Bottom of page · September 2005 »

Shooting ducks were never this fun. Combining the classic gameplay from Duck Hunt with Doom's deadly arsenal, the Big N would be absolutely horrified by Noproblo's remake.

Just about all the weapons you'd expect to see are here. Surprisingly well made, considering that it was coded using Game Maker.

You can find the download link somewhere in this thread.

Name: Duck Doom Deluxe
Developer: Noproblo
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 7MB

Feeling divine? Why not try Manifest, a programming project by UCLA student Michael Chang that lets you create microscopic life by drawing simple lines and shapes.

Tiny little creatures are generated based on length, size and the speed at which you draw shapes in the virtual environment. Looks cool, but you need Java installed to try it out.

Name: Manifest
Developer: Michael Chang
Category: Application
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

Taking the Smash TV gameplay to the next level, Minebot Arena puts you in control of a hover-bot, destroying waves after waves of enemies bent on turning your Minebot into scrap metal.

All sorts of weapons and power-ups are at your disposal, though most of them would have to be unlocked first by purchasing them from the shop. Bosses are introduced every ten levels to make your life harder, should you find the attack bots doing a poor job of providing you a decent challenge.

Name: Minebot Arena
Developer: Zauron
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB

Circulate is a nice little action-puzzler that involves rotating the playing field to accomplish various level objectives.

What's so refreshing about this game is that you can expect a lot of variety in each level, similar to BreakQuest. It's a relatively unknown gem, surprisingly.

Name: Circulate
Developer: PiEyeGames
Category: Puzzle
Type: Demo
Size: 5MB

Evil Invasion plays a lot like Crimsonland, but in a fantasy setting. The top down shooter sends your character to do battle against an endless swarm of enemies, armed only with a spell book and your wits.

Features:

RPG-like character development system
21 hero skills and spells
7 different monsters, each with specific attack and behavior
10 quests with two difficulty levels
Survival mode
12 bonus items to help in your mission

But I suppose you'd be too busy killing to notice all those neat stuff. If you can forgive the sparse instructions, you will love this game.

Name: Evil Invasion
Developer: VH Games
Category: Action
Type: Demo
Size: 12MB

Although it features simple graphics, Medicalat does have an interesting weapon system. And the protagonist is a nurse!

Your option item is actually a syringe that you can use to absorb bullets as well as enemies. The energy you accumulate can then be used to blast away the bigger bosses.

Name: Medicalat
Developer: OSABISI YU-KI
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

Brickman is the new platformer from Fortress Game Studio. His job is to paint bricks by walking over them.

Expect to do some climbing, jumping, stomping, collecting, sliding and other cool stuff. No matching, though.

Name: Brickman
Developer: Fortress Game Studio
Category: Platform
Type: Demo
Size: 6MB

Angeraze 2 is a 3D horizontal shooter that features only two levels in the demo. But we do get three characters as well as all sorts of firepower to play around with.

The 60MB demo link is at the bottom of this page.

Name: Angeraze 2
Developer: Ohbado
Category: Shooter
Type: Demo
Size: 60MB

Moedan is more like a tutorial than an actual shooter. From the menu you can select your choice of enemy pattern to practice your bullet dodging skills.

The design is quite good although there's not much actual content in the game.

Direct download link here. Trial version only.

Name: Moedan
Developer: D.N.A. Software
Category: Shooter
Type: Demo
Size: 10MB

Combining two classic horizontal shooters, G-Type features the R9 fighter craft and Force Unit from Irem's flagship title, but uses the Gradius weapon system as it's power-up method.

Amazingly, it works well enough. The developers have crafted a true tribute that will have the fans rejoicing. Most of the enemy ships and bosses from both series do make appearances in the game.

There's also an undocumented autofire button assigned to the V key. The choice you make in selecting the difficulty level does present different stages, which is added bonus to an already awesome package.

Plus, it's freeware.

Name: G-Type
Developer: CnC Darkside
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB

YSG2000 is a shmup where the shooting is not done by you. All you do is dodge bullets. As you can see from the screenshot, you had better be good at it.

You can configure the number of lives, bombs and bullet type from the main menu. Fun for about five minutes.

Guaranteed to provide a challenge even for the hardcore shooter fans.

Name: YSG2000
Developer: Unknown
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

Warning: Contains nudity.

Another good shmup from Japan, Hellbound features more alien levels and bosses for your alter ego to wreck havoc on. The sprite designs are absolutely outstanding.

Only one key is used for both shots and shields. When you release the shift key, a shield will momentarily protect your character on-screen from incoming bullets and projectiles.

Name: Hellbound
Developer: Akira Hut Original
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 10MB

Alter Ego is a better life simulator than The Sims. Yes, the one by Will Wright.

You start off the game by answering a few questions to deduce the personality of your alter ego. After the quiz you begin life in the womb. Chances to make big decisions are aplenty, and all will affect the course of your journey through existence.

Gameplay basically revolves around the use of a tree diagram. You can choose life experiences to explore from this diagram by clicking on the icons. These are social, intellectual, emotional, physical and familial (faces, brain, heart, x-ray and family, in that order).

The hourglass describes your current stage in life and the bar chart shows some stats about your alter ego. If you can look past the simplicity of the design, you will probably like this game a lot.

There's an article about the game on Wikipedia, and you can grab the manual from Home of the Underdogs as well.

Name: Alter Ego
Developer: Dan Fabulich
Category: Puzzle
Type: Flash
Size: 1MB

The Incredible Machine meets Lemmings. A lovable protagonist, Eets is the perfect answer for those who are still craving for more of Jeff Tunnell's brilliant masterpiece.

The preview version is already downloadable from their site although the game itself is still in development.

I suppose the genre is not for everyone but if you're looking for some serious brainteasers, this might just do it when it's released.

Name: Eets
Developer: Klei Entertainment
Category: Puzzle
Type: Demo
Size: 30MB

Let's do a Gradius tribute! First up, Cavadius is a one level trial edition. The only difference is that the gameplay has been changed into a vertical scrolling shooter. Also there seems to be a lot of bullets in this one.

Next up is Monadius. It's pretty much the same as the original, if you don't count the fact that everything in the game is drawn using vector graphics.

Both can actually be played in full screen. Cavadius requires the use of the F4 key, while a command-line option can be used for Monadius.

Name: Cavadius
Developer: ForteMP3
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB

Let's do a Gradius tribute! First up, Cavadius is a one level trial edition. The only difference is that the gameplay has been changed into a vertical scrolling shooter. Also there seems to be a lot of bullets in this one.

Next up is Monadius. It's pretty much the same as the original, if you don't count the fact that everything in the game is drawn using vector graphics.

Both can actually be played in full screen. Cavadius requires the use of the F4 key, while a command-line option can be used for Monadius.

Contrary to belief, Kenta Cho is not the father of shmups.

Name: Monadius
Developer: Hideyuki Tanaka and Takayuki Muranushi
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

Perhaps one of the best Space Invaders clone you'll ever play, Nomltest FS has all the trappings of a Japanese shooter. What's unique about it is the sprites that are used.

Three weapon settings are made available to you. As usual, expect lots of bullet dodging action.

Name: Nomltest FS
Developer: keim
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

Block de Pon could possibly be one of the smallest Arkanoid clone you'll ever play.

Nothing amazing about this one except for it's size, weighing in at a measly 33 KB. Even has some collectible power-ups. Free stuff never looked this tempting.

Name: Block de Pon
Developer: miyaji soft
Category: Breakout
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

Atomix 2004 is basically a remake of it's namesake. The object of the game is to assemble molecules from compound atoms. This is achieved by sliding the atoms around until you get a molecule that matches the one shown on the lower left of the screen. There's a catch though. An atom will continue to slide until it hits another object.

You can expect additional stages, new music, level editor, plus all the bells and whistles that the author could cram into it. Choose classic gamemode from the options menu to play levels from the original.

If you've enjoyed Paradoxion, this puzzler is for you. Everyone else can expect a headache out of it.

Name: Atomix 2004
Developer: Testaware
Category: Puzzle
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB

A One Switch competition entry, Jet Boarder plays a lot like Outrun but with only one key used for controls. Hold down space to turn right, release to turn left.

Graphics are pretty good, although the gameplay suffers from a poorly implemented control scheme.

Name: Jet Boarder
Developer: Leandro Correia
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 3MB

Warning: Contains nudity.

Good side-scrolling shooters are hard to find. R-Type fans who can't get enough of the alien levels and bosses should try Galshell out.

No power-ups here though. To upgrade your ship, just collect a certain amount of blood vessels from the enemies you've eliminated.

Highlights of the game are probably the sprite designs. Good enough to end up in any R-Type or Gradius shooter.

Name: Galshell
Developer: Akira Hut Original
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 7MB

A nice little time waster, Route960 only utilizes two keys throughout the entire game.

The concept is quite simple. Your car comes with automatic transmission, so only acceleration and brake controls are made available to you. The objective is to complete a given mountain route without going too fast and crashing your vehicle into any of slopes.

You'll lose the game as well if your car can't climb a slope. There's a time limit, so if you don't finish in time then it's disqualification for you.

Just to prove to you that it can be done, replays are posted on the site. Drag and drop the downloaded file onto the executable to begin watching.

Name: Route960
Developer: masa-u
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

Typing tutor meets Crimsonland. Typogun is a really good freeware typing game that pits you against an onslaught of enemy units coming from all directions.

Destroy them by typing in the exact words that accompany each enemy unit. Collect power-ups using the same method.

If you're looking for ways to have fun while improving your typing speed, you won't go wrong with this one.

Name: Typogun
Developer: Pondwater
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 3MB

Labels: pondwater

Geosense is a good learning tool that implements multiplayer challenges for players with a competitive edge.

You're given ten seconds each round to find a particular location using a map of the world. Scoring is based on how close your guess is.

If only Geography tests are this fun.

Name: Geosense
Developer: Mark Rossen
Category: Puzzle
Type: Flash
Size: 1MB

Cosmo Bots is a remake of an old classic called Qix, but with simplified game mechanics.

Gameplay involves creating horizontal or vertical lines to claim areas on the playing field. Fulfill the quota to proceed to the next level.

Name: Cosmo Bots
Developer: Retro64
Category: Action
Type: Demo
Size: 7MB

Amazingly, Twistingo looks just like Zuma but doesn't play anything like it!

Not unless you count the matching part. The brightly-colored objects are now numbered and you're given a bingo card for each level.

When a ball with a matching number from your card appears, all you have to do is click on the appropriate square. The ball will be removed from the playing field automatically.

Repeat for all numbers to proceed to the next level. Gameplay is much slower than other Zuma clones, although AlwaysNeat deserves credit for trying to bring something new to the table.

Name: Twistingo
Developer: AlwaysNeat
Category: Puzzle
Type: Demo
Size: 10MB

Caboodle is a clone of the popular PSP game called Lumines, minus several features that made the original such a joy to play.

Although the graphics are well-done, there's not much style in this puzzler. The music is good but lacking.

I suppose it's unfair to compare it to Tetsuya's masterpiece, since Indiepath has done a decent job of making a puzzler with similar gameplay available for the PC.

Name: Caboodle
Developer: Indiepath
Category: Puzzle
Type: Demo
Size: 10MB

Have I got a treat for you. Perhaps old news to some, Front Line is a side-scrolling game that plays a lot like Abuse.

Aiming and shooting are done using the mouse. The keyboard primarily functions as a means of movement. Basically it's just two keys, Z for left and C for right.

Controls take a while to get used to, but once you're past that hurdle it's all fun.

Name: Front Line
Developer: D. Ikushima
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

Love Scrabble? Try Anagrammatic.

In this multiplayer Flash game, you compete against other players in a challenge to find the longest word from a rack of nine letters. Each session lasts five rounds, with the last being a bonus.

Name: Anagrammatic
Developer: Miniclip
Category: Puzzle
Type: Flash
Size: 1MB

Stackopolis is a puzzler by Bloc Games that involves stacking tiles to match given blueprints.

It's a very polished game with good graphics and animation, although some of us will probably find the gameplay lacking.

There's an offline version that you can download from the main page as well.

Name: Stackopolis
Developer: Bloc Games
Category: Puzzle
Type: Flash
Size: 1MB

In Colorful Notes, the objective of the game is to connect all colors to each other. You can only do this by rotating a square of four blocks at any one time.

New elements are introduced as you progress, such as tiles which can only be moved a certain number of times and some not at all.

Highlights of this puzzler are the music and game design. Maruchu could possibly be the Tetsuya Mizuguchi of independent gaming.

Get the rocking soundtrack from here.

Help is available as well.

Name: Colorful Notes
Developer: Maruchu
Category: Puzzle
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

Adventures in the Galaxy of Fantabulous Wonderment (GFW) is the latest game produced by Ben Croshaw, better known as Yahtzee.

Perhaps the first truly open-ended adventure created using AGS, it features many elements not commonly seen in most amateur releases. Imagine a little bit of galactic exploration, space combat, goods trade, and optional side quests. That's not even scratching the surface.

Add good writing, humor, and a solid plot. Now we're talking. And you get all that action for free in GFW!

I suppose it can be a little overwhelming, but if you enjoyed classics such as Star Control, Elite, Starflight or Space Quest, you definitely don't want to miss out on this one.

Name: Adventures in the Galaxy of Fantabulous Wonderment
Developer: Yahtzee
Category: Adventure
Type: Freeware
Size: 3MB

In GROW RPG, your mission is to banish that wicked little thing from the land and restore peace on earth.

You achieve this by dumping all eight icons into the GROW logo. Hopefully the order in which you do it will enable your warrior to navigate his way safely and work his magic on the winged devil.

Sounds like a 5 minute Zelda game to me. This is a GROW spinoff, also by Eyezmaze. An increasingly popular genre, Mr. Chubigans has made a game based on such concept as well. it's called Sandbox of God.

Name: GROW RPG
Developer: Eyezmaze
Category: Puzzle
Type: Flash
Size: 1MB

A decent little time waster, Arcadia is a collection of four mini-games (Pong, Pole Position, Pitfall and Connect Four) with the easiest of controls.

There's a twist to it. You have to play all four of them at the same time!

There's a bit of fun to be had here if you enjoyed any of the WarioWare series. A bit like Twinoo but twice the difficulty.

Name: Arcadia
Developer: gameLab
Category: Action
Type: Flash
Size: 1MB

The Doors is another adventure game that involves waking up in a strange room, some inventory management and pure clicking pleasure.

Basically it's about being trapped in a room again. Plan your escape from the sorry predicament you're in, using only a variety of household items strategically placed out of your view.

Silent Hill 4: The Room probably started the trend, and the genre became popular when Toshimitsu Takagi made several Flash games based on that idea.

The walkthrough can be found somewhere on this page.

Name: The Doors
Developer: Unknown
Category: Adventure
Type: Flash
Size: 1MB

Mission Missyo by GRC is obviously inspired by The Lost Vikings and Gobliiins. In this action-puzzler, you control three ninjas conveniently named Red, Green and Blue.

Each of them has different skills (dashing, hiding, floating) and it's up to you to figure out how to use their abilities to solve each level. Only one ninja can be controlled at any time.

You can download Mission Missyo from this page.

Name: Mission Missyo
Developer: GRC
Category: Puzzle
Type: Freeware
Size: 10MB

Your task in Magical Feeling II is to connect four pieces of the same color to eliminate them from the screen. Making chains will send over colorless pieces to your opponent.

It's really polished and there's practically no noteworthy faults, unless you want to count the fact that it's only in Japanese. Click here to download the file.

Name: Magical Feeling II
Developer: Crystal light stage
Category: Puzzle
Type: Freeware
Size: 20MB

Imperishable Night is a vertically-scrolling shooter by ZUN which features a total of eight playable characters in pre-set pairs. The pairs work in tandem: one person fires when unfocused, while the other pops in and fires when focused, with a reduction in movement speed. The two attacks can be drastically different.

Pressing the shift key slows down the player's movement, makes the collision box visible and focuses the player's attack to make it more powerful by switching your character with her Phantom teammate. This function is essential for navigating through complex bullet patterns and defeating bosses more quickly.

There are 4 levels of difficulty: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Lunatic. Each difficulty level features differences in the number of bullets fired by each enemy, rate of fire, variations in the bullets' pattern of movement, and the number and type of enemy Spell Cards used.

In this system, the game starts at 11:00 pm, and 1:00 is added after each stage. If enough time orbs are collected in the stage, 0:30 is added for that stage instead. 0:30 is also added in the case the player decides to continue. If the time reaches 5:00 am before the end of the last stage, the player receives a Game Over.

Boss have multiple lives, represented by multiple health bars shown at the upper left of the screen. Bosses usually alternate between attacking normally and attacking with Spell Cards, switching once with each health bar. Colored sections on the health bar indicate the start of a Spell Card attack when the boss' health is depleted that far.

Each attack is accompanied by a timer. When time runs out, the boss will switch to their next attack pattern even if their health bar isn't empty. Waiting for a boss character's attack pattern to self-destruct may be enough to beat them, but mere survival won't earn the player any score bonuses. Some bosses that are invulnerable, hence you will be awarded a score bonus if you survive the countdown to zero.

When fighting a boss, a position marker shows up on the bottom margin of the screen, indicating where the boss is on the horizontal axis. Since your target can be completely obscured by bullets or darkness at times, use this marker to help you aim your shots. The marker will dim when the boss is being hit, and will flash red when her health bar gets sufficiently depleted.

Name: Imperishable Night
Developer: Team Shanghai Alice
Category: Shooter
Type: Demo
Size: 20MB

Labels: shanghaialice

Holotz's Castle from MainReactor has a lot of the classic gameplay style found in Lode Runner, although it's not just an update of the original.

Your character will be expected to perform death-defying jumps as well as swing across platforms using ropes found in some of the stages.

The game comes with a level editor and additional levels can be downloaded from the site.

Name: Holotz's Castle
Developer: MainReactor
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB

There hasn't been another revolutionary 3D fighting game since Virtua Fighter first hit the arcades. That is, until now.

Well, maybe not. But Rumble Box is certainly fun.

A frantic beat 'em up that revolves around stringing punches and throws, your task in each level is to escape from the room you're trapped in.

Enemies are made out of simple objects that collapse to the floor once vanquished, hopefully piling up and perhaps creating a pathway over the wall for you to make a quick exit.

If you enjoy classics such as River City Ransom or Final Fight, you'll have a blast with this one.

Name: Rumble Box
Developer: DigiPen
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 10MB

Shikigami no Shiro II is another shooter from Japan that features gorgeous 3D backgrounds and the classic gameplay that everyone expects out of a shmup.

3D backgrounds? That's right. A lot of effort has gone into making this game and it shows.

Sorry to disappoint but the demo only features 2 levels. The prequel is available for download as well.

Name: Shikigami no Shiro II
Developer: Alfa System
Category: Shooter
Type: Demo
Size: 20MB

RSVP by Pop and Co. is a fun little Flash game that does not involve Magic or Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.

Your objective is to arrange "guest" cards around the board so that colors on the side of the cards matches the ones they're placed next to.

There's plenty of other Flash games on the site as well.

Name: RSVP
Developer: Pop and Co.
Category: Puzzle
Type: Flash
Size: 1MB

Hitoga Happa is a new doujin shooter from Murasame. Featuring 2D graphics, I don't think anyone will mistake this for a Kenta Cho production.

The game does dish out an insane number of bullets for your dodging pleasure, though.

Gameplay is quite similar to an old shoot 'em up classic called Do Don Pachi. Or any other shmups, for that matter.

Demo link is at the bottom of this page. For other games by Murasame, click here.

Name: Hitoga Happa
Developer: Murasame
Category: Shooter
Type: Demo
Size: 30MB

Moleculous, an action-puzzle game that attempts to combine elements (pardon the pun) from a pachinko simulator, Marble Drop and Mastermind.

Your task is to bounce drops off pegs placed in specially marked holes on the board and into a moving flask.

Name: Moleculous
Developer: GameTrust
Category: Puzzle
Type: Demo
Size: 10MB

DOFUS, a Flash MMORPG with character designs that would not be out of place in any Nippon Ichi game.

Registering to play is free. Requires the installation of a 50MB client.

Name: DOFUS
Developer: Ankama Studio
Category: RPG
Type: Demo
Size: 50MB

Take Revolved's gameplay design, brighten up the graphics, repackage the entire product and you'll probably end up with GEOM.

All sorts of geometrical shapes are introduced this time around for your clicking pleasure. There's also an unlimited game mode that looks a lot like something out of Lumines.

Reminds me of those Rubik's Cube or Rubik's Magic that I used to own.

Name: GEOM
Developer: Indiepath
Category: Puzzle
Type: Demo
Size: 5MB

The Mosquito Project from Tiny Mantis Entertainment is basically a Flash remake of the PS2 game Mister Mosquito.

Here's the a description from the web site:

The world is plagued by a mysterious virus that was brought back from the past. It's your job to go back in time and suck the blood out of 4 people who may be carrying the disease and the antigen needed to save humanity.

Simply put, you control an insect out to do what it does best.

The quiz on mosquito facts is pretty informative as well.

Name: The Mosquito Project
Developer: Tiny Mantis Entertainment
Category: Action
Type: Flash
Size: 1MB

Billed as "an interactive tale by Han Hoogerbrugge", HOTEL is very much an old-school adventure game made using Flash, minus inventory management.

Click away!

Name: HOTEL
Developer: Han Hoogerbrugge
Category: Adventure
Type: Flash
Size: 1MB

Top of page · September 2005 »