Single-Screen Greats: A Curated Montage of the Lost and Loved

YoYo's Puzzle Park, also known as Gussun Paradise, is perhaps the greatest single-screen platformer no one's bothered to play. Here, Lost Nostalgia ponders this odd and wonderous gem, a game that should have revitalized a dying genre, but instead, only foretold its end.

A tease of what could have been...

Penguin Brothers is a single-screen platformer still searching for love. Released in 2000, it remains unknown by most and ignored by the few who do. And yet, it's one of the more innovative examples of its kind...

Inside, we try to explain why it's worth the trouble seeking out these brothers!

Chip Chan Kick!, despite being isolated to Japan and lost to the ill-fated PC-FX console, is a platformer that continues to persist--much like its stubbornly determined protagonists, Chip and Chap! While most SSPs are decidedly light on production values, this game is rich n' drenched in anime goodness, featuring a mix of FMV and fully-spoken cutscenes.

It's like playing an interactive '90s anime! Well, not really...but it's still good!

More coming!

Donkey Kong, in many ways, begat the video game industry, taking early gaming's rudimentary concepts and adding context, a narrative--really, a purpose--however thin and primitive. Here, we celebrate the big ape's (and a certain Jumpman's) first game, looking back at a more innocent time where games were more about the whim, not the grit.

Mario Bros. is an oft-overlooked classic within the Mario milieu; next to karting across 3D landscapes or exploring worlds of impossible wonder, this single-screen platformer seems awfully quaint years later. And yet, it's a fantastic game all the same.

Click inside and see why Mario's first encounter with another world--and Luigi's debut as player 2--still offers an exquisite experience.

ZuPaPa! is fast. It's a single-screen platformer that defies its boundaries, offering one of the genre's speediest, zestiest experiences. And like many games of its era, it's also not afraid to be weird--to serve up a level of quirk rarely encouraged in the modern gaming clime. It's the closest one gets to Sonic the Hedgehog on a single screen.

But with an extra hefty sprinkle of kitsch mixed in!

Bubble Bobble is all but synonymous with the single-screen platformer--when one attempts to describe the genre, Taito's classic is almost always referenced. It's that influential, that ubiquitous, and still that well-recognized even in the modern clime!

And despite the cutesy pretensions, it's also incredibly difficult!

Donut Dodo is a single-screen platformer of panache and personality, replicating the best of early '80s gaming. In some ways, its even outclasses the classics from which it borrows, providing an experience both familiar yet exceedingly fresh. It's a paradoxical fusion of old and new, paying homage to the past while transcending it.

A true modern classic of vintage sensibility.

Rod-Land hides a great secret; despite its seeming arcade simplicity, it's deep. Has a nuanced narrative. Offers a tiered difficulty and dynamic gameplay. And yet, the game remains a specter on the sidelines of video game history--even within the single-screen genre. And that needs to change!

Few single-screen platformers contain the magic, the exuberance, the narrative twists, the seriousness and silliness...of Jaleco's Rod-Land. Read the essay, then get playing!

Snow Bros. might be the most defining entry in the single-screen platformer genre. Countless successors have mimicked its mechanics and chain-centric sensibilities, and today, the game is among the genre's few appreciated and remembered. To see where the SSP experienced its second, early-'90s renaissance, this is the game to play.

Rod-Land brings the arcade classic home to the Amiga, retaining everything that made the original great...except for the entire second act! But no matter. Fans still get what many consider to be the game's quintessential version, a cute n' raucous romp up a treacherous tower with a slew of sweet improvements. With new levels, enhanced enemy attacks, new mechanics--and no slowdown!--this is the Rod-Land many remember...

...and the game many hope will one day get patched for that second half!

Rod-Land, despite being a classic of the 16-bit scene, struggled a bit more on the 8-bit platforms. The graphics compromised, the music subdued--the charm thusly lost--the game just wasn't the same on the lesser systems. Nevertheless, the Famicom, Game Boy, and Commodore 64 editions reinterpret the classic gameplay just enough to be worth exploring. What they lack in graphical grandeur, some might say, they make up for in pure, unapologetic quirk.

Bang Bang Busters is a rare victory: after being cancelled right at completion, it found salvation years later as a sort of premium, boutique release. Unfortunately, this still means most have never played what is one of the better--cleverer--single-screen platformers. Though a bit rough...although, maybe, not quite complete...the quirky plot and unusual mechanics make this a game worthy of attention.

The Fairyland Story signified a change in the genre. Ptolemy, the game's cake-casting witch, wasn't just a means for scoring points. She wasn't just a prop for "hopping-to-the-top." Rather, she had a quest. A purpose. A dragon to defeat. And in a time before Bubble Bobble, this was a big break from the typical formula--a complete recasting, in fact, of the single-screen platformer paradigm.

Imperfect but important, the 1985 classic would soon be usurped by the very games it inspired. But let the record show--before Nick and Tom, before Bub and Bob, there was the Witch.