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[RayJack]

I've been on a platformer kick recently. Can I get some recommendations for excellent 2d platformers? Indie or AAA, free or paid, puzzle or action, doesn't really matter. As long as it can run on a Mac, DS, or PSP it's good.

What I've played recently that has been great:

- Redder
- Braid
- VVVVVV
- Blocks that Matter
- Cave Story
- Exit

Thanks. =]

[alastair]

Goku Makaimura Kai (PSP)

[DavidCaruso]

Oh man, I recently made a pretty big list of awesome platformers at another forum. Sorted by system too. Here it is:

Sure. I can't pinpoint an exact dividing line between "platformer" and "action shooter" so I'll just put games which might lean more towards the latter category in brackets, though all of these have platforming in them. And I'm just interpreting "did it right" here to mean "good platformer," sorry if you meant anything more specific. By system:

NES/FC: Ninja Gaiden series (3 being the best), Castlevania series (3 being the best here too; play the JP version Akumajou Densetsu instead of the US though, it's the same mechanically but it has a much better OST thanks to Famicom-only expansion chips), Shatterhand, Batman, Gimmick! (original JP version for awesome music here too, instead of the neutered and also slower PAL version), Shadow of the Ninja, Mario series, [Bionic Commando, Mega Man series, Contra series, Journey to Silius, Metal Storm, Vice: Project Doom]

SMS: Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (S2SMS is basically the SMB2J of Sonic games, at least in terms of its difficulty relative to the rest of the series)

SNES: ActRaiser series (2nd game is awesome; no idea why people on the Internet seem to prefer the first, guess they think that simple simulation filler is what puts the "charm" in action games), Hagane, Demon's Crest, Skyblazer, Super Mario World, Super Metroid, Prince of Persia, Plok!, Magical Pop'n, DoReMi Fantasy, [Assault Suits Valken, Mega Man X series, Contra III: The Alien Wars]

GEN/MD: Shinobi series, Wonder Boy in Monster World, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Ristar, Sparkster, Rocket Knight Adventures, Castlevania: Bloodlines, Magical Talutolo, Dynamite Headdy, [Alien Soldier, Contra: Hard Corps, Assault Suits Leynos]

AMIGA: Flashback, Another World

GBA: [Metroid Fusion, Metroid: Zero Mission, Mega Man Zero series (probably the best MM games, disregarding small screen resolution)]

ARC: Way too many to list off the top of my head accurately here, but here are a few: Makaimura series, Wonder Boy, Rastan, Strider series, Bubble Bobble series, Musashi Ganryuki, [Metal Slug series, Gunforce series, Chelnov, Sunset Riders, Mystic Warriors]

360: [Hard Corps: Uprising (the best Contra game)]

WII: [Mega Man 9, Mega Man 10 (kind of a regression for the classic series given the lack of a slide move and charged shots, but still very good)]

PCE: Akumajou Dracula X: Chi No Rondo

X68K: Akumajou Dracula X68000

PS1: [Gunners Heaven]

PSP: Ultimate Ghosts'n Goblins

I'm definitely sure I'm forgetting a lot or haven't played quite a few great games, and as you can see my knowledge is pretty hazy after the mid-1990s, but this should be a pretty good start to keep you occupied for the next few years. =P

[iffi]

You'll find a lot of good ones on TigDB. I personally recommend N.

You might also want to take a look at Dustforce, I haven't played the full version yet but I played the prototype and liked it. PC only for now, but I heard that a Mac port is coming soon.

I personally didn't like the feel of Super Meat Boy, but it is by no means a bad game, so you should take a look at that as well. Doesn't have a Mac port yet, but apparently there's one in development.

Edit: Didn't notice that you said Mac/DS/PSP. For PSP, I heard LittleBigPlanet is good, but I have yet to try it myself.

[RayJack]

Goku Makaimura Kai (PSP)

I've already got that one. =\ I haven't played it in like a year or more though, maybe I should start a new file.

Oh man, I recently made a pretty big list of awesome platformers at another forum. Sorted by system too. Here it is:

Cool, thanks! Most of those I can't play and/or have already played but I'll check out the rest of them.

You'll find a lot of good ones on TigDB. I personally recommend N.

You might also want to take a look at Dustforce, I haven't played the full version yet but I played the prototype and liked it. PC only for now, but I heard that a Mac port is coming soon.

I personally didn't like the feel of Super Meat Boy, but it is by no means a bad game, so you should take a look at that as well. Doesn't have a Mac port yet, but apparently there's one in development.

Edit: Didn't notice that you said Mac/DS/PSP. For PSP, I heard LittleBigPlanet is good, but I have yet to try it myself.

I've already spent countless hours on N and Super Meat Boy. I heard Dustforce was good, I'll keep an eye on it if you say a Mac port is coming.

[DavidCaruso]

Cool, thanks! Most of those I can't play and/or have already played but I'll check out the rest of them.

WHOOPS I really didn't notice that. You can probably emulate most of them, though. Pretty sure some good emulators exist for Mac too, even if most of the best ones seem to be Win/Linux.

[moshboy]

Here: http://l.j-factor.com/macports/

Not all of these are platformers but mac ports of various popular freeware games, including Spelunky, Seiklus, RunMan: Race Around the World, You Found The Grappling Hook and Psychosomnium.

[C.D Buckmaster]

Flail?

[baconman]

TREASURE ADVENTURE GAME.

And Spelunky/Terraria. Endless fun there.

[Manuel Magalhães]

N+. (PSP/DS)

[Headless Man]

Yoshi's Island, Kirby's Dreamland 3, Shadow of the Beast III, Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, Balloon Kid, Metal Storm, Ancipital, Heatseeker (C64), Sonic 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Alisia Dragoon, Thexder II, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Kirby Mass Attack, Wario Land 4, Shin Shinobi Den, Psychic Assassin Taromaru, Gunstar Heroes, Chelnov (MD), Quackshot, Little Nemo (NES), Wonder Boy in Monster Land, Super Mario Bros 2 (USA, don't bother with the lousy Japanese version), Bonk (arcade version, not the boring console versions), Donkey Kong '94, Joust, Diet Go Go, Jump Bug, Alley Cat, Major Havoc, Super Mario Bros, Wizkid the Story of Wizball 2, Karnov, Dragon Buster, Doki Doki Penguin Land, Teddy Boy Blues, Rygar (arcade), Gumshoe, Kirby's Canvas Curse, Xain'D SleenA, Legend, Black Tiger, Mutant Night, Psycho Soldier, Son Son, Adventure Island II, El Viento, Shadowland, Exile, Toki, Liquid Kids, Saboten Bomber, Cadash, Bubble Symphony, Osman, Strider.
etc etc

[C.A. Sinner]

la mulana

[iffi]

la mulana

I was going to type that, but then I realized he said "As long as it can run on a Mac, DS, or PSP it's good." Then again, La-Mulana technically works under Wine. It's worth trying even if it doesn't run that great.

[C.A. Sinner]

i tried running la mulana on wine about a year ago and it didnt even start.

but unless the op's mac is ppc-based he can run windows via bootcamp anyway so yeah.

also super meat boy DOES have a mac port.

[TaintedFork]

i tried running la mulana on wine about a year ago and it didnt even start.

but unless the op's mac is ppc-based he can run windows via bootcamp anyway so yeah.

also super meat boy DOES have a mac port.

I want to clarify a few things here.

If the op does have a PPC-based Mac he cannot run Wine, which is Intel-only. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there are no ways to run Windows on a PowerPC Mac other than using VirtualPC. VirtualPC is broken on anything past 10.5, and would never run faster than 10fps when I tried it.

Super Meat Boy does have a Mac port, but it's not perfect. It won't work with Xbox (or maybe even generic?) controllers and has bugs that simply aren't present in the PC version. Plus the port is Intel-only, so it won't work on PPC either.

There are a good amount of emulators that will run fine on PowerPC and Intel Macs, although I've heard DS emulation is horrible. Haven't heard anything bad about any other emulators.