Good platformer games?

[alspal]

Does anyone know any good 5/5 star action platform games? I'm looking for one that isn't a: collectathon, puzzle focused, metroidvania/exploration/backtracking, or have grinding.

The only ones I've really liked that I can remember at the moment are: Batman, Shatterhand, Ninja Gaiden 3, Castlevania, Castlevania Rondo of Blood, Metal Slug. Anyone have any suggestions, I'm hoping there are more good platformers out there?

[jackal27]

Lemme think... There's always the Contra games. Bionic Commando is a good one too. Ghosts n' Goblins, Journey to Silius, Little Nemo, Little Samson, the Mega Man games, Metal Storm is a cool one with some great pixel art, Power Blade, the list goes on and on. Those are all just NES games too.

Here's some of my favorite SNES ones, Act Raiser (although half the game is like Sim City), Super Castlevanina 4, Contra 3, Donkey Kong Country, Hagane, Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures, the Super Star Wars games, Mega Man X, The Ninja Warriors (although it is more of a beat em' up), Run Saber, Sky Blazer, Sparkster, Sunset Riders, Super Ghouls n' Ghosts, and the Super Turrican games. I'm sure there's more I'm not thinking of...

The Sega Genesis has some awesome ones as well! Alien Soldier, Comix Zone, Castlevania Bloodlines, Contra Hard Corps, Dynamite Heady, Mega Turrican, Shadow Dancer, Rocket Knight Adventures, Gunstar Heroes (a must play),The Sonic the Hedgehog games, the Shinobi games (especially Shinobi 3), and you can't forgot Strider.

So there's a few. There's at least a handful of great action platformers for every console, let me know if you want any other suggestions, haha.

[CharlesGabriel]

Well man, the best games that are platform are like metroid 3 and the latest castlevanias. Most of the games I would have suggested, were already said by Jackal. On the sega genesis emulator, get Valis 1 and 3. And on the snes one, get Valis 4.

Valis 3.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcoQHJKGjtY

And almost forgot, on the NES emulator, get Astyanax, Castlevania 3 and all the Contra games, at least the 1st one. And did I mention the Megaman X series on the snes and psx? best stuff ever haha.

[JJ Naas]

The 8 bit/16 bit computers had some awesome platformers as well, if you feel adventurous enough to explore beyond the console platforms.

My favourites on Amiga (and some of these on C64 as well): Super Frog, Turrican 1 & 2, Zool, Flashback, Rodland, Prince of Persia, Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, Parasol Stars, Great Giana Sisters, Shadow of the Beast 3, The New Zealand Story, Rick Dangerous 1-2...

[.TakaM]

I recommend Rocket Knight Adventures on the Genesis, this video will tell you everything you need to know.

[Mush]

Hey TakaM, I remember seeing some LPs that you posted on GameTrailers a while back and thought they were extremely entertaining. Any plans to make more?

[.TakaM]

Maybe.. they were fun making.

[9_6]

Not sure to which degree cave story would be on your "do not suggest" list as it kinda fits the "metroidvania"- style (with not much backtracking and fairly linear levels though) but if you haven't played it yet, you should.

[jackal27]

I recommend Rocket Knight Adventures on the Genesis, this video will tell you everything you need to know.

I second this. Sparkster for the SNES is actually the sequel to Rocket Knight Adventures.

Also, if you're looking for indie games, I would suggest Star Guard. I love that one. Great level design.

[Moribund]

Spelunky is really nice and it's free. Trine for PC/PS3 is really fun and is not a collectathon but has lots of collectable extras (it's also somewhat puzzley but the puzzles are really easy and brief), the beating people up part is fantastic though, as it is a physics based game and there are so many ways you can kill enemies. I remember playing Bionic Commando on an arcade emulator and it was great. On the Genesis I really liked the Aladdin game (I'm not sure how much collecting had to do with the gameplay), and the Taz game, and Altered Beast is always great with a buddy.