And then there is the question: Do you want the follower to be able to fail? You could give it its own collision physics, but then you will have situations where the follower is no longer able to do what the leader did (like jumping on a moving platform which isn't there anymore). What happens now? You could do it like Sonic 2 did and have the follower just try anyway, die, and then miraculously return after a short while. But that kind of slapstick humor might not be appropriate for the theme of every game. If you want the followers to act more competently, then you will have to implement 2d platformer pathfinding. But this can get really complicated, especially with changing environments.