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Best platformer games on GamesNostalgia

Platform games, or platformers, a simple concept of moving your character through a side-view environment, became a hit with Donkey Kong in 1981.

Since then, many cult franchises have originated from platformers. Mega Man is one of the Japanese platformer classics that kickstarted its own franchise. Not only it looked great at that time, but it also offered freedom in choosing the level order.

Other games were more narrative-focused. Jordan Mechner's Prince of Persia became a hit (although not immediately) due to its cinematic animations but also due to its setting. A warrior in the middle east who fights through dungeons to save a princess is a classic story, after all. This genre also includes some iconic arcades such as Bubble Bobble and The New Zealand Story, as well as the Atari legend Pitfall!.

In the '90s, Disney released some fantastic platformers based on its movies, starting from Disney's Aladdin movie and Disney's Hercules. We should also not forget some Amiga legendary titles like Superfrog and Another World.

With 3D graphics and environments, platformers became less popular, but games like Claw and Rayman show that this concept is not only for 16-bit or 8-bit computers.

This section mainly lists "pure" platformers, where shooting is not required, or it's a secondary mechanic. If you like these games, you should also check platform-shooter.

Disney's Tarzan windows

Disney's Tarzan (also known as Tarzan Action Game) is a platformer created by Eurocom Developments and published by Disney in 1999. Released for PlayStation and Windows, later, it was also ported to Nintendo 64.

Year: 1999 Genre: Platformer

2.5d cartoon disney hop and bop jungle licensed movies platformer side-scrolling

Disney's Hercules windows

Disney's Hercules is an action platformer game for Windows 95 and Playstation published in 1997 by Disney Interactive. It is based on the animated movie of the same name. During th...

Year: 1997 Genre: Platformer

cartoon disney movies mythology platform-adventure platformer

Claw windows

Claw is a 2D platformer developed and published by Monolith Productions as a PC exclusive in 1997. Despite the fanmade adaptations and the repeated attempts to continue the story officially, it did not receive any sequel.

Year: 1997 Genre: Platformer

2d cartoon hop and bop multiplayer pirates platformer side-scrolling

The Lion King dosamigagenesissnes

The Lion King is the video game adaptation of the Disney movie with the same title. It was developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment in 1994. ...

Year: 1994 Genre: Platformer

aga basher cartoon disney genesis original game hand-drawn animations hop and bop movies platformer

Prince of Persia dosnesamigaamstrad-cpcgenesisgame-boy-color

Prince of Persia is a fantasy cinematic 2D platformer originally developed and published by Brøderbund and designed by Jordan Mechner. It was initially released in 1989 for the Apple II.

Year: 1990 Genre: Platformer

apple 2 original game cinematic cinematic platformer middle east platformer

Prehistorik 2 dos

Prehistorik 2 is the sequel to the platform game Prehistorik and was developed and published by Titus Interactive. It was released for DOS and Amstrad CPC in 1993. In this humorous...

Year: 1993 Genre: Platformer

caveman hop and bop platformer prehistoric

Disney's Aladdin amigagenesisgame-boy-color

Disney's Aladdin, one of the most successful ports from a movie to a videogame, is a 2D side-scrolling platformer developed by Virgin Games. It is based on the 1992 Disney motion picture.

Year: 1994 Genre: Platformer

action platformer aga cartoon disney genesis original game hand-drawn animations middle east movies platformer side-scrolling

Bruce Lee atari-8-bitcommodore-64

Bruce Lee is a platform beat-em-up developed for Atari 8-bit and published in 1984 by Datasoft. The game created by Ron Fortier (with graphics by Kelly Day) became one of the most memorable and innovative action games of the mid-80s.

Year: 1984 Genre: Brawler

atari 8-bit original brawler flip-screen martial arts ninja platformer progressive beat-em-up

Nobby the Aardvark commodore-64amiga

Nobby the Aardvark is a platform adventure game developed by Genesis Software and published by Thalamus in 1993 for the Commodore 64. The game was designed by Dave Clarke and Jonat...

Year: 1992 Genre: Platformer

c64 original game cartoon hop and bop platformer

Disney's Toy Story snesgenesis

Disney's Toy Story is a side-scrolling platformer developed by Traveller's Tales and released in 1995 for SNES and Genesis. The game is based on Pixar's groundbreaking animated film.

Year: 1995 Genre: Platformer

cartoon disney licensed movies platform-adventure platformer side-scrolling

Blackthorne snesdos

Blackthorne is a cinematic action-platformer developed by Blizzard Entertainment and originally released in 1994 for the SNES. The same year, the game was released for MS-DOS. The SEGA 32X and Macintosh versions arrived later.

Year: 1994 Genre: Platformer

cinematic platformer fantasy platformer snes original game

Mario Forever windows

Mario Forever is a freeware clone/unofficial remake of the famous Super Mario Bros. It was created by Buziol Games, and it was released for Windows only in 2004. After many request...

Year: 2004 Genre: Platformer

clone enhanced remakes freeware hop and bop platformer side-scrolling super mario clone

Jazz Jackrabbit dos

Jazz Jackrabbit is a popular side-scrolling shooter/platformer developed by Epic MegaGames and released in 1994 for the PC. The game was named Arcade Game of the Year by PC Format.

Year: 1994 Genre: Shooter

cartoon platform-shooter platformer

Another World amigados

Another World is a cinematic platformer designed by Éric Chahi for Delphine Software and originally developed for the Amiga in 1991. The game's remarkable success led to ports acr...

Year: 1991 Genre: Action

action-adventure amiga original game cinematic cinematic platformer platformer science fiction