually pretty fun to go against. Here is a gameplay video of it:
Another platformer I absolutely adored is Little Nemo: The Dream-master. It is a very difficult platformer but it is actually really good despite its difficulty. For the snes, it is pretty easy to pick out the great platformers for that system especially when you have games such as Super Metroid, Donkey Kong Country, Castlevania IV, and Mega Man X. I think the Disney Games did an excellent job with the platforming formula. Games such as The Lion King, Aladdin, and my personal favorite Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse are all excellent platforming games. I can't say I've played much platforming recently except for the scatter game on the ds, such as castlevania, or kirby super star ultra. |
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I refer you to a little game called Shatterhand
It is about an ordinary man who shatters things with his hands |
I think the Wikipedia page for Shatterhand has possibly the best set of references. Ever.
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Super Mario World is a benchmark that other paltformers haven't quite reached yet.
The Donkey Kong Country 1-3 games are great fun as well. Same for Prince of Persia (especially the SNES version from Konami) and Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame (definitely not the SNES version). Super Metroid, Metroid: Zero Mission and Castlevania Symphony of the Night are more exploration, but there's plenty of satisfying platforming in them. If we're going with 3D platformers since Psychonauts and such were mentioned, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time is an absolute classic. Banjo-Kazooie and Psychonauts are wonderful as well. |
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But you know parents... "But mom, I have a Super Nintendo, this is a Genesis controller!" "Isn't it the same?" Anyway, instead I got Quote:
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Instead of making another list of platformers we can all agree on, I'll name a few that I at least had a ton of fun with: Aladdin PC version, because I couldn't afford the Snes version. Keyboard made for some hard gaming, but it was still worth it to keep playing till the end. Jazz Jackrabbit Because I didn't have anything that could play Sonic. I also remember playing the 3D labyrinth parts a lot, in lack of Mario Kart. Joe and Mac Because it was the cheapest and only game my allowance allowed me buy after a few months of no games. Turned out pretty great though, and I feel pretty nostalgic about it now. |
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Other platform games I prefer to any of the Mario games are Chuck Rock, Gods (The Amiga version, not the shitty SNES port), Magic Pockets, Sir Lancealot (On the Spectrum 16k), Chucky Egg, Twin World (On the Acorn) and of course, Zool, which is almost as good as Flashback. The problem with console platformers back in the day was that they were all so samey and at the time of the NES, they looked like utter turd compared to most things on Atari or Amiga. Even the SNES lagged behind looks-wise until Donkey Kong Country came out (Although I did love that game). More recently, Metal Arms is a great game, I really enjoyed the first Spyro game on Playstation and Tokobots on PSP is pretty good fun too. |
Anyone looking for a quick and delicious morsal of platforming nutrition should check out indie game Eversion. The game might seem run of the mill at first, but stick with it to see how far and effectively it explores its theme. The freeware game's been out for a year, but a version with improved graphics was released November for a $5 donation.
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I really don't like Mario. The level design is good, but he's a shit character with no personality and does actually move like a little fat plumber, which in a sense is accurate but it's just not the gaming experience I opt for. And the music is fittingly boring and slow. I submit the following as better, HIGH OCTANE, platformers: Sonic CD. Classic Sonic with the added replayablity of revisiting zones in different time periods with different zone layouts, music and palettes. The zones in this game look gorgeous. If I could live in any platforming game world it would be Collision Chaos Good Future. And the music is Sonic all over but with a CD quality sheen. Playing Sonic CD is a full sensory experience. Superfrog I challenge you to look at a Superfrog screenshot and not be charmed. Although ideally you need to be listening to the Magic Woods theme at the same time. Superfrog drinks Lucozade so he is FAST. He is almost faster than Sonic, which, when you include instant kill spikes, makes for considerable quantities of LOL and almost equivalent amounts of WTF. Punishing but rewarding in the classic sense, which is also why everyone loves... VVVVVV It's very new, but an instant addition to the platforming hall of fame. Alex Kidd in Miracle World Great mix of gameplay here. You've got the bog standard platforming where Alex punches everything with his huge fist, then levels where you cruise through the level on a motorbike or speedboat. Then there's this gyrocopter thingy. Alex uses his hero powers of telepathy in the same way any of us would: by going around giving people games of rock, paper, scissors. If you absolutely must play a slow paced platformer, Asterix for the Sega Master System is great. You have to judge which is worse, one slow Italian or two slow french guys, one of whom is Gerard Depardieu. |
Alex Kidd also has the advantage of being free with most Master Systems. I never did manage to finish that game, although God only knows I tried hard enough. A good mate of mine had a Master System and all we ever played was Alex Kidd and Joe Montana football.
Another game I used to play to death was Commander Keen. EGA-tastic graphics, crappy chiptune music, the game had everything frankly. Also there was an awesome shareware game on the Acorn called Hamsters where you played a little yellow guy with a fuck off great big mallet and had to smack the ground to propel yourself between platforms, all the while splattering hamsters all over the screen. Awesome, awesome game. |
super mario bros the third game on nintendo is a game dear to my heart. my nintendo broke because i played that game too much!
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Sounds like I should be watching some silent era slapstick comedy to that music, not BOTTOM BOUNCING bad guys, RIDING MOVING PLATFORMS and COLLECTING 100 OF SOMETHING
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Yeah, collecting 100 rings is the snizzle!
This thread has now gone awry.
B.O.B. is another platformer I might be willing to pick up again because of unfinished business. I enjoyed that game immensely until the maze of hate. |
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Just gave Eversion a play over the last few days and I've got to say it was pretty neat. I had to read up on how to get to Level 8, but the ending was worth the frustration of that last level.
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Inasmuch as I cannot think of what else to classify them as, the Ratchet & Clank series has represented the upper tier of 3-D platforming since its inception, in my opinion. This isn't exactly an industry secret but I'm mildly surprised nobody has mentioned R&C yet.
As for classic platforming, I will refer you to three titles. The first should surprise nobody, as it's a classic. It is, of course, Blaster Master.
Everything about Blaster Master defines what a platformer needs: great action, intriguing exploration and good music. I still go back and play my copy; it has defied aging. The second is the NES game, Bucky O'Hare. Licensed from a second-tier cartoon or not, that shit was pretty hard for the era in which it was released. If you only played a few minutes, it looked pretty simple with its cartoony graphics. But anyone who has made it as far as the assault on the nuclear core know how intense this game managed to get. It did borrow a few cues from some other successful games, but it did so in a way that allowed the game to still stand upon its own.
The last is a lesser known NES game, Metal Storm. It was a sleeper, for sure, but it had some pretty fun action, a decent gimmick and grew treacherously harder in the later levels. This game was notable for making a player think about his/her platforming in two directions at once, rather than the straightforward "bull in a china shop" method of progressing through levels.
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Abuse wants to say 'hi' from the DOS era (it's available from any self-respecting abandonware repositiory, I believe). True free-aim, independent of your motion, is to my knowledge rare in the genre... and it was most definitely not a luxury in this game.
Also, one could argue that many of the Castlevania games, as well as Metroid and Super Metroid (and the 'spriitual offspring' of these two sets of games, Shadow Complex) qualify as platformers too, as does Dark Void Zero. |
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