There is no definitive, platformer-only ranking that settles the question, so this is a considered shortlist rather than an objective scoreboard. It brings together games that shaped the genre, made movement and level design feel distinctive, or remain compelling recommendations today. The selection spans 2D and 3D platformers, from direct, level-by-level challenges to worlds built around exploration—and includes action-platform hybrids where jumping and traversal remain central.
How this list was chosen
The selections weigh four things: historical influence, distinctive movement and level design, continued playability, and range across different kinds of platforming. The games are grouped loosely by the experience they offer, not ordered as a definitive ranking. A platformer can be a precise obstacle course, a sprawling exploration game, or an adventure that blends jumping with combat and discovery.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
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Nintendo Switch 2 System | $499.00 | Buy on Amazon |
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Nintendo Switch with Neon Blue and Neon Red Joy-Con - Handheld Gaming Console | $339.00 | Buy on Amazon |
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Nintendo Switch Game Console - Black (HAC-001(-01) w/ OEM Gray Joy Cons (Renewed) | $211.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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Minecraft - Nintendo Switch | $29.83 | Buy on Amazon |
There is no single platformer-only consensus ranking in the cited all-game aggregation. The Video Game Canon’s Version 8.0, last updated March 5, 2025, requires games to appear on at least ten lists and excludes releases after September 30, 2020. Its all-genre top 100 includes Super Mario 64, Super Metroid, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Super Mario World, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog, Donkey Kong, Super Mario Odyssey, and Celeste. That is useful context for the broader critical standing of several picks, not a platformer ranking of its own: The Video Game Canon.
25 platform games worth playing
1. Donkey Kong
This foundational arcade platform game turns a small set of ladders, platforms, and hazards into a tense climbing challenge. Its compact levels demonstrate how much character and difficulty can come from movement and timing alone.
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2. Super Mario Bros.
The original Super Mario Bros. made running and jumping through side-scrolling stages an inviting, readable adventure. Its carefully paced introduction to movement, enemies, and hidden routes helped establish a template that console platformers would build on for years.
3. Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Mario Bros. 3 expands that template with a broad range of stage ideas, power-ups, and world-map choices. Its variety makes it a strong recommendation for players who want classic 2D platforming with more room to experiment.
4. Super Mario World
Super Mario World combines crisp movement with a large map full of alternate paths and secrets. The result is both an approachable run of inventive levels and a game that rewards curiosity beyond the obvious route.
5. Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic’s signature speed changes the feel of the side-scroller: momentum and route choice matter as much as jumping. Its best stages invite players to learn the landscape and find a flow through it rather than simply sprint without looking.
6. Rainbow Islands
This arcade follow-up to Bubble Bobble turns rainbows into platforms, making the central mechanic both a way to climb and a tool for dealing with enemies. Its unusual movement gives the game a distinct place among early arcade platformers.
Rank #2
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7. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Tropical Freeze is a modern 2D platformer built around expressive levels, demanding jumps, and a steady stream of changing situations. It suits players who want a polished, tightly staged challenge rather than an open-ended world.
8. Rayman Legends
Rayman Legends is a colorful, kinetic 2D platformer whose levels frequently change their rhythm and visual emphasis. It is a good fit for players after accessible movement, inventive set pieces, and a lively presentation.
9. Super Meat Boy
Super Meat Boy distills platforming into short, difficult stages where precise movement and quick retries are central to the experience. Choose it if you enjoy learning an obstacle course through repetition; it is less suited to anyone seeking a forgiving adventure.
10. Celeste
Celeste pairs demanding, carefully designed platforming with a story about climbing a mountain. Its challenge is built around precise actions and repeated attempts, while the level design gives players clear opportunities to understand and refine their movement.
11. Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove
Shovel Knight draws on the language of classic side-scrollers while giving its hero a distinctive shovel-based attack and bounce. It offers a direct, stage-by-stage adventure with a modern sensibility, making it an inviting bridge between retro style and contemporary design.
Rank #3
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12. Inside
Inside is a subdued, cinematic platform adventure that uses movement, environmental puzzles, and atmosphere rather than a broad arsenal of abilities. It is the pick for players who want a compact, unsettling journey more than a score-chasing obstacle course.
13. Super Mario 64
Super Mario 64 helped define how a platform game could work in 3D: movement is expressive, and its worlds are spaces to explore rather than corridors to cross. Guinness World Records’ 2012 record lists a 94% Metacritic score for the game; that is a historical figure from the record, not a current score check: Guinness World Records: Most critically acclaimed platform videogame series.
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Super Mario Galaxy makes its planetary settings part of the platforming, continually changing how gravity and direction shape a jump. Guinness World Records’ 2012 entry lists a 97% Metacritic score for the game, referring to scores as of September 2012 rather than a live rating.
15. Super Mario Galaxy 2
Galaxy 2 builds on the first game’s gravity-bending stages with another broad succession of platforming ideas. The same Guinness World Records entry lists a 97% Metacritic score for it, also based on scores as of September 2012.
16. Super Mario Odyssey
Odyssey turns exploration into the point of its 3D platforming. Its large, varied kingdoms reward looking around and trying different ways to move, making it an especially strong choice for players who prefer discovery to a strict sequence of obstacle courses.
Rank #4
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17. Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot brings a different structure to 3D platforming, often sending the character along tightly framed routes packed with hazards. Its focused stages offer a more directed alternative to the expansive worlds of Mario 64 and Odyssey.
18. Tomb Raider
The original Tomb Raider blends platforming and action-adventure, with traversal and environmental puzzles at the heart of its identity. It belongs on a broad list because its emphasis on navigating spaces helped expand what a platform-led adventure could be.
19. Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
Abe’s Oddysee combines platforming with stealth, environmental problem-solving, and a distinctive world. It is less about fluid acrobatics than careful movement and figuring out how to pass through dangerous spaces.
20. Super Metroid
Super Metroid is an exploration-heavy platform adventure in which new abilities open routes through an interconnected world. Its structure rewards attention to place and backtracking, making it a natural recommendation for players who want discovery alongside jumping and combat.
21. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Symphony of the Night brings exploration, combat, and platforming together in a vast interconnected castle. Its structure and progression make it a defining choice for players who want an adventure that opens up gradually rather than a straightforward sequence of stages.
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22. Hollow Knight
Hollow Knight is an exploration-led action-platform game set in an interconnected world. It pairs careful traversal with combat and discovery, making it a better match for players comfortable finding their own way than those seeking a linear run of self-contained levels.
23. Metroid Dread
Metroid Dread brings the series’ interconnected exploration into a fast-moving action-platform format. Its combination of traversal, combat, and pursuit sequences makes it a strong option for players who want tension as well as exploration.
24. Dead Cells
Dead Cells mixes platforming and action with a run-based structure. Its place here reflects the breadth of the genre: it is not a traditional level-by-level platformer, but movement through hazardous spaces remains central to its appeal.
25. Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Ori and the Will of the Wisps combines fluid movement and platforming with exploration and action. It rounds out the list with a modern, ability-driven adventure for players who like traversing a world as much as clearing individual challenges.
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Choose based on the kind of movement and structure you want, rather than treating this list as a strict ranking.
- For classic, level-by-level 2D play: start with Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, or Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.
- For demanding precision: try Celeste or Super Meat Boy.
- For free-roaming 3D platforming: pick Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Odyssey.
- For interconnected exploration: try Super Metroid, Hollow Knight, or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
- For platforming mixed with atmosphere or puzzles: choose Inside or Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee.
- For speed and momentum: Sonic the Hedgehog offers a very different feel from Mario’s more deliberate platforming.
What counts as a platform game?
The category is broader than games built only around jumping between platforms. Some focus on side-scrolling stages and precise landings; others use 3D spaces, interconnected maps, combat, puzzles, or exploration. The common thread is that navigating the environment through movement is a defining part of play. That is why this selection includes action-platform hybrids such as Hollow Knight and Dead Cells alongside more traditional stage-based games.
Access varies by title, edition, region, and platform. Nintendo’s February 29, 2024 Canadian roundup includes Switch catalog entries for several games in this list, including Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Celeste, Hollow Knight, Metroid Dread, Dead Cells, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition, Super Meat Boy, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Sonic Origins, and Inside: Nintendo’s platformer roundup. That dated, Canadian catalog reference is not a guarantee of current availability elsewhere; check the store and edition for your region before buying.
Why Mario appears so often
Mario’s many entries reflect the series’ long history and range of approaches, not a claim that one franchise automatically outranks every other. Guinness World Records’ record states that, as of September 2012, seven main Super Mario games had a Metacritic average of 92%; its figures for Super Mario Galaxy and Galaxy 2 were 97% each, and Super Mario 64 was 94%. Those are historical scores reported by Guinness, not current ratings or proof of a universal ranking: the Guinness record entry.
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