Your favorite platformers

[fiddlesticks]

It is my belief that Konami has fired most of its non-MGS teams, leaving only a single team of anime-obsessed programmers who have never actually spoken to a woman to pump out Loveplus and a basement full of drunken interns to handle its HD rehashes.

I sadly can't really disagree with that. Konami nowadays is a shadow of its former self and only seems to create good games by accident. To a lesser degree, the same could be said about Capcom.

Yoshi's Island is ridiculously easy, replaying it now, but it's a lot of fun and has some nice design.

I've found that the difficulty of Kamek's Revenge and the additional levels included in the Gameboy Advance port more than make up for the somewhat easy main game. Yoshi's Island isn't the hardest platformer around, but it's not afraid to kick you in the face every now and again.

[trjp]

You've all convinced me, though. I'm going to buy Rayman: Tangerines as soon as it drops below €10 again. Might go for Gateways on Steam right now, has nobody got that one on their favourites?

Gateways is HEAD BENDING - in a mostly good but sometimes EVIL way - the (360) demo actually scared me!

[trjp]

Its great how you can be so elaborate and wrong at the same time :)

It is true that every puzzle peaks are 3 player coop no switching.

My problem with Trine is, of course, me not wanting to the play the game being offered.

When I saw the 3 classes I saw a game which required me to master and blend those classes in some way - wheras it really doesn't matter who you use/when for the most part, everything appears to be possible with everyone.

It also loves using the "tricky bit - tricky bit - tricky bit - failed and BACK TO THE START - oh and the enemies are in the way too" school of frustration

Oh and the first one has some slightly shonky physics which means you will sometimes get stuck (can't speak for whether it was fixed in the 2nd or not - didn't play that one as much)

[somini]

Rayman Oranges is great and super slick.

Adding an extra dimension, Both Super Mario Galaxies are amazing, but Rayman 2 is close enough.

[Internet]

I wish Nintendo published on computer they have some of the best out there.

M favorites are:
Give Up Robot 2
SMG 2
DKCR

My runners up are:
1000 Amps
Bit Trip Runner
Eversion
Pixel Junk Eden (why did the include the time mechanic?)
Aquaria (although most of the time it doesn't really play like a platformer)

[Rovac]

Forgive me, but my favorite platformer is Crash Bandicoot on PS1.
The first by Naughty Dog. My childhood is filled with long hours playing it and die horribly.
I remember quitting because level checkpoint was so far down the world map. Ah, memories

edit : does Prince of Persia Sands of Time count as platformer?

[Wheelz]

wow, 3 pages and no one's mentioned the Oddworld games? are they secretly despised or somthing?

I'm yet to play Strangers Wrath, and I never completed Munch's, but from what I did play it seemed good, and both the Abe games are great.

[Mohorovicic]

wow, 3 pages and no one's mentioned the Oddworld games?

And that's what happens when you start putting people on ignore, folks

Speaking of putting people on ignore, where did kadayi go?

[Wheelz]

And that's what happens when you start putting people on ignore, folks

Speaking of putting people on ignore, where did kadayi go?

oh right, you said odyssey on the first page; still surprising that they didn't make anyone else's list.

[c-Row]

oh right, you said odyssey on the first page; still surprising that they didn't make anyone else's list.

Maybe people view them more as puzzle platformers rather than classic arcade jump'n'runs, though that's a blurry line to draw sometimes.

[LTK]

Maybe people view them more as puzzle platformers rather than classic arcade jump'n'runs, though that's a blurry line to draw sometimes.

I've found it very hard to make a judgement call on the Oddworld games. I occasionally hear praise for them, but at no point do I see anyone actually playing them, or saying 'hey, you should buy this now'. I can't even figure out the genre. What do you actually do in them?

Speaking of arcade jump'n'runs, Canabalt and Robot Unicorn Attack deserve to be mentioned.

[Internet]

wow, 3 pages and no one's mentioned the Oddworld games? are they secretly despised or somthing?

I'm yet to play Strangers Wrath, and I never completed Munch's, but from what I did play it seemed good, and both the Abe games are great.

I didn't like it because of the way checkpoints/collectibles work. I don't like going through a hell of a lot of effort to free his friends only to lose all my progress in the next screen.

All the Super Marios etc seem to have passed me by. I've played quite a *ot of free games, though.

• definitely spelunky
• knytt and In a deep forest. Nifflas' commercial games Saira and Nightsky, on the other hand, never really clicked with me.

Also, flash games.

• hamumu's Robot Wants * series. Love the hell out of those.
• K.O.L.M.!
• Give up Robot
• some of Nitrome's output (Tiny Castle, Dirk Valentine, ...)

Does VVVVVV count? It should.

I liked Robot Wants, but Give Up Robot 2 is definitely my favorite. Achievement Unlocked is a great free one; I kinda wish it was on steam for 800 achievements. Then there's Robot Unicorn Attack.

I thought Night Sky was a bit dull, but I was fond of Saira. It had the open world exploration of Knitt, and then added a ton of worlds and multiple endings.

Donkey Kong Country titles (still not got around to the Wii release).

You should, it's excellent. It's one of my favorite games in the last few years.

Reading this thread made me realise that I like a lot of different platformers for a lot of different reasons:
Some relevant dislikes: Super Meat Boy, Snapshot, Escape Goat, Braid. Anything else on this list I'd probably haven't played and might enjoy it if I do, because I tend to be overly critical when it comes to purchasing platformers.

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that the quality of the actual platforming has little to do with whether I think a game is good. It's the overall package that sells it to me, which is probably why I burnt out on SMB. It became overly dependent on reflexive actions; routines I'd have to learn in persistently drab and colourless worlds, with only more and more difficult levels to look forward to. I have a feeling I'd get the same thing with VVVVVV.

I haven't played Escape Goat, but I completely agree with it on the others. Braid is gorgeous, but I loathe its writing. Hated SMB, bounced right off it with no desire to go back in. I don't know why I'm not crazy about Snapshot, but I'm just not. It's probably because it's a bit slow and some worlds lack challenge, only repitition.

I would say you should try VVVVV. It's difficulty is optional, you can beat the game by only solving the basic puzzles and skip the four screen deathfest of Veni Vidi Vici, etc. The music is just plain excellent, and the colors are bright and encouraging.

[mashakos]

oh right, you said odyssey on the first page; still surprising that they didn't make anyone else's list.

puzzle games, don't see them put side by side with Sonic. Same reason I didn't mention Rainbow Islands. Great game, not a platformer.

[alms]

Braid is gorgeous, but I loathe its writing.

It's not only gorgeous, it has fantastic puzzles. I didn't 'get' it, but there's so much to like, that the story or writing should be no reason to skip it.

[mizzu]

N (until the save file on which I completed it got somehow broken. replaying now)
Super meat boy
Spelunky
Iji and cave story are okay I guess (are those even plattformers?)
Knytt stories
VVVVVV was cool as well, though a bit short and I hated the screen-to-screen system.

[gwathdring]

Hey, any N fans out there less patient and/or obsessive than me should check out the Nv2.0 beta! There were going to do a 1.5 update for years, but then it turned into 2.0 and now it's actually happening. :D

http://www.metanetsoftware.com/blog/

v2.0 is primarily a web-ifification of N. There aren't many changes to the underlying game, and for now it's riddled with bugs. Supposedly there are some nice online features coming down the pipe and a complete overhaul to the level editor along with new levels. Nothing world changing, but hey, it's more N for free! Eventually. :)

[Rovac]

wow, 3 pages and no one's mentioned the Oddworld games? are they secretly despised or somthing?

I don't know why but I don't remember playing in the past. I guess the game cover didn't attract me as much as Crash Bandicoot.

[trjp]

Reading this thread made me realise that I like a lot of different platformers for a lot of different reasons:

I like:
Limbo because of its aesthetic
Mark of the Ninja because you can be a ninja (i.e. mechanics)
Thomas Was Alone because of the story
Cave Story+ because of its combat
Fly'N because of its aesthetic
Trine because of its presentation
Closure because of its mechanics
Psychonauts because of its humour
Waking Mars because it lets you wield alien life
Everything about Zineth

Some relevant dislikes: Super Meat Boy, Snapshot, Escape Goat, Braid. Anything else on this list I'd probably haven't played and might enjoy it if I do, because I tend to be overly critical when it comes to purchasing platformers.

A key difference in your list is that the proper, hardcore "platform" games - games about the purity of timing jumps around enemies and obstances - are all in your hate list :)

Fluff platformers with lots of other stuff going on appears to be your thing - Metroidvania games, games with a high combat content etc. etc.

I don't really like SMB - but it's probably the best "pure platform game" made since the NES days - it gets the whole thing bang-on, the controls are flawless, the levels are precision made etc. etc.

Braid is a pure platformer which did something completely original

The odd one in your list is Escape Goat - it's the one game in there which varies the content and approach enough not to fall into the "it's hard and you'll fail" school of platform games - I love EG and it doesn't seem to belong in your list.

Unless it's just because your Goat doesn't have a gun...

[trjp]

p.s. we used to have a term 'arcade adventures' which would refer to games which, whilst containing plaforming stuff, also contained combat and gizmo collection and maybe racing/driving and other stuff.

Psychonauts is clearly one of those :)

[c-Row]

Braid is a pure platformer which did something completely original

I would put that on the "puzzle platformer" list and pretty far away from the "pure platformer" drawer.