Here are five platforming series that peaked with the first game.
5) Croc
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos has a fun development cycle. Originally, developer Argonaut Software pitched the 3D platformer to Nintendo as a Yoshi game. The two companies had a solid relationship after Argonaut created the Super FX chip for the SNES. However, Nintendo decided to pass on the pitch, so Argonaut took the concept to Sony with an original character.
While Croc didn’t set the world on fire, it was a solid pastiche of games like Tomb Raider, Sonic, and Super Mario 64. Croc sold well for Argonaut, especially in the UK, so the studio decided to turn it into a series. Unfortunately, every other game is terrible. We did get an HD remaster of the original in 2025, so fans haven’t been completely left out to dry. However, it’s too bad we couldn’t get a Croc sequel that actually built on the original.
4) LittleBigPlanet
LittleBigPlanet is a series filled with games that performed well critically. Don’t take it being on this list to mean that all of its sequels are trash. That might be true for Croc, but LittleBigPlanet 2 is a certified banger.
That said, the first LittleBigPlanet was a revelation on the PlayStation 3, putting Media Molecule on the map. Future games would build on that foundation, but could never figure out a way to top it. That’s probably why the team moved on to new IP with Tearaway and Dreams, giving them even more room to stretch their creative muscles.
3) Super Monkey Ball
The allure of Super Monkey Ball isn’t hard to nail down. You play as a monkey inside a ball and need to navigate through mazes of increasing difficulty. What makes it sing is that you don’t actually control the monkey. Instead, you’re moving the maze around, forcing the ball to roll through the course.
It can be tough to wrap your head around at first, but once it clicks, it’s one of the best platform-puzzlers of all time. The publishers at Sega knocked it out of the park on their first try. Future games are still fun to play since they add new puzzles, but nothing has ever topped the purity of that first game. Sure, adding new minigames is great, but those aren’t enough to take any of those games over the top.
2) Mega Man X
Mega Man X was Capcom’s way of injecting some new blood into Mega Man. The series starts 100 years after the original games and follows a new character named X on his various adventures. That first game was an exceptional platformer that brought Mega Man into the 16-bit era.
Games like X2 were also great, but lacked the pizazz of that first one. However, the further we got into the series, the worse the games became. That includes a few real stinkers, the worst of which is probably Mega Man X7. Granted, the original series also died off as it kept making new games, but at least Mega Man 2 blew the first game out of the water.
1) Donkey Kong Country
This one might be controversial. Some players prefer Donkey Kong Country 2, thanks in large part to the added mobility of Dixie Kong. That game also ups the difficulty, which helped it age alongside its audience. However, I’ve always been a bigger fan of the original DKC. It could be nostalgia talking, but there’s something about pounding enemies with Donkey Kong himself that works for me.
It’s also worth remembering how great Donkey Kong Country looked when it first launched. DKC 2 doesn’t have that same wow factor, because we’d already seen it. I also think the boss characters and Animal Buddies are better in the original game. DKC 2 doesn’t even have Expresso, for goodness sake!
While Returns and Tropical Freeze do a solid job of modernizing the series, they didn’t overtake either of the first two games. And the less said about DKC 3, the better. Again, many might disagree, but nothing tops the first time you played through the original Donkey Kong Country.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
