Super Mario 3 should be an obvious pick, in my opinion it’s the best 2D Mario.

When I was younger though I had no chance in hell of beating any NES game except for Kirby’s Adventure which really is a masterpiece on NES, so that is one of my favourites as well. I haven’t liked any other traditional Kirby games nearly as much, they all seem to add too much gimmicky gameplay onto the NES one, though I never got a chance to play all of Super Star.

Yoshi’s Island
Kirby Super Star

Does Metal Warriors on SNES count as a platformer?

I totally agree with chip and dale. greatest coop experience ever. i also really like toki

“The Lone Ranger” for NES. 2D platformer, FPS, RPG, puzzler, etc.

“The Lone Ranger” for NES. 2D platformer, FPS, RPG, puzzler, etc.

A post so nice I did it twice.
Apologies.

Yoshi’s Island 2 for DS is awesome. As for old school, I always loved Super Mario World, and Super Mario All Stars is basically the epitome of old school platforming. Aside from the Mario world, I played the hell out of Ironsword: Wizards and Warriors 2. I really sucked at that game, but it was so exciting watching my mom’s boyfriend get to the last world. I also want to mention Mega Man 3 for its music, and Super Castlevania IV for its cool whip swinging action and music.

THE LEGEND OF STAFY series all the way (but especially the first three released for GBA)!

Double Dragon II.

@Namssorg
It’s a platformer/shooter. And same goes for me.

METAL SLUG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yoshi’s Island on the SNES. Runner up goes to SMB3

Zelda II.

Commander Keen 4, hands down.

the original rayman, best. platformer. EVAR.

Bitches dont know bout my Rocket Knight Adventures

http://i34.tinypic.com/f2vtw1.gif

!

McKids for the NES. Awesome times with that game.

*Ahem*

Sonic Unleashed is looking good.

I very much love my classic Sonic platforming.
3D new stuff? Not so much. Hopefully Sonic Unleashed will fix that.

Some of my favorites: Joe & Mac for SNES (awesome caveman action!), Ristar for Sega Genesis (awesome stretchy arms action!), Donkey Kong Country 1 & 2 for SNES (awesome ape/monkey action!), and Animaniacs for SNES (really, it’s actually I promise awesome!).

Mario would be a no brainer right? My faves would be Super Mario World and Yoshi Island. Memories of Rockman 3 and Chip n’ Dale also come to mind.

Sonic 3 and Knuckles, SEGA at it’s best.
Super Mario World.
Staffi, beloved Stafi.
Cool Spot, yes it was an American product placement game, but it was ace for fun and platforming.
The Micky Mouse Castle of Illusions, just great stuff.
Viewtiful Joe still stands up in the first or DT games.
Sonic CD, ah what time traveling joy.
Super Mario 3.
Kid Chameleon, I still need to go back and finish it.

Many more I could name, but those are at the top.

super mario world takes gold in my book

Well, there’s such thing as universal platformer classics, so skipping those, these are some of my favourites:

Earthworm Jim : Special Edition (Mega-CD/Sega CD)
Land of Illusion (Master System)
The Lost Vikings 1&2 (Tons of Systems)
Skull Monkeys (PlayStation)

I love Shinobi (the original), Kung Fu Kid, DuckTales (GB), Mega Man X, Contra 3, Super Mario World, and Mario 2.

I pretty much have to second most of these, and then add Bonk’s Revenge and Super Bonk to the list.

Also, I just have to mention the old-school experience I just had yesterday. At work, we have a very old 13″ TV (with UHF knobs and everything). I snuck a peek at the back of it to see what kind of things I could attach to it if necessary. Sure enough, the NES RF switch fits snugly into it. Long story short, I played a lot of MegaMan during the downtime. I beat 1 & 2, got to Cossack in 4. Yes, I cheated extensively in 1. God bless the Select Button.

And I gotta say, there’s no substitute for the real thing. From turning the NES on and off until you get a non-scrambled screen to adjusting the v-hold to the dull click and static when you shut the game off. Because MAN, when you hear static, you know playtime is over.

I agree with Animaniacs. It wasn’t traditional, but it was still fun. Zelda II was probably one of my favorites. If you go to Zophar’s domain, you can get hacked roms where the difficulty is ridiculous, and fun if you like abuse and punishment. Also, Metal Storm was an awesome game with cool “switch gravity from floor to ceiling” mechanics. Then, there was The Donkey Kong Country series, which I repurchased part 2 on Wii Virtual Console because it’s so good.

Considering some of the other XBLA mentions in the initial post, I’m surprised Braid isn’t on there. I really loved the game.

I’m more into games with platforming elements than strictly platformers. I love Clash at Demonhead, but I could also just call that an action game for example. That’s probably my favorite.

My favorite has to be Yoshi’s Island…

All Mario games on the SNES.
Bubsy (More for the music rememberence then anything else, plus my mum loved it).
Claymates
Out To Lunch (France is still evil hard, as are the egg bombers!)

The recently released Braid is probably one of favorite, if not most, 2D platformer ever.

You can’t over look the Donkey Kong Country series (although number 1 and 2 are my personal faves, the 3rd one was still well done).

Those were spot on platformers. Despite some cooky character designs. It still was a leap ahead of the other platformers at the time.

Other then that I give some love to the original Yoshi’s Island, it was action packed had wonderfully animated and colourful environments. Yoshi’s Island 2 didn’t live up to the original really for excitement, and the switching babies concept was more irritating then any other gimmick for a platformer.

Also Mega Man x 1-3 were the best of the entire series. Mega Man looks better pixelated, enough said. Not to mention the level designs got a lot lamer on the PS sequels.

Monsters in my Pocket, hands down.

The original Castlevania is nearly perfect. After playing through it dozens of times I’ve come to see that everything has been placed with utmost care. It is awesome.

Blaster Master did so many things well it’s amazing. The vehicle’s sense of weight and jumping ability are perfect, and the Metroid-like exploration combined with the great variety in environments make for a world that’s tremendously fun to explore, even if there’s not really a lot of reason to explore maybe half of it.

NES Mega Man, of course, is great, but my favorite in the series is the first, before the lead-up room to the boss became a mere single screen, and before the scissors-rock-paper boss weaknesses didn’t produce “the” solution to every fight. Plus, it’s one of the few installments that contains a missable item, the platform maker.

Kirby’s Adventure and Super Star are still the best Kirby games, old enough that the games still have substantial role for Kirby’s basic abilities (which are all he had in Kirby’s Dream Land) yet with enough powers, many with special uses, that it never got old. There are actually two different Kirby lines, old-style like these, and new-style like KDL2, KDL3 and 64, which, although easy on the eyes, are substantially lesser games.

Sonic 2 is still a blast to play, the Sonic game that’s aged the least. Sonic 1 lacks the spin dash that makes building up speed a snap, and Sonic 3/& Knuckles has too many distractions from the basic game, as does Sonic CD. (Sonic CD has other good things about it, but they tend to be things that distract from the basic nature of Sonic games.)

I have to disagree, John H. Sonic 3 is the best Sonic game and one of the top platformers ever made. It mixes old school 2D platforming with a save feature and music supposedly composed by Michael J himself! Evreything about this game is amazing. Sonic 2 may have been great, but its no Sonic 3. Lack of saving also hurts the game IMO.

Besides Sonic 3, I also love Sonic Rush and Super Mario World. Making up my top 3 (not sure in what order)

chip n dale did indeed own. I rented it many times

hello dear sir, andar here. i enjoy post of yours very much so. i am agree to you. good day.

Hrn. There were so many!

I actually loved Castlevania 2 even with all its faults.

Megaman 2 is up there, Mario 3. Oh, Gargoyle’s Quest was awesome, that game sapped so much of my time.

I could go on, but I’ll stop for now.

Megaman 3 loved Gemini Man’s stage and music.

Super Castlevania awesome gameplay, and I still get excited listening to the soundtrack.

Kinda wish they would make new Castlevanias more like the originals, but I do love me some castleroid action.

Wario Land 3 for GBC is one of my favorite all time platformers. Megaman 5 for GB is also pretty awesome. (Trying to not list the obvious ones…)

Kirby’s Super Star

Symphony of the night takes the top spot for me… although it’s more than just a platformer. skullmonkeys is wicked fun. SM3 (the all stars version).

i loved flashback too

oh.. sonic 3 & knuckles is the best sonic game ever IMO. the sonic sprite is so much better, the environments and using the gameplay to tell the story, that kind of narrative isn’t used anymore for some reason everything is cut-scene / mission / cut-scene / mission nowadays

sry for double posts

Man, these posts bring back such great memories…and here’s a few of my own.

Ducktales (NES): Very surprised to not see this so far, or maybe i missed it. Great game, very simple pure platforming fun.

Mega man 3 (NES): Still holds the throne for me as the best of the standard MM series. Amazing music, level design and bosses. Plus it actually had *gasp* a good story, albeit not a very involving one.

Gargoyles (Genesis): One of those late but great releases…really platforming at it’s finest. Very cool abilities and beautiful animation. The TV series was awesome and the game really continued the tradition.

Batman (NES): The first one based on the ‘89 movie…it was flawed but veeery cool and aesthetically unique.

God there are so many more. Not enough time in the day….

Sonic3 + Sonic and Knuckles.
Still my favorite platformer.

Under that would be megaman.
I love fast stuff, so Megaman is just one of those exceptions.
Cause its just good.

TURRICAN & SONIC

Mario 3, and Super Mario World are fantastic platformers. SMW has so much depth and details and replay it’s amazing.

Bionic Commando (NES) was also a lot of fun, but I don’t remember getting very far.

I have to say Rygar is one of my favorites - I’ve played through it TOO MANY times

Klonoa: Door to Phantomile