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Your favorite 16 bits platform game?

Jawmuncher said:
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Jontron sums up everything I would want to say about the game.
http://youtu.be/NwNsrmcsBCM
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Yeah, Irem is so obscure. Who's ever heard of them before?

I'm actually surprised JonTron ever played more than the first stage for a review.

Anyway, even though there are tons and tons of great platformers across systems in the 16 bit era, if you're gonna twist my arm and make me go with best in every category it has to be stupid Yoshi's Island.
 
Rocket Knight (I'd say it takes the cake)
Ristar
Earthworm Jim

Probably lots of obscur stuff even i can't remember sadly.
 
Definitely DKC 2. The platforming is top notch, new fun mechanics constantly come into play, and barreling through the stages as fast as possible is such a blast. Everything feels so fluid and well designed. Not to mention the amazing visuals to go along with the cool pirate/dark theme and a soundtrack that combines some killer melodies with sounds that match the environments.

Runner up- Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. Classic Castlevania doing what it does best.

Honestly though, I think the NES had the better platformers overall than the 16-bit generation. The sprites got waaaay too huge.
 
For me, it is:

Donkey-Kong-Country-1-Capa.jpg


- First is the amazing graphics it have. Back in that time, I'm waiting for this kind of visual in the next generation machines. See it on my good and old Snes was something that made my jaw drop.

- Second is the amazing songs. Start with that remix of Donkey Kong song, and its get better on the first stage. The Cave song is perfect for this ambient.... but nothing comperes to the beautiful water song. I can stop to play only to hear that song. Its something... perfect, I say.

- The third, and one of the most important, is the gameplay. A truly platform, with lots of challenges, hide secrets, and different gameplays, made this a true and fun game. One of the things that most mark is the mine-carts stages, These levels are so good, that inspire a lot of other games.

That perfect combination of amazing graphics, musics and gameplay never more occurs for me like Donkey Kong did. It was magic!
 
I don't think there's a massive distinction between "platformers" and "run and gun" or whatever, so this question is especially massive to me.

contra_hard_corps_artfwqxe.jpg


I just played through Contra: Hard Corps (NA version best version) and it was wonderful and intense and hard-edged. I'm confident it's a contender.
 
2+2=5 said:
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I've never played or have even hard of Super Frog, but this map reminds me a lot of the Metallic Madness zones from Sonic CD.

As for Super Mario World, it's a game I loved when I was like 11 years old or something, and I remeber completing the game from front to back and unlocking every secret within the first week of owning it. But it is also a game that has los its luster with me over the years. It's still a very good platformer, but I'm not sure if I would rank it as my top choice for 16-bit platformers.

It's hard for me to choose my favorite 16-bit platformer.
 
MrCunningham said:
I've never played or have even hard of Super Frog, but this map reminds me a lot of the Metallic Madness zones from Sonic CD.
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Funnily enough, the game is a Sonic Clone.

If we're talking about Sonic Clones, my favorite is probably Zool 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe5znQWZ37g

Zool 1 is awful, but Zool 2 was a huge improvement. Unfortunately, while Zool 1 was ported to goddamn everything, Zool 2 remained only on the Amiga and Atari Jaguar (with a rare-ish Dos port as well).
 
Easy decision for myself, DKC2 does so well to improve upon its fun but flawed predecessor, it took the basic Mario lite run and jump gameplay that DKC1 started with and built upon it in numerous ways as well as fixing the bonus room idea then tied the bits and pieces altogether creating something refined, sublime and a hell of a lot better.
Creative stage gimmicks and usage of animal buddies that can shift the platforming style entirely, the most well integrated secret collectable hunt in any platformer offering reward giving challenge rooms to those who seek them out. It's also nice that they don't end up conflicting with the standard stage progression and the levels perfectly support the obstacle course platforming alongside the Coin hunt.
The audiovisual side of things pushes the game to the next level, a moody yet fantastical setting in enemy territory with enemies that play well into their pirate theme via their attacks and movement, David Wise at his best pushing that SNES sound to the limit.
Chock full of little details from quirky animations to unique death jingles per stage (which actually stemmed from a sound channel limitation).
It's taken Retro's most recent outing to finally match this one for me and while it matches up (and even one ups) on a number of levels they haven't quite grasped how to implement the collectables as well which is like DKC2's trump card.

RCEUPUp.gif
 
DedValve said:
Its the unfortunate fate of metroid.
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well I mean...it would have made my list but I've never really considered it a platformer in the same vain as others being listed. Of course platforming is heavily involved, but when I think "platformer", I think of jumping on things and getting from the left side of the map to the right side. Super Metroid's all about exploring one huge world, finding secrets and upgrading equipment so you can access new areas.

I suppose it's the same way a lot of people (I can't vouch for this since I've not played it) don't consider Metroid Prime an FPS despite it technically being one because it's first person and you shoot stuff. I hear it described as a first person adventure game a lot.
 
Yoshi's Island for me, but I'm biased since I just finished replaying it. 100 points on ALL levels, on the GBA version. I have the original cart too, for Super Famicom ... but I was already into the GBA game when I bought it. Now I have all these bonus levels, but I'm spent. Time to move on. Maybe I'll try something suggested in this thread.
 
I would love for Plok to come to the Virtual Console, but I think the game is in rights limbo. Besides Super Mario World, this would be my pick.

I'm speaking from memory, but as a kid I thought it was a challenging game with an attractive and simple style, and tough enemies. The really cool thing though was the mechanic of throwing your arms and legs at enemies, which meant that if you attacked too quickly you were left with only your torso and lost mobility for a second.

Plokbox.jpg


Confession: Of the games mentioned by others, I have only played Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country 2, Joe & Mac 2 and The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse. I don't know how we decided what games to get when I was a kid.
 
.Anema said:
My choice is Donkey Kong Country 2. For me is one of the best games ever. The level design is awesome, the graphics and art direction are really good, with a lot of scenarios and situations. And of course the OST is still a god tier, even in 2014.
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Agreed.

I like Yoshi's Island, but I think it's a bit overrated. I beat the DKC trilogy countless times, SMW at least 5 times, but could never be bothered with playing YI for a second time.
 
Dsyndrome said:
Earthworm Jim 1 and 2. The humor in those games was phenomenal, everything from Bob the Goldfish to Peter Puppy. Wish Earthworm Jim 3D was actually good.
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Funnily enough, I was playing this game yesterday, for the first time since its release... it's got plenty of charm, great graphics and animation, but suffers from a lot of flaws that beguiled many western platformers of the era - loose controls, sloppy hit detection, meandering maze-like levels where you can't always tell where to go next.

SMW is still my favorite, Sonic 3+Knuckles, Rocket Knight, Mega Man X, and Skyblazer are up there. Monster World IV is pretty good too, aside from that frustrating ice pyramid level.
 
On top: Super Mario World

Runners:
- Yoshi's Island
- Sonic 2
- James Pond: Operation Stafish
- Mr Nutz (Amiga version)
 
Super Mario World and DKC are so goddamned overrated.

Red Liquorice said:
Wardner (Arcade, Mega Drive) - Not sure if this got a western release, but it's a tough pixel-perfect jumps type of platformer in a similar boy saves girl in undead fantasy world as G&G, it looks a little rough compared to the competition but trust me, it's great and very rewarding.
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going to check this one out, never heard of it! thanks!

jluedtke said:
Because somebody's gotta represent...

bonk_%2816%29.jpg
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it's a good pick. to me, this definitively marks the start of era of the 16-bit platformer.
 
563509_29065_front.jpg
No one mentioned this yet?

I rented this game all the time from Blockbuster. Capcom used to make some insanely good platformers.

DKC2 is still my absolute favorite though.
 
djtiesto said:
Funnily enough, I was playing this game yesterday, for the first time since its release... it's got plenty of charm, great graphics and animation, but suffers from a lot of flaws that beguiled many western platformers of the era - loose controls, sloppy hit detection, meandering maze-like levels where you can't always tell where to go next.

SMW is still my favorite, Sonic 3+Knuckles, Rocket Knight, Mega Man X, and Skyblazer are up there. Monster World IV is pretty good too, aside from that frustrating ice pyramid level.
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Exactly! God, the hype for Earthworm Jim when it was released was just insane, it made some of the modern hype and window licking by journalists look tame by comparison. But the game was massively overrated. It was like everyone so desperately wanted a new iconic platformer they ignored all the flaws. If it was really that good it would hold up now just like SMW and many of the others do. If the cartoon had come first it would just be known now as another poor licensed game.
 
Super Mario WORLD? HA. Game is crap, Yoshi ruins it.

Donkey Kong Country is where its at biznitches

" and were done here "

mario fans arrogance man
 
Definitely Sonic 3 & Knuckles, despite it having a couple of zones that I'm not really a fan of (Marble Garden Zone and Carnival Night Zone). Other than that though it's pretty much platforming perfection as far as I'm concerned.
 
andymcc said:
the best thing about DKC is that it lead to the creation of this thread.
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Oh wow, the knee-jerk reactions on the first page.

I actually kind of agree with the OP. I'm a fan of the series, but I've never liked the first DK Country much. And when I first played it, it was the GBA version so there were no pretty graphics to disguise how little fun I was having. Great music, though. And without DK Country, we wouldn't have the GOAT Tropical Freeze.

Also I agree with the complaints about all this "Super Mario World, we're done here" stuff going on in this thread. The 16-bit era is where 2D platformers of all different kinds were at their prime, and some people only want to focus on the most obvious one?
 
I'll take Sonic 2 over any 16-bit Mario anyway. If you wanted to lump Super Mario All-Stars which included the best one in Mario 3, then yeah it would be Mario 3, but that was really an NES game remastered ( see what you started Nintendo! ) for SNES.

Sonic 2 baby. Glorious platforming. I just loved me some DKC back in the day.
 
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