It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
Abe's Odysee, Abe's Exodus.

Wonderful story, characters that are easy to love (or hate) Easy to learn controls and the graphics and sound hold up really well. It is still really REALLY prettyl

If I had to introduce someone to scrolling platformer games, Abe is where I'd start. Appropriate for a youngster, lots of subtle humor for the grumps.

Buy the 1st one and be spoiled forever on most side-scrollers. :)
avatar
mrcrispy83: Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap (haven't played Monster Boy, but I think it's supposed to be a bit harder?)
Rayman series (maybe not the first one, since it was harder than the rest. the modern reboots are pretty popular too)
Shantae series
Steamworld Dig
Wonder boy beggining boss is weirdly hard for me.
avatar
ZFR: I've heard people saying that, but I found it relatively easy to be honest (not as hard as Commander Keen 1-3 for example). And maybe even my most favourite of the lot. Personally I found Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure to be the annoyingly hard one and the only one of the Apogee scrollers I disliked.
Cosmo's Adventures were nice to look at, unfortunately, we couldn't really see what is in front of us because of how the camera worked. Thus, plenty of the runs ended up with us jumping into a hole or getting hurt by an enemy. I remember not being able to finish some of the levels until I knew the layout and tricky parts.

In Crystal Caves, I used to simply avoid some of the caves, since I wasn't able to finish them, no matter how many attempts and tears I sacrificed. Maybe I was doing them in a wrong order? It's been a while.
avatar
mrcrispy83: Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap (haven't played Monster Boy, but I think it's supposed to be a bit harder?)
Rayman series (maybe not the first one, since it was harder than the rest. the modern reboots are pretty popular too)
Shantae series
Steamworld Dig
avatar
BeatriceElysia: Wonder boy beggining boss is weirdly hard for me.
Talking about the one in the intro that you can't use? Or are you talking about the one later, at which point it's possible to have up to 3 hears.

(By the way, be aware that if you fight a boss with retro graphics, the screen will flash red when you hit the boss, which could trigger seizures in some players. If that is an issue for you, make sure you're using the modern graphics for those boss fights (you can switch at any time).)
Most the great recommendations have already been said, but I'll comment anyways as 2D platforms and metroidvania's are some of my all time favorites,

I agree that Steamworld Dig 1&2 are both amazing, very chill feel overall. The second game is a direct sequel and better put together, but the first is still worth playing.

VVVVVV is just plain fun (and cheap). Main game is fairly straightforward, only getting all the extras is difficult and it has a fantastic sound track to boot.

While I really enjoyed Bloodstained and would say it's well worth anyone's time, it does require learning boss patterns and likely some grinding for it's RPG mechanics.

The RPG style Wonderboy games are some of my most replayed games. Very well put together. Used to be able to get all the earlier ones on the Wii Virtual Console. I believe there are only a few for PC digital sale though. Wonderboy 3:The Dragon's Trap (GOG/Steam) [One of my all time favorites], Monster boy and the cursed Kingdom (GOG/Steam) [Fantastic fan Game done with the original developers blessing], Wonderyboy in Monsterworld(Steam-Genesis Emulation).

On the topic of the Sega Genesis, there were many good 2D platforms for that system and you can pick up a good variety for cheap either on steam (The 2D Sonic Games which I believe that Jazz Jackrabbit was trying to compete with) or on the genesis mini (Including Monster World IV which is another in the Wonderboy series but with a female protagonist, Genesis mini only).

Treasure Adventure Game is indeed a fun free game, the developer also finished a remake of it a bit ago called Treasure Adventure World which runs better and is more polished overall,

The old Apogee games I definitely have nostalgia for, but they have aged quite a bit. For example many of the games use the old PC speaker (Beeps and Boops). They usually have light to medium platforming with light puzzle solving involved. Fun games, and I still enjoy Secret Agent.

Oh and if she does enjoy Puzzle Platforming you can get Lost Vikings and Blackthorne for free off the Blizzard site https://www.blizzard.com/en-us/download?show=classic . The Trine Series here on GOG is kinda in the same genre as the Lost Vikings but much newer,

Hmmm, what else. Oh Disney's remakes of both DuckTales and Castle Of Illusion (Steam) are well worth playing, though check the System requirements. The Disney Classic Game collection of Aladdin and Lion King is also here on GOG, but I haven't personally played it.

....Just noticed you also asked for some great adventure games too. I'll keep this list shorter.
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (Seriously a must play)
Broken Sword (The first is especially a classic and the newer edition shows all the clickable hot spots for easier play)
Heroine's Quest (Free on Steam, A great hybrid RPG/Adventure game based on Norse mythology. Get it, it's amazing)
Post edited June 02, 2020 by crimson_twilight
The Pedestrian
avatar
mrcrispy83: Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap (haven't played Monster Boy, but I think it's supposed to be a bit harder?)
Rayman series (maybe not the first one, since it was harder than the rest. the modern reboots are pretty popular too)
Shantae series
Steamworld Dig
Monster boy has a massive difficulty spike in clouds, ruined it for me.
Shantae is two separate blocks, pirates curse for instance is more metroidvania, half genie hero appears to be more plain platformer.
avatar
BeatriceElysia: Wonder boy beggining boss is weirdly hard for me.
avatar
dtgreene: Talking about the one in the intro that you can't use? Or are you talking about the one later, at which point it's possible to have up to 3 hears.

(By the way, be aware that if you fight a boss with retro graphics, the screen will flash red when you hit the boss, which could trigger seizures in some players. If that is an issue for you, make sure you're using the modern graphics for those boss fights (you can switch at any time).)
The one in into. It requires precision I'm not accustomed to. Monster Boy difficulty spikes, hell yeah. Good fun time till then.
avatar
ZFR: Try some of the Apogee classics. I liked Crystal Caves, Secret Agent, Hocus Pocus, Duke Nukem 2.
Crystal Caves is a childhood classic of mine. I only had the shareware episode of course, but I played it many times.
avatar
ZFR: Try some of the Apogee classics. I liked Crystal Caves, Secret Agent, Hocus Pocus, Duke Nukem 2.
avatar
SirMrFailRomp: Crystal Caves is a childhood classic of mine. I only had the shareware episode of course, but I played it many times.
Some say that the episodes that require the registered version are not as good as the shareware episode.
avatar
dtgreene: Some say that the episodes that require the registered version are not as good as the shareware episode.
I've heard that said of other shareware games too. I guess the devs put all their best ideas and work into the free episode to make sales.

I played Last Half of Darkness part 1 many times as a child. When I eventually found part 2 on an abandonware site I found it pretty disappointing compared to part 1.

Anyway, I digress.
Post edited June 02, 2020 by SirMrFailRomp
avatar
nightcraw1er.488: ...
Shantae is two separate blocks, pirates curse for instance is more metroidvania, half genie hero appears to be more plain platformer.
Half-genie Hero is divided into distinct levels, that is correct. There is a world map where you select which level you want to visit next.

Besides the lack of a large "directly" interconnected world, it plays like a metroidvania in that you revisit levels multiple times after gaining new abilities to access previously inaccessible paths. So, from this point of view, it felt pretty much metroidvania to me (again, excluding the traditional single huge map philosophy).

Also, to be honest, I kind of liked the fact that you can exit levels at any time, return to the map and select another level to visit. I personally used it as a fast-travel feature (no need to replay whole levels to get to a completely different area).
avatar
dtgreene: Some say that the episodes that require the registered version are not as good as the shareware episode.
avatar
SirMrFailRomp: I've heard that said of other shareware games too. I guess the devs put all their best ideas and work into the free episode to make sales.

I played Last Half of Darkness part 1 many times as a child. When I eventually found part 2 on an abandonware site I found it pretty disappointing compared to part 1.

Anyway, I digress.
I am also aware of shareware games that, after release, had extra content added for registered users only; Tyrian is an example of this. (Episode 1 was available for free, Episodes 2-5 you had to pay for, and the Episodes 4 and 5 were not originally in th e game. In fact, you can tell that the last stage of Episode 3 feels like a final level; it's quite challenging, and your ship is likely to be maxed out or close to it at that point.)
avatar
dtgreene: Some say that the episodes that require the registered version are not as good as the shareware episode.
avatar
SirMrFailRomp: I've heard that said of other shareware games too. I guess the devs put all their best ideas and work into the free episode to make sales.
I had that with other shareware titles too. I remember playing Hocus Pocus and Wacky Wheels, Duke Nukem 2 (and others) sharewares as a kid and thinking "Wow. Best games ever. If the sharewares are so good, the full ones will blow my mind. Can't wait to try them." Of course getting those full games wasn't so easy then.

When (mid to late 2000s) I finally got them and played them, I was... meh. Don't get me wrong, I loved them, But they were just a continuation of the shareware. A bit new items/enemies, but mostly more of the same.

I guess partly this is because as you said, most of the novel ideas were put into the shareware, but the other reason was because we were well kids when we played the sharewares. Video-game time was doled out. I played these games with my siblings, and sometimes with friends. When I played the full version as an adult, I could just play for several hours at a time. And usually by myself. It wasn't the same.

(Crystal Caves was one of the games that I didn't play as a shareware back then - just played the whole lot when 3D Realms released their whole classic anthology).
avatar
ZFR: I had that with other shareware titles too. I remember playing Hocus Pocus and Wacky Wheels, Duke Nukem 2 (and others) sharewares as a kid and thinking "Wow. Best games ever. If the sharewares are so good, the full ones will blow my mind. Can't wait to try them." Of course getting those full games wasn't so easy then.

When (mid to late 2000s) I finally got them and played them, I was... meh. Don't get me wrong, I loved them, But they were just a continuation of the shareware. A bit new items/enemies, but mostly more of the same.

I guess partly this is because as you said, most of the novel ideas were put into the shareware, but the other reason was because we were well kids when we played the sharewares. Video-game time was doled out. I played these games with my siblings, and sometimes with friends. When I played the full version as an adult, I could just play for several hours at a time. And usually by myself. It wasn't the same.

(Crystal Caves was one of the games that I didn't play as a shareware back then - just played the whole lot when 3D Realms released their whole classic anthology).
Yeah, I definitely remember a point in my life when any-and-all computer games were exciting just by virtue of being computer games. As you say, playing time was limited and opportunities to get new games were as well.

It's nice to know you enjoyed Crystal Caves later without the benefit of nostalgia. I bought the full version here on GOG but I haven't really got around to playing it.