Best Platformer Games on the GameCube

Platformer Games are one of the things the Nintendo GameCube is genuinely for. The ones worth playing start with Metroid Prime, Super Mario Sunshine, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle.

The GameCube and Platformer Games

The best-built console Nintendo made and the one fewest people bought. Its library is unusually experimental because it had nothing to lose.

This is one of its strengths. First-party action and platforming, and a strange middle tier of Japanese games — Viewtiful Joe, Baten Kaitos, Eternal Darkness — that only exists because the machine was struggling.

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.

The Platformer Games Worth Playing

  1. 1. Metroid Prime

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  2. 2. Super Mario Sunshine

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  3. 3. Sonic Adventure 2 Battle

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  4. 4. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  5. 5. Super Monkey Ball 2

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

What Makes a Good Platformer Game

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.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best platformer game on the GameCube?

Metroid Prime is the usual first answer, and there are 5 in the library we cover.

Was the GameCube good at platformer games?

Yes — it is one of the things the machine is known for, and there are 5 in the library we cover.

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 is this list put together?

From the games this site covers on the Nintendo GameCube, matched against hand-mapped gameplay categories rather than a storefront's genre tag. A page only exists where there are at least four, which is why some console and genre combinations have no page at all.

Platformer Games on Other Consoles

More From the GameCube

Or browse the whole Nintendo GameCube library.