GRChats - What are the greatest 2D platfomers?

This is a topic seeing some action in the Nintendo Switch but thought I would spin it off into it's own topic so we can discuss this in more detail. If I was to pick the top 5 2D platformers of all time I would say something like...

1. Super Mario World
2. Super Mario Bros 3
3. Rayman Legends
4. Celeste
5. Donkey Kong Country (Can't decide on the first or Diddy's Kong Quest)

What say you GR?

1. Celeste by an enormous margin
2. Kirby’s Epic Yarn
3. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
4. Super Mario World, just - agreed with OR though, it isn’t pretty these days
5. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

Sonic 2. Next question? :datass:

I'm not big on 2D platformers, but there's a few I like

1. Rayman Origins
2. Pandemonium
3. Slain!
4. Rolling Thunder
5. Putty

The comments on Super Mario World not looking good are so wrong i don't know where to begin......

Number one for me is definitely Celeste, both in its subgenre of twitch platformers and 2D platformers in general. I would guess that VVVVVV sits in that subgenre too as another favourite.

Mario has to be up there, and while the original SMB has a near-perfect opening and deserves buckets of praise for still somehow being so very playable, I have to put SMB3 over it to take the classic platforming crown. I am also though a big fan of Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers for NES - especially in co-op.

With endless runners I was only half joking in the Switch thread about Robot Unicorn Attack, but my real favourite is Canabalt - and I genuinely think it's brilliant.

I'm a big fan of the Klonoa series - Empire of Dreams on GBA gets the top puzzle-platformer position, while I'm torn between Door to Phantomile (either PS1 original or Wii remake) and Lunatea's Veil for 2.5D platforming (which is really much closer to 2D than it is 3D).

To further stretch the boundaries of 2D platformer, Mario Maker 2 and Little Big Planet 2 are the best of the ostensibly 2D platformers but really robust creation tools (and while LBP2 mechanically isn't a very good platformer, the physics work very well for the physics sandbox the game actually is).

I think it's probably then a stretch too far to consider Metroidvanias, even if they can heavily feature platforming!

Gemini73 wrote:Rolling Thunder

I absolutely love Rolling Thunder, but I'd never call it a platformer!

However thinking of the arcade I do wonder if I should include Mappy - because that game is boss.

Knack

OrangeXMS wrote:
Gemini73 wrote:Rolling Thunder

I absolutely love Rolling Thunder, but I'd never call it a platformer!

No probably not, but my time with platformers is limited so as RT does have a platforming element to it I'll stick with it.

I really like Duck Tales and Chip 'n Dale on NES. I don't know about greatest but they are bloody good games.

In no particular order

Super Mario World
Spelunky
Ghouls and Ghosts
Bionic Commando
and one no one else will pick because it's not really that good but it was the soundtrack to about 3 summer holidays in the arcade - Pacland

Super Mario World
Sonic The Hedgehog 2
Yoshi's Story (i don't care what anyone says, i loved it)
Donkey Kong Country
World of Illusion

Haven't played a 2D platformer in many years but my top 5 would be:

Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Wario Land
Rocket Knight Adventures
Yoshi's Island
Ghouls and Ghosts

Rex Kramer wrote:Spelunky

Good shout, I was forgetting about Spelunky. It's certainly got to be the best procedurally generated platformer!

OrangeXMS wrote:
Rex Kramer wrote:Spelunky

Good shout, I was forgetting about Spelunky. It's certainly got to be the best procedurally generated platformer!

I think that is stretching the definition of a platformer personally. Spelunky is a 2D adventure game for me.

Not sure about a top 5, but I'd probably have to put Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat in mine.

OrangeRKN wrote:...VVVVVV sits in that subgenre too as another favourite...

Oh yes!

Some of the 2D platformers that I've really enjoyed are:

VVVVVV (3DS)
Montezuma's Revenge (C64)
Perils of Willy (Vic-20)
H.E.R.O. (C64)
Thomas Was Alone (Wii U)
Pharoah's Tomb (Vic-20)
Manic Miner (C64)
World of Illusion (MD)

VVVVVV is probably my favourite but, man, Montezuma was ace. Went back to it in later years and it felt really tough, but I completed it originally!

Edit: Oh, and The End Is Nigh (Switch) is cool, too - but I've not got very far into it yet.

sonic 3 and knuckles

Super Mario Bros 3
Sonic 3 and Knuckles
Super Meat Boy
Alex Kidd in Miracle World
Donkey Kong Country.

Cumberdanes wrote:I really like Duck Tales and Chip 'n Dale on NES. I don't know about greatest but they are bloody good games.

Oh, I forgot about them. DuckTales is strawberry floating awesome. I really like Chip 'n' Dale, but would like to play that in co-op.

The trouble with these sorts of threads is I can’t remember half the games I’ve loved over the years.

Still, these would be my top 5 until I remember that there are others I love more. In no particular order:

Sonic 2 (Megadrive)
Super Marioland (Gameboy)
Super Meatboy (Xbox 360)
Super Mario World (SNES)
Rainbow Islands (C64)

Rainbow Islands is probably gooseberry fool now, but I loved it at the time and played it so much that I was even dreaming about it.

Off the top of my head.

Yoshi's Island
Super Mario Maker 2 (I'm gonna count this)
Tropical Freeze
DKCR
Rayman Origins and Legends
Epic Yarn
NSMBU and the Luigi expansion

GRChats - What are the greatest 2D platfomers?

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