The best modern platform games that use PS1 graphics

Key recommendations

• Super Kiwi 64 offers a simple yet fun platform experience with Energy Cell collection.
• Toree 3D is a colorful platform game with a plot that revolves around recovering the ice cream stolen by Toree.
• Pumpkin Jack offers a Halloween-style platforming adventure reminiscent of Tim Burton's films.

Platform games they've been around almost as long as the games, showing just how popular the genre is among veteran and young players around the world. Some developers prefer to focus their titles entirely on getting from point A to point B while dodging obstacles, while others also combine platforming with combat.

This genre can be very versatile as there are isometric platformers, side-scrollers and many other options that developers can use and players can enjoy. While many developers use modern hardware to give their games outstanding graphics, others prefer to appeal to most gamers' sense of nostalgia and use vintage designs. Here are some of the the best modern platform games using PS1 graphics.

7 Super Kiwi 64

A fun title that looks like Banjo-Kazooie

• Simple but fun premise
• Players must collect energy cells to get their plane back into flying shape

Super Kiwi 64 follows the story of a little brown Kiwi who goes on an adventure. When his plane lands on a mysterious island, he realizes he needs to collect energy cells to repair his plane and leave the island. Although the premise of this title is not complicated in any way, it offers players a very fun platforming experience that will have them collecting various items while exploring the island.

Despite being released in 2022, Super Kiwi 64 it looks like something straight out of the PS1 or Nintendo 64 era.

6 3D bullfighting

Beautiful color palette that is a treat for the eyes

• Toree's ice cream is stolen by Glitchy
• A fun platforming experience

One of the great things about platformers that take inspiration from PS1 vintage games is that they often don't take themselves or their plots too seriously – and that's a good thing. Plot of 3D bullfighting revolves around Toree's ice cream being stolen by the mischievous Glitchy, which causes the former to go through various obstacles to retrieve it.

With a nice color palette and some challenges for players to overcome, this title is a lot of fun to play and reminiscent of some of the best 3D games from the PS1 era.

5 Pumpkin Jack

A fun Halloween-style adventure

• A Halloween color palette that combines tones of orange, green and purple
• Visibly inspired by The Nightmare Before Christmas and the Medieval the franchise

Gamers who love Halloween-themed platformers will be instantly hooked Pumpkin Jack. Not only is this title a lot of fun to play, but it also looks like something straight out of a Tim Burton movie. With notable inspiration taken from The Nightmare Before Christmas and the Medieval franchise, Pumpkin Jack provides an outstanding platform experience.

Granted, the graphics on this title don't quite look like they came from the PS1 era, but they also don't have that modern look that many current games have, leaving it somewhere between vintage and contemporary.

4 Frog

A fun, colorful platformer with beautiful settings

• Renata explores the world with her best friend, a frog-shaped grappling hook
• The game contains elements that could classify it as both a PS1 game and a PS2 game

Like other titles on this list, Frog it doesn't have a very complex plot, but it manages to give players an outstanding platforming experience. The game focuses on Renata, a little girl who travels through a mystical world with the help of her best friend, a frog-shaped grappling hook.

Although it could be argued that Frog it features the freedom and visual stylistic choices that could put it in the same category as the 3D platformers on the PS2, it also retains other elements that make it fit this list and would have made it a great PS1 title as well.

3 Kaze and the Wild Masks

A side scroller with a lot to offer

• Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Windows, Linux, Google Stadia, macOS
• Released: March 26, 2021
• Developer(s): PixelHive
• Gender(s): Platform game, Adventure game
• Kaze accidentally unleashes a calamity on his homeland
• The game starts off easy but quickly increases in difficulty

While the PS1 already featured some 3D platformers that allowed for many different choices in where to move and how to explore the world, side-scrolling was also very popular at the time. Kaze and the Wild Masks builds heavily on this and offers players a fun side-scrolling adventure full of different enemies, colorful areas, and interesting combat mechanics.

While not the most difficult platformer, this title is known for looking simple at first and shifting into fifth gear within the first few hours, presenting players with considerable challenges early on.

2 Macbeth 64

A game that aims to combine all the beloved elements of games from a golden age

• Music, gameplay and bonus levels reminiscent of the Nintendo 64 and PS1 era
• The game appeals heavily to the nostalgia of veteran players from the 90s

While other games on this list seem to be simply inspired by PS1 graphics, Macbeth 64 takes this to a whole other level. Not only does this title have the classic look of games from the PS1 and Nintendo 64 era, but it also offers players gameplay, music, and even bonus levels that feel true to the consoles.

Gamers who miss that nostalgic feeling of waking up on a Saturday morning and firing up their favorite PS1 game will love playing Macbeth 64 and the various fun things it has to offer.

1 Lunistics

A fun adventure through the interesting dreams of a mind

• Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Windows
• Released: September 2, 2022
• Developer(s): A grumpy fox
• Gender(s): Platform game, Adventure game
• Vibrant color palette
• The various settings in Hana's dreams feel unique and complete

Lunistics is a vibrant and lively platformer that focuses on Hana Tanuki on an adventure through her dreams. Like other platformers, this title is pretty linear, but that doesn't mean it isn't fun or lacks elements to make it interesting.

While it's obvious that the game was designed to look like a vintage title rather than feel like one, it's still a blast to explore Hana's dreams and face the various challenges players will encounter along the way. Also, the color palette is gorgeous and works really well with the overall concept.