Recommend some platformers

[Ando85]

I'm a JRPG nut lately and haven't been playing many other genres. I want to play more platformers however. I've finished Jak 1-3 and most of the Ratchet and Clank games. I also played a great deal of them on N64 but hardly any on PS1. I notice there is a lot of PS1 platformers on PSN. I might get a 20 dollar PSN card and get a few.

Current gen or older doesn't matter. So, what would you guys recommend?

 

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

Well, I don't know how available these are, but whatever. Here's a bunch of older gen ones you might on PSN, or knocking about some used games stores or whatever. What consoles are you looking for?

If you can get a hold of them, give them a go:

From PS1:

Spyro the Dragon
Spyro 2: Gateway to Glimmer/Ripto's Rage
Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon
Crash Bandicoot
Crash 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Crash 3: Warped
Rayman
Rayman 2: The Great Escape
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos
Croc 2
Klonoa: Door to Phantomville
Gex
Gex: Enter the Gecko
Pandemonium
Pandemonium 2
Ape Escape

On PS2:

Sly Cooper and the Theivius Raccoonus
Sly 2: Band of Thieves
Sly 3: Honour Amongst Thieves
Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil
Psychonauts
Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc
Ape Escape 2
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
Prince of Persia: The Twin Thrones

 

[sextus the crazy]

I don't know if it's on PSN, but Super Meat Boy is challenging, but fair platformer. Also try out Bit. Trip. Runner. It's a great platform/rhythm game.

 

[Lugbzurg]

Let's take a look, shall we?

Mario series
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. 2: The Lost Levels
Super Mario Bros. 2: USA
Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Mario World
Super Mario 64
Super Mario Sunshine
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Super Mario Land
Super Mario Land 2
New Super Mario Bros.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
New Super Mario Bros. 2
New Super Mario Bros. U

Sonic series
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic the Hedgehog 3/Sonic & Knuckles (Lock-on as "Sonic 3 & Knuckles")
Sonic CD
Sonic Adventure
Sonic Adventure 2
Sonic Heroes
Shadow the Hedgehog

Banjo-Kazooie series
Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Tooie
Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge

Crash series
Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
Crash Twinsanity

Spyro series
Spyro the Dragon
Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage
Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon

Rayman series
Rayman
Rayman 2: The Great Escape
Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc
Rayman Origins
Rayman Legends

Kirby series
Kirby's Dream Land
Kirby's Dream Land 2
Kirby's Dream Land 3
Kirby's Adventure
Kirby and the Amazing Mirror
Kirby: Canvas Curse

Other
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-hB4KZ_RcQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahFdNB2X7H8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhggQyLQzDg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwNsrmcsBCM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blyeQxe1D48
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkmBPtglbDs

 

[Discordius Erisianus]

Get Tomba. It stars a caveman with pink hair.
You can explore the levels generally in two layers by jumping to the background. You can scale things too.

 

[TimeLord]

-snip-

-snip-

Two big lists, no mentions of any Ratchet and Clank game.

I am disappoint.

Note: The subtitles of the Ratchet and Clank games change between North America and Europe. So depending on where you live, this list might be really inaccurate.

PS2:
Ratchet and Clank
Ratchet and Clank 2: Going Commando
Ratchet and Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal
Ratchet: Deadlocked

PSP:
Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters
Ratchet and Clank: Secret Agent Cank

PS3:
("Future" trilogy)
Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction
Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty
Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time

Ratchet and Clank: All4One
Ratchet and Clank: QForce

Ratchet and Clank HD Collection (R&C 1, 2 and 3)

Buy them all now! Great platforming, great humour and great fun! Something lacking in today's generation of games

 

[Raggedstar]

Pretty much everything I would've suggested you either played (Jak and Ratchet) or already suggested, but no matter. I don't know how many Ratchets you played, but most of them are great. A Crack in Time is my favourite and is one of the more platformy games in the franchise. Don't pass up Quest for Booty because of length, since despite being so short, it has a lot of great platforming. I advise you to avoid All 4 One and Full Frontal Assault though, since they are more multiplayer focused and the fanbase has mixed feelings about them (A4O being significantly glitchier, most repetitive, and in my experience significantly less fun than the others. FFA being nearly impossible to complete by yourself due to the game's shitty balance issues in the miniscule singleplayer campaign. The game assumes you have a buddy with you and sends waves too difficult for one person to fend off without serious base damage)

Wait...no Sonic Colours or Generations anywhere? Shame! Ya, try them out. Sonic's last two outings were surprisingly good. Not perfect and a bit hard to handle at times, but still very playable. I had a lot of fun.

Abe's Oddysey and Exoddus I hear are good. Oddysey especially I warn you has pretty shitty checkpoints. Mix it in on how nearly everything can kill you and it can be a very frustrating experience. But the visuals were good for the time and the world is so magical, so worth a shot. Oddysey I think is getting a ground-up remake (think something like Black Mesa). Oh, and the game has a fart button. You're welcome.

Limbo is a great 2D platformer. Can be very cruel in visuals (like a kid being turned into giblets after running into a sawblade), but unlike Abe's games they're a lot more generous with checkpoints.

A lot of indie games choose the platformer genre. Wouldn't hurt to scroll through there for games like Braid and Fez too and see if they're your cup of tea.

And to repeat some of my favourites...

-Sly Cooper 1-3 (a 4th coming out in February, and it's looking spiffy)
-Crash Bandicoot 1-3
-Spyro the Dragon 1-3
-Klonoa 1 and 2 (games are kinda rare. Klonoa 1 has a good remake on the Wii)
-Psychonauts
-Rayman Origins
-Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

EDIT:

Two big lists, no mentions of any Ratchet and Clank game.

I am disappoint.

Because OP already played most of them. But aye, it's impossible to have too much Ratchet and Clank.

And the HD collections aren't worth it unless you want the multiplayer and you don't have the originals on PS2. So damn glitchy. Some of the glitches required me to quit the game because it either froze or trapped me.

 

[Ryan Hughes]

Personally, I reccommend anything Rayman. And the good news is he is available on virtually every platform.

 

[thatonedude11]

Psychonauts.

Psychonauts Psychonauts Psychonauts Psychonauts Psychonauts Psychonauts Psychonauts Psychonauts.

Seriously, get this game. It is freakin amazing. Do not hesitate. Get it now. It's available via steam, GOG, PSN, and Xbox Live. You have no reason to not own this title.

 

[DustyDrB]

As far as 3D platformers go...it's pretty barren these days. You could try Alice: Madness Returns, but they don't really challenge you with the platforming.

And as far as 2D platformers go...they're kind of a-dime-a-dozen. I hear that Gianna Sisters game is good. I don't know. I'm pretty burnt out on that style of game.

 

[Nazulu]

Try and get a hold of Donkey Kong Country 1, 2 and 3, as well as Donkey Kong 64.

Also, it isn't just platforming, but try out some of the Metroid games. I recommend starting with Metroid Prime or Super Metroid.

 

[Guffe]

Mario Sunshine
Rayman (can't remember which one it was but I think it was on N64)

And there are many more but a lot seems to be covered already

 

[jollybarracuda]

While there's plenty of platformer-puzzle games, there's actually quite a few pure platformers that reward accurate jumps and maintain some sort of flow between the running and jumping. Yes, i know that makes me sound incredibly pompous.

Some of the notable few are:
Rayman Origins
Psyhonauts
Trine 1 & 2 (sorta stretching on that one, but it is fun and its not gimmickey, so hey, try it out)
New Super Mario Bros. games (Any one will do, they all play the same, though they are all great fun)
Mario Galaxy games
Super Meat Boy (I wish it wasn't so level-by-level based, but it is tons of fun and incredibly challenging)

Those are kind of all i can think of for pure platformers that are "modern", actually.

As for classic platformers that you ought to try:
Yoshi's Island (One of the best platformers ever made. Everything is just so...polished)
Banjo-Kazooie games (More adventure than platformer, but still may fall into that category)

Those are kind of my tops, so hopefully those help.

 

[Eddie the head]

-snip-

-snip-

Two big lists, no mentions of any Ratchet and Clank game.

I am disappoint.

Note: The subtitles of the Ratchet and Clank games change between North America and Europe. So depending on where you live, this list might be really inaccurate.

PS2:
Ratchet and Clank
Ratchet and Clank 2: Going Commando
Ratchet and Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal
Ratchet: Deadlocked

PSP:
Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters
Ratchet and Clank: Secret Agent Cank

PS3:
("Future" trilogy)
Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction
Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty
Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time

Ratchet and Clank: All4One
Ratchet and Clank: QForce

Ratchet and Clank HD Collection (R&C 1, 2 and 3)

Buy them all now! Great platforming, great humour and great fun! Something lacking in today's generation of games

To be fair the OP did mention the Ratchet and Clank Games. Also wouldn't the "Future" trilogy be in this gen of games? But anyway yeah if you haven't played all the Ratchet and Clank I would recommend them. They are possibly the funnest games I have ever played.

 

[TimeLord]

-snip-

-snip-

Two big lists, no mentions of any Ratchet and Clank game.

I am disappoint.

Note: The subtitles of the Ratchet and Clank games change between North America and Europe. So depending on where you live, this list might be really inaccurate.

PS2:
Ratchet and Clank
Ratchet and Clank 2: Going Commando
Ratchet and Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal
Ratchet: Deadlocked

PSP:
Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters
Ratchet and Clank: Secret Agent Cank

PS3:
("Future" trilogy)
Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction
Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty
Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time

Ratchet and Clank: All4One
Ratchet and Clank: QForce

Ratchet and Clank HD Collection (R&C 1, 2 and 3)

Buy them all now! Great platforming, great humour and great fun! Something lacking in today's generation of games

To be fair the OP did mention the Ratchet and Clank Games. Also wouldn't the "Future" trilogy be in this gen of games? But anyway yeah if you haven't played all the Ratchet and Clank I would recommend them. They are possibly the funnest games I have ever played.

Oops, so he did, must have missed that. And it doesn't matter, all Ratchet and Clank games should be played! Regardless of anything else.

 

[Dr.Susse]

Well if you liked The Jak series all of the Naughty dog Crash stuff is well worth a look.

But I do have to second Tomba! It's a really well made 2D platformer and is probably a good bridging game being a JRPG fan like yourself.

The Croc games are good but really frustrating and Spyro is pretty good.