Pick 5 favourites from these pairs of linear 2D gaming goodness from the 16-bit era, era. I love all of them but qué sera, sera. (Bars)

[Discontent]

Nintendo, Sega, Treasure, Konami, Capcom and Rare. These are the mofos that kept my eyes glued to the television the most during my childhood lol. If you have a problem with the poll options then why don't we meet outside and thumb wrestle if you think you're so tough. These were the games I grew up with and I'd be interested to see how the poll rides out. Don't turn this into a SNES vs Genesis thread, that was not my intention cause I love literally all these games. I've even grouped Contras from each console together and included Rondo of Blood cause I think that is the strongest 16 bit Castlevania. Think of it as a celebration of these kings of 2D gaming from that era and just pick your 5 favourites; that's all there is to it.

Here's how I would rank the ones I will choose:

Gunstar Heroes/Alien Soldier
Contra
Mario
Mega Man
Sonic

As hard as it is to leave out the other two, these were the games that I have the strongest memories of and the ones that I am most likely to replay. I lean towards more action oriented stuff and the Treasure games and Contra are my favourite of those cause they were pure 80's action/horror film vibes distilled into pure 2D gaming bliss. I had many a good time playing through both Contras at the time with my best friend.

Tell us which you chose and your history with these games. Also you can let us know which order you rank your choices in, and what you think of those you couldn't choose.

 

[Tailzo]

Sonic 2/Sonic 3 and Knuckles I played these games to death as a kid, and I sill go back to them often. If you want to play them today, use Sonic 3 air for Sonic 3 & Knuckles (Buy the Steam copy, then google Sonic 3 AIR). For Sonic 2 Taxmans widescreen version for mobile only was ported to PC. So buy the android version, extract it and play it in widescreen on pc. It's wonderful!

Sonic 3 & Knuckles is unrivaled when it comes to having 3 different characters perfectly playable in mostly the same levels with tons of branching paths, some different bosses and an epic storyline without a single line of text or voice.

Gunstar Heroes is great, but I am not a big fan of Alien Soldier. If the combo was Gunstar Heroes and Guardian Heroes it could rival the Sonic combo. As for Treasure 16 bit games, even Yu Yu Hakusho Makyō Tōitsusen or the MC Donalds game I enjoyed more.

 

[NANA]

I picked Sonic 2/3&K because I love Sonic games in general.

I adore SMW but YI is eh, same thing with DKC, I really like the original but the sequels are too iterative and you don't get to play as DK in them.

 

[Mugman]

Donkey Kong is my number one choice - I recently replayed both of these on the Switch, and while 2 is just as much of a masterpiece as I remember, 3 shocked me with how fantastic it was having not played it in forever. It's not quite as strong as 2 overall, but its gimmicks are really impressive for an SNES platformer, and it has better boss fights.

Mario World and Yoshi's Island at number two. Realistically they should be number one, but I've played them dozens of times so they don't hit me the same way anymore.

Castlevania is number 3. Rondo of Blood is pretty close to being my favorite game on this list period, but 4 is a weaker entry in the series for me (despite it being the one I have the most nostalgia for). DKC and Mario just have better pairings overall, though if you replaced 4 with Bloodlines this might be a different story.

Mega Man at 4. Kind of like Castlevania above, I think the first X is downright incredible, but X3 was pretty weak for me when I played the X Collection a couple years ago; I think X2 and X4 are both far better games overall. If this was more of an individual game ranking though, X is damn near the top of this list.

I went with Sonic as my fifth. The series doesn't mean as much to me now as it did when I was a kid, but the soundtracks are worth it alone. And frankly I never cared much for Contra, and I've never played Alien Solider (though I think it'd be pretty up my alley).

 

[Redcrayon]

Megaman, Contra and Castlevania were my jam as far as sidescrollers went in the 90s, Megaman in particular. So many of the games and I loved how it felt like some of the weapons were cheat codes for certain sections. The precise controls, difficulty felt just right, and they were both cute and tough. I'd draw the robot masters endlessly, Mega Man pretty much is the NES/SNES to me, even more so than Mario 3.

I liked Mario but not as much as Mega Man. I wasn't anywhere near as keen on Sonic and Donkey Kong Country in comparison (although I remember thinking they looked amazing when I played them). Gunstar Heroes I didn't get to play until the Wii virtual console- I'm sure I would have adored it had I played it at the time! I was more into Dynamite Headdy and Streets of Rage on the Megadrive.

 

[Discontent]

Donkey Kong is my number one choice - I recently replayed both of these on the Switch, and while 2 is just as much of a masterpiece as I remember, 3 shocked me with how fantastic it was having not played it in forever. It's not quite as strong as 2 overall, but its gimmicks are really impressive for an SNES platformer, and it has better boss fights.

Mario World and Yoshi's Island at number two. Realistically they should be number one, but I've played them dozens of times so they don't hit me the same way anymore.

Castlevania is number 3. Rondo of Blood is pretty close to being my favorite game on this list period, but 4 is a weaker entry in the series for me (despite it being the one I have the most nostalgia for). DKC and Mario just have better pairings overall, though if you replaced 4 with Bloodlines this might be a different story.

Mega Man at 4. Kind of like Castlevania above, I think the first X is downright incredible, but X3 was pretty weak for me when I played the X Collection a couple years ago; I think X2 and X4 are both far better games overall. If this was more of an individual game ranking though, X is damn near the top of this list.

I went with Sonic as my fifth. The series doesn't mean as much to me now as it did when I was a kid, but the soundtracks are worth it alone. And frankly I never cared much for Contra, and I've never played Alien Solider (though I think it'd be pretty up my alley).

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Yea I totally get you with regards to Bloodlines and X2. It was a tough choice choosing which Mega Man and Castlevania tbh. I really like all of them but SCIV was the one I played most recently so it just stuck out and I've always liked X3 slightly better.

 

[EarthPainting]

I'm going for Mega Man X, Super Mario, Castlevania, and abstain from my last two picks. I never really cared for the others.

Mega Man's on top for me, simply because its moveset jells well with me. I think X2 and X3 are far lesser games than the original X, but even at its worst, it just feels good to control X. Its dashing and wall climbing kind of defined how I like to interact with 2D platformers. The unlockable power ups and Maverick powers also adds a lot of variety to your moveset.

Mario World and Yoshi's Island are good, but didn't really get off on the right foot for me. I was pretty disappointed that the series moved away from the copious amounts of power-ups from SMB3, and went less hard on the quirky stage gimmicks. Yoshi's Island makes up for it though by being almost entirely based on gimmicks, and it's great. I'm always surprised how much harder this game is than I remember though.

Castlevania 4 and especially Rondo are some the best iterations of that flavour of Castlevania. They're good, but I can't deny I prefer Bloodlines over both of them. And on top of that, I strongly prefer the SotN style games even more over all of them.

 

[Discontent]

I'm going for Mega Man X, Super Mario, Castlevania, and abstain from my last two picks. I never really cared for the others.

Mega Man's on top for me, simply because its moveset jells well with me. I think X2 and X3 are far lesser games than the original X, but even at its worst, it just feels good to control X. Its dashing and wall climbing kind of defined how I like to interact with 2D platformers. The unlockable power ups and Maverick powers also adds a lot of variety to your moveset.

Mario World and Yoshi's Island are good, but didn't really get off on the right foot for me. I was pretty disappointed that the series moved away from the copious amounts of power-ups from SMB3, and went less hard on the quirky stage gimmicks. Yoshi's Island makes up for it though by being almost entirely based on gimmicks, and it's great. I'm always surprised how much harder this game is than I remember though.

Castlevania 4 and especially Rondo are some the best iterations of that flavour of Castlevania. They're good, but I can't deny I prefer Bloodlines over both of them. And on top of that, I strongly prefer the SotN style games even more over all of them.

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Still a very respectable top 3. Completely agree that SOTN style of castlevanias are way better and what you said about Yoshi's Island being more gimmicky is why DKC3 has always been my favourite DKC; you never knew what to expect in the next stage

 

[Discontent]

It seems everytime I make a poll my personal favourites tend to get less votes lmao while smh. I made a 2000's FPS thread where my girl Perfect Dark got destroyed then Quake got only a few votes in the 90's thread. And now Contra and the Treasure games are lagging behind. Only DMC4 stays winning, as it has every right to, in the DMC thread.

 

[Discontent]

Let's get Contra to the top. It deserves better than this, even with all these other titans there.

 

[oxymoron]

Only needed one vote - the Mario games "clicked" with me in a way that none of the other platformers on the list ever did. I'll play a DKC or a Mega Man once in a while, but I don't really have any attachment at all to those.

Don't have any kind of history with Gunstar and Contra. I actively dislike the Sonic games, and whenever I try the Castlevania games, I want them to be Symphony of the Night, not what they actually like.