Best Retro Platformers of All Time

The SNES launch game that defined the 16-bit era. Super Mario World introduced Yoshi, expanded Mario's move set, and delivered 96 exits across a vast, joyful world that remained the gold standard for platformers for years.

The game that invented 3D platforming as a genre. Super Mario 64 launched alongside the Nintendo 64 and demonstrated, definitively, that video games could work in three dimensions. Its influence on every 3D game that followed is incalculable — this is where the template was written.

The game that defined the platformer genre and saved the North American video game industry. Super Mario Bros. is the archetypal adventure that introduced Mario to the world.

The NES platformer that rewrote the rulebook — eight massive worlds, 90+ levels, new power-ups, and a scope that made every previous platformer feel small.

A SNES technical masterpiece — Yoshi carries Baby Mario across 48 stages in a hand-drawn art style that pushed the SNES hardware with real-time sprite scaling and rotation that defined the series' visual identity.

The rare sequel that surpasses the original. Donkey Kong Country 2 improved on its predecessor in every dimension — tighter level design, superior music, more varied environments, and better boss encounters.

The brilliant reinvention of Mega Man for the 16-bit era. Mega Man X introduced wall-sliding, dashing, upgradeable armor, and a darker story while delivering one of the SNES's finest action-platformer experiences.

Super Metroid is widely considered one of the greatest games ever made — a masterpiece of atmospheric exploration, environmental storytelling, and movement-based design that defined the Metroidvania genre.

One of the most perfect games ever made, Symphony of the Night merged action platforming with deep RPG mechanics and a sprawling inverted castle to create the Castlevania series' masterpiece. It gave its name to a subgenre and remains the defining standard of exploration-based action games.

The perfect Sonic game. Sonic 2 introduced Tails, the Spin Dash, and the greatest collection of stages in franchise history while refining the speed formula to its absolute peak.

The graphical revolution that shocked the world. Donkey Kong Country's pre-rendered 3D graphics seemed impossible on SNES hardware, and the game underneath matched those visuals with excellent level design and music.

The complete Sonic 3 experience — when combined via lock-on cartridge, Sonic 3 & Knuckles creates the longest, deepest, and most mechanically polished Sonic game ever made.

Eight games in one cartridge, each with a distinct mode — Spring Breeze, Gourmet Race, Great Cave Offensive, Revenge of Meta Knight, Milky Way Wishes, and more. Kirby Super Star's unprecedented content breadth, polished co-op, and satisfying copy ability system made it the most complete game on the SNES at launch.

Ubisoft's limbless platformer that demonstrated hand-drawn animation quality could survive the PS1 era. Rayman's precision platforming, vibrant worlds, and the titular hero's fist-throwing mechanics made it the PS1's best non-Nintendo platformer — and one of the few games of the era to rival the visual quality of 16-bit 2D.

Rare's charming 3D platformer masterpiece sent a bear and a bird through nine inventive worlds brimming with collectibles, clever puzzles, and an irresistible sense of fun. Banjo-Kazooie refined the collectathon formula with exceptional world design and remains one of the N64's finest games.

Naughty Dog's refinement of the Crash Bandicoot formula — adding the slide, body slam, and super-powered spin makes Crash more capable, and 27 stages with expanded variety mark it as the series' most balanced entry.

The animated platformer that took the 16-bit era by storm — Earthworm Jim's fluid hand-drawn animation, creative stage design, and irreverent humor made it the independent platformer sensation of 1994.

Sega's answer to Mario introduced a blue hedgehog who could run faster than the screen could keep up. Sonic the Hedgehog launched a franchise and gave Sega the mascot they needed to compete with Nintendo.

The pinnacle of the NES Mega Man series. Mega Man 2 perfected the formula of absorbing defeated bosses' weapons and applied it to eight masterfully designed stages with an all-time great soundtrack.

The TurboGrafx-16's mascot platformer stars Bonk, a prehistoric caveman who attacks enemies using his enormous, weaponized head — spinning, diving, and biting his way through colorful prehistoric stages with the imaginative level design and responsive controls needed to compete with the platform giants of the era. Bonk's Adventure was Hudson and NEC's answer to Mario — polished, charming, and well-constructed enough on its own terms to justify the TurboGrafx-16 purchase for platformer fans.

Wario's starring debut — a greedier, braver Mario that collects treasure instead of rescuing princesses. Wario Land established one of Nintendo's most creative and underappreciated franchises.

The Game Boy sequel that established Wario as one of Nintendo's most inventive platformer protagonists. Wario Land 2's invulnerability mechanic — Wario can't die, but getting hurt transforms him in useful ways — and its multiple branching story paths through the same levels encouraged complete exploration and replay.

The SNES follow-up with a hand-drawn crayon art style and five animal friends. Kirby's Dream Land 3's co-op mode and hidden objectives for each level — complete all to unlock the true final boss — made it a satisfying close to the Super Nintendo Kirby era.

Sony's launch-window PS1 experiment that combined first-person platforming with vertical jumping mechanics. Jumping Flash!'s high-altitude vertical level design — players could jump two screens high, then descend slowly — created a unique spatial experience that no other game has replicated. A cult classic of early 3D design.