Power Up!: Top 5 platofrmers

Alongside shooters, platformers have had a bit of a small resurgance of late, mainly from independant developers. From Super Mario Bros., right down to Braid, there's a platformer to suit everyone. Here's mine, and it's only a top 5.

5: Braid - Xbox Live

Hand painted lushness

A platformer with a difference, Braid sees you saving a princess, while finding puzzle pieces, and rewinding time if things go tits up. It's great take on the old genre which makes it fresh, and it looks great, with it's painted backgrounds and jaunty music. A must.

4: James Bond: The Duel - MD/GG/SMS

SMS/GG

Megadrive

The namsh Bond. Jamsh Bond. Lishensh to kill. Ok, enough of the crap Sean Connery impressions, but this corker from Domark sees our tuxedo'ed hero save women, kill bad guys, and defuse bombs. Typical day for our super spy, then.


3: Flashback: The Quest for Identity - Various formats

Mega Drive/Mega CD

SNES

CBM Amiga

Conrad has been captured by some unsavory types, who have wiped his memory. So, carrying a holo-cube (which contains himself talking about what has happened to...himself), he escapes only be shot down in a jungle, and has to find out who the hell he is, and save the universe. Blimey! A top game, with top graphics and top music. Top all round I say.

Arcade

2: Wonderboy - Various formats

ZX Spectrum

C64

CPC464

There's a certain charm to this game. It's hard, but it has that one more go factor, and is a jolly little game. Even the sequel Monster Land is quite good, but the first one is the best by far. Even now, it still looks a cracker, even on the old 128K.








1: Aladdin - Various formats

SNES

Mega Drive/Amiga

Ok, I'm cheating with this one, as the SNES version was by Capcom, with the MD and Amiga one by Virgin. Both versions are good, but the MD version has the edge by being more fairer, and has a more gradial learning curve, unlike the SNES version, which is bloody tough. But, each version has great graphics, so they both get points for that.