5 GENRES IN 5 DAYS
Greetings 2D game fans, and welcome to our latest feature, the Indie Game Genre-thon! When you see a title like that, you may be inclined to mutter to yourself, “What are these daffy bastards on about?” Keeping in mind that we daffy bastards have incredible hearing, we are here to present the answers to your barely-coherent mumblings.

Next week, beginning on Monday, June 4, we will be posting a series of articles featuring 2D games from a variety of genres. “But wait!” you cry. “I thought you guys only wrote about action games!” This is true, and the 5 games we’re covering will all be action games, but they will fall into various sub-categories of the greater “action” label. If the suspense is causing you undue cranial pressure, then we urge you to proceed to the the bottom of this page before you cause yourself further harm. The rest of you may safely continue.

“What ho?” you chortle. “Is this another Xbox Live Indie Games Week?” It is not, and we are amazed at your ability to speak in sentences that include hyperlinks to our other features. However, there will be a couple of XBLIG titles in the mix, because damn it, that’s where some of the best 2D stuff is!

Every game we cover during the week will be a recent indie release, and something that is well worth playing for yourself. The games will appear across the Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Mac, PSP, Vita, and Windows Phone. Some of the games are available in multiple formats.

“But wait!” you bellow, gesticulating wildly. “I’m ready now! Why are you making me wait a week before showing me these worthwhile 2D games? Why do you hate me so!?” Ah well, we’re sure you’ll make it, and we want everyone to drop back in here when we get into the full swing. Besides, there are loads of other excellent 2D game articles spread throughout the site for you to check out in the meantime, as well as insightful developer interviews. Feel free to rummage through our other goodies, and then return here on June 4.

Below is the breakdown of game genres we’ll be covering next week. The games themselves will be revealed as the week unravels (as it’s prone to do). We’ll post a new article each evening around 8:00 p.m. Eastern and then put the links up here so you can grab and go. See you soon!

COOL THINGS FOR COOL PEOPLE
We've had a bunch of positive feedback about the header image we created for our Facebook page, and we're pretty proud of it too. Trouble is, the format doesn't really allow it to be used for anything else.

So, we decided to set our controllers down for a bit and put something together than everyone can enjoy, and reformatted the image so that it can be used as a desktop. We didn't get super fancy with a bunch of different resolutions, but we did put together a widescreen version and a 4:3 version (if you're still into that sort of thing).

We mixed in a bit of Super Mario Bros. World 1-1 and 1-2 to create the background, pulled a bunch of sprites from all of our favorite 2D games, and placed them as if they all existed in the world together. Also, for authenticity's sake, all of the sprites are rendered in their original resolutions, so they appear in their proportionate sizes. That's why Alucard is about twice the size of Simon Belmont and Rayman's head is bigger than SOFIA 3rd.

We've also made an attempt to have each of the sprites doing something they'd be expected to do in their native games, such as the M-308 gunner standing on the ceiling and Sparkster dashing through the air. There's lots of stuff to find if you look hard enough.

So, if you want an obnoxiously busy desktop packed to the edges with some really cool sprites, we've got your flavors below:

2D GAME OVERVIEW
The third title from Mommy’s Best Games has been released on the Xbox Live Indie Games channel, and it’s called Explosionade (that’s right, when life gives you explosions…). You may remember Mommy’s Best Games as the developer of the award-winning Weapon of Choice, and Shoot 1UP, and this is also the developer responsible for the highly-anticipated Grapple Buggy. While these are all 2D action games at their core, each of these releases fits into a different sub-genre. Weapon of Choice is a side-scrolling shooter, Shoot 1UP is a shmup, and Grapple Buggy is an action-adventure. Before we get any further, and you start to wonder why we’re as giddy as a schoolboy with a sock drawer full of dirty magazines, you may wish to learn more about our secret and terrible Hidden Agenda. Or don’t. You can’t stop the apocalypse anyway…

2D GAME OVERVIEW
Out There Somewhere begins with a distress call from a space station orbiting the Mother Planet. The station has fallen under attack from Grigori’s army. Grigori is a traitor to the Mother Planet, but he has proven himself to be incredibly resilient, having survived multiple spaceship crashes and even a blast from a disruptor ray, which left him with a cartoonish hole straight through the middle of his body. A lone hero named Yuri departs on his spacecraft to save the day.

2D GAME OVERVIEW
In Offspring Fling, you take control of a cute yellow forest creature with long ears and whiskers. One fine day, she is hanging out in the forest with all of her cute little baby critters when a huge dinosaur-like monster bursts into the clearing and scares them all away. The mommy stands her ground but she is no match for the monster, and finds herself knocked silly in no time. Then, she picks herself up and runs off into the forest to save her babies.

2D GAME OVERVIEW
While Super Ninja Warrior Extreme has an objectively incredible title that would have practically guaranteed its success in the 16-bit days, it smacks of a cheap cash-in when placed amongst the glut of moderate- to low-quality ninja-themed games available in the downloadable space. All the more pleasantly surprising, then, is the fact that the game offers the solid mechanics, chunky presentation, and old-school thrills you might expect from the consoles of yore.

Super Ninja Warrior Extreme falls into the same category as Aban Hawkins & the 1000 Spikes in that it has a chunky art style, simple enemies, a small number of moves, and short levels. On its own, there’s nothing terribly special about any of these things, but the overall presentation, level structure, and unforgiving-yet-rewarding 1-hit kill gameplay make all the difference.

DEVELOPER INTERVIEW
In the 16th episode of our 10 Questions series, we team up with Fanboy Confidential once again to spend some time with Joe Olson and Michel Gagné of FuelCell Games, the developer of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet.

In this interview, we discuss the creation of a game based on Gagné's unique silhouette art style, as well as Gagné's comic book and fine art influences. We also discuss the game's design philosophy, the ingredients for creating a good game, and how the game's story was presented without the use of language. Joe and Michel also reveal how the development process crossed over between development and artwork, with gameplay influencing the art and artwork suggesting new gameplay concepts.

Check out the video below, which features of gameplay footage from numerous areas throughout the game.

2D GAME OVERVIEW
This marks the third of four chapters in the Oozi Earth Adventure series, and once again, this game picks up exactly where the last left off. The player is given a quick story recap, and is offered reminders of the basic controls, including the variable height jump, the double jump, wall jump, wall slide, and the ability to grab hooks bolted to the walls. The player also has a repertoire of combat moves, including the typical head bop to defeat weaker enemies and stun larger ones, the more powerful butt stomp that can defeat stronger enemies and stun others that would otherwise hurt you if you landed on them, and you can punch stunned enemies to send them flying left or right, potentially hitting other enemies in the process.

Title Console Publisher Developer Players Year

Mega Man ZX Advent DS Capcom Entertainment, Inc. Inti Creates Co., Ltd. 1P 2007

CONTEXT
Mega Man… Where does one even begin? There have been more titles released in the Mega Man series than in any other franchise in Capcom’s history, and that’s saying something, given the company’s penchant for sequels and spinoffs. The series spans dozens of games from multiple genres, with releases on most of the major gaming platforms from the NES onward. To understand where Mega Man ZX Advent begins, it’s important to examine the continuity of the “core” Mega Man series, which is as follows:

Mega Man >> Mega Man X >> Mega Man Zero >> Mega Man ZX

The series started simply enough. In 1987, the Blue Bomber made his debut on the NES with its now-famous atrocious box art. The original game established a number of the gameplay elements that would go on to define the series for decades to come, including multiple stages available at the beginning of the game, which could be completed in any order, and which opened up a final set of linear stages leading to Wily’s fortress. The title also introduced gameplay that allowed players to gain new abilities from fallen bosses, and then turn those abilities against other bosses who were weak against them. The original game had only 6 bosses, and there wasn’t a 1-boss-per-weakness system as there would be in the later entries in the series, but the core gameplay was there.

2D GAME OVERVIEW
Taking a look at platformers in general, most of them are based on fairly odd premises, with mushroom-hopping plumbers rescuing princesses, anthropomorphized animals on missions to save fantasy worlds, and the occasional gravity-flipping sci-fi tale. But even amongst these, Dustforce stands out as being built upon a strange foundation, namely that of sweeping up dust and debris.

2D GAME VERSUS FEATURE
In the early days of the industry, video games were comprised of a small number of core gameplay mechanics, and the introduction of a single new mechanic – even a small one – could mean the creation of an entirely new genre. For instance, the core mechanic behind Pong was to bounce a ball back and forth between two paddles. By changing the orientation of the gameplay and putting a row of bricks across the top of the screen, the game becomes Breakout. Allow the bricks to move back and forth and shoot at the player while the player shoots back, and the game becomes Space Invaders. This is a bit of an oversimplification, but it shows how a few relatively minor tweaks in the formula allowed for the creation of a number of distinct games, each falling into their own genre.

2D GAME OVERVIEW
At the start of VVVVVV, Captain Viridian and his five V-named shipmates suddenly encounter some sort of interference that places the ship in peril. The crew heads for the teleporter to get away… but something goes wrong and everyone is sent to different locations. The player controls Viridian as he explores the world to find his crew and return them safely back aboard the vessel.

The player has very limited controls. He can move left and right, and he can flip gravity. There is no jumping on platforms, no climbing ladders, no shooting guns, no collecting upgrades, and no gaining new abilities; there is only movement and gravity. As simple as these mechanics may sound, the entire game is built around this limited control scheme, and each of its challenges centers on using them in various creative ways.

2D GAME OVERVIEW
Oozi: Earth Adventure is a 4-part series of platformers for the Xbox Live Indie Games channel. The game stars a character named Oozi who has crash-landed his spaceship on Earth after running out of fuel during a delivery. Unfortunately, the resulting crash not only stranded him on an enemy-filled planet, but his ship and clothes have mysteriously disappeared, leaving him in only his underwear. However, in the lighthearted tone of the game, Oozi dismisses this by stating that apparently these sorts of things just happen on this planet.