Ivan Drago!

By: Derek Yu

On: March 30th, 2007

When a game’s loading screen consists of a hypodermic needle going into an arm, you know it’s going to be good. When the opening cutscene has a giant, floating Gorbachev head, you know it’s going to be great. When the title screen appears and Ivan Drago, the “Siberian Bull,” is standing there in all his Soviet glory, you know the game is going to be awesome.

Ivan Drago! (Newgrounds) is a flash beat-em-up by I-Mockery that puts you at the helm of the pride of the USSR, Ivan “Death From Above” Drago. Punch your way through a street full of jocks, leather daddies, mafiosos, and babies to face your greatest opponent in the ring. The controls are very simplistic but there’s actually some depth to the gameplay. Instead of letting you cheese a single move over and over again like in many beat ‘em ups, you’re forced to concentrate on the timing of your punches (especially your 2000 psi charge punch).

New Castle Crashers Trailer

By: Derek Yu

On: February 23rd, 2007

It’s short, but pretty sweet! Despite my earlier reservations, the “flash”-style art is really growing on me now… those little characters are really endearing. Have the lines gotten more crisp since the last time I saw it? I love the part where they’re fighting in the middle of a big war!

I hope there are less cheap hits in this game than there were in Alien Hominid.

Links: Official Site, “Racist Piece of Equipment”

Streets of Rage Remake

By: Derek Yu

On: January 5th, 2007

You’ve probably heard about this remake. Let me just tell you that it’s as awesome as people are saying. This game lets you play as all the characters from all three Genesis Streets of Rage games, through all the levels… and it’s all wrapped up in a brand new adventure.

The game combines graphics from the original games with new artwork and effects (the reflections and shadows are a nice touch), and it fits together quite well. The music consists of tweaked out versions of the original soundtrack. There are also loads of nifty features like co-op with an AI partner, unlockable modes, a movie room, and player profiles.

Just download the damn thing already. And post links to mirrors or torrents in the comments. The game is ~72 megs and the site’s already gone down at least once.

P.S. I love that screenshot. Zan punching a clown, with blood spurting out and the kangaroo hopping around. Only in video games!

Lugaru 2

By: Lorne Whiting

On: November 7th, 2006

Name’s Lorne, I’m a new editor. Fear my wrath! Of hell! Well, not hell… Just wrath.

Pardon me if this was posted about before (Or I screwed up the categories, since I don’t get that AT ALL).
My favorite indie game EVER is getting a sequel. That would be Lugaru… 2. 2 is the sequel, I’m not talking Lugaru 3, here. That would be, well, totally awesome, but no.

If you haven’t played the first, click the link above and download the demo, this moment (Or read the description first).

The original had an innovative and SERIOUSLY fun combat system, which the second one will retain in all likeliness.
However, David (The dev) wants to expand the game in this sequel, including multiplayer. Oh god, Lugaru multiplayer…
And a open-ended Elder Scrolls style game world (As opposed to the level based system of the first).

Check out: The dev web-log, the forums

How did I do with my first article?

games

By: dessgeega

On: September 30th, 2006

defcon and dot fighters are both out. go play.

update: mirrors for dot fighters on the independent gaming forums.

Super Cosplay War Ultra

By: Eos

On: September 2nd, 2006

I’m ashamed to say that until recently, I had never heard of Super Cosplay War Ultra. It’s arguably the best free fighting game out there. The abundant and sometimes obscure references a source of endless amusement. The quirky characters and their transformations are so awesomely impressive that, when describing this game, it’s not a grammatical error to use redundancy. The experience of watching Totoro beat the heck out of little Chobits-like characters in a “Battle Royale” stand-off is just sublime.

As for the picture above, I think it’s just another testament the game’s greatness.

You can download the game from the above link or from this link. The password to unzip the game is “http://www.fkdigital.net”.

toribash

By: dessgeega

On: August 26th, 2006

toribash is an ancient game of ragdoll physics-based combat.

rather than using a keyframe-based system like most 2D fighting games, the fighters in toribash are constructed of lots of joints that can all be tweaked individually. for example, to deliver a kick you need to contract your knee, extend your ankle, contract your hip, and then finally re-extend your knee to deliver the blow.

it’s rather complicated! but that’s why it’s turn-based. and the complex physics means a good player can do things like this. it can take a while for new players to learn, though — a good starting point is the tutorial movies on the game’s homepage. the official forums, too, are full of replays to study.

when you’ve mastered landing on your feet, you’ll probably want to attempt online play. the main servers are pretty high-traffic, but fun-motion (who reviewed the game recently) has set up a few more servers, with and without disqualification (when the fighter’s body touches the floor).

alternate title for this post was “the real rag-doll kung fu”.

New Dot Fighters web site

By: Tim

On: August 17th, 2006

Takase’s web site has moved. Latest news about Dot Fighters can be found at his blog, while the ArmJoe download is available from this page.

Don’t forget to update your bookmarks. Click here for the Dot Fighters video preview at T-Lab.

Dot Fighters was previously mentioned on TIGSource on two separate occasions and GameSetWatch as well, so I suppose the anticipation for this game is pretty high.

Holy Sh-

By: Derek Yu

On: July 21st, 2006

“Welcome to the ”http://www.gallopingghost.com/“>Galloping Ghost Productions website. Check out our two explosive one-on-one fighting games that are currently in production! We are working hard to make them video games experiences that will be innovative and packed with fast-paced fighting action! We always want to hear from gamers around the world so feel free to contact us.”

Prediction: Best Games of 2006 (2007?). A bold statement, I know. But I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.

(Source: Insert Credit forums… and Satan)