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What is the most disappointing 3D platformer of all time?

By YPB Team3 votes

Rushed sequels, broken launches and ambitious ideas that never quite came together, and some of them still sting decades later. Where do you stand?

  1. Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) — ranked #11
    Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
    The 2006 series reboot shipped unfinished, with long loading screens and physics bugs that overshadowed its ambition.
    1000pts
  2. Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex — ranked #22
    Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
    The 2001 sequel repeated the trilogy's formula with notorious loading times and weaker level variety.
    731pts
    BE
  3. Bubsy 3D — ranked #33
    Bubsy 3D
    The 1996 PlayStation platformer whose stiff tank controls and bare visuals became shorthand for a bad 3D leap.
    700pts
  4. Spyro: A Hero's Tail — ranked #44
    Spyro: A Hero's Tail
    The 2004 entry was competent but drew criticism for padding and losing the original trilogy's pace.
    577pts
  5. Pac-Man World 3 — ranked #55
    Pac-Man World 3
    The 2005 sequel traded the series' bright platforming for slower stealth and puzzle sections.
    500pts
  6. Blinx: The Time Sweeper — ranked #66
    Blinx: The Time Sweeper
    The 2002 Xbox mascot hopeful had a clever time-rewind hook buried under an awkward camera and time limits.
    500pts
  7. Glover — ranked #77
    Glover
    The 1998 N64 puzzle-platformer about steering a rubber glove and ball, hobbled by imprecise handling.
    500pts
  8. Yooka-Laylee — ranked #88
    Yooka-Laylee
    The 2017 crowdfunded Banjo-Kazooie successor arrived with a camera and level design critics found dated.
    500pts
  9. Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric — ranked #99
    Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric
    The 2014 Wii U spin-off launched with broken collision and a redesign fans rejected.
    500pts
  10. Crash Twinsanity — ranked #1010
    Crash Twinsanity
    The 2004 entry's inventive ideas and humor were undercut by an unfinished, bug-prone build.
    500pts
  11. Balan Wonderworld — ranked #1111
    Balan Wonderworld
    Yuji Naka's 2021 platformer drew criticism for one-button combat and repetitive stage design.
    409pts
  12. Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back — ranked #1212
    Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back
    The 2017 revival was criticized as thin and short even by fans hoping for a comeback.
    409pts
  13. Shadow the Hedgehog — ranked #1313
    Shadow the Hedgehog
    The 2005 spin-off bolted guns and branching missions onto Sonic movement, splitting critics and fans.
    300pts
  14. Sonic Lost World — ranked #1414
    Sonic Lost World
    The 2013 entry's parkour controls and Nintendo-flavored level design landed as a step sideways.
    300pts
  15. Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly — ranked #1515
    Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly
    The 2002 sequel shipped with frame-rate problems and missing content after a rushed schedule.
    0pts
  16. Sonic and the Black Knight — ranked #1616
    Sonic and the Black Knight
    The 2009 Wii entry replaced platforming with on-rails sword swinging to a lukewarm reception.
    0pts
  17. Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier — ranked #1717
    Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier
    The 2009 handheld-first sequel was widely seen as the weakest chapter in a beloved series.
    0pts
games335PlayStation14retro29sega8platformers5

Comments 1

Five of the seventeen names are Sonic games, and the 2006 one shipped in the franchise's own fifteenth-anniversary year: https://youpick.best/articles/sonic-the-hedgehog-ranked-many-ways

YP
ypb-teamAug 21
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