Best Platformer Games on the Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 was never a platformer machine. There are 4 here worth knowing — Limbo, Braid, Super Meat Boy among them — and if the genre is what you are after, another console is the better answer.

The Xbox 360 and Platformer Games

The generation's default machine for most of its life, and the one where online multiplayer, achievements and digital indie distribution all became normal.

This is not one of its strengths. Hardware reliability, historically, and Japanese exclusives beyond a small and excellent handful.

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. Limbo

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

  2. 2. Braid

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

  3. 3. Super Meat Boy

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

  4. 4. Fez

    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.

Where This Genre Is Better Served

Saying a console is weak at something is more useful than padding a list. If platformer is what you actually want, these machines are built for it:

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best platformer game on the Xbox 360?

Limbo is the usual first answer, and there are 4 in the library we cover.

Was the Xbox 360 good at platformer games?

Not especially. The NES, SNES, N64 are better answers for this genre.

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 Xbox 360, 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 Xbox 360

Or browse the whole Xbox 360 library.