No matter how technically impressive (i.e. convoluted) games get, I will always consider side-scrolling platformers to be my favorite kind of game. Their strictly 2D style does tend to limit them a bit, but developers often make up for that by suffusing them with copious amounts of creativity. An excellent example is Bonk's Adventure, a sorely underappreciated game for the Turbografx-16.  I could gleefully profess my love for the game for hours on end, but I've instead decided to refine my admiration and present you with the reasons why I consider it to be my favorite platformer.

1. You headbutt dinosaurs

Sure. In Mario games you face your fair share of dinosaurs and other similar baddies. When you encounter them, you generally just jump on their head and consider them defeated. In Bonk's Adventure, though, you take the far more impressive route of straight-up headbutting them. If you're feeling especially acrobatic, you can pounce in the air and front flip Olympian-style constantly until you hit them with a flurry of awesome. 

2. It's not afraid to be humorous 

I enjoy a serious, story-driven game, but now and then it's thoroughly awesome to sit back and play a game that just wants to make you happy. Bonk's Adventure was clearly crafted to put a smile on your face, and it does so with immediacy.  If you don't find a dinosaur woofing at you after you save its life funny, then you may need to get your funny bone checked. 

3. The levels are vibrant

I may sound childish here, but I love love love colorful games. It's a big part of why I enjoy the Kirby and Katamari series so damn much.  Not every level of Bonk's Adventure is a blue-skied background with green grass and lush vegetation, but the vibrancy inherent in the levels still leaps out at you. Part of this is assisted by the impressive amount of detail found in characters and scenery alike, but mostly it's the impressive palate of colors found in just about every portion of the game.

4. Eating red meat makes you raging mad.

As a vegetarian, this is a concept I can wholly get behind. It's human to find pleasure in instances that allow you to experience a smug sense of enlightenment, and watching a young boy grow over-the-top mad after consuming red meat found in various places does just that. 

5. It's fun

I'm sure anyone could have easily derived that I felt this way based on the previous statements, but it felt worth directly mentioning. Seriously, this game is incredibly fun. It may lack the technical prowess of modern gaming, but that doesn't mean it's any less fun. Hovering via continual 360-degree headbutt is an experience everyone needs to experience. 

The bosses are excellent and funny to boot, the level design is varied and irrevocably delightful, and the music is catchy to the point where it will resonate in your mind regardless of whether or not you want it to. If those are not the marks of an excellent game, then I don't know what are. 

Links:

Play-through of World 1