A deceptively-simple Japanese-style rhythm game with a two-button control scheme, energetic soundtrack, smooth (if cheesecake-laden) visuals, and flow-inducing gameplay for a range of skill levels.

As with BIT.TRIP RUNNER or Bubsy: Paws on Fire!, the game is framed as a side-scroller with the player character constantly running to the right, but the player doesn’t have the freedom of an actual rhythm platformer. Threats come from the right side of the screen in one of two lanes: at ground level or above it. When the threat reaches the player character, the player must hit the correct button to “knock back” the threat - one button for the top lane and one for the bottom lane. (On mobile, instead of hitting a button the player taps the correct half of the screen.)

A simple but challenging auto-runner. Navigate over eighty levels requiring precise timing to avoid obstacles and collect… socks, for some reason.

The cartoony aesthetic is serviceable enough, but the sounds are slightly grating and there seems to only be one clip for most sources - the sound for deploying the parachute to glide, the rimshot that is for some reason played when clearing a level, and the babbling of the anthropomorphized treasure chest that holds the collectibles all get old fast.

A collaboration between Bubsy franchise publisher Accolade and BIT.TRIP Runner developer Choice Provisions, Bubsy: Paws on Fire! features Runner-like gameplay starring Bubsy and friends. The result is a highly readable rhythm platformer with varied gameplay and a wide competence zone where the player has a good amount of freedom in their approach and a lot of opportunity for flow. It’s more than the sum of its parts and I’m left thinking that Bubsy and Runner were each somehow exactly what the other needed.

A Musou game set in a crossover Legend of Zelda world, featuring a few original characters and many from previous games. As is standard for Musou crossover games, elements from the franchise have been incorporated into the large-scale hack-and-slash gameplay, though they vary considerably in how well they suit the experience. While the characters, settings, and themes of The Legend of Zelda are a natural fit for Musou, the more exploration-focused elements don’t transfer well to a genre that is all about time pressure and frantic action.

A golf-themed puzzle game. The ball starts in one square of a grid and elsewhere is the hole. You’re provided with a handful of one-use cards that will move the ball specified distances - use them in the right order and pointed in the right directions to get the ball into the hole. More mechanics are added as you progress through the levels, such as hard corners the ball can be bounced off of to change its angle and sand traps which stop the ball from rolling further.

A puzzle game in which you reassemble stained glass images from separated pieces, jigsaw-puzzle-style. Each image is themed after a particular country and presented as a clock face as part of the fictional “International Times Exhibition.” The game is beautiful and relaxing, though a few design decisions mar the experience slightly and the overall package is a little thin.

A short and simple puzzle game with a minimalist aesthetic. Buttons are connected to lines and pressing the button retracts the line and removes it from the screen - but the lines often overlap or otherwise prevent each other from retracting. They must be retracted in the correct order to clear the puzzle, roughly analogous to pick-up sticks.

A simple 3D brawler starring a few busty women and an army of robots. In each mostly-linear level, you must smash up all the robots and reach the exit. A few variations exist including time limits, hazards to avoid that can turn crowded battles into bullet hells, and some survivors to find off the main path.

A free Picross game featuring images from Konami’s extensive history of games. There are five hundred puzzles of varying sizes accompanied by music from classic Konami games.

Most of the puzzles are standard 5x5, 10x10, or 15x15 puzzles. However, there are also a significant number of Micross-like “Mid-Boss” and “Boss” puzzles - the Mid-Boss puzzles being made of four 15x15 puzzles arranged in a 2x2 grid, while the Boss puzzles are sixteen 15x15 puzzles in a 4x4 grid. In both cases, there is no initial “zoomed out” step - you just solve each 15x15 piece as its own puzzle.

A deceptively simple city-building puzzle game. Place a series of buildings on a procedurally-generated island. Each building earns points based on what’s nearby - lumberjacks get points for nearby trees, sawmills gain points for nearby lumberjacks, and so on. Earning points gets you more buildings and periodically new islands; the game ends when you finally run out of buildings and islands without enough points to get any more.

A rhythm game combining tube racer and rail shooter gameplay. Use the left stick to maneuver an auto-flying ship - often to follow a rail that represents a song’s vocal track or equivalent, sometimes to avoid hazards. Use the right stick to aim a lock-on reticle and fire with the right trigger - usually at enemies, sometimes at bonus targets within the environment. Each song is a distinct level with its own path and obstacles.

An idle game in which you grow flowers. Flowers earn you money, and with more money you can buy better flowers. The twist is that it’s also sort of a city-builder - you buy and place flowerpots, but also grass, paths, trees, houses, and more. The game is wholly free and has no in-app purchases, but there are a few optional boosts you can get by watching ads.

A word search game where you must find words in an irregular grid of letters. The twist is that once found, the word is removed from the board and remaining letters fall toward the bottom center of the screen. Some words start out split by letters from other words, so you have to find the right words to start with and then proceed in order to get them all.

A fighting game starring Nintendo mascots and a few other characters. True to its name, Ultimate is the best and most complete iteration of the series. It’s incredibly generous with its content, options, and customization and can be enjoyed by players of widely disparate skill levels.

As with earlier installments, the core gameplay is a fighting game based on ring outs: damage taken doesn’t deplete a health bar but rather increases the knockback distance of future attacks. On top of this, a great deal of tweaking is available. You can play with two to eight fighters, any of whom can be human-controlled, normal computer-controlled characters, or based on customized Amiibo. You can customize the rules of the match, decide which items and stages can appear, and set up tournaments or tag-team fights.

A top-down 2D action adventure game in the vein of (and in clear homage to) The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, featuring charming pixel art and a beautiful chiptune soundtrack. Play as young knight Lily and use a growing arsenal of weapons and tools to explore the kingdom, conquer dungeons, and defeat the evil wizard.

A precision platformer tasking the player with running, jumping, and punching through hazardous levels to reach a goal. Each one features a risky optional collectible and also grades you based on your fastest run. Taking any damage from an obstacle or an enemy results in immediate death and level restart, but the levels are small and short. The game is challenging with little margin for error but the minimal punishment makes the required practice less frustrating.

A story-based 2D adventure and platforming game where you play as a bard. While you can walk, jump, and talk to people your primary method of interacting with the world is singing. Most of the game is quite gentle, with no failure modes to disrupt your carefree exploration and experimentation, though there are a few out-of-place difficulty spikes that damage the mood even if most players won’t have much trouble getting past them.

A remake of Senran Kagura Burst, updating the buxom-ninja-schoolgirl brawling action from a 2.5D sidescroller to full 3D while keeping the original story. The gameplay and graphics have taken several steps up along with a few quality-of-life improvements while the old mission structure and story are maintained faithfully - to the point of using literally the same text and art (in higher resolution) as before.

Several game protagonists from different (fictional) franchises are gathered in a tavern on a stormy night… and one of them is planning a murder. That’s the frame story, presented as essentially a point-and-click adventure. You also play as each protagonist in turn, flashing back to their (fictional) source games and learning each one’s dark past. Gameplay thus encompasses a variety of genres including a collectathon platformer, a tactical RPG, a top-down shooter, and more.

A noir-styled puzzle platformer in which you play as a mysterious woman with the ability to interact with shadows. By approaching well-lit surfaces, you can merge with your shadow and use other shadows as platforms to reach otherwise unreachable areas. This central gimmick combines with a few other mechanics (such as the ability to carry objects into the shadows and resposition light sources to move and resize shadows) to enable a series of platforming challenges and puzzles that you solve in order to help a little girl save her family.