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Most of us will have cut our teeth on platforming games of some kind. Children of the late eighties will have grown up with iconic titles like Super Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog, while slightly younger gamers may have fonder memories of collecting wumpa fruit as Crash Bandicoot, or mucking around online during the early days of flash gaming.Since Donkey Kong in 1981, the gaming industry has been pumping out platformer after platformer. While the majority of these have been rubbish, this article is hopefully going to introduce you to three of the diamonds in the rough that you may have missed.

N Ninja game

N is a free game produced by Metanet software. N has seen various incarnations and versions during its fifteen year lifespan, but at its core, the game puts the player in control of the titular N ninja, who can only run and jump to make his way to victory. N is a game with an excellent sense of flow and balance. The game is challenging without ever feeling unfair. You will quite likely lose hours of your life to this game.

Super Meat Boy

Super Meat Boy is available for the 360, Wii and PC. This platformer is a little bit tougher than N, often bordering on an almost Battletoadian level of difficulty. Somehow though, this game always manages to feel good, even while kicking your ass over and over (and over)

Psychonauts

It is amazing how few people are aware of Psychonauts, even now ten years after its original PC and PS2 release. Psychonauts is a very clever and funny romp through the inner workings of the human psyche. The player enters the mental landscape of other character’s minds, overcoming puzzles and problems to discover information or to resolve inner conflict. It would be a crime not to grab this one on steam