by
Evan Norris
, posted 1 day ago / 2,074 Views
2025 was a banner year for platformers, particularly action-platformers. Donkey Kong Bananza thrilled fans with its clever traversal and deforming mechanics; Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound elevated nostalgic NES ideas with modern designs and controls; The Rogue Prince of Persia blended 2D parkour with story-driven progression; and Shinobi: Art of Vengeance made a splash thanks to its deep combat framework and fluid movement.
The Shortlist:
Donkey Kong Bananza
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound
The Rogue Prince of Persia
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance
The Runner-Up:
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound
Many modern action-platformers aspire to blend old-school ideas with new-school sensibilities, but few achieve the balance of Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound. It retains the pick-up-and-play accessibility and replayability of the NES trilogy, but enhances it greatly with deeper combat, more agile platforming, and gorgeous, polished pixel art. In every way — mechanically, visually, and viscerally — it does justice to the legendary franchise.
The Winner:
Donkey Kong Bananza
Donkey Kong Bananza represents something of a risk for Nintendo, both mechanically and commercially. Instead of going for a prototypical 3D platformer, and instead of leaning on the far more bankable Mario, the company opted for an unusual action game focused on open-world exploration and destruction, starring Donkey Kong, who hadn’t headlined a 3D platformer in 26 years. Luckily, the risk paid off: Bananza is one of Nintendo’s best, most creative platformers, which is saying something.
Its greatness is due in large part to its focus on traversal and destruction. Indeed, it’s hard to overestimate how liberating and euphoric it is just moving around in Bananza. You can scurry up walls and steep cliffs, you can rip chunks of material from the ground with abandon, and you can burrow and punch through almost anything. Heck, you can even tear up a piece of the terrain and “surf” on top of it. It’s audacious, whimsical, and empowering, all at once.
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