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This forum thread is a constantly updated list of what users of the Game Maker engine have voted to be the best and most memorable Game Maker games ever made. Currently the top ones are:

Seiklus - tapeworm
Jumper (s) - YoMamasMama
Hover Tank 3D - FredFredrickson
Jetz Rampage (s) - Shawn64
Ark 22 - Srehpog

Soldexus - Pneophen
Hard Hat (s) - Damaged
The Jeluvian Project - Pondwater
Ore No Ryomi (s) - Mr.Chubigans
Battleships Forever - th15
Raging Skies - darthlupi

Arthur Lee interviewed at Planet Freeplay, regarding the development of The Underside, among other topics.

Labels: freeware, preview

Hello all, this is Shih Tzu. Tim threw an account at me the other day, apparently for me to deface his creation with profanities and screens from softcore mahjongg games. And don't think I won't! But until that day comes, I'll sporadically assist with... I don't know what. Japanese stuff, probably.



Anyway, I thought I'd add a few clarifications I (think I) was able to glean from the 3Hiki blog, 3Hiki ga Takuramu. The group, the new home of the members of GR3PROJECT (La Mulana), is working on a new project called "Death Village", as noted earlier here. According to some of the posts by members Naramura and Samieru:

* The group is now going to try their hand at releasing games commercially.
* The goal: "Sure, there are lots of companies churning out franchise games for popular systems with expensive advertising campaigns... But, we suggest, why can't there also be a company of artisans trying out things to see if they work, one where the graphics and advertising might be disheartening but the games are consistently weird?"
* Death Village is not a sequel to La Mulana, and the public shouldn't expect a similar experience.
* The group actually has two projects in the works. Samieru is concentrating on the second, "more experimental" one.

There is also lots and lots of commentary on Ys Eternal, R-Type, God of War II, Soul Blazer, retro games, freeware games, the Xbox 360, and probably everything in between.

Labels: shihtzu

Platformers

Retrobattle updated with four new skill levels and enemy variations. [Hero remake by Wolverine, Iji preview, past projects by Daniel Remar]

A new screenshot from the Astro Marine Corps remake is up at Wolverine's site.



Adventure

A review for Something Amiss: Chapter 2 can be found here. [walkthrough]

Scratches: Director's Cut has been out for a while now. There's a couple of changes and also a sneak peek at Nucleosys' next project.

A couple of screenshots from White Birds Productions' Sinking Island (Paradise) were recently added.

Shooters

A commercial version of Prototype Mk II is in the works. [Castle Software, Gravitron, Xain'D Sleena review, Prototype]

Miscellaneous

A DHTML version of Master Mind was recently released by Thomas Weibel. [Mahjongg Solitaire, Sudoku]

Here are some album recommendations by OMEGA, the creator of Every Extend.

16 dimensional records (creator of Soup ver 0.9)
- A Japanese netlabel for NES-like music.

1. 16D002 Gone Square - Dong (15 tracks)
2. 16D001 Go Square - Dong (12 tracks)

Amen Best Hit's, supposedly a collection of tracks made out of elements from other songs. For example, Guchon's Pajama Hero is an eclectic mix of samples from Super Mario Bros. and an awfully familiar pop song.

Crazy Patterns renamed to rEIZUs3. Features:

- randomized enemies with different parts (thousands of variations)
- flags denote the type of shot attributes for each enemy ship

Release date: next week. [Crazy Patterns, Clean Asia review, past projects by cactus]

Screenshots from Death Village (La-Mulana sequel) uncovered at 3Hiki's site. Current discussion is centered around the process of switching palette color for game development, from sixteen to 16 million. [La-Mulana review]

Hamish's War Angels cancelled. A new game entitled Project Explosion will take it's place.

A top ten list of 8 and 16-bit games most deserving of a remake can be found at QuickJump Network. Some tributes and remakes:

7. Double Dragon: Double Dragon: Fists of Rage
6. Legend of Kage: Legend of Shadow
4. Dig Dug: Dig Dug Aftershock
3. Pooyan: Game and Watch remake
1. Balloon Fight: Balloon Tournament

Dust Scape is a new experimental project by Jph, this time it's a reinvention of the classic gameplay elements found in Snake. Use the left and right arrow keys to inch your way towards a green nucleus. Use the control or J key to brake.

Touching a fire ball ends the game. Collect twenty-one green nuclei to restore the use of both up and down arrow keys for vertical movement.

Name: Dust Scape
Developer: Jph Wacheski
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB

Labels: jph

I recently had the chance to interview Rod Humble, creator of the widely-blogged artgame The Marriage. Rod has been working in the industry since 1990 and is currently Head of Sims Studio at EA. In the interview, he discusses his reaction to the recent buzz, along with his views on games as art. He gives us a list of interesting games worth trying (Floor 13 is now on my to-play list), and even shows us one of his paintings.

You can read full interview over at Arthouse Games.

Labels: arthouse

(From Retro Remakes)

RGCD is a new downloadable CD-ROM based magazine containing retro reviews, features and developer interviews. RGCD's main focus is on the releases for 8/16-Bit computer platforms, but also dedicating a good percentage of their reviews and feature space to retro look-and-feel PC-based remakes.

In each issue of RGCD you'll not only find reviews of all the latest retro releases, but there'll also be direct links (to files on disc) of each game, emulator or tool reviewed irrespective of platform.

Please note that at www.rgcd.co.uk you can preview each issue of the magazine (essentially just the featured game review and a list of the other content), but in order to actually read the rest of the articles and reviews you'll need to download the .ISO image and either burn it to disc or mount it on a virtual drive. There is also a cut-down 'lite' version (excluding all games and emulators) provided as a downloadable .ZIP archive.

RGCD is 100% spyware free and all files are virus checked before uploading.

Download 10MB lite version.

Download 160MB .ISO version.

Immortal Defense is a game currently in production by RPGCreations, makers of Alphasix and Missing. The game is based on a simple idea: what if you took the central mechanic of the "tower defense" games -- which are often single-level mods to popular RTSs like Warcraft 3 and Starcraft -- and based an entire game around it? There have been stand-alone tower defense games before, but never one as extensive, with a story and characters and dozens of missions. It's also more than a tower defense game, as there are elements of shooters as well: the mouse can fire at enemies and use special attacks against them.

The story is set in the universe of the sci-fi dystopia Raberata by Robert Bisno (a friend of the authors of this game who gave his permission for this), and takes place entirely in path space, a realm above hyperspace. The story deals with themes of defending what one values from harm.

The graphics are mostly abstract and procedurally generated, although it also uses sprites in parts. The music is a mix of classical early 1900s jazz and gospel, and original music written in the style of classical piano -- not to everyone's tastes, but it was selected to add a feeling of strangeness to the game.

Additional screenshots of the game in production: [1], [2].

The game has been in production since December 2006, and will be released as shareware (albeit with 1/3rd of the game playable for free) in April or May. If you'd like to help playtest game while it's in development (it's currently in v0.7), and influence it through suggestions for improvement, you can do so here.

Soup ver 0.9 is a production loosely based on LSD, a trippy dream recollection available only on the Playstation console. Choose the first option to play in full screen mode. A different part of the adventure is unlocked for each new game attempted by the player.

Hold the left shift key to look around, and touch a wall to exit any room. Describing the game any further is equivalent to providing possible spoilers.

Name: Soup ver 0.9
Developer: Unknown
Category: Adventure
Type: Freeware
Size: 10MB

Gems is a new puzzle game made in Game Maker, and one of the better puzzle games I've ever played. Gems can move in any direction, but they keep moving until they hit something, much like some of the dungeon puzzles in Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

But the variation of the gems is much greater than in that game: there are gems that can only be pushed a limited number of times, gems which have a count-down before they explode, gems which can only travel on a particular line, teleportation tiles, gems which explode when hit and have to be deactivated by other gems, and others. There's an element of timing to it too, as the most dangerous part of the game are gems which explode and bounce back and forth between two points.

There are over sixty levels, although each is short enough that if you're good at puzzle games you can finish the game in 3-6 hours. There's also a level editor, and you can upload the levels you create and download the levels of other people. The level editor doesn't allow everything the game itself has (such as teleportation tiles) but that's my only problem with the game.

One note: this isn't mentioned in the manual, but to skip the slow-scrolling tutorial text you can press the shift button.

Name: Gems
Developer: GameCave
Category: Puzzle
Type: Freeware
Size: 7 MB

Pictured right, a new screenshot from Crazy Patterns. [Clean Asia review, past projects by cactus]

Here's an excellent article about roguelike games by The Codex, entitled Rogue Like Treasure.

A page with screenshots and descriptions for each playable entry in the latest 3Punge competition can be found here. Unfortunately most of the games require the installation of RPG Maker XP. [RPG Maker XP download page]

Trouble in Cloudland updated to version 1.1. [Trouble in Cloudland download page, a selection of Autofire 2007 compo entries]

Two screenshots from both the upcoming Raid on Bungeling Bay remake and original.

Twenty of the best freeware shooters released in 2006 and early 2007, ordered alphabetically.
[Top 50 shmups page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4, the entire list]

1. Ablation
2. Blue Wish Resurrection
3. Clean Asia
4. Demolition Gunner
5. End Effector: Accomplished Edition
6. Ether Vapor
7. Gamma Bros.
8. Mogura 2
9. Titanion
10. Vacant Ark

1. Ablation

Ablation is basically a four color vertical shooter with an interesting concept. Touching a white bomb neutralizes all projectiles, while activating a black one destroys every object in range. Collect power-ups for a firepower upgrade. Controls are:

Left CTRL, Z, Space - shoot
F5, F6 - change window size
P - pause

Black pixels do no damage, though contact with a white pixel will cause your ship to lose one power-up degree. Destroy an enemy's weak point for a special core bonus.

Name: Ablation
Developer: Nenad
Size: 7.50 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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2. Blue Wish Resurrection

Blue Wish Resurrection is a vertical shooter by x.x that features two ships to choose from, three difficulty levels and five stages with obligatory end-level bosses.

There's an autobomb option in the config screen, and pressing space will bring you back to the main menu even when you're playing. The Heaven difficulty is probably too easy for most players, while Normal is the best one to start with. Health indicators are shown for large enemies to help you gauge the amount of damage they can take.

Name: Blue Wish Resurrection
Developer: x.x
Size: 56.5 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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3. Clean Asia

Part Warning Forever, part Tumiki Fighters, all style. In Clean Asia, the eyes of mankind has decided to leave their hosts and take over the earth. Their first move was to escape to the moon, where they developed their hostile weapon technology. Ten years later they return and forcefully take over some prominent countries in Asia. Thailand and New Korea has both succumb to the hostile threat, while China insists on dealing with the eyes themselves and refuses any helping hands from around the world.

America sends a pair of pilot twins with extraordinary sixth senses to battle against the evil eyes. They both have designed their own space ships that seems to be about the only thing in existance that can be used to battle these terrible fiends.

It has three levels and two selectable ships with distinct controlling differences and abillities, fourteen bosses and ten regular enemies.

Name: Clean Asia
Developer: cactus
Size: 5.62 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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4. Demolition Gunner

Think Under Defeat, but with 2D sprites. Demolition Gunner: In Search and Destroy was originally developed for a three minute gameplay competition, then turned into a complete production featuring seven stages and obligatory boss encounters.

These battles last only twenty seconds each, so there won't be much of a struggle beating them assuming that you're good at dodging an insane number of bullets. Press the Z key to shoot, or hold the X key for a few seconds before releasing the button to launch a napalm bomb.

Name: Demolition Gunner
Developer: DHC
Size: 11.2 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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5. End Effector: Accomplished Edition

End Effector Accomplished Edition is another superb freeware shooter from Japan that actually showcases 3D graphics for sprites and backgrounds, although gameplay is still very much on a flat 2D plane.

Textures are poor but that's practically the only drawback of an otherwise excellent shmup. The Z key is assigned as the cancel/secondary button, while the X key is used for selection and shoot. Pressing the C key will bring up a menu. Hold the Z key for a few seconds to charge your special weapon.

No power-ups to collect as you're already equipped with a powerful charge weapon that can be used like a slingshot. The first level is quite plain, but things do pick up after the initial boss battle.

Name: End Effector: Accomplished Edition
Developer: KMC
Size: 69.1 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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6. Ether Vapor

Ether Vapor is a 3D shooter that looks very impressive, with plenty of special effects and cutscenes to set up boss fights. The action switches from vertical to horizontal halfway through the demo, practically offering two types of gameplay for the price of one.

Three weapons are available to the player but only one can be used at any time. Enemies do look a little bland with gray as their primary texture color but credit to Edelwiss for squeezing in so much into a 15.5MB trial version.

Name: Ether Vapor
Developer: Edelwiss
Size: 17.9 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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7. Gamma Bros.

The name Gamma Bros sounds like a platformer but it is in fact a shooter. Use the W, A, S or D key to shoot in any of the four directions. Collect coins to purchase upgrades or health, and get close to an enemy to fire rapidly. You can change characters by touching your partner's ship when it appears on the screen.

A password save function is available, allowing players to continue from the last stage attempted. Access it by pressing the arrow keys while viewing the main menu. There's a Mac version as well.

Name: Gamma Bros.
Developer: Pixeljam Games
Size: 19.5 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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8. Mogura 2

Mogura 2 is an excellent shmup by Krobon Station, featuring two characters with different abilities and weapons. Both gets a standard shield which can be activated using the X key. Hold the Z key to shoot, and tap the C key to initiate a special attack. Press the left control key to change the way your weapon operates.

A tutorial can be accessed from the main menu by selecting the third option. The second offers a difficulty setting. After picking a character, you can choose to either start from the first level or continue from the last stage attempted.

Note: Installation can be a bit of a hassle but the effort is worth it. Rename the largest executable and cca file to the same name, then repeat for the smallest file. For example mogura2.exe, mogura2.cca, config.exe and config.cca.

Name: Mogura 2
Developer: Krobon Station
Size: 15.8 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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9. Titanion

In Titanion, the ship you pilot has a capture beam that can be used to coax enemy craft to your side. These deserters will form a line formation and act as options, increasing your firepower in the process.

There is a standard level progression implemented, with all captured enemies retained from one stage to the next.

Name: Titanion
Developer: Kenta Cho
Size: 5.29 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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10. Vacant Ark

Vacant Ark is a strange departure from standard horizontal shooters, featuring excellent sprite designs by Buster but employing a slightly awkward gameplay system. You can only store and use up to six bullets at any time, although this supply can be replenished by collecting blue gems from vanquished enemies.

You lose all your energy stock if an enemy bullet grazes your on-screen character. A life is lost if you have no energy left when receiving damage. Your pod can also turn enemy bullets into gems when not in use for a few seconds.

Each end level boss requires a different strategy to beat. Some weapons are more effective in certain situations. You can only progress to the next zone if none of the bosses escape.

Name: Vacant Ark
Developer: Buster
Size: 9.83 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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Labels: shmup2006

More Curly Brace fan art... [Pondwater's web site, past projects, desktop wallpaper by Kyle T.]

Kaptain Brawe was recently picked up by a publisher and will be released as a full game. [Kaptain Brawe review]

Escort Wing 2 announced. [Escort Wing review]

Arsecast 007 is out.

Charlie's next project will be a vertical shooter with an underwater theme. [Bullet Candy web site]

Here's a video from Trigger Heart Exelica, a recent Dreamcast release.

"The game involves playing one of two anthropomorphic fighters to battle against five stages of enemy ships. Players can fire anchors to catch enemy ships, then use the caught unit as a shield or throw it to inflict more damage." [Trigger Heart Exelica front cover, back cover]

A collection of gameplay videos from Karous (Hard Mode) can be found at the Shmups Forum.

The playable demo for Die Feen should be out on the 31st of March.

mentisworks is currently developing a new game.

Veck 2 will be out next week. [latest post on smayds.com]

DROD: The City Beneath is set for a release next month.

Another one for the shooter fans, Crazy Patterns is a bullet dodging simulator with randomly generated patterns. Use the Z key to shoot, and the counter will increase accordingly when damage is inflicted. Hold the X key to activate the slow motion mode.

Name: Crazy Patterns
Developer: cactus
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

Labels: cactus

Phantasmagoria of Flower View is a versus type shooter with Reimu, Marisa and Sakuya as initially playable characters, but the list adds on as the player progresses in the storyline. Playing as one of sixteen characters, you must battle your way through nine difficult encounters to uncover the truth behind an unnatural spring season.

The game most resembles Twinkle Star Sprites, where two equally matched characters fight head to head within individual and separate play areas. Upon meeting certain conditions, players are able to unleash a variety of character-specific Spell Attacks upon their opponents in an attempt to whittle down their remaining health points, in a manner not unlike a versus puzzle game such as Puyo Puyo.

ZUN's offering also features a Match Play Mode in which the player may face off against individual AI opponents or compete against other human players, as well as observe AI versus AI matches. With the netplay patch, multiplayer is also possible through LAN or over the Internet, although it has proven to be unstable, at best.

Name: Phantasmagoria of Flower View
Developer: Team Shanghai Alice
Category: Shooter
Type: Demo
Size: 30MB

Labels: shanghaialice

Sub Atomic is a reimagination of Taito's The Electric Yo-Yo, but to access jph's remake the arcade classic has to be beaten first. Complete the game or use the insert and page up key combination to skip all three stages. A Sub Atomic executable file will be unlocked, decompressed and placed in the same game folder.

In the original, your objective is basically to clear the entire screen by moving your Yo-Yo over each block to remove them. Both creatures must be avoided, unless you've gained temporary invincibility by looping an energized brick. Earn more points by maximizing the distance travelled between two blocks.

The new version features six levels, with the additional ability of launching seekers bestowed upon your electric yo-yo. Use the control key to spawn a seeker at the cost of one charged dot, and they will target your nearest adversary. Press the shift key to make the seekers follow your yo-yo for a short while. Hold a directional arrow key to chase the nearest dot. An orange line at the top of the screen indicates the number of dots that you're required to collect in order to advance. The next phase is triggered when this line touches the word 'goal'.

Name: Sub Atomic
Developer: Jph Wacheski
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 10MB

Labels: jph

Veck 2 gets two thumbs up from the creator(s) of Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. Here's an excerpt from the article:

....we'd like to call out a really nice example of exactly what we were talking about.

The game in question is Veck2, a rather kick ass top down shooter. You can see it here. I love the crazy particles flowing around the screen in the background. The enemy types are interesting, and there's generally been a lot of thought put into the concept.

Our hat is off to Smayds, good job man.

[Veck review]

The MAGI is a game about dueling wizards; you begin the game by creating a character, and you go through a series of battles, learning new spells and gaining more experience, until your ultimate battle with Death -- and chances are unless you gained a lot of experience along the way and lived for many years, you won't beat Death.

Its gameplay can be pretty addicting, particularly trying out new combinations of spells and stats; there's a deep strategy to it. The interface and what all the stats mean and what all the spells do can be a bit overwhelming at first, but there's a tutorial and help boxes so I managed to pick it up after a battle or two. It also has some of the best particle effects I've ever seen anywhere, and the game overall is very polished. I'm hoping for a more story-centric sequel to reveal more of the game's background setting and world, I find the idea of wizards fighting Death to find immortality dramatic.

Name: The MAGI
Developer: Tomek Grochowiak / TeeGee
Category: RPG/Strategy
Type: Shareware
Size: 14MB

More screenshots from Nenad's upcoming shooter. [preview two, additional media, Ablation, Deathchase UFO, Counterclockwise review]

ECD Systems is proud to announce the 2nd Annual Indie Game Showcase, a contest held online with the aim of providing more exposure to indie game developers.

Visitors to the website will be able to play the games and then vote on their favorites in two categories: general and casual. For each category, there will be a grand prize winner and three finalists. The award ceremony will take place at the Austin Games Conference in Austin, TX, September 5-7, 2007. The grand prize for each category is a fully configured high-end developer’s work station. Each finalist will receive an IPOD Nano plus other valuable prizes.

Participants can submit their games through the Indie Game Showcase site (www.indiegameshowcase.com). Games need to be a demo that runs on a PC platform. (The game itself can be intended for any platform.) Enter unpublished titles or titles that have been released in the last six months prior to March 9, 2007.

The deadline for submission is mid-July; however, the sooner the game is submitted, the more people will be able to vote on it. Voting begins May 1, 2007. A panel of judges will decide the winners and three finalists from the ten most popular games of each category.

Direct questions to Jim Feeney at jfeeney@ecdsystems.com or (508) 420-6990.

iceMice is a simple puzzler by GoGameGlad, featuring nine stages and a functional level editor to faciliate user creations. Collect all cheese in a room to reveal the exit, though certain obstacles require both mice to work together if a solution is to be achieved.

Future versions will include keyboard controls and more levels.

Name: iceMice
Developer: GoGameGlad
Category: Puzzle
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

Perfect Cherry Blossom features three different playable characters to choose from, with two different Spell Card types each. Reimu Hakurei can weave through the smallest gaps with ease, and her attacks deal low to decent damage, depending on which type you use. Marisa Kirisame relies on her speed and power to compensate for her thin attack area, but the amount of power she wields is very considerable. Sakuya Izayoi has even wider and more versatile attacks than Reimu, but can be quite tricky to use and maneuver.

Almost every part of the game is linked with the 'Cherry Meter'. Shooting enemies increases your Cherry points, bombing or dying decreases your Cherry points, and reaching 50,000 Cherry points gives you a temporary shield. The higher the Cherry Gauge becomes, the more points you gain from Point Items.

Press the shift key to slow down the player's movement, makes the collision box visible and changing the properties of your attacks. 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: Perfect Cherry Blossom
Developer: Team Shanghai Alice
Category: Shooter
Type: Demo
Size: 10MB

Labels: shanghaialice

A Ruff'n Tumble playable teaser was recently posted at the Retro Remakes forums. This demo consists of a small room with continually spawning enemies to shoot at. Use the arrow keys to move and hold the D key to fire. [older demo consisting of one full level and soundtrack preview in .ogg format]

Shezzor's remake of this Amiga platformer has been in development for four years now (one less than Cave Story). It's new features are:

- 640x480, 60fps (original version was 320x240, 25fps)
- improved graphics to complement the higher resolution
- parallax scrolling, new soundtrack by infamous
- coded in Blitz

The full freeware version will be released sometime this year. [Ruff'n Tumble screenshots, information page, gameplay video one, gameplay video two, boss battle, renders by kukerex]

Here's a wallpaper made from the vector image of Curly Brace. [mentisworks, Thruster preview]

Video footage of the complete awards ceremony (including the marriage proposal) will be downloadable from the GDC site soon.

There's a whole bunch of screenshots from Ether Vapor (a WIP with trial version available) posted on this site. [Ether Vapor review, download link]

Acidbomb 2 will be out before the end of March. The full version will feature roughly fifty levels and bonus content. [Acidbomb 2 preview]

Gesundheit! updated to version 1.0.1, save bug fixed. The lovely soundtrack is also available from the same page, nine songs conveniently zipped into one file for download. [Gesundheit review]

Two new Fester Mudd screenshots posted. [Fester Mudd preview]

The new site for Veck 2 is up. [Veck 2 screenshots]

Bernard and Hank 2: Springtime Again should out next week.

New Reunion gameplay video posted.

More wallpapers? How about one from The Underside... [Merry Gear Solid, The Underside preview]

Rod Humble just released his experimental artgame The Marriage for public consumption. With no sound, no music, and barely-there graphics, this game is clearly not meant to dazzle your senses, but instead meant to intrigue your mind (and its low-fi nature is not a cop-out---Rod Humble's day job is at EA, so he has plenty of experience making high-fi games). The core question: What does the game mean? Rod answers that question somewhat on the download page, but I suggest you play the game before reading his explanation.

I have played The Marriage quite a bit, and so has my spouse. We've spent some time talking about what it might mean. The game, and my experience discussing it, have reminded me of experiences at galleries of modern art---for each piece, I stare at it, scratch my head a bit, and try to mine the piece for meaning of some kind. I'm also reminded of watching a David Lynch movie with friends---we'd spend the rest of the evening discussing what the movie might mean.

With The Marriage, we don't start that meaning-search empty handed. We've got the title, and we've also got Rod's one-liner: "The game is my expression of how a marriage feels."

I'm not sure if I will ever write a review of this one, because the game's success or failure depends so much on the player's personal temperament and taste. I'm posting it here as a point of discussion. Please add your thoughts in the comment roll over at Arthouse Games.

Name: The Marriage
Developer: Rod Humble
Category: Artgame
Type: Freeware
Size: 530 KB

Labels: arthouse

Tails Gear is a new vertical shooter by Blue and White, featuring options which follow your ship and can be commanded to stay in a fixed position until recovered at a later time.

Hold the Z key to activate your secondary weapon and display the hit point. Colliding with enemy ships do not cause any damage, though the game doesn't seem to allow any input with a keyboard when the continue menu pops up. A joypad works fine though. Two stages only.

Name: Tails Gear
Developer: Blue and White
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 10MB

Labels: bluewhite

Deo Dorant is a brilliant tribute to the classic platformers of old, specifically Commander Keen and the Apogee releases. Character movement is a bit slow but everything else is a nod to maze explorations and precision jumps.

Navigate around the dungeon using the arrow keys, and press the enter key to activate switches. The protagonist can jump off the surface of molten lava pit once, but do watch out for dangerous pits sneakily placed in unsuspecting places.

Use the S or L key for save and load functions.

Name: Deo Dorant
Developer: Majs
Category: Platformer
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

New interview with Nifflas over at Planet Freeplay.




[Knytt, Within a Deep Forest review]

Labels: freeware

The premise of Scientology Pwned is to essentially shoot everything in sight. The single unobstructed map has four enemy generators that create progressively tougher enemies.

Use the arrow keys to move your character, and hold the control key to shoot. Your shooting direction will automatically lock when the control key is held down.

Alternatively, the shift key can be held to lock your shooting direction when the control key is not held down. Music was composed by Jonathan Mak, creator of Everyday Shooter.

Name: Scientology Pwned
Developer: Jerry Liang
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB

Aces High Over Verlor Island is a 3D top-down arcade shooter where you pilot a biplane, and compete against other people online or take on three different challenges. A few special maneuvers are at your disposal, and various power-ups occasionally appear in order to help you stay in flight.

Each of the three single player modes has an online high score board set up so that you can compete against others, and you can also compete directly with people in dogfights of up to eight people at once.

Name: Aces High Over Verlor Island
Developer: Martin Crownover
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB

Hive Mind is a decent shooter by jph which combines three different gameplay modes into one single package. Use the up arrow key to activate your thrusters, and hold the left or right arrow key to turn your ship in the intended direction. Press the down arrow key to stop your ship and make it stay in one position.

Hold the K key for a few seconds to charge your super shot, and press the J key to lock on to the nearest available target. The lock on button can be pretty useful during the hive mind phase. Destroy the core to initiate the third wave.

When the hive mind is vanquished, energy crystals will appear in it's previously occupied spot. Protect these crystals from space insects and they will turn into blue orbs when the next phase begins. Collect the orbs to increase your shield count, indicated by a blue gauge at the bottom right of the screen.

Name: Hive Mind
Developer: Jph Wacheski
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB

Labels: jph

Gaism is a decent vertical shooter based on three minutes' worth of gameplay, featuring three short levels with adjustable an difficulty level to provide beginners and veterans an equal challenge.

The ship's cannon will always point in the opposite direction of your movement when the shoot key isn't held. Energy can be increased by collecting the yellow orbs, though firing will cause it to drop at a steady rate. A bar is deducted whenever your ship collides with any harmful objects or projectiles until none is left, which will cause the game to end.

Name: Gaism
Developer: Yamoto
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

The objective of Forward Always Forward is to collect all gems that each red turret yields when destroyed. Your shield level increases by one for every green crystal collected, up to a maximum of five. Gems do not disappear so you can backtrack at any time to replenish your shields.

Aiming is achieved by rotating your ship using the J and L keys. Hold the K key to shoot. Another version which allows the use of a mouse to aim can be downloaded from this page.

Name: Forward Always Forward
Developer: Jph Wacheski
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

Labels: jph

Strategic Oil Reserve is a decent Missile Command remake by jph which featured several new additions. Alien spacecrafts will navigate around your shots, and land fills can be used to provide further protection against enemy attacks. Use the middle mouse button to drop some additional dirt, padding the area around your oil reserves.

Name: Strategic Oil Reserve
Developer: Jph Wacheski
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

Labels: jph

More screenshots from Nenad's upcoming shooter. [additional media, Ablation, Deathchase UFO, Counterclockwise review]

There's a bunch of soundtracks by Mark "m0ds" Lovegrove in MIDI format, available from Screen 7's web site. Some highlights include compositions for Nelly Cootalot, 6 Days a Sacrifice and Trilby's Notes.

Exclusive screenshots from TENNEN-SOZAI's upcoming vertical shooter, eXceed3rd-JADE PENETRATE-. [eXceed2nd-VAMPIRE-, eXceed review]

Gesundheit is action-puzzle game which puts you in control of the allergic protagonist on a quest to save his city from snot-eating monsters, using a clever combination of brains and boogers.

While keeping out of sight, you must lure your enemies through each single-screen level with your delicious nasal discharges. Objects scattered around town provide your pig with different ways of solving each puzzle. The demo contains twelve levels and a tutorial to get you started.

Name: Gesundheit
Developer: Matt Hammill
Category: Puzzle
Type: Freeware
Size: 40MB

The Aeon Genesis site went through some major changes recently, and released the translation patch for River City Ransom 2.

Screenshots from upcoming releases:

First up, the sequel to La-Mulana! Entitled 'Death Village', you can assume that it's not going to be an easy game judging by that name. [La-Mulana review, soundtrack]



Buster's Iwanaga. [development log, Vacant Ark download page]



Unbound, the sequel to Heartland Deluxe. The second in a series of three short introductory games based on the backstory of an upcoming full-length game entitled: Wound.



Charlie's new vertical shooter. [Bullet Candy web site]

Review by RPGCreations.

Meritous is an action-RPG dungeon crawl.

Pros: The map graphics and user interface are impressive, I liked the colors. The attacking system is easy and simple -- there's no real aiming -- and it works. The upgrading system is fun. The dungeon is massive; I played for about an hour and only explored about 100 of the 3000 (!) rooms. The gameplay almost feels like a danmaku game at times: you are avoiding bullets a lot of the time, because you can fire so infrequently. The story seemed well-thought out and the instruction manual is very extensive, with a lot of detail about the background of the game.

Cons: It uses ripped music; I like the selection, but it's not original. The sound effect for the attack shouldn't vary so much in volume, sometimes it's way too loud. The game seemed to have no full screen mode: I run in 1600x1200 resolution so the screen was very small for me. The sprites are too simple, the pixel art techniques used aren't very good; the main character's sprite seems to float and has seemingly no firing animation. The game would benefit from a mini-map visible during play rather than as a separate screen. I wish there were a way to "pull" crystals to you like in the Megaman Legends games, walking over them to collect them gets *very* tiresome. I wish there were more character classes to play as, with different skills. The enemies should have had a greater variety of firing patterns, it'd make it more interesting, although admittedly I didn't get far enough to see all the enemies.

Overall: It's a fun action-based dungeon crawl but with rough edges; if you liked Diablo and are addicted to exploring huge dungeons you'd probably have some fun.

Name: Meritous
Developer: Lancer-X
Category: RPG
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

Shmup-Dev Autofire 2007 Compo results are out.

Warning: strong language.
Team Fremont Live is hosting an interview with Roger Post (Shoot the Core). [21:00 - 30:00, 100 MB direct download link]

Studio SiestA (Soldier Force, AirRade Air) announces a new shooter, tentatively titled Vallstray no Kisen. (translated as Vallstray's Shining Whirlwind, thanks pixelizr!)

Planet Freeplay has a new interview with Brad Borne, developer of the classic flash Fancy Pants Adventures game. [direct link to interview]

Steve also informs that Hurrican (a Turrican remake) will be out pretty soon, with only some minor bugs to squash delaying it's release.

A playable ten level demo of Super Obliteration can be downloaded here.

Joakim's (Noitu Love) next platformer, pictured right.

Oddbob's Beast Invaders 3. [more here]

Gish 2 concept art.

Reunion, Mike Bithell's (Visiting Day) latest creation. [Reunion information, gameplay video]

Two gameplay videos captured from Ichigo-Citron's upcoming vertical shooter, Rozen Diadem.

A direct prequel to the visual novel Narcissu, Narcissu Side 2nd is currently in production by stage-nana. A preview version was sold at Comiket 70 for 200 yen, and has since been released for download at stage-nana's website.

The focus will be on Setsumi, the female heroine from the original visual novel, and on the people and circumstances that formed the character presented in the first game; most of the preview is told from Setsumi's point of view. According to the author's comments in the afterword to the preview edition, she will share the limelight with at least two new heroines.

Name: Narcissu Side 2nd
Developer: Stage-Nana
Category: Visual Novel
Type: Demo
Size: 30MB

Labels: narcissu

A faithful remake of the Commodore 64 platformer, Bruce Lee features the legendary martial arts master on a quest to retrieve lanterns, defeat evil minions, and perhaps even restore world peace along the way.

A comprehensive review can be found here.

Name: Bruce Lee
Developer: Mark Rosten
Category: Platform
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

Rooms is a rather innovative puzzler by HandMade Game, in which your character has to shuffle rooms around to arrive at the exit in each level. Only the room you're currently in can be moved, though items can be used to teleport from one place to the other.

The primarily goal of Rooms is to exit from the Rooms mansion. The secondary objective of Rooms is to collect every part of the final puzzle and getting good score, by arranging every room's position to make an entire image.

Every room's background is part of whole image of the stage. The linked background is a hint, which lets player know where each room should be placed. In addition to moving rooms, using right object and items at right time is another consideration.

Name: Rooms
Developer: HandMade Game
Category: Puzzle
Type: Freeware
Size: 30MB

Pixel updated Guxt to v.0.8.1.0. As noted by Shih Tzu:

The accompanying 'readme' information hasn't changed, except that it says 'still not complete'. Also, there's a new screenshot that suggests Pixel has added bright red to the color palette in certain spots. [LiveJournal discussion, more entries about Guxt]

Shmup-Dev Autofire 2007 compo results will be out today.

Clean Asia's information page gets another facelift.

The PC version of Qwak is currently in development.

A nifty little list with links to all of the IGF nominees' web sites can be found at GT.

There's a new update patch for The Underside which fixes the joystick error.

Crillion Z is a remake of Oliver Kirwa's Crillion for C64. You control a ball and you have to smash colored blocks. The alternate version with a Christmas theme is available from the download page as well.

Name: Crillion Z
Developer: DHK
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB

Jetpak - Solar Crisis is an excellent remake of the similarly titled game for the ZX Spectrum machine. Your mission in each level is to collect and assemble parts of a probe by placing them on a designated area, while trying to carry out repairs on your ship.

Unfortunately only fans of the original will find this particular effort appealing. Nine planets to visit in total.

Name: Jetpak - Solar Crisis
Developer: Richard Jordan
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 3MB

The demo for Penumbra: Overture is out. A list of mirrors can be found here.

The Underside is an exploration based action platformer in the vein of games like Castlevania, Metroid, and Cave Story. However, unlike most other games in this genre, the gameplay is driven more by plot than by free-roaming exploration.

Graphics and engine are completely original. The plot revolves around a character named 'Ip' who must escape from the underside, and maybe prevent the world from being destroyed while he's at it. Characters, plot strands, and dialogue are heavily inspired by Earthbound, and are quirky, whimsical, and sometimes a little strange.

The gameplay is very fast based, a lot more akin to games like Mega Man or Metal Slug rather than Metroid or Cave Story in terms of pacing.

Name: The Underside
Developer: The Podunkian
Category: Platform
Type: Freeware
Size: 20MB

Labels: underside

More screenshots from Oddbob's latest vertical shooter were recently posted, tentatively titled Beast Invaders 3. [G-Force review]

Pushover 2 will feature 3D dominoes. [Pushover review]

Screenshots from Ichigo-Citron's (Melon Squash, Feather Raid) upcoming vertical shooter can be found here.

Gesundheit! will be released this week. Roughly two hours' worth of gameplay. Screenshot below.

Twenty of the best freeware shooters released in 2006 and early 2007, ordered alphabetically.
[Top 50 shmups page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4, the entire list]

11. Arachnos
12. Asougi
13. Beautiful World
14. Exceed 2nd Vampire
15. Excellent Bifurcation
16. Guxt
17. Hyper Wars: The Mega Firestorm
18. La Soeur de Barrage
19. Touhoukokuhuugi
20. Virtual

11. Arachnos

Arachnos is an effort by BootanSoft that is reminiscent of arcade shmups from the early 80's. I could not get this to work full screen, but changing to a lower desktop resolution helps. Controls are shown under the configuration menu. Set BLT scale to double for a larger game display window.

The graphics may appear to be bland but does improve after the second level. Several weapons most commonly found in Konami's classic shooters make their appearance here, such as ripple lasers and options to name but two. Your ship does not explode immediately when hit, allowing options to be recovered after the loss of a life.

End level bosses have several attack patterns, guaranteed to test your bullet dodging skills. The asteroids in stage two can actually be used as a temporary shield during the boss battle, assuming that you don't crash into any of them.

Name: Arachnos
Developer: Bootansoft
Size: 5.61 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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12. Asougi

Asougi is a freeware vertical shooter that resembles ESP Ra.De., a Cave arcade favorite featuring characters with the ability to fly and amazing psychic powers.

Some of the bullet patterns are rather unique and not the sort commonly found in recent shmup releases. It's also rather friendly to beginners as the number of continues are set to unlimited, though progress past stage three is only allowed to players using three credits or less.

The executable file with a longer name is the version with less effects for slower computers.

Name: Asougi
Developer: Asougi Project Team
Size: 120 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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13. Beautiful World

Beautiful World is a relatively unknown shooter from Project Boueigun, featuring the usual array of power-ups, collectibles end level boss encounters.

Hold down the left shift key to shoot and press the Z key to launch a bomb. Scroll down slightly past the screenshots to get the latest version.

Name: Beautiful World
Developer: Project Boueigun
Size: 4.25 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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14. Exceed 2nd Vampire

eXceed2nd-VAMPIRE- is a brilliant shmup by FLAT which mimics the polarity gameplay system made popular by Ikaruga. The color of the circle surrounding your character can be changed by tapping the C key. This will determine the type of enemy bullets that your ship absorbs while charging the special weapon in the process.

Press the Z key to shoot and use the V key to bring up the pause menu. There are only four stages in this trial version, unfortunately. The 70MB file package may take a while to download, but rest assured that it's one shooter well worth the effort especially for fans of Treasure's classic.

Note: the color change button has to be remapped to C again using the in-game control setup option. FLAT updated the demo recently and messed up the original key configuration setting.

Name: Exceed 2nd Vampire
Developer: FLAT
Size: 88.1 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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15. Excellent Bifurcation

In Excellent Bifurcation, the aliens have attacked and their ability to exist in either or both of their world and ours has given them an almost unsurpassable advantage. Take command of a special fighter craft capable of existing in both realities at once and drive them back!

The form your fighter takes on the left has double fast-firing cannons and can charge to release up to eight seekers. It is ideal for destroying small and weak but numerous enemies. The right-hand form has a single powerful cannon which fires slowly but does far more damage, and is more suited to taking out larger enemies. It can charge up to release a wave which passes through things, damaging them as it goes. You can switch them between the worlds depending on what kind of firepower you need where.

The only vulnerable parts of your ship are the white parts at the centre. This means that the small form is much better at dodging than the large one. The only dangerous parts of bullets are the brightest (yellow or white) parts. Also, if you are shot down the form which was hit emits a green shockwave instead of a yellow one.

Press the Z key to shoot, X key to charge the special weapon, and C key to switch between two forms. Use the A key to activate autofire. You can change settings, like windowed vs fullscreen and whether it uses vsync, by editing the init.txt file.

Name: Excellent Bifurcation
Developer: Linley Henzell
Size: 0.96 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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16. Guxt

Guxt is a new vertical shooter by Pixel, the famed creator of Cave Story and Ikachan.

Click on the first text to download. Use the arrow keys to move your ship, and tap the left control key repeatedly to shoot. Screen size can be adjusted by selecting the menu tab. A key configuration option is included as well.

Power-ups can only be collected after you've destroyed their protective shells. Autofire is possible once your ship gains it's first weapon upgrade.

Name: Guxt
Developer: Pixel
Size: 0.25 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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17. Hyper Wars: The Mega Firestorm

Warning: Contains strong language.

Hyper Wars: The Mega Firestorm is a vertical shooter by CK which uses only two colors throughout the entire game. There are plenty of power-ups to choose from and several bosses to defeat at the end of each level. The demo only showcases four stages, but expect more in the near future as development continues.

Name: Hyper Wars: The Mega Firestorm
Developer: CK
Size: 2.35 MB
Download page: Click here

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18. La Soeur de Barrage

La Soeur de Barrage is a pretty decent shooter with emphasis on boss fights and accessible controls. Use the mouse to move the character and hold the left button to shoot.

There's plenty of save points and unlimited continues to assist beginners, plus a super easy mode has been included which allows the player to resume a game with twenty-four lives. Three long stages.

Name: La Soeur de Barrage
Developer: Tocoroten
Size: 54.3 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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19. Touhoukokuhuugi

Touhoukokuhuugi is a pretty good Shoot the Bullet clone developed by President Room, requiring impossible bullet dodging and photography skills just to get past the first few levels.

Take pictures by holding the Z key when your camera is ready, indicated by a percentage shown above the crosshair. Use the X key to make your character move slower, or press both buttons to charge your weapon faster. Only photos with bosses are considered valid. Still early in production, the game is very playable even without any background music or sound effects.

Originally Shoot the Bullet was supposed to occupy this spot, but no demo was ever released so this decent substitute gets the nod instead.

Name: Touhoukokuhuugi
Developer: President Room
Size: 4.53 MB
Download page: Click here

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20. Virtual

Virtual by Vector Games is a shooter with a mix of gameplay elements from Japanese shmups, Every Extend and Tron. Hard to imagine, but pretty fun nonetheless. When pressing the left control key, your ship will warp and create a small circle. Any round objects with the same color caught in it will basically go offline and disappear.

Enemies leave trails when traveling, and your ship will be terminated if it crosses these lines with another color. Press the left shift key to change your ship's color. Lives are replaced with logins, which can be acquired by using the same warp action on square objects.

Name: Virtual
Developer: VectorGames
Size: 1.68 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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note: a shmup has to offer least two playable levels to qualify for a place on this list

Labels: shmup2006

Ten of the best freeware arena shooters released in 2006 (roughly).
[Top 50 shmups page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4, the entire list]

- Actual geometry wars clones can be found in this article.

1. NaaC
2. Invisible Vision
3. Tank Domination
4. The Design
5. Mu-cade
6. Ray-Hound
7. Zugya DX
8. Winged Gear
9. Super Blazing Vortex
10. Engage to Jabberwock

1. NaaC

NaaC is a pretty good Smash TV clone with all the action focused in one room for the entire game. Aliens will barge through walls from the top of the screen, then left and right. Fortunately better weapons occasionally appear out of thin air, although ammo conservation is vital since they run out pretty fast.

Name: NaaC
Developer: Bloody Monkey
Size: 10.5 MB
Download page: NaaC

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2. Invisible Vision

Invisible Vision is another excellent game from keim, developer of Nomltest FS and Sky Swimmers' Heaven. A departure from the rest of his efforts, it involves engaging sea battles with enemy submarines while avoiding mines and surviving the occasional boss encounters.

Wireframes are used to replicate the surroundings of a dark ocean. With careful observation, it's quite easy to detect enemy ships based on the ripples caused by their movements.

The arrow keys can be used to move your ship around. Controls can be slightly awkward to learn at first but the effort will be rewarded with an amazing gameplay experience. Press the Z key to launch a torpedo. Every missed shot costs three seconds, and the game is over when you run out of time.

If green is not your favorite color, there are two other executables to start the game in gray or blue.

Name: Invisible Vision
Developer: Kei Mesuda
Size: 1.79 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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3. Tank Domination

Tank Domination is a new release from DHC, an acclaimed Japanese freeware shmup developer. As the title suggests, your vehicle can move around and aim freely instead of being limited to one vertical direction. Hold the Z key to lock your aim and shoot at the same time.

Energy will only be replenished when all enemies shown on radar as red dots are destroyed. Your tank will explode with only one hit but three lives are given at the start of each game.

The version available for download features six short stages but does include four different difficulty levels to choose from.

Name: Tank Domination
Developer: DHC
Size: 2.86 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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4. The Design

The Design is a 2D shooter with some unique quirks. You control two dots on a design, which can shoot at the angle from one to the other. New figures on the design appears and you earn points by removing them.

Note that the enemies can only be killed while they're white. If you shoot an enemy while it's red, the bullet will turn against you. Aside from the normal shooting, you also have three upgrades that'll help you with getting a highscore.

Name: The Design
Developer: cactus
Size: 1.83 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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5. Mu-cade

Mu-cade is an arena shooter from Kenta Cho that plays quite differently from all his other efforts. A bit of Robotron: 2084 and Snake, your objective is to stay on the rectangular platform and knock other enemies off it by shooting at them repeatedly using the Z key.

For each enemy pushed off the platform, the tail of your ship grows longer and the score multiplier increases. A longer tail does complicate matters a little as it gets harder to stay on the platform. If the tail of your ship is over the edge, the weight will drag the rest of the ship with it as well.

Fortunately you only need to worry about the front portion of your ship. As long as this part of the ship stays on the platform, you can use the X key to blow up the entire tail and gain some additional firepower momentarily. You will lose the multiplier in the process though.

It gets increasingly harder to stay on the platform as time passes. An extra life is awarded for every 200,000 points earned, so it's important to refrain from using the X key too often unless necessary.

Not one of ABA's best works, but anything outside a top five placing will only incur the wrath of his many fans.

Name: Mu-cade
Developer: Kenta Cho
Size: 6.02 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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6. Ray-Hound

The latest release from Hizoka.T.Ohkubo, RAY-HOUND is an action game which requires no shooting from the player's part. Trapped in a room with enemies consisting of turrets, you can retaliate by clicking on the left mouse button to muster a shield and send their shots back at them. The other method is to move your ship towards the lasers rapidly to initiate a boost and repel the beams of destruction.

In the options menu, it is possible to adjust and increase the chances of boosting with quick mouse movements by lowering the figure. Press F11 or use the ALT and enter key combination to play in full screen mode.

A timer is always counting down, but you can increase it by destroying all enemies to complete the level. The gameplay system is pretty offbeat, since it can be rather hard to direct shots unless the player is adept at slinging projectiles.

It's not a favorite of mine but Hikware's effort did get plenty of press coverage, hence meriting it's rightful position in the sixth place on this list.

Name: Ray-Hound
Developer: Hikware
Size: 565 KB
Direct download link: Click here

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7. Zugya DX

Zugya DX is an excellent shooter from Chinchilla Softhouse that can be described as Robotron: 2084 in space. Arrow keys control the ship's movement, and your shot direction is locked when you hold down the X key. Pressing the C key will activate your plasma charge, which is basically a short moment of invincibility.

Your main targets are the space stations which you have to destroy by shooting at it's core. It won't be easy as they're usually protected by substations equipped with all sorts of defensive weapons. Some of the substations carry power-ups which you can collect to boost your spread shot.

When the game starts, click on the joypad tab, input patch and the largest button to configure default keyboard controls. Consists of fifty stages in total. Another old release, though a major version upgrade was posted on the web site one week before the start of 2006.

Name: Zugya DX
Developer: Chinchilla Softhouse
Size: 7.91 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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8. Winged Gear

Winged Gear is another superb freeware title from Japan that could be described as a mix of Smash TV and SHMUP-type gameplay elements. The game is essentially a top down shooter where you have to guide a ship from room to room full of enemies to shoot at.

You're only allowed to exit a room once it has been cleared of every single hostile unit. There's a time limit that makes matter difficult, but it is usually replenished when you enter a new room.

Special items can be collected to increases your ship's firepower for a short while or replenish your bomb supply. The developers have also thrown in a two player mode as an added bonus. A rather old title, though the web site does state that it's last update was in early 2006.

Name: Winged Gear
Developer: ZAP
Size: 9.56 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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9. Super Blazing Vortex

Super Blazing Vortex is Pug Fugly's take on the classic Space Invaders gameplay with a bit of a twist. The objective is to feed a vortex with space energy left behind by defeated alien ships, then proceeding to destroy the black hole itself by blasting asteroids into it.

A balance need to be struck when it comes to keeping the size of the vortex in check. More points are earned for a larger vortex, although that does attract more enemies bent on blowing up your ship. Not to mention that your perspective will be changed quite often due to the vortex's instability.

Name: Super Blazing Vortex
Developer: Pug Fugly Games
Size: 2.55 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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10. Engage to Jabberwock

The game is basically a combination of all the good stuff that made Smash TV and Zelda series fun. Engage to Jabberwock puts you in control of a character trapped in a labyrinth full of strange creatures, armed with some spells that will drain your mana when used.

Barely sneaking into the list due to maze and puzzle elements. If you're looking for action without the brainwork, just pick any of the notable mentions as a replacement instead.

Note: released as freeware on 14th of February, 2007.

Name: Engage to Jabberwock
Developer: Platine Dispositif
Size: 4.08 MB
Download page: Click here
Inverted Castle mirror: http://zenjohost.com/~hunty/platine/jabberwock.zip

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Top five Geometry Wars clones:
Grid Wars, Veck, Rainbow Wars, XWars, Grid Assault

Notable mentions: Area 2048, Base 2, Kill Your Television, Trouble in Cloudland (2007), Eraser (2007), Candycane (2007), Hold Off Red (2005)

Hall of Fame: Every Extend, Warning Forever, Gate 88, DUO

Labels: shmup2006

More screenshots from Veck 2 posted, rainbows and all. [right-click here to save new gameplay video]

Battle of Wesnoth updated to version 1.2.2. [Battle of Wesnoth review]

Holotz's Castle gets a proper English translation. [Holotz's Castle review]

An early Crystal Towers 2 prototype was posted yesterday. One playable level only. [Treasure Tower, Special Agent review, Total Klik]

Eyezmaze is searching for sponsors. I'm certain that he can be coerced to do in-game advertising as well for around a grand. Reach over five million users a month, including citizens of Mars and Uranus.

Ankama Games (DOFUS) recently unveiled the new site for their upcoming turn-based tactical MMORPG entitled Wakfu. There will be a free-to-play area (representative of the actual game content), with a subscription model in place and virtual items for sale. For Windows, Mac and Linux. [Source: Canardplus]

DROD: The City Beneath will be out this month.

Gameplay video from the upcoming Super Obliteration remake can be viewed here.

More screenshots from Beast Invaders 3 posted. [latest G-Force build]

Lemmy and Binky pays tribute to Richard Joseph, composer of memorable tunes such as the ones heard in Magic Pockets (a favorite), Cannon Fodder, Speedball 2, God, The Chaos Engine and many more. Tracks can be downloaded from said site. [Speedball 2 remake, due summer 2007]

Nelly Cootalot, fearsome pirate and lover of tiny and adorable creatures, is charged by the spirit of a dead buccaneer to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a fleet of birds known as spoonbeaks. Her adventure will bring her face to face with the nefarious Baron Widebeard as she uncovers corruption and wanton punning in the Barony of Meeth.

Name: Nelly Cootalot
Developer: Alasdair Beckett
Category: Adventure
Type: Freeware
Size: 20MB

Echoes is an arena shooter by Binary Zoo which consists of ten levels, with a different enemy type introduced on every new stage. Each have their unique strengths, weaknesses and require various strategies to deal with effectively.

The player loses energy when collision with an adversary could not be avoided. Remaining energy is shown as a counter on the top right of the screen, also indicated by the colored ring surrounding your ship. There are only three different power-ups to collect. One increases firepower, the other restores health while the third is a sort of bomb.

Zoots awards are handed out whenever a certain task is completed, with current achievements available to peruse via the trial accomplishment screen. To get a perfect score, all ten objectives must be attempted at the highest difficulty.

Name: Echoes
Developer: Binary Zoo
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 10MB

More screens from the updated Spud's Quest was recently posted on Total Klik. [Spud's Quest review]

The Underside demo will be out next week. [second screenshot, The Underside preview]

A new Ruff'n Tumble trailer was recently posted in the RR forums. [right-click here to save]

Quatros is a decent Tetris clone originally developed for a certain contest, in which all entries must be restricted to a Gameboy handheld window size and color scheme.

Most of the necessary features have been included, such as a proper pause button and a key for instant piece drop. Just rename and drop any mp3 file into the game folder to set it as your choice of background music.

Name: Quatros
Developer: Markus Rosse
Category: Puzzle
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

DS4 is quite simple, use the arrow keys to move and Z to shoot. But the trick to getting a really good score is to sit back and do nothing. The longer you wait, the more missiles your ship locks on to the enemies. Any movement, or firing, resets the counter and fires off any missiles that have been locked. Your score for any locked targets is then multiplied by the total number of missiles fired at that moment.

Thus the key is to wait as long as possible, in order to get more points. Your ship’s hitbox is the point in the middle of it, so while many of the enemies shoot at you they often miss by a little bit. This should tempt you to wait just a little bit longer. The game does get quite hard, and is perhaps a little unforgiving when you die.

Name: DS4
Developer: the2bears
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB

Here's a list of top ten freeware adventure games by a Spanish site, NeoTeo.com. [Babelfish translation]

thenavigator web site updated with a teaser image, and more artwork for FTG was posted on the artist's gallery page. [The White Chamber]

A screenshot from Hurdler 2 can be found at TGP's site.

Kyle Gabler (Tower of Goo fame) had recently started up a new company to produce more experimental games. World of Goo is one of the three projects announced by 2D Boy studio, due out in summer 2007.

Ten of the best freeware remakes from last year which involves firing shots at foreign objects.
[Top 50 shmups page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4, the entire list]

1. The Pyramid
2. Counterclockwise
3. G-Force
4. Typhoon 2001
5. Gravitron
6. Thrust Xtreme
7. Nemesis
8. Archaist
9. Saucelifter
10. Alien Abduction

1. The Pyramid

In The Pyramid, your objective is to guide a protective capsule through the corridors of a pyramid while shooting at any object with the intent to harm. Sacrifice your enemies to the level guardian to open a new passage in each room.

A pretty good remake by Chris Roper, with nothing less than four control options made available to the player. Plenty of additional accessibility functions have been included, such as a difficulty setting, an autofire toggle, display modes, everything but the kitchen sink apparently. Having a monster book to record your previous encounters with the denizens of the sacred tomb is a very nice touch as well.

Name: The Pyramid
Developer: Chris Roper
Size: 3.82 MB
Direct download link: Click here
Other shooters by Chris: Super Blazing Vortex, Ambush in Sector 9, Project Microlife, Revenge of the Robot Cat from Mars

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2. Counterclockwise

Counterclockwise is a perfect demonstration of the quality of entries submitted to the Retro Remakes competition this year. Essentially Tron in 3D, this remake puts you in a ship that leaves a trail during flight. Your basic objective is to destroy enemy chasers, either by shooting at them or using the EMPs supplied.

Ammunition is limited, but it's possible to replenish them by collecting power-ups or executing tricks. These special moves can be practiced in a special trick trainer section. A multi-player is currently being developed, although the online high score table has already been implemented in the current version.

Name: Counterclockwise
Developer: Nenad
Size: 7.07 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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3. G-Force

G-Force is a brilliant remake that plays very much like a flat 2D Tempest, in which enemies rain down from the top of the screen in an attempt to crash into your ship. Press the Z or Y key to shoot, and tap the X key to activate the special weapon. Only two directional arrow keys are ever needed, and use of the superzapper is only allowed once in each level.

Name: G-Force
Developer: Oddbob
Size: 11.1 MB
Direct download link: Click here
Other shooters by Oddbob: Beast Invaders 2

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4. Typhoon 2001

Anyone familiar with Tempest would definitely be interested in Typhoon 2001. Use the left and right arrow keys to move the ship around the stage, and hold the space key to shoot. A superzapper can be used by pressing the enter key. Avoid spikes when warping to the next level.

Not a standard vertical or horizontal shooter but quite simply one of the best freeware Tempest remake yet. Ace, indeed.

Name: Typhoon 2001
Developer: Thorsten Kuphaldt
Size: 3.09 MB
Download page: http://typhoon.kuto.de/download.html

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5. Gravitron

The creator of Prototype and Xain'D Sleena returns with a brand new shooter entitled Gravitron, though this one requires a little more tact as it is actually based on Thrust. Instead of transporting pods into the skies you now have to destroy reactors while saving any spacemen wandering on the surface of the planet.

Switch to mouse controls by pressing the tab key when the main menu is shown. Activate the shields next to a fuel pod to fill up your tank. Progress is saved using a pass phrase, plus the nifty level editor facilitate user creations quite well. Expect more content to be posted in the near future.

Name: Gravitron
Developer: X-Out
Size: 5.70 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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6. Thrust Xtreme

From the creator of Grid Assault comes Thrust Xtreme, a remake featuring updated graphics but with Wiebo's distinct style from his earlier effort intact. The menu and sprite designs are instantly recognizable, though gameplay is slightly sedated with precise key presses a vital ingredient for success.

Your ship has limited fuel which can be replenished by activating your tractor beam near any of the fuel tanks. Balance is required to hover in one spot while staying close to ground objects.

The objective of the game is to attach a rope to the round object found in each level, then carry them out safely into space in order to progress. Some players might be discouraged by the difficulty or awkward controls, though fans of the original will definitely be delighted with this production.

Name: Thrust Xtreme
Developer: Wiebo de Wit
Size: 3.02 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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7. Nemesis

The Nemesis remake from Ovine by Design is a shooter that looks great and plays just like the original.

One of the very few Retro Remakes 2006 Competition entries that is actually better than it's predecessor, which is quite an achievement considering that Konami's classic is a tough act to follow.

Name: Nemesis
Developer: Ovine by Design
Size: 7.51 MB
Download page: Click here

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8. Archaist

Archaist could not be any more different than it's predecessor, yet manages to retain every defining element of the original. Your mission is basically to search each area of the map for artifacts in the shape of floppy disks and time capsules. These objects should then be deposited at a base or station in order to earn an advancement in your designated rank.

It takes a bit of effort to learn the controls, fortunately the difficulty level can be adjusted to your liking. Rather frustrating at times as well, due to the fact that the number of artifacts collected are halved if you lose a ship. There's no save game function though all these are just minor nitpicks.

A remake that even the original author would approve of. Includes a Pastfinder theme which can be selected from the main menu.

Name: Archaist
Developer: Michi
Size: 9.03 MB
Platforms: PC, Mac
Direct download link: Click here

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9. Saucelifter

Saucelifter is a brilliant Choplifter remake featuring vector graphics for enemy vehicles, turrets and buildings. Press the Z or C key to shoot in either direction, or hold the X key to aim downwards. The landing gears will appear automatically when your ship approaches the ground.

The aim of the game is basically to grab up to eight hostages at any one time and transport them to the teleporter on the right. Land right next to it and they will exit the ship and walk onto the platform automatically.

Name: Saucelifter
Developer: Paul Pridham
Size: 2.17 MB
Direct download link: Click here

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10. Alien Abduction

Alien Abduction is a decent Defender clone by Pumpkin Games, featuring 3D graphics but retaining 2D gameplay from the classic. Your objective in each level is to destroy all alien ships while protecting as many energy crystals as you possibly can.

The radar will be helpful to keep track of all the action, while power-ups appear rather frequently and can be collected for a temporary firepower upgrade. Fuel has to be replenished from time to time by hovering your craft over a fuel depot usually identifiable by it's red or pink glow.

Name: Alien Abduction
Developer: Pumpkin Games
Size: 3.57 MB
Platforms: PC, Mac
Direct download link: Click here

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Notable mentions: Gridfire, Solar Striker Remake, Demon Attack, Star Wars, Chronos - A Tapestry in Time

Labels: shmup2006

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