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Hot take: PS2 had a better selection of platformers than most Nintendo systems

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
PS2 had the 3 GOATS of Ratchet, Sly Cooper, and Jak and Daxter. 3 games from each franchise on the system (except Ratchet which had 4.) These 3 franchises alone added 10 must play platformer games to the PS2.

Plus the glorious Ape Escape 2 and 3, Crash Twinsanity, Klonoa 2, and psychonauts. Not gonna lie, outside of NES, SNES and Switch you'd be hard pressed to find a Nintendo system with that many great platformers.

and no Zelda is not a platformer.
 
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Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
Nintendo was never really known for high volume of games (until recently). PS1 and PS2 beat them big time with the number of games released. Nintendo systems used to have large drought periods for years. Most Nintendo series usually just get 1 entry on the system. But almost all those games turn out to be masterpieces.

Nintendo's output has increased this gen though.
 
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Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
PS2 had the 3 GOATS of Ratchet, Sly Cooper, and Jak and Daxter. 3 games from each franchise on the system (except Ratchet which had 4.) These 3 franchises alone added 10 must play platformer games to the PS2.

Plus the glorious Ape Escape 2 and 3, Crash Twinsanity, Klonoa 2, and psychonauts. Not gonna lie, outside of NES, SNES and Switch you'd be hard pressed to find a Nintendo system with that many great platformers.

and no Zelda is not a platformer.
Super Mario 64 dunks on all of those.

So, no.
 

Rudius

Member
It's a cold take. The trio Ratchet, Jak and Sly was superb, each with at least 3 top quality games that generation. That's without even going for lesser known games.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
PS2 had the 3 GOATS of Ratchet, Sly Cooper, and Jak and Daxter. 3 games from each franchise on the system (except Ratchet which had 4.) These 3 franchises alone added 10 must play platformer games to the PS2.

Plus the glorious Ape Escape 2 and 3, Crash Twinsanity, Klonoa 2, and psychonauts. Not gonna lie, outside of NES, SNES and Switch you'd be hard pressed to find a Nintendo system with that many great platformers.

and no Zelda is not a platformer.
The issue is that Ratchet is always polished but formulaic. Precursor Legacy is GOATed, but 2 and 3 are a dreary dreadful mess. Sly is decent from 1-3.

Klonoa and Psychonauts, please.

None of these are close to Nintendo at their best.
 

Woopah

Member
Nintendo was never really known for high volume of games (until recently). PS1 and PS2 beat them big time with the number of games released. Nintendo systems used to have large drought periods for years. Most Nintendo series usually just get 1 entry on the system. But almost all those games turn out to be masterpieces.

Nintendo's output has increased this gen though.
I wouldn't say their output has got that much bigger in total (in fact I think its smaller) But it's now focused on 1 ecosystem rather than being split across 2-4 ecosystems.
 
The issue is that Ratchet is always polished but formulaic. Precursor Legacy is GOATed, but 2 and 3 are a dreary dreadful mess. Sly is decent from 1-3.

Klonoa and Psychonauts, please.

None of these are close to Nintendo at their best.
Psychonauts is better than Nintendo's whole catalogue. Sly Cooper and the Thievius Racoonus is on par with their best.
 
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Xellos

Member
It's better than Gamecube but not any of the other Nintendo consoles. Sly Cooper trilogy was excellent, Ape Escape was good and Jak 1 was OK. I like Psychonauts too but the PS2 port was not good.
 

Sojiro

Member
Dude, Jak and Daxter aren't even good games let alone great platformers, they are dog shit.
I hated the direction they took for parts 2 and 3, but I really enjoyed the first one, it's damn good.

As far as the OP, I can't agree to this, PS2 has damn good ones, but I would put the SNES or N64 over it.
 

nial

Member
Sony's first-party has always had more 3D platformers starting with 6th gen and EVEN to this day. People don't realize that Nintendo's best suit are 2D platformers.
Nintendo was never really known for high volume of games (until recently).
Only true for the SFC (which still had their strongest output of games) and Wii U. This feels like revisionism.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
giphy.gif
 

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
Xbox 1 was honestly up there for me. Prince of Persia trilogy was definitely best on Xbox. Same with Psychonauts. Lots of forgotten mid-tier platformers came out that gen.

Mario Sunshine was still the best platformer that gen though.
 
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64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
I love gaf
Super Mario 64 dunks on all of those.

So, no.
I agree. You can only experience it for the first time once though

also you'd be hard pressed to find a game as good as Mario 64 in Nintendo's own library to begin with. That was a lucky shot
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
I love gaf

I agree. You can only experience it for the first time once though

also you'd be hard pressed to find a game as good as Mario 64 in Nintendo's own library to begin with. That was a lucky shot
Super Mario Galaxy and Galaxy 2 are also fantastic and a cut above anything ever produced on PlayStation. If you were to make a top 10, I don't even think a single PlayStation game cracks it. It'd be 80% Nintendo or more.
 
I love gaf

I agree. You can only experience it for the first time once though

also you'd be hard pressed to find a game as good as Mario 64 in Nintendo's own library to begin with. That was a lucky shot
Mario 64 is the definition of a mediocre game. If it did not have Nintendo branding it would be forgotten. It does not stack up to Super Mario Bros. or Super Mario Bros. 3 in any category.
 
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I mean, no duh? It had virtually every 3P supporting it during that era, got ports of many SEGA games once they went 3P, Sony's own 1P grew significantly that gen, etc.

When you've got like 10x the number of games as a closest competitor you're bound to have a better library, at least when compared to other 6th-gen systems. Sheer volume of library puts PS2 in the top echelon, but that doesn't mean other great systems (at least two of them being Nintendo systems, if "top echelon"' were a Top 5 thing) are any less impressive for what they managed to provide.
 

clarky

Gold Member
Super Mario Galaxy and Galaxy 2 are also fantastic and a cut above anything ever produced on PlayStation. If you were to make a top 10, I don't even think a single PlayStation game cracks it. It'd be 80% Nintendo or more.
Truth.
 

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
Super Mario Galaxy and Galaxy 2 are also fantastic and a cut above anything ever produced on PlayStation. If you were to make a top 10, I don't even think a single PlayStation game cracks it. It'd be 80% Nintendo or more.
Yeah no those are the 2 most overrated 3d Mario's for me. There's a whole lot of production value and all that but the stages are too linear and mario controls the worst out of any of his other outings.

🤷‍♂️ You're gonna have to try harder than that
 
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elhav

Member
Psychonauts is one of my favourite games of all time, but the platforming itself was decent at best.

Platforming in Sly, Ratchet and clank, and Jack is fun, but 3d Mario games are a different breed. Mario 64, Sunshine, Galaxy 1 and 2, 3d world, and odyssey have some of the best controls, level design, and gameplay ideas I've seen in any platformer, 2d or 3d.

Obviously it's a matter of taste, but as someone who's played the ps2 platformers to death as a kid, but only got to experience these 3d Mario games later in life, I can appreciate their superior quality over Ratchet, sly and jack, nostalgia be damned
 

nial

Member
I don't really agree since SMB 3 and World, DKC 1-3 and Tropical Freeze, Yoshi's Island and SM64 exist which are better than most of the ones listed on the OP.
BUT, Astro Bot Rescue Mission on PS4 is the GOAT platformer and nothing will ever change that. Insomniac and Nintendo EPD really look like plebs compared to Team Asobi
 
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Super Mario Galaxy and Galaxy 2 are also fantastic and a cut above anything ever produced on PlayStation. If you were to make a top 10, I don't even think a single PlayStation game cracks it. It'd be 80% Nintendo or more.

I wouldn't say over "anything"; you can't directly compare the Mario Galaxy games to say GT3 or GT4. I could just as easily say GT3 & 4 are a cut above anything Nintendo's ever made, if I were a hardcore car racing sim fan.

I do think 1P-wise looking at total output history Nintendo probably has more heavy-hitters than Sony, but you have to remember some of Nintendo's heavy-hitters were from eras where Sony had no console and where the bar to be a heavy-hitter was lower than it is today, compared to modern standards in many areas.
 

clarky

Gold Member
Not gonna lie, outside of NES, SNES and Switch you'd be hard pressed to find a Nintendo system with that many great platformers.
Sorry didn't read the OP properly. Even more LOL.

So if we exclude 3 of nintendo's most successful system then right?
 
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Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Mario 64 is the definition of a mediocre game. If it did not have Nintendo branding it would be forgotten. It does not stack up to Super Mario Bros. or Super Mario Bros. 3 in any category.
Trying to one-up the OP's hot take, huh?
Yeah no those are the 2 most overrated 3d Mario's for me. There's a whole lot of production value and all that but the stages are too linear and mario controls the worst out of any of his other outings.

🤷‍♂️ You're gonna have to try harder than that
I mean, what are the best platformers on PS2? Ratchet & Clank? Because after the OG one, they gradually turned it into a shooter with platforming elements. Besides that, the platforming of R&C never even came close to the quality of any of the Super Mario games. The controls, movements, movesets, nothing really compares. You may argue SMG and SMG2 aren't SM64 but they're a lot better than what's on other platforms.

And a lot of those games are adventure platformers without that much emphasis on platforming.
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
I wouldn't say over "anything"; you can't directly compare the Mario Galaxy games to say GT3 or GT4. I could just as easily say GT3 & 4 are a cut above anything Nintendo's ever made, if I were a hardcore car racing sim fan.

I do think 1P-wise looking at total output history Nintendo probably has more heavy-hitters than Sony, but you have to remember some of Nintendo's heavy-hitters were from eras where Sony had no console and where the bar to be a heavy-hitter was lower than it is today, compared to modern standards in many areas.
Talking strictly platformers, chief. My top 10 of all time wouldn't be 80% Nintendo, that's for sure.
 
Psychonauts is one of my favourite games of all time, but the platforming itself was decent at best.

Platforming in Sly, Ratchet and clank, and Jack is fun, but 3d Mario games are a different breed. Mario 64, Sunshine, Galaxy 1 and 2, 3d world, and odyssey have some of the best controls, level design, and gameplay ideas I've seen in any platformer, 2d or 3d.

Obviously it's a matter of taste, but as someone who's played the ps2 platformers to death as a kid, but only got to experience these 3d Mario games later in life, I can appreciate their superior quality over Ratchet, sly and jack, nostalgia be damned
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. That is why even with less polished mechanics Psychonauts towers over Nintendo's catalogue. The amount of ideas in a single world of Psychonauts is more than an entire game by Nintendo.

Trying to one-up the OP's hot take, huh?
The platforming and level design in Mario 64 makes Rare look like geniuses because they actually refined their implementation instead of throwing a bunch of shit on a wall and sticking with it.
 

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
Sorry didn't read the OP properly. Even more LOL.

So if we exclude 3 of nintendo's most successful system then right?
You want me to exclude nothing? I did say most, not all. I have my standards.


Besides that, the platforming of R&C never even came close to the quality of any of the Super Mario games. The controls, movements, movesets, nothing really compares. You may argue SMG and SMG2 aren't SM64 but they're a lot better than what's on other platforms.
Well yeah what makes most platformers interesting is what they add beyond just platforming. The combat of those games make up for the lacking platforming. And I think Jak 1 definitely compares to most mario games in terms of movement- that game feels amazing to play.
WTF is this thread. Page 1 and its already getting embarrassing.
That's neogaf buddy
I also like how this guy gassed up Mario Bros 1 like it hasn't aged like milk on a countertop compared to 64 lmao
 
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