Platformers: jumping and running
Platform games, also known as platformers, are a genre of video games characterized by gameplay focused on navigating a protagonist through a series of platforms and obstacles within a 2D or 3D environment. The main objective in platform games is to progress through levels, often reaching the end or completing specific objectives.
In platform games, players typically control a character who possesses the ability to jump or perform other acrobatic moves. These movements allow the character to traverse platforms, avoid obstacles, and defeat enemies or overcome challenges.
The genre originated in the early days of video gaming, with iconic titles like "Super Mario Bros" and "Donkey Kong" shaping the foundation of platformers. The success of these games led to the growth and diversification of the genre, resulting in a wide range of platform games with unique gameplay mechanics, art styles, and level designs.
Most popular platform games
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Abuse
DOSLinuxMac OS1995freeware Crack dot Com
The year is 1995, and Abuse brings us one of the slickest, darkest run-and-gun shooters ever to crawl out of a DOS/Linux/Mac basement. You play a guy in prison for a crime he didn’t commit (sure, pal), armed to the teeth and mowing down mutants like it’s casual Friday. It’s gritty, fast, and has mouse aiming — in 1995! That ...
Airball
DOS1987 MicroDeal
In Airball (1987), you don’t play a knight, a space marine, or a plumber - you play a literal ball of air. Trapped in an isometric nightmare of spikes, fans, and poison gas, your squishy self must navigate hazards that clearly hate balloons. The controls are floaty (pun intended), the graphics are colorful, and the entire experience is wonder...
Aldo Again
DOS1989remake
Aldo Again (1989) is the platformer that dares to say, “Hey, what if Donkey Kong but with 100% more confusion?” You play as Aldo, a mustachioed man of mystery (and questionable balance) who’s trying to climb platforms, dodge hazards, and maybe figure out why he’s doing any of this. The graphics are primitive, the physics are...
Aldo's Adventure
DOS1987remake
Aldo’s Adventure is what you get when someone squints at Donkey Kong and decides to remake it after four cups of coffee and a long nap. You play Aldo, a brave little guy whose hobbies include climbing platforms, dodging hazards, and falling in love with repetitive music. The levels are simple, the enemies look like they're made of leftover pi...
Aldo's Assault
DOS1991
Think of Aldo's Assault as what happens when Mario forgets his plumber license and joins a bootleg army. This 1991 DOS gem throws you into a side-scrolling frenzy of ladders, barrels, and the kind of platforming logic that predates physics. Aldo, a man of questionable fashion sense and unclear motives, must survive wave after wave of hazards that s...
Alley Cat
DOS1984 Synapse Software
You are a cat. Not a cool panther or a mystical tiger. Just a good old alley cat trying to make it through a day full of brooms, angry dogs, and questionable fish. Alley Cat is a fever dream of a platformer, where you leap between windows, break into people’s homes, and participate in strange mini-games like mouse catching and goldfish steali...
Alpha Waves
DOS1990 Infogrames
Alpha Waves is what happens when someone programs a 3D platformer using only triangles and pure imagination. You bounce. That’s it. You bounce through abstract levels that look like a geometry teacher’s daydream, all while calming music lulls you into a weird sense of floating peace. It is part game, part meditation session, and entirel...
Another World
DOS1991protected Delphine software
Another World (1991) is a cinematic platformer with big ideas, minimal UI, and a shocking willingness to let you die within five seconds of starting. You play as a scientist who gets teleported to an alien planet where everything wants to kill you — from tentacle monsters to prison guards to your own poor timing. It’s beautiful in a sta...
Antarctic Adventure
DOS1986 Konami
Antarctic Adventure (1986) stars a penguin who seems to be training for the Winter Olympics — at full sprint. This early Konami game has you racing across icy terrain, dodging seals, and leaping over yawning crevasses while a relentlessly upbeat tune loops in the background. There’s no real story, no final boss, just pure penguin hustle...
Arctic Adventure
DOS1991 Apogee Software
Arctic Adventure is the sequel nobody asked for to Pharaoh's Tomb, except this time you’re freezing your butt off. As Nevada Smith (not a typo, it’s his real name), you platform-hop through icy ruins in search of... something valuable. Probably gold. Or penguins. It’s classic Apogee: blocky graphics, deadly spikes, and more trial-...
Ardentryst
Windows 10/11Linux2009
Ardentryst is the indie platformer that tried really hard to be a Metroidvania and kinda pulled it off. With anime-style art, RPG elements, and two playable characters, it’s got ambition pouring out of its pixelated pores. The combat is floaty, the story is melodramatic, and the enemies look like they wandered in from an entirely different ga...
Artura
DOS1989 Arcadia Systems
Artura is a hack-and-slash side-scroller that looks like someone tried to draw Gauntlet from memory after a power outage. You’re some kind of Celtic warrior on a mystical mission, but really you’re just trying not to die while jumping over spikes and stabbing things that look vaguely hostile. The music is decent, the graphics are a feve...
Asterix and Obelix
DOS1996 Infogrames
When in Gaul, punch like the Gauls do. In Asterix and Obelix (1996), you control the iconic French duo on a globetrotting beat-‘em-up adventure that mostly involves sending Romans flying like ragdolls. It’s all charmingly cartoonish, with faithful visuals straight out of the comics and gameplay that’s one part arcade brawler, one ...
Auf Wiedersehen Monty
Windows XP/98/952001remake
In Auf Wiedersehen Monty, our favorite marsupial is back, and this time he's taking a very pixelated Eurotrip. Released for Windows XP in 2001, it's a nostalgia-fueled platformer that insists you master gravity-defying jumps and memorize half the map. Monty may not speak a word, but his backpack is full of traveler's checks and questionable decisio...
Baby Joe in: Going Home
DOS1991 Loriciels
In 1991, DOS gamers were treated to the weirdest parenting simulator ever: Baby Joe in: Going Home. You play as Baby Joe, an infant inexplicably left to crawl through caves, forests, and other extremely child-unfriendly terrain. Why is a baby traversing spike pits and lava flows? No one knows. Maybe his babysitter was the final boss. With floaty co...
Bagman
Windows 10/112013freewareremake
No, it’s not about a guy who holds your groceries. Bagman is a retro-style indie throwback where you’re a pickaxe-wielding convict trying to steal bags of cash from a mine while dodging guards and gravity. Released decades after the original arcade version, this 2013 remake proves two things: pixelated heists never go out of style, and ...
Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior
DOS1989 Psygnosis
Ah, Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior—the game where loincloths are tiny and sword swings are deadly. This 1989 fighter slashed its way onto DOS with decapitations, grunts, and enough low-res gore to make Conan blush. Forget finesse: this is about button mashing your way to glory while your opponent’s head rolls off like it’s auditi...
Barbie
DOS1992 Imagineering Inc.
Released in 1992, Barbie for DOS is what happens when someone asks, “What if pink could be a video game?” You play as Barbie on a quest to collect accessories and win Ken's affection, which probably says more about early '90s gender norms than we’d like to admit. Still, the music is bubbly, the visuals are sparkly, and the fashion...
Beethoven 2
DOS1993 Rozner Labs Software Group
Yes, it’s that Beethoven—the slobbery St. Bernard, not the piano guy. In Beethoven 2, you control a surprisingly agile dog on a quest to rescue your kidnapped puppies. Along the way, you’ll bark at birds, jump on trash cans, and drool on everything in sight. It’s as ridiculous as it sounds, with controls that feel like you'r...
Below The Root
DOS1984 Dale Disharoon, Inc.
Based on a book series almost nobody remembers, Below The Root drops you into a serene world of treehouses, talking children, and deeply philosophical moral choices. Combat does not exist. Instead, you explore, read minds, and try to resolve conflicts by being kind and empathetic. It is like if Mr. Rogers made a fantasy adventure. The game has more...
Beverly Hills Cop
DOS1990 Tynesoft Computer Software
Take Eddie Murphy’s swagger, remove the charm, add some DOS chiptunes, and you get Beverly Hills Cop—a game adaptation that asks: “What if being a wisecracking detective meant stiff animations and random driving segments?” It’s a mash-up of shooting, driving, and wondering what just happened, loosely held together by t...
Bio Menace Episode 1: Dr. Mangle's Lab
DOS1993freeware Apogee Software
Mutants! Explosions! Green slime! Bio Menace kicks off with Dr. Mangle’s Lab, a side-scrolling blast of carnage where you, Snake Logan (yes, really), shoot your way through a monster-infested city with a machine gun and a bad attitude. Think Duke Nukem’s cousin after a rough day. Cheap thrills, big pixels, and even bigger mullets.
Bio Menace Episode 2: The Hidden Lab
DOS1993freeware Apogee Software
Snake Logan is back, and this time the lab is... hidden! The Hidden Lab cranks up the challenge with more grotesque mutants, more lethal traps, and slightly improved sarcasm. It’s like episode one, but with less common sense and more toxic goo. Still powered by the Commander Keen engine, because who needs originality when you have grenades?
Bio Menace Episode 3: Master Cain
DOS1993freeware Apogee Software
The trilogy concludes in Master Cain, where Snake Logan faces the ultimate evil: a villain with a name that sounds like a Bond bad guy and a plan straight from Saturday morning cartoons. Expect one last hurrah of mutant-blasting mayhem, complete with bad platforming, louder explosions, and enough neon to cause eye strain. Long live DOS carnage!
Bionic Commando
DOS1988 Capcom
In Bionic Commando, you're a soldier with no jumping ability—because who needs knees when you have a grappling arm? Swing through 1988 DOS architecture like a pixelated Tarzan, blasting bad guys and trying not to fall to your death every five seconds. It's like Contra met Spider-Man, had a disagreement about controls, and made up over explosi...
Blackthorne
DOS1994 Blizzard Entertainment
Blackthorne (1994) is what happens when a '90s action hero gets lost in a side-scrolling alien world and decides to shoot everything until it makes sense. You’re Kyle, a shotgun-wielding rebel with a mullet that could cut glass. This game oozes style—literally, some of the monsters do. The combat is slick, the animations smooth, and the...
Bomb Jack remake
DOS2002remake
The classic bomb-defusing, platform-hopping, enemy-dodging chaos of Bomb Jack gets a fresh coat of pixels in this 2002 DOS remake. You’re still the tiny superhero hopping around grabbing bombs while evil smiley faces and floating pyramids try to end your run—because of course they do. The updated version keeps the original’s frant...
Bubble Dizzy
DOS1993 Codemasters
Bubble Pop
DOS1997 Software of Sweden
Bubble Pop by Software of Sweden is a platform game that follows the classic bubble-popping mechanics similar to other popular games in the genre (Bubble Bobble...). Bubble Pop was published in 1997 by Webfoot Technologies for DOS only.
Bumpy's Arcade Fantasy
DOS1992 Loriciels