Favorite Sidescrolling Platformer Series

Super Mario Bros. hands down my favorite side-scrolling game and this is the correct answer. Follow by Sonic the Hedgehog.

Mario is king.

1. Donkey Kong Country series

2. Super Mario Bros series

3. Sonic series

4. Rayman Origins and Legends

5. New Super Mario Bros series

@lamprey263: Like this?

throne_of_games_by_jasinski-d5ixv4d.jpg

@thendefender: haha, nice

@lamprey263: Thanks

Contra for the NES. It's also the last sidescroller I played.

Remember, these are just the major platformers (1 from each major developer), so if there is something else you like that isn't super major like the franchises above(like another platformer from the same developer), just click the others section.

Kirby.

Banjo, Spryo, and Crash are not sidescrollers dewd. Mario is the king. Sonic was never that great even Sonic CD was mediocre and that's widely considered to be the pinnacle of the series. Also have to mention Ristar. Sadly, it never became a series but that game was one of my favorites as a kid.

Rayman

These are 2D and 3D platformers. A few are sidescrollers, but you do run up, down, left, and right, and jump from place to place. So they can be considered sidescrollers, but I meant to say plaformers in general. Sorry for the confusion.

Edit: Crash basically is kind of a sidescroller, but more of an up and down one instead of right and left.

I made a giant ranking list for a thread I was thinking of making a couple of months ago, so I'll just copy and paste it. I also based it on my favorite game for each series.

1. Sonic 3 & Knuckles (Genesis)
2. Mega Man X (SNES)
3. NiGHTS into Dreams (Saturn)
4. Gunstar Heroes (Genesis)
5. Rodea the Sky Soldier (Wii)
6. Alien Soldier (Genesis)
7. Super Metroid (SNES)
8. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1)
9. Azure Striker Gunvolt (3DS)
10. Freedom Planet (PC)
11. Batman (Genesis)
12. Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (Genesis)
13. Contra: Hard Corps (Genesis)
14. Rocket Knight Adventures (Genesis)
15. Strider 2 (PS1)
16. Super Mario Bros. (NES)
17. X-Men (Genesis)
18. Metal Slug 2 (Arc)
19. Ranger X (Genesis)
20. Dynamite Headdy (Genesis)
21. Shovel Knight (PC)
22. Pulseman (Genesis)
23. Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil (PS2)
24. Ristar (Genesis)
25. Monster World IV (Genesis)
26. Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse (PC)
27. Gunlord (DC)
28. Mega Turrican (Genesis)
29. Alisia Dragoon (Genesis)
30. Ninja Gaiden (NES)
31. Clockwork Knight (Saturn)
32. Super Empire Strikes Back (SNES)
33. Super Meat Boy (PC)
34. Astal (Saturn)
35. Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii)

So yeah, as you can tell, platformers are my favorite genre. :)

The Sonic trilogy, hands down. It's definitely better than the SMB trilogy, which I didn't think was great even back then. After playing the Sonic games, the SMB games felt like a big downgrade, primitive compared to Sonic in almost every way, from the gameplay mechanics, physics, level designs and pacing to the graphics, scrolling and music. Sonic trilogy > SMB trilogy.

@Jag85: Im the opposite, Sonic was so easy that even as a child it was too easy. Mario was actually hard for me. Love Mario, some of best platforming ever.

Mario, sonic and rayman

Does anything 2d side scrolling platformer compare to NES Super Mario Bros. Hell no!

I wouldn't consider Metroid a platformer. A 2d adventure game.

Donkey Kong Country

While the SMB trilogy is harder, much of its difficulty comes from cheap tricks, like many other 8-bit platformers.

Super Mario Bros.

Sonic is probably my least favourite. Crap series.

I voted Spyro even though it isn't a side scroller, Spyro: Year of the Dragon is my third favorite game of all time.

Sonic is technically superior to SMB in almost every way, from the gameplay mechanics, physics, level designs and pacing to the graphics, scrolling and music. There is almost nothing that SMB does technically better other than being more difficult, by often relying on cheap tricks. Mario fans should try take off those rose-tinted nostalgia goggles.

@Jag85: Sonic does hardly nothing though and is almost always the same. Mario has so much diversity in gameplay and a way better story. Plus its world is more lively. Mario's mechanics evolve and change each game. Better music? I dont feel this way, Mario's music is iconic and catchy. Sonic might have more graphics, but it doesnt age well for some reason compared to Mario.

By far the most consistent series is Mario.

I'd say even with the older games, Sonic had very questionable design choices. The Rush series was a far better offering IMHO. I feel like Nostalgia is the reason the Genesis Sonics were loved. That goes double for the absolutely atrocious Sonic adventure games.

From the early days: Sonic
Then around PS1 I loved Crash, followed by Spyro.

But overall my winner is Mario. While he's only my fav. this and last gen, he was decent all the time (not like the others who became crap)

Just too many from decades gone by to think through so I'll just say the most creative/entertaining one I've played in a long time is Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, I played for the first time a couple months ago.

I was talking about the original SMB trilogy and the original Sonic trilogy, not later Mario and Sonic games (the poll lists SMB, not Mario as a whole, and is about the side-scrollers). The Mario series improved after that, while the Sonic series went downhill after that. But if we're comparing the original SMB trilogy to the original Sonic trilogy, the original Sonic trilogy is technically superior in most categories: the gameplay mechanics are more sophisticated, the physics more realistic, the level designs are deeper, it has faster arcade-style pacing, it has better graphics and more advanced scrolling, and catchier and more varied music.

I really love Sonic, but I had to give it to Mario. I play Super Mario Bros on the NES religiously.

@Jag85: Yeah, sorry, i cant agree with none of that. Not even the faster platforming. Sonic was just fast and easy. Mario was super fast but very hard to go very fast. It took more skill. I grew up a Genesis kid, but even then, Mario Bros 2 was better then all Sonics put together. Then Mario Bros 3...not even close. Even the first Mario Bros blows Sonic 3 out the water.

@Jag85: I have to retract what i said about Sonic series. The series was very innovative and there was a bunch to do. Its been so long since ive played that it would take diving deep and playing all again to better compare them.

@mesome713:

I assume you played Mario before Sonic, right? If so, then it would make sense for your preference to favour SMB over Sonic. It was the opposite for me, as I played Sonic first, and then played SMB afterwards (the SMB games released very late in Europe), and it felt like a downgrade in various ways, and I just didn't find it as fun or enjoyable as Sonic.

However, both are still great in their own rights. And both have very different styles, with Mario being a more console-style experience, while Sonic is a more arcade-style experience.

@Jag85: I played Sonic first, my cousin had Mario games though. I didnt get a Nintendo console until Gamecube. I just remember playing Super Mario 3 and being blown away. That game was amazing. Now i didnt play many games, i played Genesis, my mains where Sonic 2+3, Streets of Rage 2, Cyborg Justice, Biohazard, Aladdin, Golden Axe, and was big on Sports games. Boxing, Basketball, and Football.

But i would have to play Sonic again and test how all its stuff has aged. Ive played the OG Mario Series last year a lot and its aged very well. Its still super fun too play. I remember Sonic had a bunch of diverse stuff, but its been so long since ive played that im not sure on all the stuff.

No, Sonic sucks. It's a series that encourage you to go fast, then punishes you for going fast. Worst fucking game design ever. Sonic fans should remove their crap-goggles.

Mario as I still enjoy his games after all these years and he is the only series I can think of that has been consistently good in 2D and 3D. As far as platformers go overall though, Banjo Kazooie is definitely one of my favorites along with Sonic 2/3, Batman(NES), Castlevania, Mega Man, etc.

Where MegaMan, Donkey Kong, Metal Slug series?!

Other (PC):

Commander Keen

Jazz Jackrabbit

Captain Claw

Portal

Trine

For me, nothing comes close to Donkey Kong Country. Absolutely love the series, especially the two more recent entries from Retro. The 2D Mario team could learn a thing or two from them, instead of this basic, boring NSMB series they've been given us recently.

That's not nostalgia, that's shit taste.

Donkey Kong Country

I've had the most fun with SMB, but Rayman, LBP and Donkey Kong are more or less tied for second place.

If we're talking pure platformers, as a series, Mario. This mainly hinges on the likes of SMB3, SMW and Yoshis Island, but the NSMB games aren't bad, and I do enjoy some Mario Maker.

For a single game though, probably Super Meat Boy.

Mario by far

Then you clearly missed the point of the game design. It's like a racing game, where the more you master the tracks, the faster the lap times you get. Sonic has an arcade-style of game design, something many Mario fans fail to grasp when they bash it for not playing like their favourite slow Mario games.

Super Mario Bros, with Megadrive's Sonic games in close second.

Edit: Not a 'series' but Kid Chameleon in one of my all time favourite 2D platformers.

@mesome713: SMB3 has aged very well... But SMB 1-2, not so much.

This X100, but I wouldn't waste my time explaining that, because most Mario/Nintendo fanboys think that if a game doesn't follow the same copy and paste philosophy of a Miyamoto game, it's badly designed. I like score, speed, and improving my time, like other arcade games, so that's why I put Sonic at the top. Doing stuff like this, is just way more fun to me than anything I've done in a Mario game:

I've also never understood the running into enemy problem as a complaint when it comes to Sonic, but then again, I'm not blind...

Super Mario Bros. hands down. Although the latest Rayman games did make me consider voting otherwise.

Kong Country. Saving Mario for the 3D Platformers.

The recent Rayman games are out of this world, prior to them it was Super Mario World followed very closely by Sonic 2.

Severe lack of Klonoa.

In order

• Rayman reboot series by miles
• Sonic
• Crash Bandicoot