Curse of the Crescent Isle DX

A game by Adam Mowery for PC, Mac, Linux, and Vita, originally released in 2015.

Curse of the Crescent Isle DX is an updated re-release of Curse of the Crescent Isle, originally released on Xbox 360 via the Xbox Live Indie Games channel. The new release features updated graphics and sound but retains the enemy-tossing gameplay, level designs, environmental puzzles, and boss encounters found in the original. However, the graphical enhancements and addition of 2P co-op – along with a few other enhancements – make this the definitive version of the game.

The premise remains the same: A few days after her 22nd birthday, the princess of Crescent Isle is set to enter into an arranged marriage with a prince from another island in order to retain peace in both lands. However, a warlock appears and attempts to curse the king, but the spell goes wrong, and instead the people of the land are transformed into various creatures that the player later encounters in the game.

The warlock absconds with the king’s wife and daughter, so now he must set out to rescue them and to save his people. The DX version of the game offers two playable characters, the king and the queen, although their movesets are the same. However, new to the game is the ability for players to team up for offline 2P gameplay, with each player controlling one of the characters for some same-screen co-op action.

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 2015, Adam Mowery, Linux, Mac, PC, PSM, Vita

Life of Pixel / Super Life of Pixel

A game by Super Icon for PC, Mac, Wii U, Switch, PS4, Vita, and Playstation Mobile, originally released in 2013, with the Super version released in 2018.

Life of Pixel is a fairly straightforward platformer, but more than that, it is a history lesson. The game features more than a dozen real-world game systems – most of them from the 8-bit era – with levels built around the basic aesthetics of the games on those systems, and some themed after specific games. The available systems include the Atari 2600, Commodore 64, Amiga, Apple II, Game Boy, NES, SNES, Master System, and Mega Drive/Genesis systems, and given that the developer is based in London, there several UK-based home computer systems in the mix as well.

The game begins with a gallery of 10 systems, with three additional systems that must be unlocked. Selecting a system gives the player a brief history of the device, including the year that the system was introduced, its hardware specifications, and any notable attributes that set it apart from other systems of the day. Notable details include the colors transferring to other objects in ZX Spectrum games, ZX81 graphics being limited to the system’s built-in character set, Mode 7 scaling and rotation on the SNES, and the fact that games for many old systems had to be loaded (slowly) from cassette tapes.

Generally, these hardware specifications play directly into the design of the levels, most notably the color limitations of each system. However, for a game that establishes itself as a historical look at the classic systems of old, there are a number of inaccuracies. For instance, the history of the C64 states that games came on audio cassette tapes that took several minutes to load. While it is true that cassettes were a means by which to play C64 games, the system also had a built-in cartridge slot and the ability to add on a 5.25” floppy drive, with cartridges offering fast load times.

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 2013, 2018, Mac, PC, PS4, PSM, Super Icon, Switch, Vita, Wii U

Aqua Kitty – Milk Mine Defender

A game by Tikipod for PC, PS4, Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Switch, originally released in 2012, with the UDX version released in 2017.

Aqua Kitty – Milk Mine Defender is a shooter that mixes Defender, In the Hunt, and a fresh bag of cats in a game that has you defending underwater feline milk miners from an army of robotic fish and other mechanical monsters. This is a game that pads its litter box with ripped up pages from the dictionary carrying the definition of the word “serious”.

In the future, a sudden milk shortage forces the cats of the world to seek out a new source of their favorite lactose-infused beverage. Strangely, huge untapped reserves of milk were discovered deep beneath the surface of the ocean, requiring that the cats overcome their natural fear of water to begin a drilling operation.

A pipe-smoking kitty captain mans the ship that acts as your base of operations, and he briefs you before each mission about the dangers ahead, often providing information about the types of enemies you’ll be facing. You play the part of an eye patch-wearing submarine pilot who must go it alone, or team up with a pussy pal in offline co-op, to keep the milky operation in the white.

The core gameplay is reminiscent of Williams’ classic arcade hit Defender in that there are numerous mining stations at the base of the ocean floor, and certain enemy types – red submarines in this case – descend slowly to abduct the adorable milk miners and carry them away. Shooting down the submarines before they breach the water’s surface allows the kitties (who are fortunately immune to your bullets) to fall safely back to the ground.

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 2012, PC, PS4, PSM, Switch, Tikipod, Vita, XBLIG, Xbox 360, Xbox One