MY BRAIN HAD A THINK ABOUT A GAM3

Man, that's a toughie. I think Super Meat Boy and a few fair few of the classic Mario games would feature, but I'll need to wrack my brain and put together a proper list. Good question!

I'm not a huge fan of the genre in it's purest form (as in not Mega Man or Castlevania as those are sort of a sub-genre), I think it's due to playing Sonic 2 first and everything else is so slow in comparison that other games have to be top notch like a Mario game or have a decent story like in Celeste to push me on.

I can come up with a Top 10 though
10. Thomas Was Alone
9. Rayman Legends
8. Kirby's Adventure
7. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
6. Super Mario World
5. Sonic 3 & Knuckles
4. Sonic CD
3. Super Mario Bros 3
2. Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure
1. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi Island

A few honourable's would be most of the Disney games on Mega Drive especially Aladdin, Sonic 2, the Wario Land games all come to mind.

Had a think,and here's my top 10. One per franchise, otherwise it would just be five Sonic games and five Mario games. In no order...

Sonic Mania
Super Mario World (a Mario game!)
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (a Yoshi game!)
Kirby's Epic Yarn
Dynamite Headdy
Ristar
Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse
Rayman Legends
Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
Klonoa: Door to Phantomile.

I'm gutted that Earthworm Jim, Rocket Knight Adventures, Runbow, Shovel Knight and Plok can't fit into the top ten. 😔

Hmm . . . would I want to stick to a one-per-series rule for this? I mean, I think a list like this should be mostly Mario games!

1. Super Mario World
   
2. Celeste
   
3. Donkey Kong '94
   
4. Super Mario Brothers 3
   
5. Super Mario Brothers
   
6. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
   
7. Shovel Knight
   
8. Thomas Was Alone
   
9. New Super Mario Brothers (any of them, they're pretty interchangeable)
   
10. Sonic Rush
    

That's just off the top of my head. Writing out that list, I'm reminded once again that I've not played enough of the two recent good Rayman games. I should rectify that!

What I'm gathering thus far is that I really need to play TwA, and should probably give SMB3 another go.

There are some great games in your lists, guys. Comments on same below, but before that, this. I decided to stick to one game per series, too.

10. The Lost Vikings
9. BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner2: Future Legend Of Rhythm Alien
8. Sonic The Hedgehog 2
7. Kirby: Planet Robobot
6. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
5. Runbow
4. Donkey Kong Country: Jungle Beat (I only played the Wii New Play Control! version but the imagination and inventiveness in this game is first-rate)
3. Rayman Legends
2. Celeste
1. Super Mario Bros. 3

Naturally all subject to change and would likely be different tomorrow.

Near misses:

The lists of others:

Some great games banded about, little surprised about Shovel Knight in Drunkas list, not that it isn't a great game but I see in that weird action platformer genre with the likes of Mega Man, Ninja Gaiden etc

I'm also curious if we ever come back to this how Celeste does and will it still be near peoples tops or will it do an Undertale.

masofdas wrote:

Some great games banded about, little surprised about Shovel Knight in Drunkas list, not that it isn't a great game but I see in that weird action platformer genre with the likes of Mega Man, Ninja Gaiden etc

Depends on whether people think that's allowed - I certainly do, hence Gunman Clive being in mine. (This is very much a person-by-person thing, I'm not disputing anyone's inclusion of it or lack thereof.)

masofdas wrote:

I'm also curious if we ever come back to this how Celeste does and will it still be near peoples tops or will it do an Undertale.

...and so there'll be more games you understand the appeal of in Top Tens, right? I very much doubt it'll go anywhere for me. On my list, the biggest jumps in my enjoyment are from 1 to 2, and from 3 to 4. Despite rare exceptions in Hatsworth and KEY, I always thought the 2D platformer was a middling genre, destined to be grand at best (rather than phenomenal) for me. Celeste was the game that proved me wrong. I can see it lasting a good few generations on top.

Ahh the muddy waters of defining a genre, anyhow I think games like SK, Mega man & Shinobi are perfectly fine to pick as despite their action elements at their base its still about the platforming obstacles.

Yeah for sure but only Drunka has picked one of those sort of games, I know Cappa said the other day something along the lines of Mega Man being overrated.

Are they just not good enough for a Top 10 or others left out because of the muddy genre?

The genre discussion on 2D platformers is hard for me. If the player character(s) jumps/jump onto different surfaces and you’re viewing them from a side-on perspective, I reckon it’s a 2D platformer. So that includes Super Metroid, Guacamelee, Mega Man, the lot. I did exclude anything that was overtly Metroidvania... but Shovel Knight was on the cards (although #11 is probably actually Boxboy!).

ZeroJones wrote:

The genre discussion on 2D platformers is hard for me. If the player character(s) jump onto different surfaces and you’re viewing them from a side-on perspective, I reckon it’s a 2D platformer. So that includes Super Metroid, Guacamelee, Mega Man, the lot. I did exclude anything that was overtly Metroidvania... but Shovel Knight was on the cards (although #11 is probably actually Boxboy!).

I can see what ye mean but for me your classic 2d platformer won't have one completely connected world but separate levels usually picked from overworld map or menu, SK & Mega man etc have this but the two Metroidvanias you bring up don't - their main focus is exploration and combat which is something you usually upgrade too so I personally wouldn't have them in this list.

---

Anyhow here's mine in no set order:

Super Mario bros 2
Shovel Knight (including the expansions)
Rayman Legends
Donkey Kong country 2
Super meat boy
Dustforce
Super Mario bros 3
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (This is probably aged really badly but I've got great memories of playing it with my brothers)
Super Mario Bros
Chip 'N Dale Rescue rangers.

Diarrhea > Donkey Kong Country 2

Whilst my opinion isn’t as forceful as Cappa’s, I am on his team - I did not enjoy DKC2 very much.

Tbh it was something I just threw together and a few of them could easily be replaced, DKC2 being one of them.

I've not actually played any of the old Donkey Kongs... can't say I'm particularly tempted to either after this! I did play Donkey Kong Land 2 though, back on the old Game Boy. While I quite enjoyed it, I possibly wasn't the most discerning person back in those days.

The older Donkey Kong Country games are really weak to play. Floaty, awkward, style-over-substance stuff.

Shovel Knight has actually fun platforming, unlike any of the Mega Mans.

@Drunka: agreed re Mega Man. His games are harsh and abrasive (although I did quite like Mega Man X) with frustration only ever a few moments away. Shovel Knight has much more charm, character (for Mega Man himself is the ultimate blank canvas, designed to be painted over again and again in all of his games) and forgiveness.

I always found DKC2 took what DKC was doing with the style that had and out into actaully decent 2D platformer.

Yeah but you like Sonic, so who bloody knows?

Only 3 of them made my Top 10 and you'd think it's mainly be because of #Nostlgia

My favourite of the original DKC trilogy is the original DKC. This faith will be tested by playing it again on the SNES Mini after not having pressed a button in anger on it for over twenty years. I found DKC2 too hard and DKC3 too easy with less personality.

ZeroJones wrote:

Shovel Knight has much more ... forgiveness.

Chucking your treasure down a pit if you fail doesn't seem too forgiving to me. My main gripe with SK is what I see as its lack of forgiveness!

Compared to Mega man though it's a walk in the park though plus it's not exactly difficult to earn more treasure in SK either.

Oh, the earlier Mega Man games are absolutely brutal and unforgiving at points. There's nothing to the extent of Quick Man's stage popping up in Shovel Knight.