Best Platformer Games: Mind the Gap

A platformer is a promise: the jump will go where you aim it, every time — and the good ones keep that promise so faithfully that every death is your own fault. We picked Gameza's platform shelf for exactly that honesty, plus the occasional act of deliberate treachery (see the first note below).

You'll find classic run-and-jump adventures, parkour sprints and precision gauntlets where the checkpoint is the only mercy. All of them start in one click, most love a keyboard, and every one of them will teach you the same lesson: look before you leap, then leap like you mean it.