All-Time Platformer Ranking
A ranked list of my all-time favorite platformer games from any, hehe, "platform". What to count as a "platformer" can be a bit vague, so I used my own discretion and consensus. Super Smash Bros is not included as it is MUCH more a fighting game than a platformer.
62 Games
One of the tightest feeling 3D Platformers I've ever played and the addition of FLUDD allows levels to get truly inventive, expanding on Super Mario 64's formula. The story is absolutely goofy, but pretty fun, and it has a very organic platforming world. Corona Mountain is awful and helps bring this thing down.
Played via the Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection.
Played this a lot as a kid. The level design is VERY inventive with how it takes real life locations from a toy's perspective and makes them sprawling collectathon levels and because of it the game oozes characters. Underrated.
18
The first Super Mario game holds up shockingly well. Basic, but executed to a strong degree, with physics tighter than I expected. You can stop on a dime! 8-3 and 8-4 feel like quartermuncher arcade levels, though.
Review: https://www.backloggd.com/u/FrozenRoy/review/49578/
Review: https://www.backloggd.com/u/FrozenRoy/review/49578/
24
The highs are high and the lows are low. Sonic and Gamma are quite fun, Knuckles and Tails are solid, but Amy feels shoehorned in and Big the Cat's just AWFUL. It's also glitchy. Soundtrack B A N G S.
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Played via Castlevania Anniversary Collection. Top tier NES Aesthetics, but the game oscillates between fun and frustrating on a dime, and it feels like beating it is too much cheesing it rather than getting better.
Review: https://www.backloggd.com/u/FrozenRoy/review/71181/
Review: https://www.backloggd.com/u/FrozenRoy/review/71181/
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Nails the flavor of the Game Boy retro aesthetic and I like the QTE stuff, but it has frustrating level design, simulated "screen crunch" and some awkward hitboxes.
Review: https://www.backloggd.com/u/FrozenRoy/review/93670/
Review: https://www.backloggd.com/u/FrozenRoy/review/93670/
This was on track to be a 5 star game or so, but then it glitched out and became unplayable. Cannot fix it.
Played via Castlevania Anniversary Collection.
Review: https://www.backloggd.com/u/FrozenRoy/review/109691/
Review: https://www.backloggd.com/u/FrozenRoy/review/109691/
Played via Sega Genesis Classics on the Nintendo Switch. Everything about this game is repugnant and the fact this is in Sega Genesis "Classics" is hilarious.
Review: https://www.backloggd.com/u/FrozenRoy/review/106881/
Review: https://www.backloggd.com/u/FrozenRoy/review/106881/
3 Comments
And with the completion of GRIS, this list has officially hit 50 entries! Not really that much in the grand scheme of things, but it's still a milestone I'm happy about. Hopefully by the time I hit 75 I do have some more variety on this list though: 16/50 of this list is just Mario or Metroid games, which is a high ratio for my liking, although I'd be surprised if nothing new from them pops up. But definitely gotta get some more stuff, be it some big guys like Sonic (he really needs some better game reps on here), Banjo, Spyro or w/e, or some more wild stuff like Glover or Ty or something. And of course some lesser known random bullshit like Heavy Nova or The Amazing Spider-Man GB. Maybe I'll toss more notes up, too...
Agreed that Toy Story 2 is an underrated 3D platformer and might unironically be one of the best 3D platformers out there
MisterRaisin
2 years ago