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 |
MSX (1987) and NES (1987) Knightmare II: The Maze of Galious is the sequel to Knightmare.The player controls the knight Popolon and his wife Aphrodite,... |
Amstrad CPC (1986), Commodore 64 (1986), MSX (1986) and ZX Spectrum (1986) After rescuing the wizard Gimbal, the Magic Knight finds himself transported into the 25th century aboard the peaceful trade starship... |
SEGA 32X (1995) Knuckles Chaotix is a spin-off of the Sonic the Hedgehog series of Genesis games. The starring character in this title... |
Windows (2006) Little Knytt is playing outside when he is suddenly abducted by a UFO. It collides with a meteorite and crash... |
Windows (2007) As a continuation of the previous Knytt games, Knytt Experiment was originally conceived as a large universe that kept expanding... |
Windows (2007) Knytt Stories, the sequel to Knytt, is a jump-and-run platformer with a distinctive minimalist art style. It is set in... |
Browser (2006) The hero of Kogent Knight has his first day as a knight in an unknown kingdom. On his way to... |
NES (1993) Koko Adventure is a Korean-made platformer similar in style and presentation to Super Mario Bros.. The player controls a kid... |
Commodore 64 (1984), ZX Spectrum (1984) and Amstrad CPC (1986) Kokotoni Wilf has been sent on a bold journey through time, to recover the seven pieces of the Dragon Amulet.... |
Windows (2002) Konami Collector's Series: Castlevania & Contra is a compilation of five classic Konami games from the 8-bit era.The Belmont clan... |
NES (1986) This game is inspired by the Japanese movie Koneko Monogatari (known in the west as The Adventures of Milo and... |
ZX Spectrum (1983) This game is a Spectrum variant of Nintendo's smash hit Donkey Kong.. The object of the game is to rescue... |
Commodore 64 (1983) and ZX Spectrum (1983) Kong is a clone of Donkey Kong.This is a single player game that is entirely keyboard controlled. The aim of... |
Amstrad CPC (1991), DOS (1991), MSX (1991) and ZX Spectrum (1991) Kong's Revenge is an action game based on Donkey Kong. It is divided into two parts.In the first part, the... |
Xbox 360 (2009) Koron de JUMP!! is a colorful and simple auto-scrolling platformer. The player controls Koron, a small girl who carries a... |
TurboGrafx CD (1993) Kotoba Asobi (Word Play) is a simple educational game for preschoolers designed to teach basic usage of synonyms, antonyms, and... |
NES (1990) The Krion Empire chose the year 1999 in which to stage an invasion of earth. The planet's defenses were no... |
Atari ST (1993) Kubes is a puzzle game written in STOS where you have to arrange falling blocks of similar colors into groups.... |
Amiga (1994) Kungfu Charles is a freeware game that was included on the cover disc of the UK Amiga magazine 'The One'... |
SEGA Master System (1987) The wicked Madanda has just awakened from a sleep of several thousand years, and as the hero, your job is... |
Nintendo DS (2008) In this game based on the 2008 DreamWorks movie of the same name, the player is Po the panda. Po... |
PlayStation 2 (2003) Kya and her brother Frank have been transported into a different dimension, and upon arriving are separated! Kya meets (and... |
NES (1991) Edoropolis is home to a race of Animaloids, anthropomorphic animals which are a combination of flesh and cybernetic body parts.... |
Windows (2008) Considering that side-scrolling is a hallmark of platform games, you'd figure that they'd prompt players to exercise more lateral thinking.... |
Windows (2010) In the 13th century, the Catholic Church used it's soldiers to expel the members of the religious order of the... |
