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The best cheap platformers, ranked for value

The platformer is the genre where small teams do their best work — and where cheap and brilliant overlap most often. The best of them, ranked for value, with a skip pick.

By Stephen V.Deal hunter & value analystPublished August 7, 2026How we pick

#ad— Penny & Pixel is reader-funded. We earn a commission when you buy through our links, at no extra cost to you. It never changes a pick or a verdict. Full disclosure.

A hand-drawn 2D platformer scene — best cheap platformers

The platformer is the genre where small teams do their very best work, and it is where "cheap" and "brilliant" overlap most often. Precision platformers, sprawling metroidvanias, run-and-gun boss rushes and couch-co-op romps — the best of them cost a fraction of a new release and hold up for years. This list ranks them by value-per-dollar.

Every pick shows its live, date-stamped price, and the list ends with a pick to skip. Two of these — Hollow Knight and Dead Cells — also sit at the top of our indie games under $10 list, and we compare the two head-to-head in Hollow Knight vs Dead Cells.

The short answer

Quick picks

#GameBest forValuePrice
01
Celeste
Celeste

Nintendo Switch

A precision platformer with one of the best stories in the medium and an assist mode that lets anyone finish it. Tremendous value at its usual price.

Best platformer under $20
9.1/10
Value
$19.89Amazon
02
Hollow Knight
Hollow Knight

Nintendo Switch

A gorgeous, enormous hand-drawn adventure that regularly outsizes games ten times its price. Forty-plus hours of tight exploration and combat for about fifteen dollars.

Best big adventure on a budget
9.5/10
Value
$14.99Amazon
03
Cuphead
Cuphead

Nintendo Switch

A hand-inked 1930s-cartoon boss-rush that looks like nothing else and plays like a gauntlet. Endlessly replayable and shines in local co-op.

Best co-op challenge
8.8/10
Value
$19.00Amazon
04
Dead Cells
Dead Cells

Nintendo Switch

A razor-sharp roguelike-metroidvania that has been patched and expanded for years. The definition of a game you keep coming back to.

Best pick-up-and-play roguelike
9.0/10
Value
$24.99Amazon
05
Sonic Mania Plus
Sonic Mania Plus

Nintendo Switch

The best Sonic in decades — a lovingly built 2D throwback that plays better than the nostalgia it's selling. The Plus edition is the one still in print, and it adds Encore Mode on top of the original game.

Best retro-style platformer
8.4/10
Value
$29.19Amazon
06
Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition
Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition

Nintendo Switch

One of the best 2D platformers ever built, with 120+ levels and four-player co-op. Watch the price — it's superb value on sale, mediocre at full.

Best platformer for families
8.5/10
Value
$23.90Amazon
07
Human: Fall Flat
Human: Fall Flat

Nintendo Switch

A floppy-physics puzzle-platformer that turns into pure comedy in co-op. Cheap, endlessly memeable, and packed with free levels.

Best co-op laughs for the money
8.6/10
Value
$19.99Amazon

#ad · Live prices from the Amazon Product API, as of Sep 5, 2026. Where we have no verified live price, we show none — we would rather leave a gap than print a number that has rotted.

In detail

The picks, in full

01
Celeste

Best platformer under $20

Celeste

Nintendo Switch · Digital code

Platformer8–12 hrs1 playerDigital
9.1/10
Value

A precision platformer with one of the best stories in the medium and an assist mode that lets anyone finish it. Tremendous value at its usual price.

Pros

  • Tight, fair, brilliant level design
  • Moving, genuinely well-written story
  • Assist mode makes it as easy or hard as you want

Cons

  • Short if you skip the brutal bonus content
  • Default difficulty is demanding

Don't buy this if…

…you dislike reflex-based platforming — even with assists, the core loop is jump-and-die-and-retry.

$19.89View on Amazon

Price as of Sep 5, 2026. Prices change — Amazon's is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Celeste

02
Hollow Knight

Best big adventure on a budget

Hollow Knight

Nintendo Switch · Digital code

Metroidvania40+ hrs1 playerDigital
9.5/10
Value

A gorgeous, enormous hand-drawn adventure that regularly outsizes games ten times its price. Forty-plus hours of tight exploration and combat for about fifteen dollars.

Pros

  • Vast interconnected world with genuine discovery
  • Precise, satisfying combat
  • Astonishing amount of content for the price

Cons

  • Genuinely difficult
  • Deliberately sparse map/guidance

Don't buy this if…

…you bounce off hard games or want your hand held — this one makes you earn it.

$14.99View on Amazon

Price as of Sep 5, 2026. Prices change — Amazon's is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Hollow Knight

03
Cuphead

Best co-op challenge

Cuphead

Nintendo Switch · Digital code

Run-and-gun10–15 hrs1–2 playersDigital
8.8/10
Value

A hand-inked 1930s-cartoon boss-rush that looks like nothing else and plays like a gauntlet. Endlessly replayable and shines in local co-op.

Pros

  • Jaw-dropping hand-drawn art
  • Excellent two-player co-op
  • High replay value

Cons

  • Very hard
  • Boss-heavy structure isn't for everyone

Don't buy this if…

…difficulty frustrates you — Cuphead is a wall of tough bosses by design.

$19.00View on Amazon

$19.995% off

Price as of Sep 5, 2026. Prices change — Amazon's is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Cuphead

04
Dead Cells

Best pick-up-and-play roguelike

Dead Cells

Nintendo Switch · Digital code

RoguelikeEndless1 playerDigital
9.0/10
Value

A razor-sharp roguelike-metroidvania that has been patched and expanded for years. The definition of a game you keep coming back to.

Pros

  • Superb, fluid combat
  • Huge amount of free post-launch content
  • Perfect in short bursts

Cons

  • Permadeath runs frustrate some
  • Deep systems take a while to click

Don't buy this if…

…you hate starting over — the whole loop is die, learn, run again.

$24.99View on Amazon

Price as of Sep 5, 2026. Prices change — Amazon's is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Dead Cells

05
Sonic Mania Plus

Best retro-style platformer

Sonic Mania Plus

Nintendo Switch · Physical

Platformer6–10 hrs + Encore Mode1–4 playersPhysical
8.4/10
Value

The best Sonic in decades — a lovingly built 2D throwback that plays better than the nostalgia it's selling. The Plus edition is the one still in print, and it adds Encore Mode on top of the original game.

Pros

  • Gorgeous pixel art and animation
  • Tight classic-Sonic physics
  • Adds Encore Mode, Mighty and Ray, and four-player Competition

Cons

  • Short main run
  • Leans heavily on old-Sonic nostalgia

Don't buy this if…

…you never liked classic 2D Sonic — this is a love letter to exactly that.

$29.19View on Amazon

Price as of Sep 5, 2026. Prices change — Amazon's is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Sonic Mania Plus

06
Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition

Best platformer for families

Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition

Nintendo Switch · Physical

Platformer15–20 hrs1–4 playersPhysical
8.5/10
Value

One of the best 2D platformers ever built, with 120+ levels and four-player co-op. Watch the price — it's superb value on sale, mediocre at full.

Pros

  • Beautiful, endlessly inventive levels
  • Four-player local co-op
  • Tons of content

Cons

  • Full price is high for the genre
  • Music levels aren't for everyone

Don't buy this if…

…it's near full price — this is a wait-for-a-sale pick, not a full-price buy.

$23.90View on Amazon

$25.948% off

Price as of Sep 5, 2026. Prices change — Amazon's is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition

07
Human: Fall Flat

Best co-op laughs for the money

Human: Fall Flat

Nintendo Switch · Digital code

Physics puzzle6–10 hrs1–2 playersDigital
8.6/10
Value

A floppy-physics puzzle-platformer that turns into pure comedy in co-op. Cheap, endlessly memeable, and packed with free levels.

Pros

  • Deliberately hilarious physics
  • Loads of free community levels
  • Very cheap on sale

Cons

  • Wobbly controls are the point but frustrate some
  • Thin solo

Don't buy this if…

…you want precise controls — the clumsy ragdoll is the entire joke.

$19.99View on Amazon

Price as of Sep 5, 2026. Prices change — Amazon's is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Human: Fall Flat

The honest part

What to skip

Skip · A generic mascot platformer with a big marketing push

The trap in this genre is the glossy, heavily-advertised mascot platformer that reviews as "fine" and launches at full price. It is competent and forgettable, and it will be half price within months while the games on this list stay beloved for years.

The platformer is a genre where craft matters more than budget, and the cheap classics here out-design almost anything with a marketing campaign behind it. Buy the tight, proven pick, not the shiny one on the storefront banner.

Buy instead: Celeste or Hollow Knight.

What makes a platformer worth buying cheap

Platformers live or die on feel, and feel does not cost money to get right. Here is what we weighed on every pick.

Tight controls above all

The single most important thing in a platformer is that the jump feels perfect. A game like Celeste is a masterclass: every death feels fair, every input lands exactly where you meant it. A platformer with floaty or unreliable controls is not worth any price. (The one exception is Human: Fall Flat, where clumsy physics is the entire joke.)

Metroidvania vs level-based

Two very different platformer shapes sit on this list. Hollow Knight is a vast interconnected world you explore in order; Celeste and Sonic Maniaare discrete levels you master one at a time. Neither is better — pick the shape you enjoy, because it changes the whole experience.

Difficulty, and whether it is optional

Several of these are genuinely hard. Celeste offers a full assist mode that lets anyone finish it; Cupheaddoes not, and is a wall of tough bosses by design. Be honest about your patience and check the "don't buy if" note on each card before you commit.

Co-op turns a good platformer into a great night

A handful here shine in local co-op — Cuphead, Rayman Legends and Human: Fall Flat all get better with a friend on the couch. If you want the wider co-op list, see cheap games to play with friends.

How we picked

We don't test games in a lab

Most "best cheap games" lists just re-rank the same store page. We don't, and we won't pretend to run a test lab we don't have. What we do: compile the real current and historical-low prices, the actual playtime and replay data, and the sale cycle — then do the value math and tell you what to skip. The full method is on how we pick. Everything here is checkable.

Questions

Frequently asked

01What's the best cheap platformer?
For most people, Celeste — near-perfect controls, one of the best stories in the medium, and an assist mode that lets anyone finish it. If you want a bigger world to explore, Hollow Knight is the pick.
02Are these too hard for beginners?
Some are demanding, but difficulty is often optional. Celeste has a full assist mode; Rayman Legends and Human: Fall Flat are forgiving and family-friendly. Cuphead and the harder edges of Celeste and Hollow Knight are the ones that ask the most of you — every card lists exactly who should skip it.
03Which are best for co-op?
Cuphead, Rayman Legends and Human: Fall Flat all have excellent local co-op. For the full couch list, see cheap co-op games.

Keep reading

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Sources

Where this comes from