Best Platformer Games Like Kirby and the Forgotten Land

The best platformer games like Kirby and the Forgotten Land are Kirby's Adventure, Super Mario Odyssey and Astro Bot. Below are 9, each with the reason it is here — and, at the end, what filtering to platformer costs you.

Why Platformer Is a Good Answer for Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Filtering to platformer means you want the movement itself to be the pleasure. It is the right filter when the thing you liked was getting from one place to another.

What you get: A game you can judge in ten seconds. Platformers live or die on the jump, and a good one feels right before anything else happens.

What made Kirby and the Forgotten Land worth playing in the first place is covered on the full list. This page is the platformer part of that answer, and only the platformer part.

9 Platformer Games Like Kirby and the Forgotten Land

  1. 1. Kirby's Adventure

    Where copy abilities started, and it still plays beautifully.

  2. 2. Super Mario Odyssey

    Capture is the same idea — a new set of verbs every few minutes.

  3. 3. Astro Bot

    The best-feeling modern platformer, and equally generous.

  4. 4. Kirby's Epic Yarn

    The gentlest platformer there is, and lovely to look at.

  5. 5. Super Mario 3D World

    The other Nintendo platformer designed for a mixed-ability sofa.

  6. 6. Yoshi's Woolly World

    Craft-look platforming built to be kind.

  7. 7. A Hat in Time

    The best indie collectathon, and just as warm.

  8. 8. Sackboy: A Big Adventure

    PlayStation's cheerful platformer, and best in co-op.

  9. 9. Psychonauts 2

    Every level is a new concept, executed properly.

What This Filter Leaves Out

Weight. Platformers rarely carry a story you will think about afterwards, and the collectible-led ones can become checklists if you let them.

The full list is on games like Kirby and the Forgotten Land — 9 picks, no genre filter.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best platformer game like Kirby and the Forgotten Land?

Kirby's Adventure. Where copy abilities started, and it still plays beautifully.

Are all of these on the Nintendo Switch?

No. Kirby and the Forgotten Land released on the Nintendo Switch, but a recommendation is only useful if you can play it, so the picks above span platforms and eras. What they share is the genre and the reason.

What separates a good platformer from a bad one?

Whether the move set is complete early. The great ones give you everything in the first level and spend the rest asking better questions of it; the weak ones drip-feed abilities to disguise thin level design.

2D or 3D?

Different games. 2D platformers are about precision on a single screen; 3D ones are about reading space and camera. Each pick below says which it is.

How are these chosen?

By hand. Each pick was written for the full Kirby and the Forgotten Land list first, on what the game actually does, and this page is the part of that list that is platformer — never a genre tag lookup, which is how "best racing games like Super Mario 64" used to be a page on this site.

Other Angles on Kirby and the Forgotten Land

More Platformer Games Recommendations

Or read the platformer guide for where to start in the genre generally.