platform game

noun

plural platform 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) : platformer

Celeste is a hardcore platform game about climbing a mountain. You have three actions: jump, dash, and climb.

—Tim Rogers

The platform game involves tapping the screen to make Mario jump as he collects coins, avoids mushrooms and races to the flagpole.

—Cara McGoogan

Platform games have a uniquely universal appeal. They hearken back to the "golden age" of gaming, and no doubt every gamer has at the very least tried a platform game at some point.

—Robert Collins

Examples of platform game in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Inside Inside is a platform game that starts in a grim and gray forest, which sets the stage for an unsettling and constantly changing landscape. —Tom Warren, The Verge, 25 Dec. 2023

The song was previewed this week in a desktop platform game called Kaxtyn. —Hattie Lindert, Pitchfork, 11 Oct. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1984, in the meaning defined above