Platform
Description
Platform games (platformers) are action games in which the playfield is set up as a series of planes (floors, levels, or platforms) for the player to navigate.
Platform games often involve combat, but include additional challenges by making navigation hazardous. Often the challenges of overcoming environmental dangers surpass those posed by combat. The player character is usually required to jump over gaps and damaging areas, or to access a different platform. In many platform games the player character is very vulnerable and can die easily from falling damage, environmental traps, or enemy attacks.
Early platform games (e.g.
Donkey Kong) were confined to one screen and required the player character to climb in order to reach higher platforms. Later platformers, popularized by
Super Mario Bros., began to focus on traversing side-scrolling levels, often within an allotted time limit, fending off upcoming enemies and jumping. This style, commonly referred to as
jump-and-run, has preserved itself in many later platformers as well.
Other platform games, such as
Prince of Persia, emphasize exploration, combat, and problem-solving in addition to the usual platform challenges. Such games have become known as
cinematic platformers. This style has had a considerable influence on many 3D platformers (e.g. later
Prince of Persia games,
ICO, etc.), which incorporate extensive puzzle-solving.
 Game Title |
NES (1987) Based on the Osamu Tezuka manga "Phoenix", this platformer is mostly based on the fifth volume, "Hō-ō" (later called "Karma"... |
DOS (1994) and Windows (2013) Hocus Pocus is a young magician apprentice who has two goals in life: to join the Council of Wizards in... |
Amiga (1992) Hoi is a small green dinosaur, who must venture through 5 levels to reach the area in which female dinosaurs... |
NES (1986) Hokuto no Ken is a side-scrolling beat-em-up based on the anime series of the same name. The player controls Kenshiro,... |
SNES (1992) The three RPGs (Hokuto no Ken 3-5) seemed to symbolize a genre change after the first two platformers, but the... |
SNES (1993) Similar to the sixth installment of the series, this is a fighting game along the lines of Street Fighter or... |
Windows (2008) Hold me closer, Giant Dancer is a 2D-demake of the PlayStation 2 game Shadow of the Colossus for the TRS-80... |
DOS (1993), Amiga (1993) and Macintosh (1992) Based on the original classic game Lemmings, Holiday Lemmings was a small stand-alone game that was released during the early... |
Linux (2004) and Windows (2004) Ybelle and Ludar have come to Holotz's Castle to explore its depths for fame and adventure. Though apparently, Ludar our... |
NES (1989) Randy, the Holy Diver, is setting out to retrieve the five emblem seals belonging to the King Crimson Family in... |
SNES (1995) In Holy Umbrella you control a schoolboy who lives in modern-day Japan. One day, the sky suddenly turns dark blue,... |
DOS (1991) and Amiga (1991) This is a platform game based on the movie "Home Alone". Kevin's family went on vacation, but they forgot about... |
Game Gear (1992) and Genesis (1992) Macaulay Culkin briefly became a child star following the film Home Alone, in which he played Kevin McCallister, who is... |
SNES (1991) and Game Boy (1991) Kevin is left alone at home while his family is celebrating the holidays elsewhere. Unfortunately for him, two burglars have... |
DOS (1992) The sequel to Home Alone.As in the film, this time Kevin McCallister is lost in New York and must avoid... |
Genesis (1993) The McCallister family is off to Miami for a Christmas vacation in the sun. The son, Kevin, ends up on... |
SNES (1994) Based off the hit sitcom, Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor's name has been put Binford's new line of power tools... |
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Game Gear (1992), SNES (1992), SEGA CD (1992) and Genesis (1992) In this video game adaption of the Steven Spielberg film Hook, the player takes the role of a grown-up Peter... |
Commodore 64 (1992), Game Boy (1992) and NES (1992) In Hook, based on the 1991 film by Steven Spielberg, the player controls Peter Pan who is trying to rescue... |
iPhone (2009) Explore deep caves to find sacred idols and loot treasure - but watch out for the terrifying monsters, bats, traps... |
DOS (1996) The bio-droid, Hopy-ONE, was created in a laboratory Professor Jonathan Silt had set up in 2013 to research the F.L.V.... |
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ZX Spectrum (1983) A short platformer with three stages. First Horace must jump over spiders while running forward. The next stage is reached... |
iPad (2012), iPhone (2012) and Android (2012) Horn is an action-adventure game. The player takes control of Horn, a young boy who mysteriously wakes up one day... |
