Best Platformer Games Like Super Mario 64

The best platformer games like Super Mario 64 are Super Mario Odyssey, Super Mario Galaxy and Banjo-Kazooie. 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 Super Mario 64

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 Super Mario 64 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 Super Mario 64

  1. 1. Super Mario Odyssey

    The direct descendant, and the moveset is even deeper.

  2. 2. Super Mario Galaxy

    The best-designed 3D Mario, if you can live with less freedom.

  3. 3. Banjo-Kazooie

    Rare's answer, built on the same engine ideas and denser with things to find.

  4. 4. A Hat in Time

    The best modern game built on the Mario 64 template.

  5. 5. Spyro the Dragon

    The PlayStation take, gentler and with better worlds than it gets credit for.

  6. 6. Psychonauts

    Hub-and-levels platforming where every level is a different idea.

  7. 7. Astro Bot

    The current best-feeling 3D platformer, full stop.

  8. 8. Jak and Daxter

    Seamless open platforming, no loading between areas.

  9. 9. Pseudoregalia

    A small indie game about movement that captures the N64 feel exactly.

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 Super Mario 64 — 9 picks, no genre filter.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best platformer game like Super Mario 64?

Super Mario Odyssey. The direct descendant, and the moveset is even deeper.

Are all of these on the Nintendo 64?

No. Super Mario 64 released on the Nintendo 64, 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 Super Mario 64 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 Super Mario 64

More Platformer Games Recommendations

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