My 15 Favorite Platform Game Series (or One-offs) Of The Original Playstation Era

[Anonymous]

20) Hugo

My least favourite among the list, but not to the point I would consider it awful. I liked the creature who was the main protagonist...but apart from it, the gameplay was hard to understand. But maybe it's just me, because I didn't spend so much time playing it to tell you the truth.

19) Mickey's Wild Adventure

Mickey Mouse is the oldest among the other platform game heroes. Of course he wasn't originally a platform hero, but here he becomes one. It's a very simple game where you just have to go through each level, yet it's not as easy as it seems. It has an interesting story. Mickey Mouse goes through time, starting from Steamboat Willie, where he made his film debut in 1928, till 1990 in The Prince and The Pauper. After finishing all the storylines he faces his arch rival, which is no other than Black Pete. Here he is called Big Pete. I didn't like much the game itself, but the OST was excellent.

18. Lucky Luke

One of the toughest platform games ever. Still a good game even if the graphics were poor. The highlight of the game was the bonus rounds, they were pretty funny, especially the one shooting bottles. It was the best way to collect some dollars in order to buy some lives in order to carry on with the game.

17) Atlantis

One of the games that came out during the later Playstation era, based on the then popular Disney film, Atlantis. The story is obviously based on the lost continent with the same name. The main hero is Milo James Thatch who was a linguist and a cartographer. Other playable characters of the film are Gaetan Molière (Geologist) or Audrey Ramirez (Mechanic). Although the graphics were good and the story was interesting, it was very difficult to control your character and it had a really bad camera feature. Plus, there was a lack of replay value and there weren't many subquests.

16) Wild 9

When I was a kid, I thought this game was unsuitable for children, judging by its cover....but actually it's not. Even the seller who worked at the games store suggested it to me. Still, I didn't manage to get far... I liked the name Bombopolis though...it it been stuck to me since then.

15) A Bug's Life

Three things I remember from this game:

- The nice tune played at the second level

- When Flik (the main protagonist) was dying, he was screaming"No...no....ah NO NO NO NO!!!". Very funny.

- The game over short video, where a bug (probably their teacher) was yelling at the smaller bugs (students maybe?)

14) Sheep Dog 'n' Wolf (aka Sheep Raider)

I don't know whether we could classify this game as a platform game or as a strategy game or as a platform game, or maybe...as a puzzle game. Anyway, I believe it has elements from all those three categories, so we can include it here as well. It's a pretty fun game, but on the downside it has a really bad camera mode and the difficulty is pretty extreme for a game that was supposed to be for kids.

13) Gex

Gex is the sister series of Croc. Unlike Croc who looks more innocent, Gex has a more "cool guy" vibe. Although the game is pretty good (less than Croc though, in my opinion) it has a huge problem with the camera as well, particularly the second game of the series which was the most popular one. In this game, you can notice there are many references to the popular culture of the era, when Croc game was set on an imaginary environment.

12) Hercules

This game is obviously based on the popular Disney film of the time with the same name, which is based on the Greek mythical hero with the same name. Hercules is mostly famous for his superhuman strength and he was considered a half-God. Anyway, the game is very easy which means there's a lack of replay value. But it was a pretty amusing game by the time, I believe.

11) MediEvil

The gameplay was pretty hard to get for a small kid, but apart from it...it had a pretty nice scenario making it almost an Adventure game than a platform one. Plus the main protagonist was really cool and his figure was one of the most memorable ones in the original Playstation era.

10) Abe's Oddworld

One of the oddest game series indeed. The main protagonist was an alien, and the other characters of the game (who were aliens as well) were behaving depending on how Abe was acting towards them. This game is mostly famous for being able to make Abe...farting!!! It was a rude gesture, making other aliens unfriendly towards Abe.

9) Croc

Croc was a really good game, but it suffered from the bad camera syndrome, and the difficult controlling of your character. Plus it had a notorious bug, where it didn't allow you to complete the game 100%. Otherwise it was a really good game, and it was also available in PC.

8. Rascal

Another outsider series, this time the main protagonist is a bad boy. The graphics are excellent, almost like PlayStation 2, despite being released three years earlier than PlayStation 2. But on the dowside it also suffers from bad camera and hard controlling.

7) Tombi (aka Tomba)

Tombi (in Europe) or Tomba (in America) features a pink haired island native who is fighting against some evil pigs, which stole his grandfather's bangle. It's a fun game, with many sidequests. Unfortunately, the sequel Tombi 2 is not as good as the first game.

6) Pacman World

A remastered version of the all-time classic video game, this time with improved graphics and more sidequests. But you can still play the classic Pac-Man as a mini-game.

5) Rayman

Rayman is one of the first "complete" platform games in Playstation, and it developed the model that many platform games followed (including Crash Bandicoot) where your character could collect some extra items in order to build up his percentage. In original Rayman's case, you had to free some small pink creatures from their cages in order to build up your percentage.

4) Klonoa

I thought that Klonoa was a girl, but he was actually a boy. A very good platform game (the first title of the series, at least) but I was finding it a little bit...sugary.

3) Ape Escape

The first game of the series, was simply marvelous. I also remember Ape Academy, which was given for free when I bought PSP. Actually, it's one of the best titles of PSP but it's a party game and not a platform game.

2) Spyro The Dragon

When I played the game for the first time I used to find it tough as nails, especially when you had to rescue a certain Dragon who was hiding at the top of the hill and another one who was stuck between a building. But when I played it again at an older age, it was really easy. It has great replay value, but the second game of the series is more complete and keeps your interest more since you have to collect the orbs as well by playing some mini-games. On the downside it has this annoying guy called Moneybags. Most who have played this game used to hate him with passion!

1) Skullmonkeys

This is the best platform game, even better than the games of the Crash Bandicoot series. Although the graphics were really poor, it had some awesome videos between some levels (maybe some people might find them disgusting), it also had pretty cool music and it had pretty funny animations, like creating a clone made of farts, or if you jumped on a checkpoint bird thrice then you would make a high jump!

[tangerinefan1050]

Wow, that's a great list! I'm not aware of that supposed bug on Croc though, because I did beat that game 100% on the PS1.

Of the ones you listed, I did beat Sheep Raider, Croc, Pac-Man World, Rayman, and Klonoa (all 100% except for Pac-Man World), and also played a lot out of Tomba and Mickey's Wild Adventure, but never got near beating either of those two (I got disinterested at the time, but I did watch the rest of both games on YouTube some time later). All on the original PlayStation. Of those, Rayman was absolutely the hardest (you've got to find and break all the Electoon cages in order to get to the final level...). But they're all absolutely fun games and I totally recommended all of them.

As for the others, I only played a little of Spyro the Dragon, Hercules and MediEvil. I barely even heard about the rest, but that Ape Escape one did particularly catch my eye. =)

Another good one was Earthworm Jim 2 (pretty funny and cool game -- there's even an awesome tune in it called "Anything but Tangerines" 😂).

[myTake Owner]

What about Crash Bandicoot series?

[tangerinefan1050]

Yep, I did play all the Crash Bandicoot games on the PS1. Good games, but not my favorites series, to be honest. I only managed to beat CB3: Warped, CTR and Crash Bash. I remember I spent a lot of time looking for gems and relics in all those games, and even unlocked some extra places/characters (in CTR's case), but I just wasn't super interested on getting 100% in any of those games.

I did not manage to beat CB1 (got frustrated from having to replay so many of the same levels after a Game Over and eventually gave up) nor CB2 (that one wasn't too hard, I got to the final warp room, unlocked some secrets but I think I ended up losing interest somewhere down the road).

Thanks for the MHO =)

[DanFlingwing]

nice take

[Anonymous]

I feel nostalgic seeing this list of yours lol. From this list, the only ones that I've played were Mickey's Wild Adventure, which was really tough for me and I remember getting frustrated by it lol. Second one was Pacman World and thirdly is Spyro the Dragon. I didn't play much of the original playstation because I got it late and PS2 came out soon afterwards.