platformer

noun

plat·​form·​er ˈplat-ˌfȯr-mər 

variants or less commonly platformer game

plural platformers also platformer games

: a video game where the play is primarily focused on moving past obstacles in real time with one's avatar by using various abilities (such as jumping and climbing) and items (such as weapons)

Mario games have traditionally been platformers, where the character has to run and jump, collect items and fight enemies.

—Raju Mudhar

… Stray is not a challenging platformer, but will instead let players safely jump from platform to beam to air conditioning window unit to makeshift gondolas without fear of falling to one's death.

—Michael McWhertor

It's a 2D platformer where you spray flames with water, use your axe to chop down obstacles, and even fly through the air with a jet of H₂O.

—Shaun Musgrave

She can walk and run and jump, like just about any other character from any other platformer game, but she is also capable of balletic dance moves.

—Colin Campbell

called also platform game

Examples of platformer in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Currently on my slate: a sci-fi journalism simulator in which the protagonist is a robot reporter, an action title that puts a gun in a crab’s claw and a platformer that gives grappling hooks to dogs. —Kris Holt, Forbes, 22 Nov. 2024

Lego Horizon Adventures is a delight, blending slapstick and action in the platformer. —Felecia Wellington Radel, USA TODAY, 21 Nov. 2024

For a time in the 1990s and 2000s, mascot platformers like Mario and Sonic were on top of the world. —Lewis Gordon, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2024

Fans of platformers, 2D brawlers, and memes will all get a kick out of this series. —Robert Carnevale, WIRED, 8 Apr. 2020

Word History

First Known Use

1988, in the meaning defined above