Best Platfomer of 2017 - Article

by Evan Norris , posted on 02 January 2018 / 5,684 Views

Platform games made quite an impression in 2017. Not only did they score highly in critical circles — Super Mario Odyssey, for example, is the third highest-scoring game ever on GameRankings — but they won over consumers too. Almost all sub-genres were represented this calendar year: run-and-gun platformers, 3D collectathons, platform-adventures, and so on. Moreover, many dormant or struggling IPs were reborn, including Sonic, Wonder Boy, and Crash (although the latter two were not eligible for this particular award, as remakes, they were eligible for the Best Remake, Remaster or HD Collection award). Overall, it was a banner year for one of the industry's oldest and most reliable genres.

The Shortlist:

Cuphead

A Hat in Time

Sonic Mania

Super Mario Odyssey

The Winner:

Super Mario Odyssey

The king of platformers reigns again. For 30+ years, the mustachioed Mario has starred in countless amazing adventures, many of them redefining what a platform game can and should be. Super Mario Odyssey once again raises the bar, introducing a brilliant "capture" mechanic that fits so effortlessly into the rules of Super Mario that you wonder why it wasn't there all along. With hundreds of collectibles, a grand orchestral soundtrack, perfect controls, and enough creativity and ingenuity for a dozen games, Super Mario Odyssey earns its place in the pantheon of great platformers.

10 Comments

Flilix (on 02 January 2018)

The platforming genre definitely had its best year in a long time!

Luke888 (on 02 January 2018)

Yessss! Odyssey is definition of pure fun in videogames! Congrats to the devs of Sonic Mania for earning a nomination, they did a great job and they seem to have a good idea of where the franchise should be going (or, more correctly, what it should stick to) as opposed to Sonic Team