The '90s were a weird time for media, as anyone alive at the time can attest. From TV shows to advertising, everyone was trying to push the envelope as to how much weirdness the public could take. Video games were hitting their second big boom in the '90s, and as you might expect, this led to some seriously strange games.

Related:10 Scariest Platforming Games

The pool for choosing weird platformers is massive, but for now, we have curated only 10 of the strangest platformers of the '90s. It was a very difficult task, but we here at TheGamer are proud to bring you what we believe to be some of the weirdest platformers out there. If you don't see an entry you were hoping for, check back regularly, as we do update our popular articles with new entries.

10 Klonoa: Door to Phantomile

Klonoa

Klonoa is set in the fantastical world of Phantomile, a land that is constructed by the dreams that people have at night. That alone gives this game the setup to be a strange adventure, and it certainly delivers on that account. Klonoa is kind of a perfect blend of Kirby and Mario in mechanics and world navigation.

The main character Klonoa's adventure begins when an evil spirit appears, with the goal to turn Phantomile from a world of dreams into a world of nightmares. Throughout Klonoa's quest, he deals with the death of loved ones, subterfuge, and even the revelation that he may be an extradimensional being.

9 Super Ghouls n' Ghosts

a player fighting a giant flying centipede boss in Super Ghouls n' Goblins

Released as both an NES title and an arcade cabinet, you may know this game as one of the hardest games of all time. Its brutality is indeed unmatched, and its margin for error is non-existent. That said, its difficulty is not what puts it on this list.

The few people out there who have braved this game will know that it is just flat-out weird. Skeletons appear in coffins in the sky and drop to earth. Giant centipedes with tusks fly through the air. The ground itself undulates like water as you walk, making even forward movement a chore.

8 Rocket Knight Adventures

Rocket Knight Adventures title art featuring Sparkster the mouse

Rocket Knight Adventures follows the story of Sparkster, the armored-up mouse you see above. He is a part of a group of rocket-powered knights who protect the kingdom. This kingdom is as you might have guessed in peril because a giant planet-killing machine called the Pigstar is in orbit around the planet.

Rocket Knight Adventures isn't super strange mechanically, except for one feature. This game periodically switches from a platformer to a side-scrolling shooter very similar to Gradius. It's a strange choice, but overall a good one as it makes the game more interesting and dynamic.

7 Earthworm Jim

Earthworm Jim on a Pizza

Earthworm Jim is a satire series, created to poke fun at games that employed shameless marketing strategies. Like any good satire, Earthworm Jim is over the top, hilarious, and just plain weird. For starters, Jim can use his head as a whip, or to grab onto ledges.

If you still aren't convinced here are just a few of the names of the bosses from the first game: Psy-Crow, Queen Slug-for-a-Butt, and who could forget, Professor Monkey-For-A-Head. If you have never gotten around to playing this series, please do yourself a favor. You are in for a lot of laughs and a really fun platformer to boot.

6 Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee

Screenshot of Abe from Oddworld Soulstorm in the foreground, with a desolate dystopian city in the background.

Oddworld is one that I would not be surprised if you hadn't heard of. It developed a fairly strong cult following in its time but remained fairly silent until its pseudo-reboot in 2013. Whether or not lots of people know about it, it is a great game with a weird and fairly dark storyline.

RELATED: The Best Platformers For Beginners

Abe is a part of an alien race called the Mudokons. His race has been enslaved, and Abe himself works in a meatpacking facility. He decides to flee when he learns that the meat he has been packing is actually made up of his fellow Mudokons. The story then follows Abe's exodus from slavery and the trials he faces along the way.

5 Battletoads

Two Battletoads riding Hovercrafts through a brain

Some of you may be thinking that this is the 2020 Battletoads. But, Battletoads was first developed in 1991, and ever since, fans of the series have been begging for a sequel. It seems they got their wish after only 30 years, so let's take a look back at the original.

Related:The Best Villains From Platforming Games

The original Battletoads was a beat-em-up platformer, and boy did it live up to the name. The toads have ten unique punches and kicks, all with spectacular names like the "Swingin' Size Thirteen" or the "Battletoad Butt." Aside from this, Battletoads was one of the first franchises to allow players to interact with the environment to defeat enemies including by using crow's beaks to smack down foes.

4 Ristar

A vulture carries Ristar over dangerous flames in Ristar's Planet Scorch level.

Ristar is a little hard to describe, but basically, it's Sonic meets Rayman. Ristar has stretchy limbs that allow him to grab hold of objects and enemies. If Ristar can gain enough speed by twirling on a pole or by falling, he will become invincible and kill any enemy he touches.

The game's narrative isn't any less weird than its inspirations. Basically, Ristar's dad is a shooting star. He sends Ristar to the planet to take out a space pirate by the name of Kaiser Greedy. This is because Greedy has enslaved the minds of the entire planet, presumably prompting the stars to get involved.

3 Glover

glover
via Piko Interactive

Glover is exactly what he looks like: a sentient glove. But don't count this handy little character out yet! The fate of an entire kingdom rests in Glover's four-fingered hand.

You see, Glover was the assistant to a wizard who made a potion incorrectly. The potion turned the wizard to stone and sent the seven crystals that give life to the kingdom flying. In a moment of panic, Glover turned the crystals into rubber balls, but they were scattered across seven worlds. Now Glover has to dribble, bounce, and roll the balls back to the tower to save the wizard and the kingdom.

2 Pepsiman

Pepsiman running through a street

Remember how we mentioned earlier that Earthworm Jim was a satire against product placement sellout games? Well, I present to you the most infamous product placement campaign of all time: Pepsiman.

This Playstation title follows Pepsiman who is on a noble quest to quench the thirst of anyone in need. No seriously, each stage is about Pepsiman tearing across cities, running faster than cars to deliver a refreshing Pepsi cola to a waiting civilian at the end of a stage. I don't know about you but if a man in a blue and white morph suit ran up to us at 80 miles per hour and held out a Pepsi, we would probably need hydration... because we would have just peed our pants.

1 Space Station Silicon Valley

Space Station Silicon Valley Title Art

So, the plot of this game is kind of horrifying. You control the microchip of a robot whose body was damaged in a ship crash. It's ok though because you can simply beat the animals into unconsciousness, and then hack into their nervous system to assume control of their body.

If that wasn't bad enough, the animals aren't exactly animals anymore. You see they exist on the space station Silicon Valley. While the animals were normal initially, the space station disappeared for 1000 years, and when it came back all the animals were half-grafted with the technology of the station. This results in foxes with wheels instead of legs, and hippos powered by steam.

Next:Platformers Every Gamer Needs To Play