There’s something uniquely satisfying about nailing that perfect jump, dodging a last-second hazard, or finally clearing a level that’s been stomping you into the ground for hours. Platformers have a way of making you feel like a god when you succeed, and like an absolute fool when you fail. The greatest ones don’t just test your reflexes — they test your patience, endurance, and maybe even your willingness to keep your controller intact.

If you enjoy games that are brutally punishing in the form of precision platforming, unforgiving enemies, and mechanics that demand perfection, you’re in the right place. These games don’t just challenge you — they dare you to keep playing.

5 Super Meat Boy

Dark Souls but make it 2D platforming

Super Meat Boy might be fifteen years old today, but it’s certainly one of the best-aged games ever. The original Meat Boy game started off in the Flash game era, and Team Meat polished it up to present Super Meat Boy — one of the most incredible indie games of all time. The game throws you into an absolute gauntlet of huge buzz saws, monsters, missiles, laser beams, and more threats around every corner.

Running around as a… boy made of meat, you must be pixel perfect in this platformer, getting through each level within a set time to reach your girlfriend, Bandage Girl, before she’s taken away to the next one. Get ready to die hundreds of times on each level, as you jump, slide, and stick to walls to get through everything the game throws at you until you learn, by way of a thousand demises, exactly what needs to be done each time. Super Meat Boy also boasts one of the most goated soundtracks ever, and The Battle of Li’l Slugger still plays in my head even fifteen years after playing it. Between 2007’s I Wanna Be the Guy and Super Meat Boy, I’d daresay the latter takes the cake, both in terms of difficulty, as well as polish and longevity.

4 Ninja Gaiden (1988)

Do I really even need to meet dad?

Ninja Gaiden was one of the first NES games I ever played. I might not have played it in the same century it was released in, but as a five-year-old toddler, the ability to jump onto any wall and stick to it while enemies just waited helplessly below was just so much fun. Well, until I realized each level had a timer, as Ryu fell to the ground, and I returned all the way to the start.

Ninja Gaiden demands precision out of you in its later levels. It teaches you the mechanics, but then throws an absolute barrage of foes at you from all directions, challenging you to remember everything you’ve learned. Plus, a single step backwards and any foe you’ve taken down respawns, drilling into your head that the only way is forward. One of the games that coined the term “Nintendo Hard”, Ninja Gaiden is relentless, and its onslaught of enemies makes it as punishing as a platformer can get.

3 Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy

Easier said than done, Mister Foddy

Another indie game that deserves a place in your library, Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, was built by the titular creator out of free assets. The game tasks you with climbing a mountain made of ridiculously incoherent assets, while putting you into a cauldron and giving you a sledgehammer to climb. The premise might be simple, but the gameplay is far from it. Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy has zero checkpoints, so a single mistimed jump or climbing action takes you all the way back down, regardless of how far you’ve made it.

Once you fall, you either climb all the way back up or quit the game and never come back, much like I did. There’s also a third option, where you put your fist through the screen and claim technical issues. This might not have been a horror game that I quit playing out of fear, but Getting Over It certainly is hard to finish. Of course, the whole point is that you must get over your failures and continue onward and upwards, and sure, I get the sentiment, but if I’d rather play Sekiro with a driving wheel, then perhaps your game is a little too tough, Mr. Foddy.

2 Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time

The first time I played Crash Bandicoot was as Nathan Drake in Uncharted 4, when he played the platformer on a Sony PlayStation. The second — and the last — time was when I tried Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time. I might not have played any previous entries in the franchise, but I know they were tough. This one, however, dials things up to 11, and that’s particularly impressive because it's a 3D platformer. 3D platformers are typically easy, often to a fault, really. Crash Bandicoot 4, however, is not one of them.

What I always wanted from a 3D Mario platformer — a truly tough experience — is something Crash Bandicoot 4 gave me. You might set out with an ambition to gather all Perfect Run relics in the game, but when you realize how tough the game is, even without the attempts to reach 100% completion, it’s a pretty quick decision just to try and get through the levels first. There’s enough enemy, level, and ability variety here to keep you on your toes throughout, tense and ready to throw the controller at Mach speeds at a moment’s notice.

1 Ghostrunner

Mirror’s Edge meets Fruit Ninja

Action platformers are a dime a dozen, but very few do it as brilliantly as Ghostrunner. Set in a cyberpunk, dystopian future, Ghostrunner puts you in the shoes of a cybernetic swordsman who needs to climb to the very top of a mega-structure. Along the way, he’ll come across droves of enemies, all armed and dangerous, and multiple bosses. Platforming is the meat and potatoes of the game, and it is fast, precise, and, above all, fun.

You dash through your environment, hacking machines to keep them still as you run across them, or throwing shurikens at power switches to create new openings without losing momentum. As you wall run, slide, dash, and whip your way across the game’s beautifully-constructed platforming levels, you must also dodge enemy bullets and projectiles, thinking on your feet to find ways to reach them without eating a bullet that one-shots you. Endlessly fun, brutally challenging, and breathtakingly gorgeous (especially with ray tracing), Ghostrunner, one of the great free games Epic Games gave out, is easily in the platforming hall of fame.

Conclusion

Hear me out — there are tons of other games that could have been called the greatest, most difficult platformers that you could play. After all, Celeste, Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels, Contra, and Ninja Turtles exist. It’s a shame I haven’t yet touched those, but I’m fully aware that I need to visit these titles if I ever feel like life wasn’t frustrating enough.