From the forum issue 114 Platformers

[van]

NES - Batman, Duck Tales
PCE - Bonk series

[Mire Mare]

Well I'll have to say Impossible Mission, on the c64, too. Not just because of it's uber cool and awesomeness, but because I finally managed to complete it only last year!

[sscott]

Bounty Bob Strikes back on the Atari 800 is my favourite platformer by far.

[crusto]

Bounty Bob Strikes back on the Atari 800 is my favourite platformer by far.

I used to have that! Thanks for reminding me, can you remember whirlinerd?

[markopoloman]

whirlinerd... God that was difficult! Loved it on the C64

[kiwimike]

It's weird (not wrong) how people interpret "platform games".
Bubble Bobble, Donkey Kong, Flashback & Super Mario World.

All exceptional games (with platforms) but so completely different.
Then moving onto 3D platform games which make the games play &
feel completely different again.

Anyway, my favourite games that have jumping & platforms would be

Donkey Kong Jr, Bombjack, Black Tiger (arcade)
Manic Miner, Wanted! Monty Mole, Brian Bloodaxe, Dynamite Dan (all Spectrum) There's actually dozens more.
Super Mario World & 3 (SNES)
Sonic the Hedgehog (MD)

It is a fair point, I thought saying Flashback was my fave platformer was stretching it a little! But it is by definition of having platforms and jumping a platformer!
It got me thinking...how far CAN it be stretched? Can you call Lode Runner a platformer? It has platforms but no jumping...is it a puzzle game? Is Space Panic a platform game?

I also forgot about a couple of Faves- Super Mario 64 and DK64. I loved finding the old Donkey Kong game in the factory in DK64...

[kiwimike]

I'm surprised Rayman, Rayman 2, Aladdin and Earthworm Jim haven't got mentioned...not my faves but really fun games nevertheless.

[hydr0x]

How do you define platformer? I think the Jumpman games are cool, but you can't jump.

Impossible Mission on the C= 64 wins this bigtime of course.

The term 'platform and ladders' game was coined in the early 80s by Electronic Games magazine for the game Space Panic (1980). Chris Crawford states that indeed Space Panic was the very first 'platform' game. Jumping in a platform and ladders game is not a necessity.

Just because it was defined that way back then doesn't mean it's still a valid classification, and neither does one Person naming it a platform game in 2003. This is of course, like all genre questions, a highly debatable area. But don't state it as a fact set in stone when it is not. Both your sources used the term rather laxly, neither of them had the goal to define a consistent genre taxonomy. I'm not saying they aren't platformers (because to say that, I'd have to define a genre taxonomy first), just that one should be careful with stating any genre definition as fact.

[psj3809]

I do like the classics like Manic Miner BUT one of the platformers i played the most was...

Sir Lancelot

One of the last 16k titles for the Speccy, has about 20 rooms, completed it back in the 80's, some rooms are pretty tricky (second one is), simple graphics but the gameplay works so well. A great little classic

[RitmanRovers]

I could never get very far in most Speccy platformers, although I remember many of them very fondly: Manic Miner, JSW, Dynamite Dan etc. But my favourite of that era was Starquake. "Not a Platformer" I hear you say? B.L.O.B. COULD MAKE HIS OWN PLATFORMS!

Later favourites: Aladdin and Batman on the Megadrive. The peerless Jak & daxter on the PS2, I game that I spent one skunk-fuelled week off work playing all day, every day, until I got every single one of the the 100 Power Cells to get the "proper" ending.

Haven't played one since.

[Nemesis]

I haven't been seriously into platformers since the 8/16 bit era's.

Therefore, my favourite titles come from those early days such as Bounty Bob Strikes Back, Dynamite Dan II, Bombjack, Chuckie Egg, Manic Miner, Underwurlde & Nodes of Yesod on the Speccy.

Then Gods on the Amiga. Great atmosphere in that game

[Achilles]

Fantasy World Dizzy !

I remember checking in my local WH-Smith every week for the latest Dizzy adventure.

Ahhhh the good old days.

[bensonrad]

One platform game I used to love back in the day was on the Amiga, a budget game called Spellfire The Sourceror, many hours were pumped into that game.

[Miketendo]

I'm a big fan of platformers. There are so many amazing platform games to choose from, though if I had to narrow down to a few, Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest would be very high up with Super Mario World. I feel like Rare's work on those two games had the perfect combination of awesome graphics, music and gameplay, plus tons of secrets to explore.

[Gordon Bennett]

Jumping Flash on the PS1. The first-person perspective and bright, colourful 3D levels were breathtaking at the time. It controls well with a bit of practice largely due to having the camera look down as you jump. And it has a fantastic, incredibly catchy soundtrack that has remained firmly lodged in the corners of my brain ever since.