Weirdest Platformers on the PS1

Summary

• The PS1 had its share of weird platformers, like Tomba! and Saban’s Iznogoud, which were eccentric but had their unique charm.
• Pandemonium! stood out with dual protagonists, while games like M&M’s Shell Shocked resembled Crash Bandicoot.
• Jersey Devil offered a unique mix of thematic elements, while Skullmonkeys’ deranged claymation style was truly bizarre.

Platformers were big business in the earlier generations of console gaming. Before games like Grand Theft Auto 3 permanently shifted the perspective to the open-world format, platforming was seen as a fitting immersive adventure that could bear any IP. And bear them it did.

By the time the PS1 emerged, developers were scrambling to slap any new skin they could find on the tried-and-tested formula. While titles like Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon helped the console gain significant market appeal, many pretenders didn’t quite move the needle. Let’s delve into the depths of the barrel and explore the weirdest platformers on the PS1.

7

Tomba!

Pig Rustling

Not all the games on this list are outright bad. Tomba! has, in fact, enjoyed a beloved legacy with numerous ports, including a special edition for the current generation of consoles. That still doesn’t excuse the outlandish nature of a feral pink-haired child flinging around the screen at anthropomorphic pigs in a bid to recover his grandfather’s bracelet.

Even by platforming story standards, Tomba! is pretty eccentric. The gameplay is executed at a frenetic pace, with the player frequently ricocheting Tomba around. Combined with the saturated, colorful visuals, it’s borderline overstimulating.

6

Pandemonium!

The Jester and The Sorceress

This cult classic is an early effort from two developers that platformer fans might recognize. It comes from Crystal Dynamics, the studio best known for the Tomb Raider franchise, and Toys For Bob, the developers that revitalized two classic PlayStation platformers with the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Spyro Reignited Trilogy.

Pandemonium! set itself apart from its contemporaries with dual protagonists that players could swap at will. The sorceress Nikki is equipped with a double jump, while the jester Fargus has an additional spin attack. Players will need to combine their skills to restore their colorful world, overcoming dangerous obstacles such as rogue watermelons. It’s that character design that sticks out in Pandemonium!, between Fargus’ harlequin visage and a slew of enemies who look like they escaped from Spore.

5

Saban’s Iznogoud

Nominitive Determinism

Iznogoud is a popular French comic character who has little traction outside his native country. He did prove popular enough, however, to warrant a PS1 platforming adventure for the titular vizier. Saban’s Iznogoud had surprisingly good visuals for the time it was made, but sadly, that’s where the praise ends.

The mechanics were clunky and dated, and the obscurity of the property did little to help it find an audience. For most who were uninitiated, the concept of leaping across magic carpets in a port one minute and throwing projectiles and aliens who juggle their own heads on the moon the next was a little too much to bear.

4

M&M’s Shell Shocked

When Mom Says We Have Crash At Home

• Platforms: PlayStation
• Released: September 28, 2001
• Developer: Boston Animation

Lots of games tried to replicate the huge success of Crash Bandicoot, but M&M’s The Lost Formulas must have just about dodged a cease and desist letter from Sony. Instead, somehow wrangling themselves a PS1 console port in the form of M&M’s Shell Shocked.

The level design is more than a little familiar, and there’s something about the three types of M&M’s crates that litter each level, either breaking, triggering a countdown or exploding on contact. Add to that the M&M’s license plastered across every possible surface, and it’s a wonder this playable advertisement ever got greenlit at all. That said, though, it sticks so close to the formula that it does produce a worthy imitator for anyone looking for more retro Crash.

3

Jersey Devil

Vengeance For The Bat Man

Jersey Devil borrowed some thematic elements from the likes of Crash and Sonic, with a mad doctor conducting experiments. But mechanically, it was closer to Super Mario 64, creating an interesting hybrid in a dark, cryptid-inspired world. The central character, who looks more like an Animaniacs Bat-Man parody than the mythical horror, must wage battle across open-ended 3D levels in order to defeat the villainous doctor who created him.

There were a number of great options for enemy and boss designs, such as other cryptids, for example. Yet for some reason, the developers decided to go down the route of humanoid creatures born out of mutated vegetables and reanimated dinosaurs as the obvious adversaries to the Jersey Devil. It definitely fits the descriptor of weird, but it’s worth checking out for fans of retro platforming.

2

Skullmonkeys

Just Look At It

Skullmonkeys was aiming for weird and shot right past it into deranged. The game uses a distinct claymation art style that it carried over from its prequel game, the equally bizarre point-and-click adventure The Neverhood, which at least makes it instantly recognizable, especially for players trying to repress the nightmare fuel.

To be fair, the developers were trying to sell Skullmonkeys as an outside-the-box experience and leaned into the game’s abundant oddities with level and boss design. The game is notable for one boss, in particular, called Joe Head Joe, whose body comprises a giant photorealistic depiction of the game designer that launches projectiles at the player out of his mouth.

1

Eggs of Steel: Charlie’s Eggcellent Adventure

Factory Maintenance

In this game, Charlie must platform his way through hazardous sections of his work in an attempt to power down the factory he has inadvertently imbued with sentience. So far, so normal, except Charlie is also inexplicably an egg man. That was apparently the elevator pitch for Eggs of Steel: Charlie’s Eggcellent Adventure, which fittingly also makes no sense as a title.

Maybe it’s the unnerving way in which Charlie waddles through levels, particularly in sections facing towards the camera. Maybe it’s the way he frenziedly flings his egg-shaped form around to attack enemies, or perhaps the persistent wooing and cackling soundbites that play every time he performs such actions. Either way, there’s something very unsettling about this game. Those uncanny valley cutscenes will do little to ease the feeling in the moments of respite from gameplay, either.