Whats your favorite old school NES platformers and why? What was some of your most memorable platformer moments?

[Empathy KING]

For me thats a crazy and super hard question because I am a 37 year old gamer who was raised on NES games, but I'll give it a try.

My most all time 2 favorites are Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden 2! Why? Well the controlls are super tight and responsive. There are a very nice variety of enimies that gradually get harder depending on the level. Level design is awesome and both games are pretty difficult to beat... Each of them offering extremely cool level bosses and over the top end-game bosses. What I like most about these two games are the graphics and the music! Back in the day Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden 2 offered you colorful primo graphics and paired them with equally as cool musical scores that differed on level and boss fights. Out of all of these things, what I liked and loved the most is that the two games entertained you with stunning "anime" like, comic book style, action packed and drama filled cut-scenes in a way that was unlike any other game at the time. For me it was the closest thing to having a real arcade machine in my house! I never will forget the first time that I played the train level on Ninja Gaiden 2! Fighting on top of a fast rolling train in the rain with the backgraound moving and the heart pumpimg sound track playing was a crazy experience for me the first time I played it . I can remember inviting my friends over just to show it to them and watching their jaws drop when the level started!

Another series that I LOVE is the Contra series (Contra and Super C)! The graphics were awesome, the music and level design were also kick a$$ and playing with a friend (while they're sitting next to you on the couch) was always a blast. Stealing one of your friends 30 lives that you got from the Konami code was also just as fun! I also liked the nice arrangement of weapons you could use... The "spread shot" was my favorite!

Here are some more games that I enjoyed. All of them incorporate the good graphics, level design and music combo that for me make a good platformer (some of them even have a decent story... Imagine that): Mega Man 2, Kid Icarus, Metroid, Castlevania & Castlevania 2: Simons Quest, Super Mario Bros. 2, Bionic Commando, Skate or Die 2, Double Dragon & Double Dragon 2, Battle Toads, T.M.N.T. (the frightfully punishing one with the "top-down" level) and Rygar!

Notice that I didn't mention Super Mario Bros. or Super Mario Bros. 3. Why? Because I hated them thats why. For me Super Mario Bros. was one of the most boring platformers ever made... Its just freakin boring. In my selection of games that I had as a kid, I could play any of those orher cool games that I mentioned, so why would I wanna play Super Mario Bros. The graphics were ok I guess, but nothing compaired to the other games I mentioned. The music was horrible, repititive and just plain 'ole boring and the game mechanics were to lame for me... jump, walk, run and occasionally shoot fireballs. Super Mario Bros. 3 did step it up a notch, but y the time that game came out there were so many other cooler games out there that I just couldn't get into it. I did like Super Mario 2 (which is the one that everbody hates) I guess I am different. The story of Mario being in a dream that he couldn't wake from unless he defeated Wart really appealed to me. Plus you had the option to play as three other characters all of whom had different abilities (except Mario... He was average). The game mechanics were different than other Super Mario games as well... You could throe potions that opened doors to phantom zones, the were a huge variety of monsters, different level bosses with different personalities and the level design was in my opinion supurb and different. There was also the "slot" machine that you could play after you conquered a level depending on how many coins you aquired. In my honest opinion Super Mario 2 is a rare gem of a platformer that people don't give a lot of credit to!

There... Thats my LONG list and I'm sorry if I bored you. I jsut got to thinking about how I loved platformers back in the dy and how much video games have changed over the years. Maybe this question will spark some nostalgiac memories of your own!

[Jonathan Sensei]

I've always enjoyed the Mega-man nes games. As for my most memorable platformer moments? I can't remember them -- I have a really bad memory.

[ʙᴜɴ.ᴇ]

super mario bros 3.

[😼Studio Cat😼]

Wrecking Crew or Kid Niki the Radical Ninja. One is just a really great puzzle platformer, the other is just digital insanity.

[Chetty Spaghetti]

Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros 3, Ghosts and Goblins, Bionic Commando, Batman, Mega Man 2, Startropics, Journey to Silius, Bucky O'Hare, Mr. Gimmick, Little Samson, Shatterhand, Kirby's Adventure, and Gargoyle's Quest 2 are my favorites.