Step aside, Mario-there’s a whole world of platforming greatness waiting beyond the Mushroom Kingdom. From the high-speed thrills of Sonic Mania to the challenging climbs of Celeste and the quirky charm of Pizza Tower, these 10 platformers prove that the genre’s best adventures don’t always wear a red cap. Whether you’re on Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox, or PC, get ready to jump into some of the most inventive and exhilarating platforming experiences out there.
But there are plenty of great platforming games, on a wide range of systems, that don’t star Mario, his friends, and his rivals. Here are some of the best 2D and 3D platformers you can enjoy on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch – games that are more “pure” platformers, as opposed to combat-focused and exploratory Metroidvania-style games.
Pizza Tower
Pizza Tower is a fast-paced 2D platformer that channels the spirit of Nintendo’s Wario Land series, featuring Peppino Spaghetti, a frantic pizza chef on a mission to save his pizzeria by scaling a bizarre tower filled with unique levels and quirky enemies. With its energetic gameplay emphasizing speed, combos, and exploration, the game offers a blend of cartoonish pixel art inspired by 1990s Nicktoons and a soundtrack that matches its manic pace. Each level introduces fresh mechanics and challenges, including timed escape sequences and hidden secrets, making it a standout title for fans of inventive and intense platformers beyond the Mario universe.
Where to play: Windows PC
Many platforming games try to be Mario. Pizza Tower strives to be his chaotic mirror-world version, Wario, and this fast-paced 2D platformer from indie dev Tour De Pizza is an homage to Nintendo’s Wario Land games. As hero and restaurateur Peppino Spaghetti, you explore and destroy the titular Pizza Tower by sprinting, jumping, and bashing your way through a stack of levels.
There’s an incredible amount of variety in those levels. Many come with their own gameplay gimmick that must be learned, under a certain amount of speed-platforming duress, to progress through and escape. Paired with a soundtrack infested with earworms and a ’90s Nicktoons aesthetic, Pizza Tower is one of the most inventive and finely crafted platformers in years. Not bad for an homage.
Pizza Tower
$20 $20 $20 at Steam
Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove
Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove is a critically acclaimed 2D side-scrolling platformer that pays homage to classic 8-bit games with its pixel-perfect graphics and challenging gameplay. The collection includes the original Shovel Knight campaign, Shovel of Hope, plus three additional campaigns-Plague of Shadows, Specter of Torment, and King of Cards-each featuring unique characters and playstyles. Players dig, slash, and bounce through intricately designed levels filled with treasures, relics, and memorable boss fights against the Order of No Quarter. The game balances nostalgic difficulty with modern fairness through frequent checkpoints and responsive controls, making it both tough and accessible. It also offers a multiplayer fighting mode called Shovel Knight Showdown, rounding out a rich and varied platforming experience.
Where to play: Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, Xbox One
Shovel Knight is the most authentic retro game ever made, mining 8- and 16-bit nostalgia for classic platformers – most notably, the beloved 1989 NES game Ducktales – and smithing that memorial ore into a sharp, finely honed adventure. Shovel Knight uses its titular tool to great effect, letting the player flip over enemies, dig up treasure, and bounce over obstacles, enemies, and pits of spikes.
Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove is actually a collection, and represents one of the best deals on games. Alongside the original Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope, Treasure Trove includes spinoffs Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows, Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, and Shovel Knight: King of Cards, as well as the multiplayer platform-fighter Shovel Knight Showdown.
Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove
$40 $40 $40 at Nintendo$40 at Xbox$40 at PlayStation
Penny’s Big Breakaway
Penny’s Big Breakaway is a vibrant 3D platformer released in 2024 by Evening Star, featuring Penny, a street performer on the run with her sentient yo-yo, Yo-Yo. The game emphasizes fast-paced movement and momentum, with players using Yo-Yo to attack, swing, and speed through intricately designed levels while evading an army of penguin guards. Its gameplay encourages chaining tricks and combos, making it especially appealing for speedrunning enthusiasts. With colorful worlds, unique power-ups for Yo-Yo, and a mix of side quests and collectibles, Penny’s Big Breakaway offers a fresh, kinetic experience distinct from traditional Mario platformers.
Where to play: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox Series X
Created by developers behind Sonic Mania, Penny’s Big Breakaway builds its 3D platforming mechanics around a single tool: a yo-yo. Penny’s yo-yo (named Yo-Yo) accidentally becomes sentient and extremely hungry for snacks. Yo-Yo offers Penny a variety of traversal methods, acting as a sort of grappling hook, a high-speed Segway, and a helicopter to help her navigate a series of colorful worlds and avoid an army of vengeful penguins.
Penny’s Big Breakaway has a retro aesthetic that doesn’t feel dated – its visual style harkens back to the cover art of 16- and 32-bit platformers, helping developer Evening Star’s 3D adventure stand out from the hand-drawn and pixelated styles of other platforming games.
Penny’s Big Breakaway
$30 $30 $30 at Nintendo$30 at PlayStation$30 at Xbox
Celeste
Celeste is a critically acclaimed 2D precision platformer where players control Madeline as she climbs the challenging Celeste Mountain. The game features tight, responsive controls with mechanics like jumping, dashing in eight directions, and wall climbing, creating intricate and rewarding platforming challenges. Its levels are crafted as single-screen puzzles with increasing difficulty, including optional harder variants called B-Sides and C-Sides. Beyond gameplay, Celeste stands out for its heartfelt narrative addressing mental health issues such as anxiety and self-doubt, making it both a tough and emotionally resonant experience. It also offers an Assist Mode for accessibility, ensuring players of all skill levels can enjoy the journey. Available on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, Celeste is a must-play for platforming fans seeking both challenge and depth.
Where to play: Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, Xbox One
Celeste is a 2D platformer that boils the genre down to its essence. It features chunky, pixelated artwork and characters and a simple set of moves. As Madeline, you can run, jump, climb walls, and air-dash. There are no power-ups or unlockable skills. But as you climb the mountain of Celeste, the game throws increasingly difficult challenges at you to test your ability to run, jump, climb walls, and air-dash.
In some ways, Celeste is a throwback. It is intensely difficult in the vein of “masocore” games like Super Meat Boy. Making your way through a level, let alone a single screen, requires both quick reflexes and remaining calm under pressure. But Celeste is also thoroughly modern. It tells a compelling, personal story, and includes a variety of accessibility and difficulty features that can turn Celeste from impossibly hard to a moderate challenge. It’s forgiving, so if you mess up, you’re not dragged back to the beginning of a level. You’re given the chance to try, try, and try again.
Celeste
$2$2090% off $2 $2 at Steam
Snake Pass
Snake Pass offers a fresh twist on the platforming genre by putting you in control of Noodle, a legless coral snake who moves by slithering and coiling rather than jumping. Set across 15 vibrant, themed levels in the jungle world of Haven Tor, the game challenges players to master snake-like locomotion to climb, wrap around objects, and collect various items while navigating physics-based puzzles. With no jump button, progression relies on thoughtful movement and strategic use of Noodle’s body, making for a unique and rewarding platforming experience that blends relaxing exploration with increasingly challenging obstacles.
Where to play: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, Xbox One
Sumo Digital’s 2017 game Snake Pass differentiates itself from every other game on this list for being a platformer without a jump button. As Noodle the snake, players instead slither, coil, and climb through the world of Haven Tor. Joined by animal friend Doodle the Hummingbird, Noodle is charged with gathering a series of keystones by puzzling out physics-based challenges.
Snake Pass’ controls can take some getting used to; you are playing with snake locomotion, not a bipedal mascot, after all. But Snake Pass is such an inventive and handsome platformer that it’s worth sticking with until it clicks.
Snake Pass
$8$2060% off $8 $20 at Steam$8 at Nintendo$20 at Xbox
Rayman Legends
Rayman Legends stands out as a vibrant and beautifully animated platformer celebrated for its masterful level design and impressive variety. The game combines classic platforming mechanics with inventive challenges, including rhythmic music levels and clever use of the character Murfy, who manipulates the environment to aid progression. Its fluid gameplay, colorful art style, and engaging co-op multiplayer make it a must-play for fans of the genre looking for a fresh experience beyond Mario. With rich content and a perfect blend of accessibility and challenge, Rayman Legends remains one of the best platformers available on multiple platforms including PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo systems.
Where to play: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox Series X
Rayman Legends’ impressive variety, masterful stage design, and gorgeous art make it a confident, unfussy platformer. It is mechanically simple; as Rayman or one of his hero pals, you run, jump, and hit things. But it is also a precise platformer with great variety in its levels and hidden secrets that urge players to explore.
Legends is cute and charming. It may look and sound like a living cartoon world, but it is definitely aimed at experienced players of the genre. Players who are up for the challenge will find a diverse series of worlds with an equally diverse set of activities: swimming, flying, stealth, combat, racing, and even musical rhythm games.
Rayman Legends
$6$3080% off $6 $6 at Steam$40 at Nintendo$20 at PlayStation
Sonic Mania
Sonic Mania is a standout platformer that brilliantly captures the essence of classic 16-bit Sonic games while adding fresh twists. It features meticulously designed levels that blend remixed zones from Sonic’s past with new, inventive stages exclusive to this title. Players can choose from Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, each with unique abilities that influence gameplay. The game excels in fast-paced, fluid movement and challenging hazards, complemented by engaging boss battles and inventive special stages where players chase UFOs to collect Chaos Emeralds. Sonic Mania’s nostalgic yet polished design makes it a must-play for fans of the genre seeking both speed and exploration.
Where to play: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox Series X
To create one of the best Sonic the Hedgehog games released in the past decade, Sega turned to some of its biggest fans. Sonic Mania is a devotee of the old-school branch of Sonic gameplay and design. It takes the series’ Genesis-era ideas to logical extremes, while still being slavish to old Sonic the Hedgehog design rules. If you have any affection for Sonic (and friends), particularly of the 16-bit flavor, Sonic Mania is for you. This is a game that loves Sonic the Hedgehog, too.
Sonic Mania
$20 $20 $20 at Steam$20 at Nintendo$20 at Xbox
Psychonauts 2
Psychonauts 2 is a standout 3D platformer that combines tight, responsive controls with inventive psychic abilities like Mental Connection and Time Bubble, enhancing both platforming and combat. Players navigate vividly imaginative mental worlds that reflect the psyche of various characters, each level offering unique mechanics and creative design. The game excels in smooth performance and stunning, whimsical visuals, making exploration and combat engaging and fresh throughout. Its blend of humor, heartfelt storytelling, and diverse gameplay makes it a must-play for platformer fans seeking something beyond the usual.
Where to play: Mac, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
We called Psychonauts 2 “one of the most imaginative platforming games out there, with an absolute flood of joyous ideas and images” in our review of Double Fine’s 2021 platformer adventure game. It also boasts one of the most engaging and inventive stories of any game on this list.
As the Psychonaut Raz, you’ll dive into people’s brains, which manifest as weird, creative worlds, to help them battle their inner demons, unlock hidden memories, and resolve their emotional baggage using an array of psychic powers. Psychonauts 2 deals with weighty themes and complex psychological issues with warmth, compassion, and humor – while also serving as a capable, consistently enjoyable platformer.
Psychonauts 2
$60 $60 $60 at Steam$60 at Xbox$60 at PlayStation
Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series
The Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series is a remastered collection of two beloved 3D platformers, Klonoa: Door to Phantomile and Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil, originally from the late 1990s and early 2000s. Featuring updated visuals, improved sound, and smooth 60 FPS gameplay, the series retains its unique side-scrolling mechanics on a 3D plane, where players use Klonoa’s Wind Ring to grab and throw enemies, enabling creative platforming and combat. The games are praised for their charming art style, tight controls, and challenging puzzles, offering a nostalgic yet fresh experience for fans and newcomers alike.
Where to play: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
This collection brings the original PlayStation game Klonoa: Door to Phantomile and its PlayStation 2 sequel Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil into the modern age, with updated visuals and a few quality-of-life features. These underrated platformers sit somewhere between 2D and 3D, letting players explore a cute and colorful world as Klonoa, who can use his Wind Ring to snatch and throw enemies. The Klonoa games are not particularly complex, but require puzzling out level geography and thoughtful use of jumping abilities to conquer each world.
Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series
$40 $40 $40 at Steam$40 at Nintendo$40 at PlayStation
Astro’s Playroom
Astro’s Playroom is a charming 3D platformer that comes pre-installed on the PlayStation 5, designed to showcase the innovative features of the DualSense controller through immersive gameplay and tactile haptic feedback. Players control Astro Bot as they explore four creatively themed worlds inspired by PlayStation hardware components, each blending traditional platforming with unique mechanics that utilize the controller’s adaptive triggers and motion controls. Beyond its engaging levels, the game serves as a nostalgic tribute to PlayStation history, featuring collectible artifacts and references to classic Sony games, making it both a fun and heartfelt celebration of the console’s legacy.
Where to play: PlayStation 5
Ostensibly a tech demo for the PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller, Astro’s Playroom is an excellent 3D platformer that also serves as a nostalgic tour of PlayStation history. And to be blunt, Astro’s Playroom really has no business being as good as it is; it’s free, after all, and included with the PlayStation 5. But it’s an excellent platforming game that boasts tight controls, enjoyable movement mechanics, and thoughtful design touches. Playing through it, you might wonder why Sony isn’t making more of these games on a frequent basis (and charging for them).
Which hidden gems in platformers rival Mario’s gameplay experience
Several hidden gem platformers rival Mario’s gameplay experience by offering unique mechanics, tight controls, and engaging challenges reminiscent of classic Mario titles:
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Celeste (2018): Praised for its pixel-perfect controls and emotionally resonant narrative, Celeste challenges players with precise platforming that mirrors the internal struggles of its protagonist, making each successful jump deeply satisfying.
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Jump King (2019): A minimalist platformer focused solely on jumping mechanics, where every leap requires patience and precision. Its punishing difficulty and vertical progression create a tense experience that rewards mastery, echoing the satisfaction of tough Mario jumps.
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Pom Pom Pom Pom (2022): This game innovates by having players control the environment rather than the character, blending classic SNES-style platforming with puzzle elements. Its vibrant pixel art and clever level design appeal to retro platformer fans seeking fresh gameplay.
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Kitsune Tales (2024): Combining classic platforming with Japanese mythology, it offers tight controls and a rich story, standing out for fans who appreciate narrative depth alongside solid platform mechanics.
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Bonk’s Adventure (1989): An underrated classic on the TurboGrafx-16, Bonk uses headbutts instead of jumping on enemies, providing a fresh take on the formula while maintaining the charm and challenge of early platformers.
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Alex Kidd in Miracle World and other Master System titles like Wonder Boy and Mickey’s Castle of Illusion are also noted as classic hidden gems with solid 2D platforming gameplay that fans of Mario might enjoy.
These games combine precise controls, inventive mechanics, and engaging level design to offer experiences that can stand alongside Mario’s iconic platforming.
Which lesser-known platformers offer gameplay as tight as Mario’s
Several lesser-known platformers offer gameplay as tight and satisfying as Mario’s, often praised by fans and critics alike for their precision, design, and challenge:
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Rayman Legends is frequently highlighted as one of the best 2D platformers, standing on par with classics like Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze thanks to its fluid controls, creative level design, and cooperative multiplayer.
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Celeste is renowned for its precise platforming mechanics and challenging levels that demand skill and timing, delivering a tight gameplay experience that resonates deeply with players.
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Super Meat Boy offers a brutally challenging yet fair platforming experience with tight controls and fast-paced levels, often compared to a more difficult version of classic Nintendo platformers like Donkey Kong Country.
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Sonic Mania revitalizes the classic Sonic formula with finely tuned controls and level design that capture the speed and flow of the best Genesis-era Sonic games, providing a polished and exhilarating platforming experience.
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Hollow Knight combines meticulous world-building with precise movement and combat mechanics, creating a platforming experience that is both expansive and tightly controlled, rivaling the quality of Mario’s gameplay in a more atmospheric setting.
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Ori and the Blind Forest and its sequel emphasize fluid, balletic movement with seamless controls and beautifully crafted levels, offering a platforming experience that is both emotionally engaging and mechanically refined.
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Shovel Knight delivers tight, responsive controls and level design inspired by 8-bit classics, blending nostalgia with modern design to create a platformer that feels both familiar and fresh.
These games demonstrate that tight, polished platforming experiences exist well beyond Mario’s shadow, offering equally rewarding gameplay for fans of the genre.
