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General and Gaming => General => Topic started by: burningdoom on July 08, 2014, 04:58:41 pm

Title: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: burningdoom on July 08, 2014, 04:58:41 pm
What game/series is your favorite platformer, outside of Mario (just because I know that will be overwhelmingly the #1 choice).

Sonic? Crash Bandicoot? Klonoa? Donkey Kong Country? Spyro? Lester the Unlikely? Share it here.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: turf on July 08, 2014, 05:02:18 pm
My first thought was Donkey Kong Country.  That may be the one.  I think it is. 
I really like Earthworm Jim too.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: kamikazekeeg on July 08, 2014, 05:34:06 pm
The first Jak & Daxter, Banjo-Kazooie/Tooie, and for something newer, Shovel Knight.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: stethebubble on July 08, 2014, 05:45:55 pm
earthworm jim :)
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: argyle on July 08, 2014, 05:57:24 pm
2D:  Rayman: Origins/Legends, with special mentions to Klonoa 1&2 and the Donkey Kong Country series.

3D:  The original Spyro trilogy, with special mentions to the Sly Cooper series, Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Maximo 1&2, Donkey Kong 64, the Ape Escape series and I-Ninja.

Honestly, don't think those would change much at all even if you included Mario, besides a mention of Super Mario World under the 2D list (tho it still wouldn't unseat Rayman). 
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: bikingjahuty on July 08, 2014, 06:19:55 pm
My list:


1. Donkey Kong Country 2


2. Sonic 3


3. Banjo Kazooie



Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: badATchaos on July 08, 2014, 06:21:47 pm
Pretty damn hard to narrow it down to one game or series but here are some decent contenders:

BUBBLE BOBBLE!

The early Oddworld games were pretty good.

While some might consider the Techmo's original Ninja Gaiden series beat'em ups or something, I consider them platformers. I mean... come on. With exception to bosses, every enemy dies in one hit and a LOT of the gameplay is executing perfect jumps on platforms.

Mega Man!

Something more contemporary like Super Meat Boy maybe? I haven't played Shovel Knight yet so I guess we'll have to see.

The original Prince of Persia was definitely ahead of its time.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: justin8301 on July 08, 2014, 06:54:26 pm
I almost feel like its not fair to compare platformers from different generations. so here are my picks starting with generation 3.

Gen 3 - Adventure Island 2 - NES
Gen 4 - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - GEN
Gen 5 - Crash Bandicoot - PSX
Gen 6 - Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus - PS2
Gen 7 - Little Big Planet - PS3
Gen 8 - Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze - Wii U
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: dreama1 on July 08, 2014, 07:56:57 pm
Bonks adventure obviously come on. Could you be anymore unoriginal with the picks?
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: foxhack on July 08, 2014, 08:04:15 pm
Bonks adventure obviously come on. Could you be anymore unoriginal with the picks?

Not everyone had a TG-16 growing up. Or even now. :P
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: burningdoom on July 08, 2014, 08:05:17 pm
Bonks adventure obviously come on. Could you be anymore unoriginal with the picks?

Would you rather have had me make a list of every platformer ever made? I just threw a few out there for the initial post, those weren't supposed to be the only choices or anything. I mean come on, Lester the Unlikely?
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: kamikazekeeg on July 08, 2014, 08:09:42 pm
Not everyone had a TG-16 growing up. Or even now. :P

I didn't know that existed till the recent years of seeing retro stuff on Youtube lol
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: dreama1 on July 08, 2014, 08:31:44 pm
Bonks adventure obviously come on. Could you be anymore unoriginal with the picks?

Not everyone had a TG-16 growing up. Or even now. :P
It's on NES, and SNES.  ???
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: turf on July 08, 2014, 08:38:55 pm
Bonks adventure obviously come on. Could you be anymore unoriginal with the picks?

Not everyone had a TG-16 growing up. Or even now. :P
It's on NES, and SNES.  ???

Even so, it's still not anyone else's favorite. It may be yours. Feel free to add it to the discussion.  I don't really like the SNES one. I've never played the TG-16 version, but the NES version is fun.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: pacpix on July 08, 2014, 08:47:22 pm
Donkey Kong Country series for me, my personal favorite being Donkey Kong Country 3.  Also really enjoyed Pac-Man World 2 and Banjo-Kazooie
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: burningdoom on July 08, 2014, 08:51:32 pm
The NES version is pretty rare.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: badATchaos on July 08, 2014, 08:58:31 pm
Bonks adventure obviously come on. Could you be anymore unoriginal with the picks?

I was gonna mention Lode Runner but I don't think too many people know what that is.

Ooooo another one is the Adventure Island series.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: burningdoom on July 08, 2014, 09:00:54 pm
Bonks adventure obviously come on. Could you be anymore unoriginal with the picks?

I was gonna mention Lode Runner but I don't think too many people know what that is.

Ooooo another one is the Adventure Island series.

I used to play Lode Runner on the Commodore 64. Jumpman was similar.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: pacpix on July 08, 2014, 09:15:46 pm
One that I forgot to list is Ice Climber.  I know a lot of people do not enjoy the game, mostly due to the controls, but I think it is a great arcade style platformer.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: dreama1 on July 08, 2014, 09:34:21 pm
Bonks adventure obviously come on. Could you be anymore unoriginal with the picks?

Not everyone had a TG-16 growing up. Or even now. :P
It's on NES, and SNES.  ???

Even so, it's still not anyone else's favorite. It may be yours. Feel free to add it to the discussion.  I don't really like the SNES one. I've never played the TG-16 version, but the NES version is fun.
You don't say, I had no idea. Yeah I will, just thought I would add something orginial to the list other than the sonic the hedgehog, call me riskey you know. I think that was a pretty obvious pick, that it doesn't really need to be said.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: justin8301 on July 08, 2014, 09:38:13 pm
This thread is turning south quick... Just try to remember everyone has different opinions about their favorite games... so there are no wrong answers to the question.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: dreama1 on July 08, 2014, 09:38:40 pm
Bonks adventure obviously come on. Could you be anymore unoriginal with the picks?

I was gonna mention Lode Runner but I don't think too many people know what that is.

Ooooo another one is the Adventure Island series.
Love adventure island such a happy upbeat game.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: foxhack on July 08, 2014, 09:43:10 pm
Bonks adventure obviously come on. Could you be anymore unoriginal with the picks?

Not everyone had a TG-16 growing up. Or even now. :P
It's on NES, and SNES.  ???
And both are also absurdly rare and expensive.  :-\
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: dreama1 on July 08, 2014, 09:44:26 pm
Bonks adventure obviously come on. Could you be anymore unoriginal with the picks?

Not everyone had a TG-16 growing up. Or even now. :P
It's on NES, and SNES.  ???
And both are also absurdly rare and expensive.  :-\
True. Impressive NES game graphically tho. It's not to different from the pc engine version.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: turf on July 08, 2014, 10:13:25 pm
Bonks adventure obviously come on. Could you be anymore unoriginal with the picks?

Not everyone had a TG-16 growing up. Or even now. :P
It's on NES, and SNES.  ???
And both are also absurdly rare and expensive.  :-\

The SNES is only about a $20, I think. It's not too hard to come by.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: foxhack on July 08, 2014, 11:35:03 pm
The SNES is only about a $20, I think. It's not too hard to come by.

It's worth like $35-40 now.  :o
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: 90snostalga on July 08, 2014, 11:45:50 pm
This is a tough one for me.  Doom, if it's okay for me to name some that I pick as my top without a favorite or particular order, it would be the following:

*All Sonic games from the Genesis

*Crash Bandicoot

*Donkey Kong Country series

*Bomberman Hero
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: stethebubble on July 08, 2014, 11:50:58 pm
ducktale wwwwwwwwwwoooooooooooo hoo
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: Bwigdahl on July 09, 2014, 02:08:43 am
Kinda surprised at the lack of Mega Man love here... Donkey Kong Country 2 is my favorite platformer of all time, including Mario games. But I'd also throw Mega Man X and Mega Man 7 on mine as well. And also the Castlevania series easily would be up there (Castlevania, Super Castlevania, Dracula X and Bloodlines specifically for me).

Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: maximo310 on July 09, 2014, 02:21:23 am
Probably for me would be Mega Man+X series, DKC series, Rayman series, Kirby series, and the original Blaster Master.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: dashv on July 09, 2014, 02:35:05 am
If I had to pick 1...

Blaster Master

If I could pick two more...

Kirby's Adventure
Super Metroid
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: badATchaos on July 09, 2014, 02:51:49 am
Gah! How could I have forgotten Blaster Master? I used to play up to level two, hit pause and just listen to the music. The score was spectacular.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: dashv on July 09, 2014, 02:56:13 am
Gah! How could I have forgotten Blaster Master? I used to play up to level two, hit pause and just listen to the music. The score was spectacular.

I did that too for a bunch of the levels. Level 3 had a catchy track too. :)
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: turf on July 09, 2014, 09:55:24 am
Is Megaman a platformer?  Well, that changed a few things.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: burningdoom on July 09, 2014, 12:58:30 pm
Is Megaman a platformer?  Well, that changed a few things.

Well, there's pure-platformers and action-platformers.

I kind of meant pure-platformers, but I didn't make that clear.

But I'm not like the tyrant of the thread or anything, so post what you want.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: burningdoom on July 09, 2014, 12:59:31 pm
I'm starting to suspect a certain someone is making dupe-accounts again, just like on GameSpot's website...
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: abe on July 09, 2014, 01:16:57 pm
If we're going to post games that are not purely platformers, then Super Metroid is by far my personal favorite. Buuut for a plain ol' platformer I'm going to go with Banjo Kazooie. (I'm not going to say either are the "Greatest Non-Mario Platformer", these are nothing more than my opinions)
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: badATchaos on July 12, 2014, 07:38:41 pm
What heck is a pure platformer?
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: burningdoom on July 12, 2014, 09:44:09 pm
What heck is a pure platformer?

Stuff like Mario, Sonic, Bonk, Kirby, Crash Bandicoot, etc.

As opposed to Castlevania, Mega Man, Contra, Ninja Gaiden, etc.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: badATchaos on July 12, 2014, 10:50:38 pm
Other than overall mood I fail to see the difference.
Mario jumps on platforms and shoots projectiles. Mega Man jumps on platforms and shoots projectiles. In Kirby and Crash Bandicoot you can attack with melee attacks. In Ninja Gaiden and Castlevania you can attack with melee attacks.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: dashv on July 13, 2014, 01:53:04 am
Other than overall mood I fail to see the difference.
Mario jumps on platforms and shoots projectiles. Mega Man jumps on platforms and shoots projectiles. In Kirby and Crash Bandicoot you can attack with melee attacks. In Ninja Gaiden and Castlevania you can attack with melee attacks.

I'm with ya there.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: burningdoom on July 13, 2014, 02:17:06 pm
Other than overall mood I fail to see the difference.
Mario jumps on platforms and shoots projectiles. Mega Man jumps on platforms and shoots projectiles. In Kirby and Crash Bandicoot you can attack with melee attacks. In Ninja Gaiden and Castlevania you can attack with melee attacks.

Really?

Pure platformers are focused on collecting things, level exploration, and simply just beating levels. There are enemies and boss battles, but that's not the focus.

Action-platformers focus on combat, boss battles, and survival in addition to the platforming.

You get a distinctly different gameplay feel from Mario than you do Mega Man.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: kamikazekeeg on July 13, 2014, 05:59:03 pm
Other than overall mood I fail to see the difference.
Mario jumps on platforms and shoots projectiles. Mega Man jumps on platforms and shoots projectiles. In Kirby and Crash Bandicoot you can attack with melee attacks. In Ninja Gaiden and Castlevania you can attack with melee attacks.

Really?

Pure platformers are focused on collecting things, level exploration, and simply just beating levels. There are enemies and boss battles, but that's not the focus.

Action-platformers focus on combat, boss battles, and survival in addition to the platforming.

You get a distinctly different gameplay feel from Mario than you do Mega Man.

Yeah I see the difference for sure.  They are similar, but they have distinct differences in terms of how they are meant to play.  Castlevania, Gaiden, Mega Man, have the focus on the combat, projectiles, killing things.  Mario or Kirby or Crash are more about the platforming first with the combat generally being secondary.

I tend to enjoy more pure platformers than the action ones like Contra or Gaiden or Castlevania.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: stethebubble on July 13, 2014, 06:44:59 pm
Pretty damn hard to narrow it down to one game or series but here are some decent contenders:

BUBBLE BOBBLE!

The early Oddworld games were pretty good.

While some might consider the Techmo's original Ninja Gaiden series beat'em ups or something, I consider them platformers. I mean... come on. With exception to bosses, every enemy dies in one hit and a LOT of the gameplay is executing perfect jumps on platforms.

Mega Man!

Something more contemporary like Super Meat Boy maybe? I haven't played Shovel Knight yet so I guess we'll have to see.

The original Prince of Persia was definitely ahead of its time.

good call on oddworld.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: atarileaf on July 13, 2014, 06:50:03 pm
Everyone mentions Bonk for the TG-16 but I'm going off the board - JJ and Jeff was a pretty fun platformer, and I'm not a platform gamer AT ALL so this says something.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: MJMaranan on July 13, 2014, 08:44:18 pm
Pretty damn hard to narrow it down to one game or series but here are some decent contenders:

BUBBLE BOBBLE!

The early Oddworld games were pretty good.

While some might consider the Techmo's original Ninja Gaiden series beat'em ups or something, I consider them platformers. I mean... come on. With exception to bosses, every enemy dies in one hit and a LOT of the gameplay is executing perfect jumps on platforms.

Mega Man!

Something more contemporary like Super Meat Boy maybe? I haven't played Shovel Knight yet so I guess we'll have to see.

The original Prince of Persia was definitely ahead of its time.

good call on oddworld.
When I was reading through the article, I instantly thought Oddworld: Abe's Odyssee.  Nice!

Some of the stages on the LittleBigPlanet series can be considered pure-platformer.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: turf on July 13, 2014, 08:48:08 pm
I guess I need to try Little Big Planet out.   I have it, but never fired it up.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: dashv on July 13, 2014, 11:15:47 pm
I guess I need to try Little Big Planet out.   I have it, but never fired it up.

My son is obsessed with this game.

Builds his own levels.

We made a level together called "Back to the Mooo-chure". You drive a Delorean through a field of cows and they explode on impact. At the end you've left a long fire trail and a Doc Exclaim's "What did I tell you!? 88 cows an acre!"

...

What can I say. We were bored.

As far as new school platformers go Little Big Planet isn't bad. And the game is narrated by the guy that does the narration for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie. He even maintains the same "attitude" the guide had.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: abe on July 14, 2014, 05:33:13 am
Little Big Planet is awesome, but unfortunately Little Big Planet 2 didn't have the same impact on me as the first. I feel like not too much will change in Little Big Planet 3, even with the addition of the new characters.
I wonder if the new characters in 3 will have their own costumes separate from sackboy's, or if they'll use the same stuff but wear them in a different way.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: gartcat on July 14, 2014, 01:53:07 pm
Bonk's Revenge for the TG16 was the really good one, definitely better than any other Bonk they made for any system imo.  I do quite enjoy the combo Sonic & Knuckles + Sonic 3 because you can pick whatever level you want to play, it was ahead of its time in that regard. Kirby's DL 2 on Gameboy is up there.  Rescue Rangers on NES was fun, and I did like Donald Duck in Deep Duck Trouble on Game Gear.  Mickey's Dangerous Chase was a favorite of mine because of its similarity to RR.   A lot of people like the Castle of Illusion, Alex Kidd, I think Aladdin on Genesis would count too. 
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: turf on July 14, 2014, 02:30:48 pm
Rescue Rangers on NES was fun, and I did like Donald Duck in Deep Duck Trouble on Game Gear.  Mickey's Dangerous Chase was a favorite of mine because of its similarity to RR.   A lot of people like the Castle of Illusion, Alex Kidd, I think Aladdin on Genesis would count too.

How did I forget all those awesome 8-bit and 16-bit Disney games?  There was some really fun stuff there. 
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: gartcat on July 14, 2014, 04:04:38 pm
Rescue Rangers on NES was fun, and I did like Donald Duck in Deep Duck Trouble on Game Gear.  Mickey's Dangerous Chase was a favorite of mine because of its similarity to RR.   A lot of people like the Castle of Illusion, Alex Kidd, I think Aladdin on Genesis would count too.

How did I forget all those awesome 8-bit and 16-bit Disney games?  There was some really fun stuff there.

There were all those other ones too, Mr. Nutz, Aero the Acro-bat, Bubsy, and Rocky the Rodent lol.  I've never heard anyone refer to those as great though.  But yeah there were some good Disney ones all across the different systems.  Quackshot, Magical Quest, The Lucky Dime Caper, and probably some others that I can't recall that were real high quality games, mostly by Capcom or Sega but Virgin had some good stuff too.  I never really got into those Lion King/Jungle Book games though. 
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: gartcat on July 14, 2014, 04:10:07 pm
Does Rocket Knight Adventures count?  I have that in my Genesis right now, but it kind of blurs the line between what some are referring to as a "platformer", you collect fruit and stuff but you have a sword so.....some others like that might be the wonderful Wonder Boy in Monster Land series.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: burningdoom on July 14, 2014, 07:32:32 pm
Does Rocket Knight Adventures count?  I have that in my Genesis right now, but it kind of blurs the line between what some are referring to as a "platformer", you collect fruit and stuff but you have a sword so.....some others like that might be the wonderful Wonder Boy in Monster Land series.

Definitely. It's a platformer. It just uses the rocket-pack to try and put a fresh-spin on what was already a tired genre by that time. (And it does a great job!)
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: betelgeuse on July 22, 2014, 10:32:42 pm
I'm going with the 2D Rayman games.
The original Gex and Donkey Kong Country were great too.
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: burningdoom on July 22, 2014, 11:29:13 pm
I'm going with the 2D Rayman games.
The original Gex and Donkey Kong Country were great too.

All great choices!
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: pordox on July 23, 2014, 12:42:14 pm
In the times of (very late) NES and SNES I played a lot more action-platformers other than the classic Jump'n Run stuff. Like the glorious Batmans, Megamans, Contras and Castlevanias. The only "traditional" platformer that I loved was Super Mario World (for me the very best in the series).

But before that time, I remember playing two of my all-time favorites in the platforming genre
Prince of Persia (the first one on GameBoy was amazing) and
Nebulus on the Atari 1040ST (was, and still is, a beautiful and extremely challenging game)
Title: Re: Greatest Non-Mario Platformer
Post by: sin2beta on July 23, 2014, 10:33:33 pm
Sonic 2. It's close to my favorite game.