The platformer genre and Mario have been intertwined ever since the early days of gaming. Few other series have managed to conquer an entire space quite like it, but even if Nintendo’s flagship franchise has dominated the platformer scene for well over four decades, there are still plenty of other exceptional triple-A platformers out there for players to enjoy.
The genre is diverse and innovative, including franchises with a long lineage of impressive titles, one-off hits with awe-inspiring worlds, and cooperative adventures for players of all ages to appreciate. Despite being a space that is full of smaller games from indie devs, it is always nice to jump into a polished and refined triple-A platformer with a big budget and the support of a huge development team behind it.
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time
The Perfect Successor To The PlayStation Legend
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time represents the series’ first mainline entry in over two decades, picking up directly after the previous game’s cliffhanger ending. Neo Cortex and N. Tropy have both escaped imprisonment, tearing holes in the fabric of space-time and threatening the entire multiverse. This forces players, as Crash, to jump between dimensional rifts, encountering alternate timelines and universes while racing to repair reality itself.
Activision’s triple-A backing allowed the developers at Toys for Bob all the freedom they needed to create over 100 detailed stages across a range of settings and eras, with more graphical fidelity than the series had ever seen before. This higher production value, combined with refined controls and mechanically rich platforming, demonstrates how beloved franchises can be transformed into contemporary masterpieces that honor classic gameplay while pushing technical boundaries.
Ratchet And Clank: Rift Apart
True Next-Generation Platforming
Rift Apart is the latest chapter in the Ratchet and Clank series, taking a bold step forward into separate realities and dimensional malfunctions. The story follows the tyrant Emperor Nefarious and his reality-conquering mission, and the titular heroes are tasked with saving the universe from collapsing dimensions and putting a stop to the Emperor’s greed.
From a technical standpoint, the platforming and level designs are exceptionally fluid, giving players a lot of control over how they want to approach each and every challenge. The stages flow effortlessly together, and the overall look and feel of the game is only made possible by the talent and extensive resources that the team at Insomniac had access to.
LittleBigPlanet 3
Player Creativity Driving The Entire Experience
LittleBigPlanet 3 represents the culmination of a series of successes, bringing together all the warmth and cuteness that made the original so entertaining and going above and beyond for one final adventure. This time, players can switch between several different characters, each with their own unique abilities, turning simple platforming sections into satisfying thought puzzles.
The graphics have been improved slightly, but the real revelation comes from the world design and the creation tools that players have access to for making their own custom levels. Despite being removed from stores and the servers shutting down, LittleBigPlanet 3 remains an icon of the genre and a testament to how creativity is always the driving force for success.
Portal 2
The Benchmark For Cooperative Platforming
Portal 2 remains one of gaming’s crowning achievements, combining technical perfection with a world that is both compelling and funny at the same time. Valve is known for quality above all else, and their platforming games are no different, taking the simple concept of portal guns and creating a game that is still talked about over a decade after launch.
What makes the game so fun is the cooperation aspect of every puzzle. Players need to communicate and time their movements to make it across gaps and to avoid turrets, lending a unique communal feel to the proceedings that is bolstered by an infamously robust and technically-polished gameplay core.
Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown
Bringing The Blades Back To The Big Screen
The Prince is back with Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, blending Metroidvania action with precision platforming in a way that feels familiar yet completely new. Players need to battle their way through corrupted warriors and mythological creatures, using time-bending abilities to uncover the ancient secrets within the looming Mount Qaf.
With a studio like Ubisoft backing it, The Lost Crown was always going to have a huge amount of production value, both in terms of graphics and gameplay. Thanks to the passion of the dev team and the support from a huge developer, the game was able to revive a dormant franchise in a big way, demonstrating that old IPs can still hold up even after a long break between mainline entries.
Split Fiction
Modern Day Co-Op Excellence
Split Fiction is Hazelight’s bold step into a whole new world of platforming insanity, taking players on a physical and emotional journey into the minds of two ambitious writers. The game switches between genres on the fly, thrusting players into a cyberscape for one level and a fantasy world full of dragons in the next, opening the doors for new challenges and new ways to surprise the audience along the way.
What makes the game even more special than the developer’s previous titles is the level of ambition on display, which is executed perfectly in every stage. There were no boundaries to what the devs were willing to create, with every new environment setting a new standard for what modern, big-budget platformers can and should be.
Donkey Kong Bananza
More Chaos And More Destruction
Mario might be the Nintendo poster child, but Donkey Kong can still embark on some pretty incredible platforming adventures of his own. In Donkey Kong Bananza, the lovable gorilla teams up with Pauline to recover stolen banana diamonds that have been taken by a group of villainous apes bent on acquiring as much wealth as possible.
Despite being the first 3D Donkey Kong since the 90s, Bananza feels about as modern as any other first-party Nintendo game, combining open-world exploration and sandbox levels with their own themes and biomes. Comparisons have been drawn to Super Mario Odyssey, as both games take simple concepts and go above and beyond in exploring them, delivering experiences that transcend traditional platforming and setting the tone for future games to come.
Astro Bot
Surprising Players With Charm And Humor
Astro Bot is the success story that no one saw coming, winning Game of the Year at the Game Awards and showing the world that sometimes, all a game needs is whimsy and a few tight controls. The game is a love letter to PlayStation’s history, taking players on a journey through jungles, cities, and other environments full of references to iconic PS franchises.
What started out as a tutorial for the PlayStation 5 and the DualSense controller in 2020 quickly grew into a fully-fledged triple-A release, with as much ambition as any other established platformer in the space. Every aspect of Astro Bot is expertly crafted, and each stage doesn’t just feel like a variation of the previous, but offers new and exciting challenges and obstacles for players to overcome, all while keeping things cozy and fun at all times.
