A platformer is a game where the primary action revolves around running and jumping. The quintessential example of a platformer has to be Super Mario Bros, as it was the game that basically codified “platforming” as a video game genre. SMB was such a monumental success that the 2D platformer became the dominant style of video games for years, and still remains relevant today. In fact, the genre became so ubiquitous that many people’s concept of what a video game even is basically looks like a platformer.

Your stereotypical platformer is a 2D side-scrolling game in which the main character navigates horizontal space by running and vertical space with jumping. Prime examples are (of course) the Super Mario Bros. series, Sonic the Hedgehog, Pitfall, Alex Kidd, Bonk, Donkey Kong Country, and Kirby just to name a few. The success of Mario and Sonic in particular caused a wave of “mascot platformers” in the 90’s, giving us a host of cartoony animal protagonists like Aero the Acro-Bat, Sparkster, Ardy Lightfoot, Radical Rex, Rocky Rodent, Punky Skunk, Awesome Possum, Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel, and Busby. (What could possibly go wrong?)

Similarly, a great many of the licensed properties made into games during the 8 & 16-bit era also came in some flavor of platformer. Duck Tales, Batman, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, Spider-Man, Disney's Aladdin, Inspector Gadget, Gargoyles, X-Men, Asterix & Obelix, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Terminator 2: Judgment Day… And let’s stop there for now, because the list of licensed-property platformers is very long.

With a veritable ocean of platforming games having been created since the mid-80’s, several subgenres of platformer have sprung up along the way. Granted, video game genres tend to be pretty fuzzy and subjective most of the time, but we will try to identify the most prominent types of platformer and explain each below. First, here’s the overall list.

Platformer Subgenres

Action Platfomer
- Metroidvania
- Run-and-Gun Platformer
- Beat’Em Up Platformer
Precision Platformer
- Masocore
Puzzle Platformer
- Comical Action Game
3D Platformer
- Isometric Platformer
Cinematic Platformer
Platform Fighter
Auto-Runner

Action Platformer

Examples: Castlevania, Mega Man, Ninja Gaiden, Bionic Commando (which is an interesting example of a platformer where the player cannot jump!)

The first subgenre which springs to mind—and is probably the largest by far—is Action Platformers. An action platformer will have an additional combat element in its core gameplay, such as shooting in Mega Man or slashing your sword in Ninja Gaiden. While running and jumping will be part of navigation in 2D space, the player’s primary interaction with enemies (and possibly the environment) will involve such shooting or some other attack. Thus the “action” comes not from the game’s traversal, but from its combat.

Admittedly this is a fairly broad definition for a genre. It’s so broad that you could argue it covers almost all platformers and renders the label meaningless. However, I do think it’s accurate and helpful to differentiate the overall tone and themes between games. For example, the spirit of Super Mario World is much different from the spirit of Super Castlevania IV. Both are side-scrolling platformers on the SNES, but the former is a joyous romp through colorful lands, while the latter is an action-packed fight to the death with Dracula. (And also Death himself.)

I will concede that Action Platformer covers so much ground that it actually contains multiple subgenres of its own. A “metroidvania”, for example, is a particular type of Action Platformer. Similarly, the Run-and-Gun and Beat’em Up platformers certainly fall under “action” as well.

Metroidvania

Examples: Metroid, Castlevania, Guacamelee, Axiom Verge, Hollow Knight

The going definition of the Metroidvania subgenre seems to be a game focused on guided non-linearity and utility-gated exploration. Essentially that means there’s a largely contiguous world to explore, with new sections of the map gradually made accessible to the player through new abilities the hero learns along the way. It’s the game design popularized by Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, hence the hilarious sounding name.

Looking at the Castlevania series in particular, it’s pretty easy to pick out the Metroidvanias from the regular Action Platformers. If the game has a traditional level structure—you start at Level 1, proceed to Level 2, and so on—then it’s not a metroidvania. On the other hand, if you gain new tools or abilities, and those things enable you to access more of the game world, then it almost certainly is a metroidvania.

Run-and-Gun Platformer

Examples: Contra, Gunstar Heroes, Metal Slug, Sunset Riders, Cuphead

Run-and-Gun Platformers are side-scrolling games with running/jumping protagonists, but built around shooting as the primary player action. Contra is the granddaddy of Run-and-Gun. Typically the shooting is near constant—whether by the heroes or by their enemies—and the player must move to avoid getting hit just as much as they focus on hitting their targets. The sheer amount of projectiles involves distinguishes this subgenre from other action platformers which include shooting, such as Mega Man or Metroid.

Beat’Em Up Platformer

Examples: X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse, Astro Boy: Omega Factor, Gravity Circuit, Comix Zone, Super Crush KO, Viewtiful Joe

Another notable subgenre of Action Platformer, and one that is near and dear to my heart, is the Beat’Em Up Platformer. This type of game is similar to the Run-and-Gun variety, except combat takes the form of melee brawling; fisticuffs instead of firearms. While most beat’em ups do allow the player to jump, and some even feature platforming segments—looking at you, Double Dragon—they usually feature a three-quarters-ish top-down perspective. A true Beat’Em Up Platformer is more of traditional side-scrolling platforming game…one that happens to feature excessive hand-to-hand violence.

Precision Platformer

Examples: Celeste, n++, Super Meat Boy

Precision Platformers are characterized by their extreme level of difficulty paired with frequent checkpoints and instant restarts. These are the purest form of platformer, in my opinion, since the quality of the game really lives or dies on its run-and-jump mechanics. If platforming is your thing—and you want a challenge—then you’ll probably want to check out this subgenre for yourself.

Precision Platformers are so demanding in fact that they are sometimes called “masocore” games; a portmanteau of "masochist" and "hardcore". And while I agree these genres are related, there’s an important distinction to make between the two.

Masocore

Examples: Shobon no Action, I Wanna Be the Guy, 1001 Spikes

Masocore games usually employ intentionally unfair mechanics and are purpose-built to frustrate the player. They are basically a prank delivered in video game form. This would include Kazio hacks of Super Mario World and many of the most popular Mario Maker levels. The first masocore game I ever played was Shobon no Action (aka “Cat Mario”) and its devious gags really did have me rolling.

A good Precision Platformer, in my mind, isn’t intentionally cruel or necessarily aggravating. It may require extremely precise execution—perhaps even to the point of demanding utter perfection—but it shouldn’t feel unfair or broken.

Puzzle Platformer

Examples: Donkey Kong (Game Boy), Spanky's Quest, Penguin Land, The Lost Vikings, Lemmings

A Puzzle Platformer is a platforming game built around puzzle-solving, as opposed to combat/action or freewheeling traversal. Oftentimes these games will be a single-screen affair, although scrolling puzzle platformers are just as feasible.

Donkey Kong ‘94 (the Game Boy Donkey Kong) is—in my opinion—the platonic ideal of the Puzzle Platformer. Mario navigates 2D space with running and jumping, but his objective is almost always to bring a key back to a locked door, so that he might proceed to the next challenge. It’s platforming gameplay, but always a means to solve the puzzle. While there’s no one way to design a puzzle platformer, that specific style is my personal favorite.

An interesting recent example is the hybrid puzzle game Toodee and Topdee. Part 2D platformer, part top-down gameplay—and all puzzle—the switch between the two modes is the key to solving many of its levels. That game is approximately 50% Puzzle Platformer by volume.

Comical Action Game

Examples: Bubble Bobble, Parasol Stars, Chack N' Pop, Tumblepop, Pop'n Magic

Single-screen platformers were so predominant in Japan’s arcades during the 80’s and 90’s the style actually became its own entire genre. Called "Comical Action Game" (CAG) in Japan, the genre officially started with the original Mario Bros., but was really popularized after the success of Taito’s Bubble Bobble. In fact, if you ask me, many of the CAGs released in the 90’s look more-or-less like Bubble Bobble clones.

Comical Action Games are usually single-screen platformers (no scrolling), with gameplay consisting of clearing the screen of enemies, and they often feature two-player cooperative play. Since the objective is usually to eliminate all enemies—and “Action” is right there in the name—the argument could be made that CAGs are a type of Action Platformer, or perhaps an entirely separate category unto themselves. In my opinion though, CAGs are far more puzzle-oriented than they are action-packed. So it makes the most sense that Comical Action Game should be a subgenre of Puzzle Platformer for our list.

3D Platformer

Examples: Super Mario 64, Spyro the Dragon, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Mirror’s Edge, A Short Hike

Since platforming games revolve around running and jumping, it stands to reason that adding a Z-axis (the 3rd dimension) to traversal will radically change the gameplay. Even more so than, say, a Football game or a Racing game, rendering a platformer in 3D turns the game into something entirely different. And thus the 3D Platformer genre is not only a subgenre of Platformer, it’s arguably a completely unique genre altogether.

Ironically while the 2D platformer certainly exploded in popularity in the 90’s, the 3D platformer never really caught on in the same way. Sure, 3D games in general became the norm, but true 3D platformers appeared to peak on the N64 and remain something of a niche today. Perhaps this is due to the fact that they are far more difficult to design, especially the daunting aspect of managing the player’s viewpoint with a 3D camera system.

Once again, Mario is responsible for setting the standard of a platformer genre with Super Mario 64. While there may have been 3D Platformers prior to Mario 64, it was the N64 launch title that really proved the game style could work in 3D, and it codified much of what we expect from the genre. Analogue control, a flawed-but-functional 3D camera, and an emphasis on free exploration over rigid “get to the flagpole” obstacle-course-style level design became instant hallmarks of a 3D Platformer.

Isometric Platformer

Examples: Congo Bongo, Spot Goes To Hollywood, Sonic Blast

If any of our categorizations have been controversial thus far, this one has to be the most outlandish. Coming long before polygonal graphics were viable, Isometric Platformers created three-dimensional visuals by laying out 2D sprites using an isometric (or possibly a pseudo-isometric, 3/4 perspective) view. Since isometric visuals have been around much longer than true polygonal 3D, the Isometric Platformer is usually referred to as its own distinct genre.

In my opinion though, the gameplay of an Isometric Platformer is still 3D, even if the viewing angle is fixed and static. Isometric games may have come first, but the gameplay they created is quite similar to true 3D games in practice. So for our list, the Isometric Platformer is a specific kind of 3D Platformer.

Cinematic Platformer

Examples: (original) Prince of Persia, Another World/Out Of This World, Flashback, Lunark, Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee

A slightly more obscure subgenre, the Cinematic Platformer is actually the reason we created this list in the first place. I was writing a review of the game Lunark and quickly realized that the term “cinematic platformer” needed some considerable explanation. And after giving it a bit of thought, I figured other platformer subgenres might be in a similar boat. So here we are.

Cinematic Platformers are 2D side-scrolling adventures that attempt to present a more “realistic” style of gameplay—with less cartoony movement/characters and more grounded physical constraints. For example, your protagonist won’t be able to leap 10 ten feet into the air, or adjust their jump velocity while airborne. Most of the time they’ll only be able to jump a realistic distance—like just a couple vertical feet to grab a ledge overhead, or just about a meter horizontally to hop over a gap. Usually the hero is also more realistically vulnerable to harm, meaning that a fall from any decent height will be fatal.

To produce a sense of realism, Cinematic Platformers tend to have extremely fluid character animations using a high number of frames. In fact, the telltale visual element of this genre is the use of rotoscoping—creating animated sequences by tracing over film footage frame by frame. Jordan Mechner pioneered the use of rotoscoping in video game animation with his game Karateka in 1984. And then it was his 1989 game Prince of Persia which essentially created the Cinematic Platformer as a genre. Delphine Software provided two other seminal cinematic platformers in Another World (called “Out Of This World” in the US) and Flashback.

Generally cinematic platformers put much more of an emphasis on atmosphere and presentation than on springy physics or twitch action. In order to feel more “cinematic”, they will often use cutscenes to highlight important moments. (For example, this could be a close-up view of the hero picking up an important item, a bespoke animation that is likely also rotoscoped to create an especially lifelike appearance.)

In fact, I’m not sure if tight controls are necessarily required for cinematic platformers. Clunky, unresponsive controls are usually the tradeoff for having silky smooth, rotoscoped character animations. Also, this style of game usually feels more puzzle-like than most other platformers.

Platform Fighter

Examples: Super Smash Bros, The Outfoxies, Brawlhalla, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, TMNT: Smash-Up

Here’s a genre I never see mentioned in relation to platformers, which is strange. A Platform Fighter combines the jumping traversal and multilevel verticality of side-scrolling platformers with the combat mechanics of arena fighting game. The result is basically Smash Bros., a game franchise we all know and love. Interestingly however, the original platform fighting game was actually The Outfoxies from Namco, released for Japanese arcades in 1995. Obviously the concept didn’t really catch on until Nintendo threw Mario into the mix, at which point a new game genre was born.

The fact that the Platformer Fighter gets about half of its design DNA from platforming games is a large part of what makes them super fun, and also much of the reason why I see them as something distinct from traditional 1-on-1 fighting games. The chaos of multiple combatants jumping all around a stage, throwing items at each other, with explosions going off everywhere—and everyone doing their best not be taken out by the stage itself sometimes—that’s the insanity that makes fighting on platforms fun.

Personally I’m never going to play Smash Bros. the way I play Street Fighter, the gameplay is way too different for that. Playing Smash 1-on-1, with 3-stock, no items, and on a flat/nothing stage is just completely unappealing to me. No items, Fox only, Final Destination? No thanks.

Auto-Runner

Examples: Robot Unicorn Attack, Canabalt, Temple Run, Super Mario Run

While we might not value this subgenre quite as highly as the others, it’s worth noting that Auto-Runner games are usually platformers as well. The thing that separates an Auto-Runner is that the player only has control over when their hero jumps, as the protagonist barrels down a set path automatically.

There can be some variation beyond merely timing jumps; some runners may have multiple paths which the player can switch between. However Auto-Runners generally tend to be largely single-input games. As a result, the overall design is quite appealing for touchscreen/mobile games.

To wrap up…

And that’s it, that’s our list of Platformer subgenres. Fun times!

In closing, I’d like to again acknowledge that the fuzzy nature genre generally—and video game genre, in particular—means that most all of this classification is subjective. Of course, objectivity in criticism is basically an illusion anyway, so I consider this an extension of that. But one aspect that can really make things tricky is genre combinations, mashups. Heck, the mixing & matching of genres will sometimes creates a new genre as a result.

Especially with platforming games, there are a lot of combination genres. This is self-evident with a few of the subgenres noted above. The Puzzle Platformer is the combination of a Puzzle game and Platformer. The Platform Fighter is the combination of a Platformer and a Fighting game. The Run-and-Gun Platformer is basically the combination of platforming with a Shoot’em Up. And we didn’t even include the Rogue-like (or Rogue-lite) Platformer (Spelunky, Dead Cells), which uses rogue-like elements in a platforming game.

Where these subgenres really get convoluted is the 3D execution of other subgenres. The 3D Action Platformer is quite common, with examples like God of War, Maximo:Ghosts to Glory, Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper, Neon White, and many others. There’s the 3D Puzzle Platformer as well, the most notable example of which is Portal, also Tinykin, It Takes Two, and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. The 3D Cinematic Platformer started with the original Tomb Raider and continues to this day with the Uncharted series.

Hopefully some readers out there will find this list useful. If not useful, perhaps it will be pleasantly thought-provoking. Since genre is ”a category of artistic composition…characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter”, it makes sense that video game genres are so hard to pin down. The form in video games alone is far more varied, complex, and difficult to categorize than it is in mediums like film or literature. No wonder no one can agree on this stuff.