/vr/ - Retro Games

>>9550794
Start with Mario, Sonic, Kirby, Donkey Kong Country, Mega Man (X or Classic is fine, but the latter tends to be harder). For Genesis there's Ristar, Dynamite Headdy, Gunstar Heroes, Vectorman, Rocket Knight series, Monster World IV, Popful Mail (technically an RPG but uses platformer controls), and The Terminator (SEGA CD version of course). Finally on TurboGrafx you've got the Bonk games and the Valis series. Some people like Castlevania but I find the early games to be kind of brutal, barring Super Castlevania IV.

For 3D platformers it's down to Mario, Banjo, Sonic, and Crash for the most part. People seem to like Jak, Sly, and Ratchet (more of a TPS/platformer hybrid) but I personally never really played those. Honestly there's so many good platformers on Super Nintendo alone you probably won't get bored with it for ages.

>>9550821
First Ratchet is somewhat of a platformer, but 2 and 3 are much more shooter.

>>9550794
Sonic is probably the best answer. It's easy to get to the end of the levels and beat the game (because it is difficult to die) but as you get better at controlling the character you'll be able to go faster by accessing parts of the levels you wouldn't be able to reach before.

You could also try Super Mario World or Yoshi's Island (both quite easy) and for 3D platformers you could try Banjo-Kazooie, Mario 64, or Spyro.

>>9550794
>Some people like Castlevania but I find the early games to be kind of brutal
>but do play The Terminator SEGA CD

>>9550794
Easy... mmm
For the master system I suggest
Alex Kidd in Shinobi World and Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse

Thinking about OP's question a little more, if you are a total beginner at platformers OP, I recommend:

Super Mario World -> Super Mario Land 2 -> Donkey Kong '94 -> Donkey Kong Country trilogy, then move onto Sonic, Mega Man, etc. SMW and SML2 will give you the basic platform controls for the Mario and DK platformers without the added difficulty of the NES games.

>>9550846
Terminator on lowest difficulty is way easier than Castlevania Bloodlines on easy mode. But I guess neither of them would be great for a beginner anyway

>>9550864
good suggestion I also thought of telling him to start with SMW, but he should definitely play SMB3 and SMB1 at some point. probably before or after the DKC games

cut your teeth on the original super mario bros without save or warp scumming, rite of passage.

>>9550875
does the select A title screen trick count

>>9550794
Here's some easier platformers:
Super mario bros 3
Sonic the hedgehog 2
Bonk's Adventure
Klonoa

Medium difficulty:
Mega Man X4
Wonder boy and the dragons trap
Super Castlevania IV
Bonk's Revenge

Hard difficulty:
Ninja Gaiden
Umihara Kawase
Journey to Silius
Shinobi 3

I think this covers a good range without slogging through 4 mario games in a row or 3 donkey kongs which ultimately play very similarly.

OP inspired me to do the same.

I'm playing Super Mario Bros from Super Mario All Stars. I'm my opinion it's a great start to platformers. It's easy, has continues and great art. I want to know if Super Mario Bros 2 and 3 from Super Mario All Stars have any difference to the originals NES games or just Super Mario Bros have been remastered.

Kid Chameleon would be in the upper medium/lower hard category.
The biggest hurdle is that it's long and you can't save. But nowadays you can save state to simulate leaving the console on overnight.

>>9550927
sonic 2 has limited continues, every noob is going to get knocked back to the title screen and restart on that last eggman boss at least once, I think that bumps it up to medium by default.

A few people recommend playing Sonic at some point, and I'd agree. Sonic 3 is especially short and gives you an "easy mode" by letting you fly as Tails. (Not technically retro, but Sonic Mania also does something similar, and can be a bit more forgiving in places.)
But something to keep in mind: Sonic has a few arcade sensibilities. Sonic 1/2 have no saving, sometimes you need quick reactions to enemy placement, getting all the emeralds is hard and there are multiple routes so it encourages replays. Most big-name platformers in the years following will lean a litle closer to Mario in their structure. So if you try Sonic and find some bits aren't to your liking, don't let it put you off platformers.

The Kirby games are also tailor-made for beginners, while still usually having an enjoyable difficulty curve. Kirby's Dream Land on GB is very easy; and Kirby Super Star has an even easier, shortened remake of it with better graphics as a "first world". Adventure is also

>>9551193
https://www.mariowiki.com/Super_Mario_All-Stars has a list of all of them.

In all of them, the biggest changes are graphics/music, and the ability to save after each world.
Super Mario Bros. 3 gives you a few extra lives to start off, some very minor layout changes, and it lets you run and throw fireballs at the same time.
The Lost Levels has some more extensive changes to make it easier (saves after every level, extra lives on World 9, making access to worlds A-D easier), but it's still the hardest and cheapest game in the collection (and I think the Mario series as a whole).

>>9550927
>Easy Platformers
>Lists a Sonic game

>Medium Difficulty
>MMX4 aka the game with almost zero platforming stages

Hmmm...

Why in the fuck is everyone recommending oldschool Mario games to OP? The Famicom/NES ones are brutal and that's coming from someone who beat all of the Mega Mans, Castlevanias, Ninja Gaidens, etc. You do NOT want to play pre-SMW Mario to get into platformers.
Some recommendations in this thread in general are weird. Like that anon >>9550821 says that early Castlevania games are brutal and then proceeds to recommend the Sega CD Terminator and Crash

>>9551691
smb3 isn't a cakewalk but it's not brutal, a new player wouldn't get turned off by difficulty until deep into the game.

>>9551716
Haven't played the International version in a while but the Japanese one is really hard, especially during the last couple of worlds. The only difference is the hit system but it's a damn big difference, you basically have one less hitpoint
SMB1 has no continues (yes, yes I know, don't mention it, it doesn't count, that shit is cheating) and you have to learn how the game works and get good to beat it without warps, it takes hours of practice if you've never played it before
Then we have SMB2J which is by far the toughest NES platformer out of all non-shovelware titles and I'll die on that hill
SM USA/International SMB2 is the only 'easy' Mario game on the system and even then, it has limited continues and you'll definitely get booted back to the title screen a couple times if you are new to platformers

Kirby games were literally built from the ground up to be easy Platformers for newcomers to get into the genre. If you've never played any games in this style before then this series is the best place to start. Don't listen to anyone suggesting NES games (aside from Kirby) those titles are simpler than later entries but the difficulty is brutal in comparison. Save NES titles for when you feel comfortable enough with the basics that you can handle a challenge.

The games many of you are recommending are excellent, but OP specifically asked for easy games to start with and if they take your suggestions they may get turned off to the genre.

>>9550794
Donkey Kong on whatever system. Game Boy Donkey Kong is a remake and is great.
Mario Bros. with a friend. GBA version is one of the best releases to start with.
Super Mario Bros. 'till completing easy mode.
Super Mario World.
Super Mario 64.

Sonic 1 Master System.
Sonic 2 Genesis.

Metroid.
Metroid II.
Super Metroid.

Don't play kiddy stuff like Kirby. If you need easier than what I've recommended, start with NSMB on the DS, or any New Super Mario on any system.

Also, Hollow Knight is the current best modern platformer, and Super Metroid is the best all-time, but those are harder because they are nonlinear. Start with the linear action challenges like Mario before doing maze platformers (commonly called Metroid 'vanias in honor of also the Castlevania series, which you should also play the first of on the NES).

Finally, and generally: play and make romhacks.

>>9551827
this man has never played a kirby game in his life and especially not adventure

>>9551827
Metroid and Hollow Knight are action-adventure games

>>9550794
8bit nes Battletoads, Mario 3, Mickey Mouse castle of illusion
16bit Sonic 2, dkc and Earthworm Jim on a Sega console

Don't bother with 32 bit platformers.

>>9551827
>and Super Metroid is best of all time
Earthworm Jim is the superior sci fi platformer. Better animations, better level variety, no getting stuck, no xray scanning every single room, no complicated controls most will never even figure out.

>>9551830
Lucky man.

>>9550794
Some of the advice in this thread is sound, as a platform beginner myself who still really sucks at platformers, I think the all-star snes version of smb 1-3 is better, you don't have to relearn different controls when playing the snes Mario titles and there are saves. I am STILL stuck on smb2 nes after playing it casually for a year and I save state every world. I save stated at the beginning of each level on smb1, the all star version is smb 1 every world, and smb2 every level, which makes more sense given the difficulty, and I think that's probably a better way to learn to platform anyways. I recommend Kirby's adventure too, it gets harder at the end and has fun things to find/figure out and I felt better at Mario after playing it, though I'm a brainlet. I am still not not able to beat Kirby's adventure on hard, it's certainly doable even for an idiot like me on the regular setting.

>>9550821
>Sonic, Kirby
I don't think these really *count* as platformers.
Just because the games levels are composed of various platforms, they lack the actually difficulty of getting onto those platforms. Like Kirby is a walker more than a platformer. All you do is walk left to right, the jumps and landing are never part of the challenge. Sonic might be a little bit more of a platformer, but in the sense of actually having to calculate and time jumps to avoid enemies or traps, they're not in the same league as other platformers. Mega Man is more of an action type game that again, just happens to have platformers, but it does have elements of gameplay that rely on the platforms themselves making the jumps risky or whatever.
How did you list all those games but didn't mention Adventure Island?

>>9553550
>Sonic might be a little bit more of a platformer, but in the sense of actually having to calculate and time jumps to avoid enemies or traps, they're not in the same league as other platformers.

Two things about this:
1. The primary complaint people have with Sonic games is that there are TOO MANY obstacles. Jumping is the only tool that Sonic has to avoid these.
2. Sonic levels have tiered level designs centered around verticality based branching. What this means is that jumps are actually so important to the experience that if you fuck them up you go to a totally different, slower part of the level.

Now let's look at a random section of adventure island: https://youtu.be/v_C-Yql7bHg?t=1216
Totally flat terrain. No branching or variance of the gameplay based on platforming skill. Corridor style level design. Sonic is more of a platformer than Adventure Island and I'd love to have you tell me otherwise. Goddamn you're a retard.

>>9553604
>Sonic is more of a platformer than Adventure Island and I'd love to have you tell me otherwise
Ok.
Sonic is less of a platformer than Adventure Island.

>>9551656
Sonic 2 is literally easier than mario 3.

>>9553550
So you're thinking more of earlier type platformers like Mitsume Ga Tooru or Panic Restaurant? I hadn't considered that honestly. I spend most of my time with 16-bit platformers so I don't really play the 8-bit ones that much anymore. I guess it's worth mentioning if you're going that route though that 8-bit Sonic (especially Sonic 1 GG/SMS) does have a little more platforming in it than the Genesis games.

>>9551963
ignorance is bliss

>>9551827
>Don't play Kirby

rayman, rayman 2, tempo, astal, clockwork knight, every sonic, vectorman and batman and robin

>>9553617
Low quality bait.

>>9554295
Mario 3 can get tough around world 5 or 6. The only hard part in Sonic 2 is the final boss, and the special stages if you count those.

>>9554295
Sonic damages you a lot more than other platformers, but it doesn't kill you, and most people judge difficulty based on how often you die rather than how often you're in hitstun. Sonic games are considered quite easy.

>>9554401
To beat Sonic you need all Chaos Emeralds which requires beating the special stages you can only enter if you collect enough rings without getting hit.

>>9550927
Is this the only poster that read the OP?

>>9554428
>To beat Sonic you need all Chaos Emeralds
The chaos emeralds aren't required to beat any of the Sonic games. Have you played them?

>>9554438
Sorry mean blast processors. Was high on mommys bath salts when I posted.

>>9555475
Why are american characters so fucking ugly? And their 3D "platformers" so watered down?

>>9550794
Try the Starfy games on GBA

>>9554295
What? Literally no Sonic game is harder than SMB3, what are you talking about? Even if we count getting all the chaos emeralds, the hardest Sonic game is SMW-tier and even then, the Special World in World is more challenging than anything in any Sonic platformer

>>9556146
Spyro is cute. If I didn't know anything about Spyro I'd think it's a Nintendo game or Sonic Team game. He is adorable

>>9550821
For 3D I would say Spyro better than Crash since it's way easier so I would say play Spyro first and then Crash for a challdnge.

>>9556309
I refuse to acknowledge games like Spyro as 3D platformers. It's clearly an action adventure game like Banjo Kazooie and the more recent Mario Odyssey. So if you want real platforming then you should play Crash definitely. It's fairly challenging but not balls to the wall hard like gen 3 and gen 4 platformers. Kind of a good middle ground

>>9556304
Eyes not flashy and colorful enough to be japanese. But I guess he's not too bad, I'd sooner think he was made in Europe instead of America. Like something Rare would come up with.

>>9556657
Rare games look more American than actual American games

>>9556761
Too many penises to be American.

>>9556304
>logo clearly says Ripto
What.

>>9556657
>>9556761
I've always loved Rare's aesthetics, particularly for the DKC games, but it's common to see them spat on and compared to crap like mascots on cheap candy wrappers. Is this a particular sort of British design style I'm not really aware of in America?

>>9556761
The English have always been ahead of the curve when it comes to being emasculated incels. It should be no wonder their games reflect the cesspool you associate with being American today.

>>9557353
It says Ripto. Look closely you fucking tendie.

>>9557353
I'm pretty sure that logo is why they named him that.
>Source: idk man, somewhere on the internet a decade ago

>>9550794
>What games should I play?
Pixel ripped 1995:on the road
>>9550927
>Journey to Silius
The most difficult i've ever played, the levels are way too long, and completing it can be difficult and challenging.

>>9557367
Cranky, Donkey and Diddy designs are timeless. I mean, Nintendo still to this day uses Rare Kong and Odyssey even had an unlockable Diddy costume. Other Rare characters are pretty shit though. I want to fucking strangle all of them. Even the Battletoads, I hate them. Or pic related, look at him

>>9558042
trust me bro

>>9550794
You gotta play Adventure Island 3 and Little Nemo (both NES)

I'd say Sonic 2, Super Mario World and Kirby Superstar are all pretty easy/accessible and very popular games to start on

>>9550794
Trip World

>The German magazine ASM rated the game an overall score of 9 out of 12. The reviewer stated that Trip World is "in any case a treat for action fans".

>Video Games, another German magazine, rated the game a score of 68%. The magazine referred to Trip World as a "better" platform game and lauded its graphics and music. The review's author commented that Trip World is "ideally suited" for inexperienced players due to its low level of difficulty. Video Games also praised the "clear game structure", but criticized the "missing lasting appeal" for experienced players.

>Hardcore Gaming 101 praised the game's visuals stating it has one of the best visuals on the Game Boy. However, also criticized the game for being too easy.

>>9551691
>The Famicom/NES ones are brutal
SMB3 is piss easy.

>>9562095
It'a harder than most Mega Mans and probably Castlevania 1 too

>>9562106
There's no way you actually believe that.

>>9562095
Dark Land is fucking hard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk5LjS6pThE

>>9562118
I genuinely believe that. There's no room for mistake in this fucking game during worlds 7 and 8

>>9550864
>Donkey Kong Country trilogy
>then move onto Sonic
>mfw

>>9550794
2D:
>Kirby (GB, NES, SNES, Wii, 3DS)
>LittleBigPlanet trilogy (PS3)
>Sonic trilogy (Genesis)
>Yoshi's Island (SNES)
>New Super Mario Bros. Wii
>New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
>Rayman Legends (multiplatform)
>Super Mario World (SNES)
>SMB trilogy (NES)
>Metroid (NES, SNES, GBA, Switch)
>DKC trilogy (SNES)
>Spelunky 1/2 (multiplatform)
>Celeste (multiplatform)
>Super Meat Boy (multiplatform)
>Slain: Back from Hell (multiplatform)
>Shovel Knight series (multiplatform)
>Castlevania 1-4 (NES/SNES)
>Mega Man 1-6 (NES)
>Ninja Gaiden (NES)

3D:
>Super Mario Galaxy 1/2 (Wii)
>Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)
>Banjo-Kazooie & Banjo-Tooie (N64)
>Super Monkey Ball 1/2 (GCN)
>Spyro trilogy (PS1)
>Crash trilogy (PS1)
>Super Mario 64
>Super Mario Sunshine (GCN)