Platformer Games are one of the things the Nintendo 64 is genuinely for. The ones worth playing start with Super Mario 64, Donkey Kong 64, Banjo-Kazooie.
The machine that worked out how to move a character in three dimensions, and then had to invent the camera to film it. Small library, enormous influence.
This is one of its strengths. 3D platformers and four-player local multiplayer. The controller had four ports as standard, which is why so much of this library is designed for a room rather than a person.
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.
Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.
Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.
Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.
Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.
Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.
Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.
Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.
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.
Super Mario 64 is the usual first answer, and there are 7 in the library we cover.
Yes — it is one of the things the machine is known for, and there are 7 in the library we cover.
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.
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.
From the games this site covers on the Nintendo 64, 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.
Or browse the whole Nintendo 64 library.