The Top 8 B-Tier Platformer Franchises

Welcome all to another edition of The 8 Ball! This week I’m here to talk about platformer franchises, specifically B-Tier ones. These are franchises that are usually “solid” but not revolutionary, or held in the highest regard. They might have problems but they are still worth checking out, at least usually, or are interesting, at least. Stuff like Mario, Castlevania or Ratchet & Clank wouldn’t qualify here as there is a level of quality with most of those franchises. These franchises are just below that. And to be here, there has to be at least two games in the series. Let’s begin:

#8: Jumping Flash!

I think age plays a certain factor with Jumping Flash. I was around 10/11 when it came out and I really didn’t get it. It was fun having Robbit jumping around levels, but as to the actual “goal”, of the stages, I usually didn’t do it. The goal of each level is to pick up the carrot-looking “jetpods”, and once you gather them all up, the exit unlocks and you go to the next stage. This all being done in first-person with a somewhat busy interface makes this a bit unwieldy but it eventually does kind of click together. This would make for a pretty killer VR game now, but that fad seems to largely be done.

#7: Tomb Raider (Classics)

I should be clear here, the recent Tomb Raider games, save for Shadow, have been great. Ever since Crystal Dynamics took over the franchise in 2006, it has been some great-to-amazing games. However, the early CORE developed games? Those were bad. Lara Croft was/still kind of is a revolutionary character but that’s all those old games had going for them. They pumped her up so much as a sex symbol that they kind of didn’t bother to make the games actually good. Combat was generally bad, and you needed guides to figure out where to go a lot of the time. The less said about CORE’s last game, Angel of Darkness, the better. Tomb Raider graduated into a pretty top-tier franchise but man, did it start as a B-tier, or in this case D-tier, series of games.

#6: American McGee’s Alice

I like both Alice games but for different reasons. The first game really tried to break the mold for actual platforming. It was still an id Tech 3 game but had very unconventional/chaotic level layouts and geometry. This led to giving the player a feeling that they are sharing Alice’s mental illness with her, due to how discordant it seems. The problem is, it actually can make it hard to figure out where to go, but at least unlike with Tomb Raider, this was a bit more intentional. Madness Returns, on the other hand, was a bit more of a traditional game, but it actually had a functional/fun combat system, so that was cool. There is still a niche community for the Alice games, and both of them are unique but not great money makers, especially since EA is the one putting them out.

#5: Blinx: The Time Sweeper

Imagine if you had a 3D platformer, with the power of VCR controls as well. That’s the basic pitch for Blinx: The Time Sweeeper. Aside from the Luigi’s Mansion style vacuum cleaner you have to suck in stuff/blow it out, you had time powers when you had enough crystals. You had access to rewind, fast forward, slow-motion, pause, and record to make your way through the levels. It was a decent idea, but each level had a 10 minute timer which seemed really odd. Blinx 2 goes off in a more insane way, changing some of the time powers, but not letting you play as Blinx at all, and just having customizable characters instead. It’s like they realized that Blinx wasn’t great so they went with a more generic idea instead. Still, both games are kind of interesting, just from an idea perspective.

#4: Tomba

I love Tomba 1 and will forever die on the hill that it is an amazing game. Tomba 2…is not that game, however. Tomba 1 is a 2.5D platformer where you can occasionally jump in and out of the back/foreground but it’s mostly on a 2D plane for platforming. Tomba 2 does have some 2D sections but a lot of it is also 3D, which they were clearly a bit uncomfortable with. It also had a LOT more dialog and story, which the game kind of didn’t need. Funny enough, the idea of Tomba is a lot like another game that is further down this list.

#3: Psychonauts

I absolutely love the first Psychonauts and it is a top-tier platformer. However, it only sold about 6 copies, which is why it took 16 years for the second one to come out. And that one…is not a top-tier platformer. Don’t get me wrong, Psychonauts 2 is “fine”, but it is missing the experimentation and creativity of the first game. I still think that Psychonauts is a magical game, where I can remember specific levels and moments even now. The only thing I really remember about Psychonauts 2 is the alcohol level REALLY sucking because of Raz’s inability to swim/be in water. Psychonauts 2 actively bumped down the franchise for me, which is sad.

#2: Gex

Gex is almost the definition of a B-tier platformer. The first game was a 2D style one, while both Gex 2 (Enter the Gecko) and Gex 3 (Deep Cover Gecko) were of the 3D varieties. I don’t think Gex 1 is an especially interesting or creative game, Gex 3 is “alright” but Gex 2 was actually pretty solid. It was kind of a Mario 64 pastiche, set in TV parody levels, but for the PS1, it was actually kind of technically impressive. The N64 version wasn’t great, but if you were looking for something that vaguely resembled Mario for the PS1, Gex was there. It certainly wasn’t Crash Bandicoot, that’s for sure. Gex was very much a product of its time, but it was a decent alternative on the PS1.

#1: Bonk

Bonk was kind of the de-facto mascot of the TurboGrafx-16, since no one cared about the original mascot, Keith Courage. Bonk is a pretty good platformer, at least the first three games. Bonk is a cave-man who can headbutt enemies, eat into walls to climb up them and gains powers when he eats meat. Each game adds new mechanics but it’s all pretty much the same. The series kind of went off the rails though with “Air Zonk”, a spiritual successor/sequel. Instead of a 2D platformer, it became a R-Type/Gradius style side-scrolling shooter that just seemed incredibly weird. They did make two more Bonk games for the SNES but only one came out in America and is a bit hard to actually buy. Bonk is a great franchise but it was never able to be as popular as it should have been, due to the console it was on.

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For comments, list your favorite B-tier platforming franchises and why.

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