9 Greatest Platform Games You’ve Never Played
Before it was Microsoft vs. Sony, it was Mario vs. Sonic. Growing up, you were either a Sega gamer, or a Nintendo gamer. You found all the warp whistles in Super Mario 3. You blazed through the special stages of Sonic 3 and collected all the chaos emeralds. You pounced Bowser. You humiliated Dr. Robotnik. You grew up on the platform genre of gaming.
During the golden age of platform games, every system needed a mascot to march them into people's living rooms. Mario and Sonic are the perennial characters of the platforming genre. They've withstood the test of time and inspired a bevy of games.
We now live in the era first person shooters and third person adventure games; and there is nothing wrong with that, but it's easy to forget that the recipe of these games are based off the simple mechanics of the platformer. Running, jumping, throwing, and shooting, the most basic mechanics blended together to create gaming gold.
This list will feature some of those than many people either never played, or are attached to some of their fondest childhood gaming memories...
9. Dynamite Headdy
System: Sega Genesis
In the 90s, developer Treasure cranked out classics such as Gunstar Heroes, Radiant Silvergun, and Guardian Heroes. Dynamite Headdy was another one of those gems. A vibrant, fast paced platformer that featured great levels and big bosses. It utilized the same 8-directional shooting that Gunstar Heroes, but you threw the title characters head to defeat enemies instead of shooting guns.
As Dynamite Headdy, you had not one but two antagonists you had to battle. The vicious King Dark Demon was the main antagonist who invades the peaceful town of North Town and begins killing off the puppets of the town, or turning them into one of his evil minions. The other was Trouble Bruin who was a bear puppet of North Town that was jealous of Dynamite Headdy. Trouble Bruin would appear at inopportune times to throw a wrench into your progress; hence the name.
Various power ups also added gameplay variety, while the cast of characters could have made it a Saturday morning cartoon. Since its initial release in 1994, the game has been included two different Genesis collections for the PS2, XBox 360, and PS3, as well as being added to the Wii Virtual Console in 2007.