Best Side Scroller Games on Steam

Unlike generic lists, our game recommendations use a rigorous analysis of Steam user reviews to identify and feature only the best, community-validated side scroller games.

Filter Games
Loading Loading...
Ultionus: A Tale of Petty Revenge Ultionus is a love-letter to the home computer arcade games of the late 80s and early 90s, with colorful 2D visuals, catchy chiptune music by the legendary Jake 'Virt' Kaufman, and 7 stages of hard-as-nails gameplay.

Price -51% 3.49€
Rating 6.5
Release 25 Feb 2014
Angvik Angvik is a platform action game set in a joyful but unforgiving land.

Price -69% 0.95€
Rating 8.4
Release 24 Feb 2014
WazHack Time moves forward only when you do in the dungeons of WazHack. Think your way out of problems instead of just spamming 'attack' and 'drink healing potion'.

Price 7.99€
Rating 8.4
Release 17 Feb 2014
METAL SLUG 3 “METAL SLUG 3”, the masterpiece in SNK’s emblematic 2D run & gun action shooting game series, still continues to fascinate millions of fans worldwide to this day for its intricate dot-pixel graphics, and simple and intuitive game controls, heads out to the Steam gaming platform!

Price -89% 0.81€
Rating 8.7
Release 14 Feb 2014
Reaper - Tale of a Pale Swordsman Enter the world ripe with magic and monsters. Become the Black Swordsman and slay thousands of enemies in an epic action RPG!

Price -19% 7.97€
Rating 6.5
Release 07 Feb 2014
Double Dragon: Neon BRO-TACULAR! Legendary martial artists, Billy and Jimmy Lee return in this creative re-imagining of the classic beat ‘em up, Double Dragon Neon. Fight your way through countless henchmen including Linda and Abobo on your way to rescue the love of your life, Marian!

Price -93% 0.73€
Rating 7.5
Release 06 Feb 2014
Jets'n'Guns Gold Jets'n'Guns is a heavy piece of ground shaking rock blasting action with graphics and special effects that will blow you eyes out! Enjoy yourself in almost-insane action adventure of saving the universe from the deadly threat of more than 270 unique monsters in the campaign of 43 levels.

Price -94% 0.54€
Rating 8.3
Release 05 Feb 2014
Oniken: Unstoppable Edition When a global war nearly decimated humankind, an evil military organization called Oniken takes advantage of the situation to dominate and oppress the few remaining survivors. Even though any resistance to this organization seemed hopeless, a small rebel movement organizes strikes against Oniken.

Price -66% 1.73€
Rating 7.6
Release 05 Feb 2014
Aqua Kitty - Milk Mine Defender Aqua Kitty is a fast paced retro styled submarine arcade shooter with optional 2 player local Co-op.Blast through hordes of mechanical sea monsters in your kitty sub and defend the deep sea milk mining kittens!THE MILK MUST FLOW!

Price 6.89€
Rating 8.1
Release 03 Feb 2014
Aces Wild: Manic Brawling Action! Aces Wild is a fast-paced, hardcore, aerial beat 'em up!Engage in insane aerial martial arts combat against countless opponents!It utilizes a 'Wild Meter' which increases the power of your attacks butalso makes enemies more aggressive!

Price 9.99€
Rating 7.1
Release 31 Jan 2014
Signs of Life Signs of Life is a sci-fi survival sandbox platformer with a combination of procedurally generated and hand-crafted content. You'll explore mysterious locations, Mine blocks for resources, and meet strange (and some familiar) creatures, some of which don't even want to kill you and eat your corpse.

Price 9.75€
Rating 7.3
Release 27 Jan 2014
Deadly 30 Can you survive the horror? … a retro-style survival horror game developed by the two-man indie team of Gonzossm and Iggy Zuk. Survive 30 days and nights in a zombie-infested world by recruiting companions, upgrading weaponry and fortifying your position.

Price -92% 0.40€
Rating 7.4
Release 08 Jan 2014
Gunman Clive In the year of 18XX, the west is overrun by thugs and outlaws. A group of bandits have kidnapped Mayor Johnsons daughter and are spreading havok across the land. Only Gunman Clive can bring order to the west and save the girl!Jump and shoot your way across 16 diverse and challenging levels and fight massive bosses.

Price -50% 1.01€
Rating 8.3
Release 03 Jan 2014
Ballpoint Universe - Infinite Ballpoint Universe Infinite is a shoot-em-up adventure game featuring artwork entirely drawn in ballpoint pen. Explore immaculate worlds, discover the secrets of the doodles, and customize your Ink-Ship for battle! Press"Ballpoint Universe Infinite is too exuberant to ignore.

Price -89% 0.34€
Rating 7.4
Release 17 Dec 2013
Teslagrad A journey begins... A treacherous tower... Unravel its mysteries!Discover the secrets kept in the long abandoned Tesla Tower!Magnetism and other electromagnetic powers will help you explore a non-linear world of beautiful hand-drawn environments, in a steampunk-inspired vision of old Europe.

Price -92% 0.81€
Rating 8.1
Release 13 Dec 2013
MURI MURI is a DOS-style shooter from Remar Games and Ludosity. Features PC Speaker sound and 16-color EGA graphics.

Price -89% 1.16€
Rating 8.4
Release 06 Dec 2013
Oozi: Earth Adventure Oozi: Earth Adventure is a classic 2D platformer with old school gameplay - no puzzles, no punishment, just 100% pure classic platforming fun! Its most prominent features are HD visuals and beautiful hand-drawn art, but despite its visual style, it’s a good fit for all kinds of gamers!

Price -95% 0.50€
Rating 8.2
Release 05 Dec 2013
SteamWorld Dig SteamWorld Dig is an action-adventure puzzler with strong Metroidvanian influences set in the SteamWorld Universe. You’ll need to dig deep into the earth, gather resources to upgrade your tools and abilities, take on enemies, solve challenging puzzles and uncover the secrets to save a dying town.

Price -94% 0.62€
Rating 9.1
Release 05 Dec 2013
Vector Vector is an exciting, arcade-style game featuring you as the exceptional free runner who won’t be held down by the system. In this totalitarian world freedom and individually is nothing more than a distant dream. But the heart of a freerunner is strong, and so you break free.

Price 5.99€
Rating 8.4
Release 03 Dec 2013
Eryi's Action One fine day, Eryi went to eat the melon that she had been SO looking forward to... but it was nowhere to be found! Then she noticed a note on the table. She picked it up and read: "Your melon looked delicious, so I took it. From Farta X" Fuming with rage, Eryi set out from her house to get her melon back from Farta.

Price -40% 3.02€
Rating 8.4
Release 19 Nov 2013
Final Exam Jump into the frenzied action and the whacky humor of a pure 2.5D side-scroller! While they were going to their old high school for what was supposed to be the party of their life, four long-time friends end up in a ghost town full of monstrous creatures.

Price -90% 0.53€
Rating 8.0
Release 05 Nov 2013
King Arthur's Gold Would you enjoy building CASTLES, traps and siege machines in MULTIPLAYER? And then undermine your opponents castle and collapse it with 2D PHYSICS & DESTRUCTION?

Price Free to play
Rating 8.2
Release 05 Nov 2013
Valdis Story: Abyssal City Assume the role of Wyatt in this Action/Exploration Platformer as you explore the ruins of a holy city that was lost many years ago. Battle various types of demons, angels, and a new threat known only as the “Ferals”, using swordsmanship, martial arts, and sorcery.

Price -53% 7.12€
Rating 8.1
Release 30 Oct 2013
Nihilumbra Discover the beautiful world of Nihilumbra and join Born on his adventure to find himself whilst trying to escape from his inevitable curse. Born was created from the absolute nothingness: The Void. But somehow he separates himself from the black emptiness and appears in the world.

Price -95% 0.41€
Rating 8.5
Release 25 Oct 2013
Syder Arcade Killing zombies never gets old, but sometimes you just need a break. Get back to some serious old-school gaming with Syder Arcade! Syder Arcade is a love letter to Amiga games of the ‘90s, no coins, no upgrade grinding, just your tenacity and a motherload of alien invaders.

Price -93% 0.79€
Rating 7.9
Release 24 Oct 2013
Super Amazing Wagon Adventure Super Amazing Wagon Adventure is a fast-paced 2d shooting game with a random story. You control a group of three migrants traveling west along a wagon trail. The game consists of short scenes that are sequenced together in a semi-random way to tell a crazy adventure story.

Price -20% 2.42€
Rating 9.1
Release 17 Oct 2013
140 140 is a challenging minimalistic platformer with abstract colorful graphics. Rhythmic awareness is required to overcome obstacles controlled by an energetic, yet melancholic electronic soundtrack.

Price -29% 3.56€
Rating 8.9
Release 16 Oct 2013
Megabyte Punch Megabyte Punch is a fighting/beat ‘em up game in which you build your own fighter! As you travel through different environments, you battle other creatures to get their parts. Parts have their own powers and bonuses, like gun arms for a shoot ability or powerful hips for a devastating pelvic thrust attack.

Price -95% 0.81€
Rating 8.5
Release 15 Oct 2013
Knock-knock There is an unusual cabin deep in the woods. It had served as a laboratory and a dwelling for three generations of Lodgers.But as of late the latest Lodger has been noticing weird changes in familiar surroundings; things are missing, noises and rattle heard. Something odd is coming out of the woods.

Price -87% 1.38€
Rating 8.3
Release 04 Oct 2013
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams - Rise of the Owlverlord Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is a fast-paced platformer that will plunge you into the heart of two opposing worlds.

Price -97% 0.50€
Rating 7.7
Release 26 Sep 2013
Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures "The most rewarding game of 2013!" Influenced by retro classics Mega Man and Castlevania, Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures features the AVGN and friends as they blast their way through 10 levels of fun, fast paced 2D action based on the AVGN's adventures in his online series.

Price -35% 2.32€
Rating 8.5
Release 20 Sep 2013
Foul Play Play as the daemon-hunter Baron Dashforth in a side-scrolling co-op brawler set entirely on the grand spectacle of a theatre stage that rewards performance over pummeling. Perform shattering takedowns and reversals!

Price -57% 6.51€
Rating 7.5
Release 18 Sep 2013
Volgarr the Viking Return to the Golden Age of arcades with a hardcore action platformer that pulls no punches! Possesses all the hallmarks of true classics like Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts (SNES), Rastan Saga (Arcade), Castlevania (NES) and more with precise controls, high challenge, and meticulous design.

Price -91% 0.96€
Rating 7.8
Release 13 Sep 2013
Rayman® Legends Michel Ancel, the celebrated creator of Rayman®, Beyond Good & Evil®, and the Raving Rabbids®, returns to unleash his innovative creativity on this new entry into the Rayman® franchise.When Rayman, Globox, and the Teensies discover a mysterious tent filled with captivating paintings, they are suddenly transported to a series of...

Price 19.99€
Rating 8.7
Release 29 Aug 2013
Electronic Super Joy Electronic Super Joy is a brutally hard platformer set in a world of pulse-pounding electronic music. Run, jump, smash & fly your way through 45+ weird & different levels, with low-gravity, world rotation, giant monsters & swarming missiles.

Price -40% 3.60€
Rating 8.6
Release 23 Aug 2013
DuckTales: Remastered DuckTales: Remastered is a beautiful hand-crafted reimagining of one of the most cherished 8-bit titles of all time. Go back to one of the golden ages of gaming, now refined with a level of detail that will please the most hardened devoted Disney or retro Capcom fan alike.

Price -82% 2.73€
Rating 8.5
Release 13 Aug 2013

Most played side scroller games


7,048 players

8,882
5,305
Rating 6.2

468 players

4,731
975
Rating 8.1

132 players

3,388
595
Rating 8.2

127 players

276
27
Rating 8.4

101 players

25,774
1,184
Rating 9.4

79 players

322
31
Rating 8.4

67 players

938
169
Rating 8.1

41 players

12,978
770
Rating 9.2

38 players

6,526
1,878
Rating 7.6

36 players

10,506
742
Rating 9.1