Just wondering how is JME for creating 2d games? Im mostly interested in fast paced platformers.
jME is a 3d engine. It can do a 2d game, but unless you are looking to include OpenGL effects in your 2d platform game (think lighting effects, shaders, etc.) it's probably not the very best tool - although it will still work fine. Just my opinion of course. You might consider doing the game in Java2D which has improved substantially in the last couple releases.
Using Quads as "sprites" may be sufficent and easy for simple 2D games… have a look at the HUD tutorial in the Wiki (may be a bit outdated but to grab the idea…).
http://www.myjavaserver.com/~digiwired/VolatileZapper2.zip uses an old lib but you'll get the idea you can do a" sort of" 2d game check out furballs src
For purely 2D games you could use jME (I define this as games that purely use 2D bitmap graphics), however, you might be better off trying to find a project that already has specific routines for such things. It might be possible to use existing jME routines, but they would give a lot of overhead cause they are designed to be for 3D, not 2D.
However, like renanse, I think if you do a game with 3D objects but with movement like a sidescroller, jME can handle that well. You can mix and match 2D and 3D as well.