Since the very early years of gaming, platform games have existed to challenge players with movement puzzles and challenging gameplay. Jumps requiring the perfect distance and timing, deadly obstacles to dodge around, or even enemies populating the levels players must either avoid or kill as they progress. Even as the sixth generation of consoles began, platformer games continued to test players to their limits.
Some of these titles are designed to test the skills and patience of the player, bringing frustration challenges to the player. With no shortage of challenging platforming games, especially on the PlayStation 2, which ones stand out as the toughest?
7 I-Ninja
This forgotten platform game was brought to players by Argonaut Games, starring a hot-blooded, rude Ninja who is on a mission to save his Sensei from the Ranx, the minions of his nemesis Emperor O-Dor. He goes on a quest to vanquish his enemy for once and for all.
Ninja is outfitted with several abilities to aid the player as they guide him through the platforming levels, such as double jump and sword spin, and that is not to mention items players will gain throughout the game to further expand their platforming repertoire. Yet, the game can still be hard at times, without it verging on the side of too punishing. Still, players will need to hone their skills if they stand a chance of defeating O-Dor and the Ranx.
6 Jak 2
One of the earlier games in Naughty Dog's long library of games is Jak 2, a sequel to the first Jak and continuing on the trend of very difficult sequels. Set 500 years after the events of the prior game, Jak 2 is mainly set in Haven City, which despite its name is largely dystopian, and ruled with Baron Praxis's iron fist. Jak finds himself imprisoned by Praxis's right hand-man Errol and subjected to experiments in an attempt to create a new breed of soldier.
While this game is mostly accessible like most of Naughty Dog's titles, this doesn't mean Jak 2 is a cakewalk by any means. In some of its levels the difficulty spikes unpredictably, leaving players to fumble with the controls to evade the sudden very imminent threat of danger. Players must exercise caution and remain extremely alert while playing to avoid falling to the random challenges interspersed through the levels.
5 Rayman 2: The Great Escape
Another one of gaming landmark platform titles is Rayman, which is also known to be hard. In the second game, The Great Escape, an armada of robo-pirates invade a world known as the Glade of Dreams, the next planet that they plan to annihilate and enslave all the inhabitants of. They are met with resistance from Rayman, Globox and other allies, but the fight doesn't quite go their way and Rayman ends up captured.
The game mostly centers around 3D platforming play, as well as coming across robo-pirates that are seeking Rayman out following his daring escape from his imprisonment. While all the levels are well-designed, and the controls are intuitive, Rayman 2 has a fairly difficult learning curve that will challenge most players. While it is not the most difficult platform game (and certainly nowhere near as difficult as the first Rayman), it is still one that remains hard in the memories of its players.
4 Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando
After saving the galaxy once before, Ratchet and Clank are treated like celebrities, and after an interview, the pair soon find their uneventful lives become eventful again, as they are tasked with the mission of recovering a stolen biological experiment from a mysterious thief. But the thief ends up also stealing Clank, giving the mission dire new stakes for Ratchet.
In typical fashion for Ratchet and Clank games, players control Ratchet in a 3D setting with a number of tools at their disposal to help them navigate the difficulties of the world and overcome enemies. And there are many difficulties the player will have to endure with patience and perseverance if they hope to see the credits roll. With some punishingly difficulty spikes throughout levels, it is surely a test of endurance.
3 Pac-Man World 2
When most gamers think of Pac-Man, they think of the beloved arcade game that saw the yellow circle that was Pac-Man running through a maze, trying to avoid the ghosts that would kill him on contact. Since then, more Pac-Man games have spawned, hoping to capture some of the popularity and fame of the first game, including platform games. It's given a hearty dose of plot, with fabled magical fruit and the great evil Spooky with nefarious goals to eliminate all the Pac-people, and Pac-Man is named as the hero that will save them all.
This is the basic premise of Pac-Man World 2, which will see Pac-Man navigating a 3D world and using a myriad of abilities to help him in his platforming endeavors. But even the most powerful abilities of all time would struggle to make this game easy, as it proved to be punishingly hard. Each level presented a new nightmare-level challenge that only the most hardcore gamers have managed to struggle their way through.
2 Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of Cortex
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When talking about hard platforming games, the one that mostly will come to mind is Crash Bandicoot, the game series designed by Naughty Dog with the intention to frustrate players, it seems. Players control the titular Crash Bandicoot as he jumps and spins his way through levels designed to be challenged. This pattern remains true with Wrath of Cortex, in which several Crash enemies band together to plan the end of the titular hero once and for all, by using the elemental masks.
Crash Bandicoot games are undoubtedly the most challenging of platform games on the market. It's the kind of game a child hands the controller to an older sibling or parent in a momentary bout of frustration, only for them also to be confounded by how punishing the game truly is.