Castle Pals

Castle Pals splits its platforming between two characters with genuinely different toolkits rather than reskinning the same moveset twice: Kylee smashes through enemies with melee strength, while Owen's propeller hat lets him float over the traps and gaps Kylee has to find another way around.

Levels are built with both skill sets in mind, a room that looks like a dead end for Kylee usually has a ledge only Owen can reach, so switching characters mid-level rather than sticking with a favorite is often the actual solution. Gold medal times push you to plan a route through all 40 levels rather than exploring freely, which turns Castle Pookapick from a casual romp into a genuine speedrunning challenge on repeat visits.