Top 20 2D platformers

[Mr_Stubbes]

I submitted yesterday. This was tough! There are a lot of solid platformers out there, but how many of them are top-tier enough to be considered among the 20 best? Was harder to come up with the list than I imagined it would be.

I just submitted my list as well and feel the same way. I feel like when I made my list a lot of the games included were ones I've played/beaten relatively recently (like the past year or two). That's not to say the games I chose aren't great in their own right, but I'm sure there are some games I forgot about floating around on other lists that would fit 20 best ever moniker a lot better.

[EZ Racer]

Time for some also-rans


One 20th place vote

Lost Vikings 2

Mickey Mania

Tiny Toon Adventures

Wario Land

Tiny Barbarian



One 19th place vote


Aladdin (Sega Genesis)

Limbo

Metal Slug 2

Metal Storm

Prinny Can I Really be the Hero

Commander Keen in Aliens Ate My Babysitter


One 18th place vote

Skyblazer

Comix Zone


One 17th place vote

Vice Project Doom

Pulseman

Strider

Ninja Gaiden


One 16th place vote

Cave Story

Chip n Dale's Rescue Rangers


One 15th place vote

Rayman

Shatterhand


One 14th place vote

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Dynamite Headdy

Mega Man X4

Shinobi III


One 13th place vote

M.C. Kids

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

New Super Mario Bros Wii


One 12th place vote

Castlevania

Little Big Planet


One 11th place vote

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

Ducktales: Remastered

Super Mario Bros.

Bonk's Revenge

[Disposed Hero]

Oh man, I think 8 games from my list are already in the also-rans 

[EZ Racer]

More also-rans

One 10th place vote

Super Meat Boy

Super Mario All Stars

Mega Man 4

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

Ristar

Super Castlevania IV


One 9th place vote

A Robot Named Fight

Castlevania: Bloodlines

Celeste

Super Mario Maker


One 8th place vote

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon

New Super Mario Bros U

Metroid Fusion


One 7th place vote

Axiom Verge

Shantae: Half Genie Hero


One 6th place vote

Earthworm Jim 2

Metal Slug

Mickey Mouse in the Castle of Illusion


One 5th place vote

Kirby Superstar

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood

Bubble Bobble


One 4th place vote

Bionic Commando


One 3rd place vote

Dead Cells

Freedom Planet

Super C

The Messenger

[Mr_Stubbes]

Damn I've had 12 go down in the also-rans so far. Some games I figured would end up here just because there are so many great platformers out there that there was bound to be a good number of single votes. That being said there are definitely a few that I'm surprised didn't get more than one vote.

[MetalFRO]

Holy cow, half my list is gone. Also, someone voted for Tiny Barbarian??? That game pissed me off so bad

[Mr_Stubbes]

Holy cow, half my list is gone. Also, someone voted for Tiny Barbarian??? That game pissed me off so bad

Yeah that was me lol. I’m a glutton for punishment and really like Tiny Barbarian.

[Crabmaster2000]

I need to look up Tiny Barbarian now

[Mr_Stubbes]

Here’s my list for top 20 Platformers.

1. Rayman Legends
2. Super Mario Bros. 3
3. Cuphead
4. Mega Man X
5. Shovel Knight
6. Earthworm Jim 2
7. Axiom Verge
8. Donkey Kong Country
9. Celeste
10. Super Meat Boy
11. Super Mario Bros.
12. Mega Man 2
13. Kirby’s Adventure
14. Sonic the Hedgehog
15. Rayman
16. Cave Story
17. DuckTales
18. Skyblazer
19. Limbo
20. Tiny Barbarian

[Disposed Hero]

1.   Super Metroid
2.   Super Mario Bros. 3
3.   Super C
4.   Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
5.   Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
6.   Metal Slug
7.   Super Mario World
8.   Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon
9.   Contra
10.   Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
11.   Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
12.   Castlevania
13.   Ori and the Will of the Wisps
14.   Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
15.   Shatterhand
16.   Donkey Kong Country
17.   Vice: Project Doom
18.   Cuphead
19.   Metal Slug 2
20.   Shovel Knight

[Crabmaster2000]

20. Lost Vikings 2
19. Prinny Can I Really Be The Hero
18. Kirby's Adventure
17. Ninja Gaiden
16. Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers
15. Duck Tales
14. Mega Man X4
13. M.C. Kids
12. Donkey Kong Country
11. Sonic Mania
10. Mega Man 4
9. Little Nemo
8. Donkey Kong 94
7. Super Mario Bros 3
6. Super Mario World
5. Bubble Bobble
4. Mega Man 3
3. Mega Man 9
2. Shovel Knight
1. Mega Man X

[MetalFRO]

Holy cow, half my list is gone. Also, someone voted for Tiny Barbarian??? That game pissed me off so bad

Yeah that was me lol. I’m a glutton for punishment and really like Tiny Barbarian.

I think my problem at the time was, I wasn't playing optimally. This was before I bought any 3rd party controllers for the Switch that have a better d-pad than the Pro controller does, or at least the original Pro controller. I had so many bad diagonals. Also, some of the flow of that game didn't click with me. If I went back and tried it again with the 8bitdo M30, I might fare better.

[WhyNotZoidberg]

Oh God I can't. Look, I'm new here and I want to participate, but between all the consoles and the sub-genres in platformers I just can't get a list done. Is Mega Man a platformer? Is Symphony of the Night a platformer?

[Fmoldtimer]

I didn't know you can still download blackthorn :-) I will have a look. Just don't have a too much time to play, and I hope it still awesome like before :-)