Puzzle Platformer

A Puzzle Platfomer is exactly what it sounds like; Platform Game meets Puzzle Game.

A common Puzzle Platfomer format is having a player attempt to overcome obstacles and get to the exit in a series of rooms, often by use of a unique gameplay mechanic. Usually, the first few levels exist to demonstrate to the player the various mechanics the game utilizes, then throw him or her a few simple puzzles to show what the game is capable of, and then requiring the player to think outside the box, requiring more and more creative thinking to reach the goal. Locks and Keys may be in ready supply, as well as blocks.

Then, of course, they get trickier and trickier. This often tends to culminate in a good deal of frustration in most players. "Somebody must have messed up designing this game!" they think. "This is literally impossible!"

This is almost never the case. Nevertheless, these games may tend to have Hatedoms among players expecting more straightforward action.

Due to the simplicity of making such a game, a large number of them are indie games or Freeware Games/flash games.


 * And Yet It Moves
 * Blocks That Matter
 * A Boy and His Blob
 * Braid
 * Castlequest
 * Catherine
 * The Company of Myself
 * Continuity
 * Closure
 * Crea Vures
 * Depict 1
 * Diamond Dan
 * Donkey Kong 94
 * Eversion
 * Fez
 * Head Over Heels
 * Kairo
 * Karoshi
 * Katamari Damacy series.
 * Klonoa series
 * Limbo
 * Loco Roco series
 * The Lost Vikings series
 * Lucidity
 * Mari0
 * Mario vs. Donkey Kong series.
 * The Misadventures of PB Winterbottom
 * Portal
 * Portal 2
 * Pushmo
 * The Quest of Ki
 * Raskulls
 * Roll Away
 * Sabre Wulf (2004 version)
 * Shift
 * The Solomon's Key games
 * Splosion Man
 * Time Fcuk
 * Toki Tori
 * Trine
 * Verge
 * Vessel
 * Warp

Related is a genre of puzzle games with selective gravity, wherein certain objects fall down and others (most notably the player character) don't. They can be seen as Puzzle Platformer with a flying protagonist, though the emphasis on solving puzzles as opposed to dexterity varies from one game to another. The genre launcher is Boulder Dash (of which a huge number of freeware ports exist), and many games in the genre name themselves after a kind of gemstone, a kind of cave, or both.


 * Boulder Dash
 * Diamond Mine
 * Emerald Mine
 * Legend Of Myra
 * Lode Runner
 * Mr. Do (and similar games like Fruity Frank)
 * Repton
 * Rock Ford
 * Sapphire Yours
 * Sub Terra
 * Supa Plex