Tag: platformer

The 10 Best Platformer Games of All Time

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Dark Souls. Bloodborne. Sekiro. What do all of these ridiculously difficult throw-your-controller-at-the TV-screen games have in common? They’ve got NOTHING on old-school platformers. Were they video games or exercises in sadomasochism? As the decades pass since the platform genre’s creation, the answer still isn’t clear. Classic platformer games required the reflexes of a cat, the patience of a turtle, and the emotional composure of a full-grown capybara. Deviously difficult, half of these games could be described as “fun” in the same way the peanut butter could be described as “minty fresh,” which is to say: not at all. Veteran gamers know that platformers aren’t really games, but digital life-and-death scenarios meant to test one’s mental fortitude. And these platformers? They’re the greatest (and some of the most frustrating) of all time.

Super Mario 64

(Nintendo)

Super Mario 64 was marketed to children, which, in retrospect, could be considered a crime. Don’t let pastel pixels of this happy-go-lucky plumber’s mushroom world fool you, Super Mario 64 is capable of childhood-trauma inducing levels of frustration and woe. The game is objectively a masterpiece, one where Mario must “whoopee” and “yahoo” his way through a menagerie of creative worlds to save Princess Peach from the turtle/dragon/dinosaur clutches of the evil Bowser. While the game’s first level, Bomb-omb Battlefield, lulled young players into a false sense of security, veteran gamers still speak with reverence about the horrors they experienced at later levels like Tick Tock Clock. Super Mario 64 set the bar for the modern-day platformer, and changed the face of gaming forever… by filling that face’s eyes with frustrated tears.

Astro Bot

(Sony)

After witnessing the trauma that Super Mario 64 induced on a generation of gamers (myself included), the makers of Astro Bot evidently opted to spare a younger crop of gamers from the same fate. While Astro Bot features the same levels of whimsy that made old-school platformers so charming (and so deceptively difficult), this little robot’s adventure through the stars isn’t nearly as crushing. That’s a relief. You play as an adorable android who has to rescue his kin from a saucer-flying alien bully, and recover your beep-boopin’ buddies from the distant planets to which they’ve been scattered. Doctors should prescribe Astro Bot for lowering blood pressure and increasing emotional well-being, as it’s impossible not to crack a smile while embarking on this delightful romp through the cartoon cosmos.

Banjo-Kazooie

(Nintendo)

While traditionalist purists will call Super Mario 64 the Greatest Platformer Ever™, there exists a small sect of gamers who worship Banjo-Kazooie as the finest platformer that Nintendo has ever produced. Despite the franchise having only four games compared to Super Mario‘s bazillion and counting, Banjo-Kazooie was a history-making edition to the platformer genre—a bigger influencer than the kind you could find on 2016 Instagram. The game revolves around a match-made-in-heaven bear and bird pair as they try to defeat a Wizard of Oz-level evil green witch, who has kidnapped Banjo’s sister Tooty. The fearsome twosome leap across frostbitten peaks, gloopy swamps, and into the gullets of giant cyborg sharks to rescue Banjo’s kin, though Banjo and Kazooie’s bond runs far thicker than blood by journey’s end.

Inside

(Playdead)

While platformers are historically a horrifying genre for their difficulty alone, the creators of Inside decided to compound the terror by adding nightmare fuel to the frustration fire. You begin the game as a young boy, running from armed guards and into the arms of an industrial dystopia. Humans in this world aren’t simply oppressed, they’re outfitted with mind control devices and forced into robotic servitude— our adolescent hero doesn’t want to be one of them. Like it does for similarly clad Star Trek villains, death waits around every corner for the red-shirted protagonist. The only break this kid gets from head-scratching puzzles is a heart-pounding instance of life-or-death struggle. One of the most hair-raising games of all time, Inside will leave you traumatized not because it’s hard to play, but because it’s downright uncomfortable.

LittleBigPlanet 2

(Sony Computer Entertainment)

Emotionally scarred by Inside? Let LittleBigPlanet 2 coax your inner child out from hiding under the bed. One of the most adorable games ever made, LittleBigPlanet 2 lets you and your friends take control of Sackboys, little anthropomorphic guys made out of burlap! As you leap through smile-inducing cartoon worlds, you and up to three friends can co-op your way through obstacles and puzzles. No, the game isn’t particularly hard, and that’s the beauty of it. While frustrating co-op platformers like Super Mario Bros. can end friendships rather than deepen them, LittleBigPlanet 2‘s easy-going pace and grin-cracking antics can bring even gamers and non-gamers together. And with the ability to build your own levels and customize your characters, the possibilities are as endless as the deep, dark pools of your Sackboy’s shining eyes.

Portal 2

(Valve)

Portal 2 is one of the greatest games of all time, a puzzle/platformer send-up of sci-fi robot horror like I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream. You take control of Chell, a former test subject at the Aperture Science Enrichment Center who is tasked by a malevolent AI to complete a series of challenges with a portal gun, which does exactly what one would think. Able to create microscopic rips in spacetime, Chell leaps through dimensional anomalies to escape a decaying facility and the mad artificial mind at the center of it all. It’s one of the most satisfying puzzlers ever created, as confounding obstacles can be overcome with “a-ha!” moments of insight (and a lot of trial and error). Seriously, playing this game will have you feeling like Archimedes discovering water displacement, running around your house screaming “Eureka!” after solving a real head-scratcher of a level.

Rayman Legends

(Ubisoft)

Rayman Legends is legendary, a platformer of mythic proportions. The game begins in (sort of) the same way that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild does, with a century-long nap. Rayman and his buddies open their sleepy eyes to discover that the evil Magician has split himself into five “Dark Teensies” and has subjected the five realms of the world to his tyranny. Through the use of Looney Tunes physics, Rayman and his pals platform their way through worlds twice as vibrant as a Van Gogh painting, and twelve times more dangerous. With its set-piece-sized bosses and scores of punchable enemies, Rayman Legends features some of the best platformer combat ever created. And the best part? You and up to three friends can experience it in couch co-op.

Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

(Naughty Dog)

If the Legend of Zelda and Super Mario franchises ever decided to have a baby, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy would be their adventure-platformer lovechild. Before the series evolved into a grimdark fantasy Grand Theft Auto, Jak and Daxter‘s story began on a sunny island paradise powered by a life energy called Eco. Eager to learn about the substance’s origins and its relationship to the ancient Precursors, Jak and his ocelot pal Daxter set out on a platforming adventure across the land. While leaping through distant mountains, primeval forests, and ancient ruins, the pair uncover a plot hatched by evil siblings Gol and Maia to harness a mutated form of Eco and use it to take over the world. Combining Breath of the Wild environments with Uncharted-style archeological mysteries, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy feels far deeper than your average platformer, but no less high-flying.

Celeste

(Maddy Makes Games)

One of the best queer parables in all of gaming, Celeste is the story of Madeline, a girl who decides climb a mountain to beat her anxiety. While platforming her way up the summit, she runs into a parallel version of herself called “Badeline,” who pressures her to give up. Considering the game’s ludicrous difficulty, many players will be convinced to do exactly that. Running, jumping, dashing, wall-climbing, wall-jumping, mid-air dashing, players will be forced to master a variety of complex maneuvers to reach the summit. An allegory for the trans experience, Celeste‘s challenging gameplay mirrors the difficulties that many trans people face while undergoing the transition process. Learning to accept oneself can feel like climbing a mountain, but once you make it to the top, the journey feels worth it.

Crash Bandicoot

(Naughty Dog)

One of the brutal 3D platformers ever conceived, Crash Bandicoot is Indiana Jones if its protagonist were an extremely fragile marsupial. On an archipelago off the Tasmanian coast, mad scientist Doctor Neo Cortex mutates the local animal population to create a world-dominating army—but a bandicoot named Crash didn’t get the totalitarian memo. After escaping Cortex’s clutches, Crash must platform his way through jungles and ruins to stick it to his creator, Frankenstein-style. With its breakneck-paced worlds, adrenaline-pumping boss battles, and seamless transitions from 3D to 2D environments, Crash Bandicoot is an infinitely creative adventure-platformer that will give you a newfound respect for the eastern barred bandicoot—one could argue it’s the unofficial mascot of the platformer genre.

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Sarah Fimm

Sarah Fimm (they/them) is actually nine choirs of biblically accurate angels crammed into one pair of $10 overalls. They have been writing articles for nerds on the internet for less than a year now. They really like anime. Like… REALLY like it. Like you know those annoying little kids that will only eat hotdogs and chicken fingers? They’re like that… but with anime. It’s starting to get sad.

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Sarah Fimm

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January 23, 2026
Super Meat Boy 3D Adds Multiple New Dimensions to a Classic Platformer – Xbox Wire

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I am the proud of owner of an achievement for the Xbox 360 release of Super Meat Boy where the aim is to complete an entire chapter without dying. It’s something that I bring up whenever possible, as a testament to my skill and commitment to mastering one of the most frustrating (and satisfying) modern platformers of a generation.

So when the opportunity to hop into a demo of Super Meat Boy 3D arose at this year’s gamescom, I had to do it. Would this be a glorious return to form for me, or a devastating fall from grace? Does this utterly absurd, high-speed, high-stakes game work as well in a three-dimensional setting?

The demo would have me believe that the answer is a resounding yes. Meat Boy’s plight is familiar – he’s on a mission to save Bandage Girl from the clutches of Dr Fetus, and each level adds a slight uptick in difficulty as Meat Boy’s girlfriend is swept away each time.

Taking control of Meat Boy again, even in his new, squidgy, 3D form, ignited the muscle memory of riding a bike – he moves in a very similar way to the original game and within a few levels I was hopping, sprinting, wall-running and of course, perishing like a pro. If these controls are lodged deep inside a part of your mind, it’s going to feel wonderfully nostalgic, but don’t fret if they’re not – everything still feels intuitive and responsive, another trick the original pulled off.

However, unlike the original, the 3D element adds new layers of depth to each level – as well as moving up, down, left and right, Meat Boy now moves forwards, backwards, diagonally – having to consider depth perception at warp speed almost makes Super Meat Boy 3D feel like an entirely different game. Precision is utterly key in these moments, but there’s a forgiving element – a circle underneath Meat Boy will mark where he is about to land on a surface, making those extra risky leaps a little easier to calculate.

Each level is an obstacle course, and your goal is to get from the start to the end. Simple in theory, but there’s a brutal buffet of disruptive, violent barriers between you and your lost girlfriend. It’s not just tricky jumps and avoiding falls – just the opening levels had me dodging chainsaw-wielding robots, giant, toxic cubes of slime full of eyeballs, and Meat Boy’s famous moving wall saws, to name a few. While some hurdles felt visible enough to prepare for, others took me by total, annoying surprise (and killed me instantly). Getting your butt kicked and learning for next time is what made Super Meat Boy so rewarding to conquer – and that masterclass is brought back for you to retake here.

And while some of this is new, it wouldn’t remotely feel out of place if it were squashed down into 2D form and placed inside the original game, which feels like a testament to how developer Sluggerfly is preserving the authenticity of Super Meat Boy.

Super Meat Boy 3D also looks great, these surroundings – from dreamy green platforms to harsh industrial caverns – feel familiar in how they’re designed, but with a stylish, modern flair. This new art style gives opportunity for fun new animation that really brings the characters and environments to life – squirrels running around with guns, lava spewing down walls, and of course, many more visceral ways in which Meat Boy can meet a swift end.

All the swagger and attitude of the original Super Meat Boy is present here – and it feels as though Super Meat Boy 3D is built to iterate on its predecessor, not outperform it. That said, if you’ve never played the original, that doesn’t matter here – the premise is clear, and these opening levels are designed to welcome newcomers into Meat Boy’s weird, unforgiving world, but the initiation won’t be easy. The demo is respectfully saying “welcome back to Meat Boy”, but there’s enough new ideas here to make it truly feel like a successor worth playing, if you can handle the frustration.

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Danielle Partis

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August 21, 2025
Game Delayed For 22 Years Is Finally Out

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In 2002 a group of friends in Italy started developing an action-platformer with RPG elements for Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance handheld. Then 22 years passed and now, in 2024, Kien is finally launching on GBA, ending one of the longest delays in video game history.

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Over the decades, there have been numerous games with protracted development cycles and delayed releases. One of the most famous is Duke Nukem Forever, which was first announced in 1997 but didn’t end up shipping until 2011, nearly 15 years later. But Kien took even longer to finally arrive.

As reported by The Guardian and Patricia Hernandez (former EIC of Kotaku), Kien was developed by a small group of friends in Italy back in 2002. None of them had experience making games. But for the next two years, the pals worked extremely hard to develop Kien, taking very few breaks and crunching a lot. After a few years of development, the game was finished and ready to be published. However, the high costs of shipping the game on Game Boy carts and the risk that Kien might not be successful led to no publisher wanting to release the game.

GameTrailers / Incube8

Eventually, only one member of the original development team remained: game designer Fabio Belsanti. Despite believing in the unpublished game, he moved on with his life, founded a new development company, and began creating educational games for kids and teens. Through it all, though, Belsanti never gave up hope for Kien. When he noticed recently that retro games and consoles were popular again, he decided to return to Kien and give it another chance.

“I believe we are in a phase similar to [the revival of] vinyl or cassettes for music,” Belsanti told The Guardian, “a return to previous, more primitive forms of the medium driven by nostalgia from the generations who lived those eras, and curiosity by those who came after such technology.”

Belsanti teamed up with Incube8, a publisher focused on releasing and supporting new games for classic consoles, like the GBA. Incube8 was a perfect fit for Kien and in June it finally launched, 22 years after development had started on the action-platformer.

“On a romantic level, the thought of releasing the game on its original console is simply magical,” said Belsanti. “To see Kien come to life on the very platform it was designed for is a dream come true.”

Kien is out now. You can pick up a physical version of the game for Game Boy Advance or buy a digital version that you can play on an emulator.

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Zack Zwiezen

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July 5, 2024
An Underrated Mashup Of Zelda 2 And Mega Man Is Finally Getting The Multiplatform Love It Deserves

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Some games make my heart bubble up with joy. They remind me of thumbing through tiny, beautiful booklets and tag-teaming tough bosses with friends. Not everyone’s childhood was easy, simple, or happy, but all of us have moments in our lives we look back fondly on and games that briefly bring them back to us. Panzer Paladin is one of those for me, and the retro action platformer is finally getting a second chance on PlayStation and Xbox.

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It was made by Tribute Games, the indie team behind 2022 GOTY contender Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. Before that, they were best known for the puzzle RPG Wizorb and the run-and-gun side-scroller Mercenary Kings. All of the studio’s projects have showcased top-tier pixel-art and a flare for turning the fundamentals of old genre classics into homages that looked great and felt novel. Following 2017’s Flint Hook, described early on as “Spider-Man with a gun,” Tribute released Panzer Paladin, a 2D platformer where you pilot a mech and collect giant medieval weapons.

It’s structured like Mega Man with a stage select screen and boss fights at the end of each level. It borrows from Blaster Master in that you can exit your mech to navigate parts of the levels as tiny pilot with a grappling hook. It plays like Zelda II, Nintendo’s one-off side-scrolling experiment that threw Link into tense 2D duels against armored knights. What Panzer Paladin has that those games don’t is a sophisticated breakable weapon system where you collect swords, spears, axes and other deadly tools as you play, even crafting your own and sharing them online with other players.

There’s plenty of spike pits but no Castlevania-style knockback hitting you into them, and every level has optional checkpoints. The combat is crunchy, the levels are imaginative, and the art is oozing with love, respect, and appreciation for the 8-bit era. But the boss fights are tough, and there are definitely some controller-throwing platforming sections. The warm fuzzy feeling you get from the retro nostalgia does not stop Panzer Paladin from being, all things considered, a pretty hardcore throwback.

Gif: Tribute Games / Kotaku

Its development also followed a now uncommon trajectory. Announced in early 2019, Panzer Paladin was made in just over a year and came out in the summer of 2020, months into an unprecedented pandemic nobody saw coming. It launched exclusively on PC and Switch, with a free content update in the fall that added a leaderboard and challenge levels. At the time, Tribute said there were no plans to bring the game to PlayStation or Xbox, leaving retro enthusiasts on those platforms out of luck.

With Shredder’s Revenge done and its DLC out last year, the timing finally lined up to bring Panzer Paladin to other platforms. If porting was as easy as copying and pasting some code, it might have happened a lot sooner, but Tribute works with a proprietary game engine and had to bring on outside programming help, as well as navigate a byzantine platform certification process that included making sure server support for the game’s user-generated content—its player-crafted weapons—didn’t break on PlayStation or Xbox.

“You go through certification and you get bug reports for some things and there’s always the temptation to go, ‘Oh, we could correct this in a specific way, or we could add a feature to this,” Ray, a producer who helped coordinate the process, told me in a recent video interview. “But there’s also that little voice that says we need to keep it as simple as possible, so we get through certification and we introduce less risk of something breaking because we changed something else.”

With that complete, Tribute can now focus on its next project. Will it be a one-game studio or is there room for another Panzer Paladin-sized experiment in its future? “Right now we have multiple projects in the pipeline including some ports,” publishing manager Eric Lafontaine told me (several of the studio’s older games like Wizorb aren’t on modern consoles). He added that the team is currently growing, a reassuring sign at a time when lots of other indie studios are facing extinction.

In the meantime, Panzer Paladin is ripe for re-discovery like a long-lost NES cartridge juiced up on modern tech. There’s no shortage of gorgeous looking retro games on PC and console these days, but it only takes a few minutes with Panzer Paladin to see there’s much more to it than just another incredibly GIF-able pixel art game. And one of the things I now love most about it is the way it’s brain-wormed its way into my own nostalgia for the summer of its original release. 2020 was an absolute shit year in so many ways. Playing Panzer Paladin offered brief moments of retro respite I still haven’t forgotten. And now it’s back with a Platinum Trophy on PS4.

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Ethan Gach

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June 21, 2024
The Best Mario Games, According To You

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Nintendo / LongplayArchive

“Definitely Mario Galaxy, and not just because it’s the picture. It felt like such a huge improvement over Sunshine (which I liked well enough when it came out but really does not hold up). The orchestral music, new characters, motion controls, a genuine story, and levels that all felt very different. (64 and Sunshine involve repeating levels over and over and over again to get all the stars/shines; Galaxy gives you a different path almost every time through the world.)” – sxp151

“Galaxy 1 just hit a sweet spot for me. Like all the things you listed – the music is phenomenal (one of my favorite video game soundtracks), some of the best use of Wii motion controls, the gravity physics were mindblowing, it had an incredible reward/progression system, and overall it was just fun and addictive in a way few others have matched for me (even other Marios). One of the only games that I’ve gone out of my way to do everything, pitting myself up against its toughest challenges.

Plus, the story is surprisingly melancholy, which just gives a great mood to the whole experience. One of my all-time favorites.” – AmaltheaElanor

“Galaxy 2. Some might argue that it ‘doesn’t have enough moves,’ as if a deep moveset is what put Mario on the map. Some might argue it’s ‘too slow’ as if going speed is the ultimate benchmark of quality by which games are to be judged.

No, what made Mario Mario is neither of those things. What made him is straightforward, crisp movement in impeccably designed levels. Sure, he can’t do a divekick or midair kick or whatever it might be, but crispness of movement is about elegance and the balance between freedom & commitment, not just filling space with new ways to change trajectory for no reason than to fill space. What’s more, he’s doing all of this elegant movement in the hands-down best level design the medium of video games has ever seen. Developed enough to build upon ideas, yet still with enough awareness to know when to move on, these spaces are creativity incarnate. They stretch the bounds of what is possible, take only the best ideas from that thinking, and pares it down to platformer par excellence. It’s hard to not keep comparing it more favorably to other games in the series, so “best level design in the business” will have to do the heavy lifting for now. And with the best level design, you have the best Mario game. Full stop.” – Jakisthe

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Kenneth Shepard

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March 11, 2024
Top 10 Platforming Games of All Time, Ranked

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Because of the historical legacy of the platform genre, many interesting sub-genres have spawned through the years. For this list, we’ll include everything except games where action or puzzles overtake most of the actual platforming.

The criteria used for this top 10 list are threefold: quality of the game, lasting influence/legacy, and a limit of one game per series. The Mario series gets two entries in this list to represent one 2D and one 3D game, respectively. Onward to our list of best platform games of all time.

10. Cuphead

Image Source: Studio MDHR

The most recent entry on our list also happens to be the most stylish. Cuphead is a run-and-gun platformer that doubles as a cartoon straight from the 1930s. The art and animation are hand-drawn with excellent authenticity in their presentation, like flickering CRTV effects and an original live jazz score.

But Cuphead isn’t merely style. It’s also got a lot of substance to back it up. The game is notorious for its high difficulty and intense boss fights. Each boss fight feels truly unique and carefully crafted to make the victory feel well-earned. You never feel like anything is repetitive in Cuphead.

Along with breathtaking style and tremendous depth in gameplay, Cuphead also spawned a TV show and a large popularity with streaming audiences. On Steam, Cuphead sits with an overwhelmingly positive score from no less than 130,000 users, one of the highest ratings for a platforming game.

9. Donkey Kong Country 2

Image Source: Nintendo via RareWiki

Next on the list is the 1995 Super Nintendo classic, Donkey Kong Country 2. The first DKC revolutionized game animation and visuals with pre-rendered graphics using a compression technique. DKC 1 was truly next-gen for the time, but the sequel took everything DKC 1 did and upped the ante with a true masterpiece.

The flow and vibe throughout DKC 2 have a quality that continues to inspire today. The creativity of level themes, from bramble mazes to horror theme park coasters, made for an engaging experience and memorable experience. The level design also introduced several lasting concepts, such as the ability to create spider web platforms and the fluctuating hot air balloons, which made for some of the most fun platforming you could ask for.

According to fans, Donkey Kong Country 2 is the most beloved game in the series, and it’s easy to see why. The special Kremlin World, the huge number of collectibles, great level variation, fun companions, and legendary soundtrack really made DKC 2 stand out in a time when Super Mario World existed; that’s a legendary feat if there ever was one.

8. Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Image Source: Sega

Sega’s answer to Mario’s success was Sonic the Hedgehog. Sega did what Nintendo didn’t, which meant breakneck speed and edgy 90s ‘tude. This stylistic difference worked for Sega, and Sonic became the face of the company and a household name through the 90s.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 became the system-seller of the Sega Genesis and broke records as the fastest-selling game of the era. Part of what made Sonic 2 such a hit with players was its routing through large, open levels. Unlike Mario, Sonic allowed players to freely explore large vertically oriented levels that contained different routes to the exit. Sonic 1 also had multiple routes but lacked the smooth flow that Sonic 2 had mastered to a science.

The music of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is still revered as some of the best videogame music of all time. With stage themes like Chemical Plant Zone and the jazzy Casino Night Zone, it’s easy to see why Sonic the Hedgehog is still going strong with films and an open-world game in the modern age.

7. Shovel Knight

Image Source: Yacht Club Games

Shovel Knight created a seachange for indie games that persists even today. This 2014 retro platformer brought the genre back into prominence after a decade or so of 3D game development obsession in the industry. 2D sprites were back in style and still are to this very day, thanks to Shovel Knight.

The reason Shovel Knight is so beloved can be found in its tight action platforming as a sort of Mega Man for the modern age. Unlike the Blue Bomber’s blaster arm, Shovel Knight wields a shovel to whack enemies. This close-range combat brings a sort of Zelda-esque element to 2D platforming that has never been captured so brilliantly as with Shovel Knight.

Like Zelda 2, there are towns where you can purchase gear and upgrades, find secrets, and even talk to villagers. The levels themselves are challenging side-scrolling affairs with some entertaining boss fights. The DLC included even better levels, bosses, and playable characters like Plague Knight and Spectre Knight, each with their own moveset and abilities.

6. Rayman Legends

Image Source: Ubisoft

Next on our list of best platform games is a gem that could earn a spot just from its quality alone. Rayman Legends combines what makes Donkey Kong Country and Sonic the Hedgehog so great and ties it into a clean and quirky package. Each level can be completed at a brisk, flowing pace, with constant momentum and very few start-stop moments. Yet, there are lots of collectibles and secrets awaiting the explorative player in every stage, not unlike DKC 2.

The addition of your flying assistant, Murphy, is ingenious. While jumping around punching baddies, you simultaneously control a flying companion that removes environmental obstacles out of your way. Cut ropes using a face button while simultaneously leaping onto the rope to the next platform. All this somehow controls like a breeze. The cool thing is you can even have a partner control Murphy with couch co-op or online play. This extra dimension to platforming is engaging and elevates the genre in subtle ways that I wish more games would utilize.

The crazy music stages from Rayman Origins return here with even better rhythm platforming fun. Timing jumps along with a bizarre cover of “Eye of the Tiger” while desperately trying to save every Teensy is just one of many gaming moments I’ll never forget.

5. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Image Source: Capcom

The entire ‘Metroidvania’ sub-genre became codified with Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. This game was basically a gothic Metroid on steroids. Instead of multiple interconnected levels, Symphony of the Night allowed players to explore a gigantic mansion with hundreds of rooms and secrets to freely explore. In addition to this, SotN revolutionized the genre with RPG elements. You’re actually building your character throughout the game with stats tied to weapons, armor, and accessories. Like I said, Metroid on steroids.

The boss battles are strategic and require precise weapon usage and platforming to overcome, or you can just grind for upgraded gear and powerful abilities to overwhelm them. Symphony of the Night gave the player tons of options when it came to defeating enemies and general progression.

There are also plenty of legendary moments in Symphony of the Night that have been cemented in gaming history. Alucard proclaiming, “What is a man but a pile of miserable secrets?” with his so-bad-it’s-good voice acting is eternally meme-worthy. Likewise, having to traverse the entire castle again but flipped upside down is another iconic moment that gets riffed on today with clever referential sequences in games like Elden Ring.

4. Super Mario Galaxy

Image Source: Nintendo

Super Mario 64 may be the most influential 3D platformer in history, and Super Mario Odyssey is perhaps the most well-designed, but Mario Galaxy is both. The originality regarding dimensional platforming is remarkable, and it delivers this new way of platforming with consistent mind-bending quality.

Super Mario Galaxy was the Nintendo Wii’s magnum opus, and it used the Wiimote technology with wonderful creativity with its star pull mechanic and true three-dimensional platforming. Sure, the Wii motion controls weren’t precise, but Mario Galaxy’s more broad platforming style suited it perfectly. This wasn’t a precision platformer; it was a planet-sized one.

Besides setting up the Wii as one of the most successful consoles of all time, Super Mario Galaxy teemed with the most creative 3D-level design we’ve ever seen.

3. Mega Man X

Image Source: Capcom via Twinfinite

Mega Man X took the original Mega Man series, and Dragon Ball Z’d it. Wall jumping is perhaps the most prominent upgrade to Mega Man’s arsenal, and his new dash and charge burst were more impactful than they ever were in the original series.

The animation and sound design were turned to 10 here compared to the original series. Mega Man X’s intro sequence atop the highway bridge is a true masterclass in background design. I mean, a sci-fi metropolis under siege by maniacal robots with Mega Man fighting atop a crumpling highway over screaming guitars? Yes, please. And the music! Some of the stage themes for Mega Man X are almost too good for our ears.

In addition to heightened mobility and more action elements, the X series introduced some RPG mechanics in the form of equipment and upgrades. Sure, the upgrades were as simple as you can imagine, but collecting the best armor and unlocking the Hadouken for X added depth to an otherwise straightforward platformer. Mega Man X lives on today as one of the coolest games to ever grace a console in the 90s.

2. Super Metroid

Image Source: Nintendo

Without a doubt, Super Metroid was the most ambitious game from the SNES era, and it succeeded brilliantly in its ambition. Super Metroid combined open-world exploration with platforming and action gameplay against the backdrop of a sci-fi horror story.

The first thing you hear when booting up Super Metroid is a haunting hum with a sinister beeping fading in. A hatchling is heard in the distance, immediately lighting up any sci-fi geek’s imagination. The intro to Super Metroid is atmospheric storytelling brilliance. Clearly, a smart ode to the film series Alien, Super Metroid’s deep space horror story went terrifyingly well with the explorative platforming gameplay.

Branching corridors and locked doors populate much of the abandoned space station. Thankfully, Samus has access to tons of secret items and upgrades hidden throughout the derelict facility. Super Metroid helped invent a genre that continues to thrive today. It’s tough to say what the current landscape of gaming would be if not for Super Metroid’s massive influence.

1. Super Mario World

Image Source: Nintendo

Super Mario World gets the number one spot because… well because it’s just that good. While Super Mario World didn’t invent or codify sub-genres or game-changing mechanics like others on this list, it did solidify gaming as premium entertainment. Super Mario World is one of the best launch games a console’s ever had, with over 20 million copies sold today. Talk about a good first impression for a console.

Super Mario World gave players a sizeable interconnected map with branching paths and plenty of hidden exits. Unlike other platformers of the time, you could choose one of multiple levels and routes and go off the beaten path in search of secrets. The level design is as close to perfect as it comes. There’s a wealth of creativity from stage to stage while iterating on past gimmicks to throw some advanced platforming at the player to overcome.

Ghost Houses comprise some of the most ingenious levels, with trick doors, multiple mazelike rooms, and exits to confound the player. The sheer quality on display with Super Mario World continues to put modern games to task, so just imagine how next-gen it was in 1991.

That’s it for our top 10 best platformers of all time. If you enjoyed this list, check out our other top 10s here on Twinfinite!

About the author

Matthew Carmosino

Matthew Carmosino is a freelance writer for Twinfinite. He started gaming in the mid-90s where his love for SquareSoft RPGs like Chrono Trigger changed him forever. Matthew has been working in the game industry for two years covering everything from story-rich RPGs to puzzle-platformers.
Listening to piano music on a rainy day is his idea of a really good time, which probably explains his unnatural tolerance for level-grinding.

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Matthew Carmosino

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October 28, 2023