Retro games from Indie Developers - free, online, awesome.

[DevJim]

Hi Guys,

I'm here trying to promote the work of a few great indie developers making some pretty impressive retro games in really small development groups (sometimes just an individual). All the games I review below are available to play online or for download c/o yoyo games. I feel like they deserve a bit of recognition!

First off, Pixelator, this is a simple arcade style Space S'MUP. With 3 distinct stages and lots of power ups. The music has a great "old skool" feel and really sets the mood. However, It's real charm lies in the simple, yet pleasing, low res graphics (as the name suggests!). The gameplay isn't bad either . It's a visual feast.

For fans of slightly more advanced S'MUPS there's Return to Sector 9: Which really speaks for itself - incredible graphics and depth of play, coupled with an unusually gripping storyline and plenty of power ups.

Knightman III: The Demon Within: Don't be put off by the name! It's the worst part. You play Cendah, a young man looking for answers... you know the score. This one is a lot longer so you might want to consider the download (although saving works fine online). Essentially it's a Zelda style RPG with a great storyline comprising a full 6 chapters. Best of all it has that classic C64 feel to it, which really sucked me in

Retrobattle: This is an inspired NES style platform game (think Ice Climber/Clu Clu Land), with the same frantic feel to it as the early Bomberman games. It share the same beautiful low res graphical style as Pixelator.

Cookie: Here's one for the GameBoy fan boys. It certainly looks like a game boy game, especially as it loads in such a small window! However the game is certainly not without it's charm. You play as what appears to be a small, yet friendly, ball of dough - out to reclaim his cookies from the thieving baron. It's a platform game, but one so nicely put together that it won the GameMaker Games Retro contest in 2006.

And finally, Go Up: This game is almost impossible to cateogorise, it's certainly a platformer and definately retro, beyond that I can't think of a single game like it. You objective is to, well, Go Up. Scaling ladders and avoiding painful looking obstacles to reach a big shiny diamond. The twist comes from all the levels scrolling vertically and being able to walk off one side and appear on the other. It doesn't sound like much but has allowed the developer to design some really great levels.

Anyway, that'll do for now, I really hope you enjoy them. Let me know what you think. Also, please support the developers, even if it's just a friendly comment on the game page.

All the best,
Jim

[Ivo]

Thanks for the links, I'm going to try some of those - but incidentally, wouldn't it be better to link to the devs themselves rather than to the yoyo site (which seems to require downloading a plugin?)

Ivo.

[kyuu]

The last sounds like Donkey Kong Oo

[Ivo]

Pixelator is not very good IMO.

R2S9 is great (go ahead and try it, it does speak for itself - although the storyline is hardly gripping )

Knightman 3 was good until I got to level 3 and couldn't do anything in the end of the level (bug I think, but I left the author a message). It reminds quite a bit of Dink Smallwood. EDIT: I found a fix for it on the author's forum, the game is short but nice, and after finishing you unlock a nifty survival mode.

Retrobattle is merely decent, but people that have more nostalgia from the 8 bit games it is inspired from may very well like it more.

Cookie seems decent, but slightly slow paced and too simple. Although I can't pass the 1st boss (I get that I must jump from the flagpole or something). I may like it more if I put more time into it.

Go up is good - mostly for the level design - the wrap around thing is present in many games, but here they "abuse" it for the level design and in some cases the outcome is interesting. May not suit your tastes though (on sadistic games of this type where you frequently die, I'd favor "N" with its quirky physics design - but this one is also good enough to try and see how you like it).

Also, I noticed that you can indeed download the games from the linked site (yoyo), however in most cases it's faster to google for them and get them somewhere else (Cookie I could only find it in yoyo).