Which Platform Racing Game is the Best?

[bls1999]

Vote and discuss.

[AspectZero]

The best Platform Racing game is Platform Racing 2, it is the most successful, and has had a 10 year run and still has active players.

[Lego-man945]

PR2 is the most nostalgic...
Plus when I tried getting into PR3 it wouldn't let me
(I tried this around 10 times)

[Blank]

I was never around for PR1. I played PR2 for the majority before taking a look at PR3. I liked the new ideas that PR3 brought to the table; especially the custom blocks. Those custom blocks were my favorite thing about the game, leading to so much more creativity than its predecessors. Despite this, the physics and fluidity of the game just didn't feel as satisfying as PR2. On top of that, I disliked PR3's art direction and user interface. I still love both games, and I'm not looking at the game through rose colored glasses. I play PR2 daily and I would play PR3 again, if only there was a player base in the attempted revivals.

[Justinbob100]

PR1 is a good one time flash game
PR2 is a great, endearing game
PR3 is an improved PR2 that never saw the success that I feel it deserves. The custom blocks and level editor are amazing and offer a lot of features to play around with.

It's a shame I can't create a time machine to go back to PR2's heyday, or to restructure this answer

[gemj]

PR2 is a life-changing game. PR1, like JB said, is a good play once or twice but is certainly not as memorable or gripping as PR2. PR3, I feel, should've at least seen a higher player count before its demise, but either way it just isn't as great as PR3, even with whatever aspects Pizza claims make it better.

[xGuest]

I like all the PR's, PR2 is the most nostalgic one though eksdee

I play both PR2 and PR3, PR2 more often because of the playerbase, although if i see many people online in PR3, i’d most likely join too. (8P+)

[Magyar]

I started playing PR2 when I was like 7-8 years old on my mother's really slow laptop. (It was around 2008)

I enjoyed it very much. A few years went by, no playing, beacuse I forgot the name of the game.. but 3 years later I found the almost brand new Platform Racing 3: I fell in love with that game.

It always made my days, I had collected all the collectable hats and parts. Was lurking around on JV too, got banned almost every month  

After I collected all the 14 hats and all parts in PR3 I went to PR2 and started collecting there too. Did it, got every set and hat, just the epic upgrades are missing from my collection still to this day.

It means a lot to me, cuz I'm the only player (I think) from Hungary who got this far.. In my country I was the first one who got the cowboy hat, got the bubble set, made a level that got into the campaign (The Lost Dragon), and even made a set (Slender) that was considered good enough by Jiggmin to appear in the game. SOOO I'm really proud of this, and am still a huge fan !!

But my vote goes to PR3! And maybe PRF?? :O

// Edit:

Oh and forgot to mention, that I found my way in life thanks to this game: I am heading towards becoming a programmer. The PR series taught us how to be creative, how to build something cool that others can enjoy aswell.

[ThePizzaEater1000]

PR3. Even though it may not have as many players, or as good of a community (albeit I am beginning to doubt that the PR2 community is as good as it claims to be), the way the game is set up is far more conducive to interesting and fun concepts. With gamemodes such as Coin Fiend and the ability to customize coin fiend value, you can make games where you have to try to find the more valuable blocks or something like that. With the ability to have more than three unique teleports, builders can separate the level without having to deal with the technical difficulties of limited teleports. I myself am creating a level with some concepts that are completely impossible outside of PR3. Oh, and I can draw art that is directly in front of a block but not where it notably moves when a player walks by. Plus, I never really found PR2 fun after I found PR3.

[Colind]

Platform Racing 2 has been there for me for so long so of course I voted for Pr2. But, I did like PR3 and PR1 its just there were more option to do in Pr2

[Northadox]

I’ll do it by positive points/negative points.

PR1:
Pros

• Was the original that started it all
  
• Charming for its minute size
  
• Player-head bouncing was pretty cool, and it didn’t make a return until much later with the Jigg Hat in PR2
  
• Had some Jiggmin-original music tracks that haven’t made a reappearance since
  
• Can change usernames at a whim
  

Cons

• Extremely small amount of content; nothing to do once you’ve beat all the available levels but grind for ranks
  
• Gameplay was sluggish and tedious
  
• No customization features besides body part colors
  
• Notorious for extreme hacking problem
  

Generally a sweet little experiment to translate the Mario Kart formula into a sidescrolling platformer with multiplayer features, but there’s not much there to keep you entertained for more than an hour.

PR2:
Pros

• Most popular and successful out of all Platform Racing games
  
• Innovated with its primarily user-generated gameplay (it came out six months before Little Big Planet!)
  
• Robust level editor with plenty of features to keep your levels unique, such as more elements and the ability to draw in your levels
  
• Physics are fast and fluid, makes racing a total blast
  
• Low skill floor yet very high skill ceiling with physics; there’s a whole audience for frustrating super hard levels and yet I’ve never even beaten a single level of traps
  
• Charm is dialed up tenfold from Platform Racing 1 with the ability to customize your characters/levels to an excessive degree
  
• Keeps you playing with having an exponentially increasing EXP requirement for ranks, so you’ll never max out in a day
  
• Hats make gameplay fresh, and give you options for how to tackle levels (unless they have hat removers, in which case, oh well)
  
• Campaigns with levels that are well-crafted and iconic (at least for most of the classic campaign levels, anyway)
  
• Tons of prizes to earn to keep you hooked in
  
• Communication aspect increased immensely, so you can communicate with friends during a race
  
• Absolutely amazing soundtrack, even Switchblade is enjoyable in a cheesy way
  
• Freeze Wave is a pretty cool item
  

Cons:

• Is made on Flash, which is dated and vulnerable nowadays
  
• The physics are rather glitchy, but some would argue this enhances the skill needed
  
• Server response speed makes racing other players a rather choppy experience, especially in Deathmatches
  
• Level editor may seem robust at first but it’s rather limiting on ocassions, with no customizable blocks, multiple art layers, copy/paste tools (specifically for art)
  
• Vault of Magics may be perceived as microtransactions
  

Probably the pinnacle of the Platform Racing series, so far anyway, and it seems that most people here would agree. It certainly has quite the legacy.

PR3:
Pros

• Level editor has been greatly expanded, particularly with the block editor which allows almost limitless levels of customization
  
• Level editor also introduced user-generated gamemodes like Capture the Flag or Survival stuff
  
• Huge single player campaign that allows for time attacks and the ability to earn parts if played well enough
  
• Formally introduced Deathmatches, alongside Hat Attack and Coin Battle, two moderately enjoyable modes
  
• Physics were different from PR2 but nonetheless functional with their own quriks
  
• 8 players can race at a time in a single level!
  
• Polished up, professional art style
  
• Five/six new items (Angel Wings, Black Hole, Portable Block, Rocket Launcher, Shield, and the Bow if you count PR3R) which are welcome additions
  
• Level of the Day system, something was desired in PR2
  
• Whole new soundtrack, with some good tunes
  

Cons

• Undeniably, the chokehold that Sparkworkz/InXile held on the game and Jiggmin, which left the game in a sadly unifnished state with little updates 
  
• Sparkworks was nicknamed “Lagworkz” for a reason; the game was incredibly laggy
  
• This is debatable, but the artstyle lacked the amateurish charm that PR1/PR2 possessed, probably due to the outsourced art
  
• Due to levels always having wildly different styles due to the extreme customization features, there wasn’t really a consistent style, which is also debatedly an issue
  
• As mentioned, physics were different, but some players longed for the more fluid and loose control of PR2
  
• Less popularity than its predecessor, which means not many people to play with
  
• Soundtrack was less memorable than PR2
  
• Doesn’t even have an HD rendition of the classic parts
  

All in all it took the PR franchise several steps further but due to the game’s ownership it lagged behind, pun intended. I really do think there’s a lot to love in PR3, especially the level editing features and the eight player races, but it’s just held back by a lot of things.

So yeah, with that out of the way, I’ll say that PR2 is definitely the best, mostly just because it’s the most consistently enjoyable (and accessible too; PR1 was filled with hackers and PR3 died with Sparkworkz) and I can’t wait for the future of the series. I really do hope that PRF/PR4 lives up to PR2 and exceeds it but also doesn’t forget what PR3 did for the franchise. I’ve got a fair bit of ideas for it myself but that’s for another day.

[ThePizzaEater1000]

I’ll do it by positive points/negative points.

PR1:
Pros

• Was the original that started it all
  
• Charming for its minute size
  
• Player-head bouncing was pretty cool, and it didn’t make a return until much later with the Jigg Hat in PR2
  
• Had some Jiggmin-original music tracks that haven’t made a reappearance since
  
• Can change usernames at a whim
  

Cons

• Extremely small amount of content; nothing to do once you’ve beat all the available levels but grind for ranks
  
• Gameplay was sluggish and tedious
  
• No customization features besides body part colors
  
• Notorious for extreme hacking problem
  

Generally a sweet little experiment to translate the Mario Kart formula into a sidescrolling platformer with multiplayer features, but there’s not much there to keep you entertained for more than an hour.

PR2:
Pros

• Most popular and successful out of all Platform Racing games
  
• Innovated with its primarily user-generated gameplay (it came out six months before Little Big Planet!)
  
• Robust level editor with plenty of features to keep your levels unique, such as more elements and the ability to draw in your levels
  
• Physics are fast and fluid, makes racing a total blast
  
• Low skill floor yet very high skill ceiling with physics; there’s a whole audience for frustrating super hard levels and yet I’ve never even beaten a single level of traps
  
• Charm is dialed up tenfold from Platform Racing 1 with the ability to customize your characters/levels to an excessive degree
  
• Keeps you playing with having an exponentially increasing EXP requirement for ranks, so you’ll never max out in a day
  
• Hats make gameplay fresh, and give you options for how to tackle levels (unless they have hat removers, in which case, oh well)
  
• Campaigns with levels that are well-crafted and iconic (at least for most of the classic campaign levels, anyway)
  
• Tons of prizes to earn to keep you hooked in
  
• Communication aspect increased immensely, so you can communicate with friends during a race
  
• Absolutely amazing soundtrack, even Switchblade is enjoyable in a cheesy way
  
• Freeze Wave is a pretty cool item
  

Cons:

• Is made on Flash, which is dated and vulnerable nowadays
  
• The physics are rather glitchy, but some would argue this enhances the skill needed
  
• Server response speed makes racing other players a rather choppy experience, especially in Deathmatches
  
• Level editor may seem robust at first but it’s rather limiting on ocassions, with no customizable blocks, multiple art layers, copy/paste tools (specifically for art)
  
• Vault of Magics may be perceived as microtransactions
  

Probably the pinnacle of the Platform Racing series, so far anyway, and it seems that most people here would agree. It certainly has quite the legacy.

PR3:
Pros

• Level editor has been greatly expanded, particularly with the block editor which allows almost limitless levels of customization
  
• Level editor also introduced user-generated gamemodes like Capture the Flag or Survival stuff
  
• Huge single player campaign that allows for time attacks and the ability to earn parts if played well enough
  
• Formally introduced Deathmatches, alongside Hat Attack and Coin Battle, two moderately enjoyable modes
  
• Physics were different from PR2 but nonetheless functional with their own quriks
  
• 8 players can race at a time in a single level!
  
• Polished up, professional art style
  
• Five/six new items (Angel Wings, Black Hole, Portable Block, Rocket Launcher, Shield, and the Bow if you count PR3R) which are welcome additions
  
• Level of the Day system, something was desired in PR2
  
• Whole new soundtrack, with some good tunes
  

Cons

• Undeniably, the chokehold that Sparkworkz/InXile held on the game and Jiggmin, which left the game in a sadly unifnished state with little updates 
  
• Sparkworks was nicknamed “Lagworkz” for a reason; the game was incredibly laggy
  
• This is debatable, but the artstyle lacked the amateurish charm that PR1/PR2 possessed, probably due to the outsourced art
  
• Due to levels always having wildly different styles due to the extreme customization features, there wasn’t really a consistent style, which is also debatedly an issue
  
• As mentioned, physics were different, but some players longed for the more fluid and loose control of PR2
  
• Less popularity than its predecessor, which means not many people to play with
  
• Soundtrack was less memorable than PR2
  
• Doesn’t even have an HD rendition of the classic parts
  

All in all it took the PR franchise several steps further but due to the game’s ownership it lagged behind, pun intended. I really do think there’s a lot to love in PR3, especially the level editing features and the eight player races, but it’s just held back by a lot of things.

So yeah, with that out of the way, I’ll say that PR2 is definitely the best, mostly just because it’s the most consistently enjoyable (and accessible too; PR1 was filled with hackers and PR3 died with Sparkworkz) and I can’t wait for the future of the series. I really do hope that PRF/PR4 lives up to PR2 and exceeds it but also doesn’t forget what PR3 did for the franchise. I’ve got a fair bit of ideas for it myself but that’s for another day.

Regarding PR3, its actually available now as PR3R, although it has more content. Despite that its still dead.

[Jay]

In my short opinion, PR3. Has more content to offer than PR1 and PR2, such as an improved Level Editor and the apparition of a Block Editor. I think those two factors make a huge difference between all games.

[Camer the Dragon]

PR2 is my favourite

I shall do my personal reasons why:

PR1:
Pros:
- Without PR1, there are no other PR games
- Head bouncing
(- Hacked version is fun for a bit)
Cons:
- The physics make me feel like I'm running through syrup or something they're so slow and unbearable imo
- Not much depth (Only 8 levels, this gets really boring after a while)

PR2:
Pros:
- Level editor expanded the game so much
- I love the simplistic but iconic (imo) artstyle
- Plain Nostalgia, this game was amazing to play with friends in 2009 and those good memories will stay a long time
- I've loved this game for a decade, it's gotta be amazing
- Glitchy but that makes the game more fun, adds skill (plus since most people know about them, the levels are built with them in mind)
- Different modes added over time
- Physics are actually amazing, so fast+fluid yet controllable
- So many user generated levels and so many great ones, as PR2 was extremely popular when it came out
- So many fun hats to use and so many sets to customise with
Cons:
- Not all good things last forever low player count now (although this isn't PR2's fault, rather just an inevitable decline)
- Literally everyone plays traps and I'm bad at them lol I'm salty (I just wanna make the cons look more balanced lol)
- VoM is on kong and I ain't giving kong my card info lol. (although there's nothing game breaking in VoM which is good, so I'm not in any way saying it should be changed)
- Although gained from a good cause, cowboy is OP AF, so everyone uses hat removers anyway and these are a pain to make and essentially remove the fun and unique aspects of hats from the game
- Level Editor is kinda basic
- My God it's so hard to hit anyone with a laser or sword because delay
- Flash

PR3:
Pros:
- Amazing level editor. Customisable blocks (I loved the blocks as you could make your own and keep them, plus you could make blocks do different things from each side and even customise things like how often a move block moves
- Dynamic levels. The best memory I have of playing PR3 was this really fun level where there was this moving lava coming from the left like a volcano erupted and you had to run to the right to survive
- Cool modes. PR3 did it before PR2 I'm pretty sure that's where PR2 got the idea from. I loved the coin levels where you'd do mini challenges in the level and be rewarded if you beat them (I think people called them Casino levels)
- More potential. I think if PR3 wasn't on the site it was (and if it had PR2 physics) it'd've been very popular
- Solo campaign challenges were cool and do seem more fitting for getting parts/hats
- 8P races
- More hats + tougher to get them (although I never got them since it was way harder to get them than in PR2, but that's a good thing imo)
Cons:
- THEY GOT RID OF NOODLE TOWN AS THE MAIN SONG HOW COULD THEY!
- Lagworkz and their holding hostage of PR3
- Back to the God awful PR1-esque physics, this is honestly the main reason it was unbearable for me, coupled with Lagworkz
- Camera is really zoomed in for some reason which is really offputting when you'v been playing PR2 for years, it's like you've suddenly gotten tunnel vision
- Got rid of the artstyle that was awesome (and idk why, this is really dumb, but the cranberry head freaked me out and gave me nightmares lol so I stopped playing for a bit until it didn't freak me out any more, so don't you think you can spook me now! )
- Although custom blocks are awesome, but sometimes I'd wonder what a block did and wouldn't know till I hit it
- Lack of popularity from the offset was bad, if I stumbled across PR2 today I'd've never given it a second thought. Heck I quit PR2 in 2015 because of the lack of popularity and the death of JV1, I came back in 2019 because it was still there and I loved it and there was JV2 and the discord


[If/when] PR4 [were to/does] come out there's a lot it could take from PR3
I just want the PR2 physics and noodle town please

[Ashley766]

Definitely PR2, has more features and the interface is plain and simple.

[tadtad]

PR1 is honestly fun to come back to from time to time.

PR2 I feel like I've had the best memories with and is still pretty fun playing it now.  I feel like it's not quite as fun coming back to it now because everyone I used to play with is gone and I know very few of the current players.

PR3 you can do this 

As stupid as it sounds, "roller levels" are honestly really fun to me.  Putting on some music and hitting bombs for 30-40 minutes is my ideal Friday night or maybe I just hate myself  or even just finding new way to make these horrible maps.

[Camer the Dragon]

PR1 is honestly fun to come back to from time to time.

PR2 I feel like I've had the best memories with and is still pretty fun playing it now.  I feel like it's not quite as fun coming back to it now because everyone I used to play with is gone and I know very few of the current players.

PR3 you can do this 

As stupid as it sounds, "roller levels" are honestly really fun to me.  Putting on some music and hitting bombs for 30-40 minutes is my ideal Friday night or maybe I just hate myself  or even just finding new way to make these horrible maps.

On your PR2 one I just used crown hat lol