Cling, swing, bounce and jump kick your way to the head of the class in Sticky Ninja Academy, an addictively unique take on the classic puzzle platformer genre from LongAnimals. Careless speed and reckless abandon won't get you far here; true mastery of the art of the sticky ninja depends primarily on patience, timing, precision, and, apparently, lots and lots of Velcro. Deftly maneuver though each stage in as few jumps as possible to achieve a perfect score, avoiding environmental hazards, collecting treasure, and defeating rival students along the way.

Trapped in a cave. Laser things shooting at you. Buttons everywhere. Spikes even more everywhere. It's a normal day for our featureless friend in Focus, a puzzle platform game originally by Karoshi author Jesse Venbrux. Ported to the browser world by Joseph Ivie, Focus features over 50 levels of extra difficult action, sticking you in enclosed rooms with all manner of dangers and challenging you to use your platforming skills to make it out alive.

It's a popular misconception that cats have nine lives. In reality they've actually got infinite lives and are forced to restart at checkpoints every time they lose one. Katwalk is a short, fairly easy platforming metroidvania game, so aside from one tricky section involving swimming you won't need catlike reflexes to succeed.

The title of Melee Man, a flixel action platformer by The Village Blacksmith and David Vs. Goliath, seems like it was decided on before the game was developed. After all, the guy has a gun and sucks at melee. Onomastic incongruity aside though, it's a really nice game. It's designed to the 160x144 specifications of the Gameboy Color, and, along with the kicking chiptune soundtrack, truly feels like an unreleased prototype for what would have been a really cool cartridge.

Expert diplomat Mr. Snoozleberg has a busy schedule: bullet-train inaugurations, movie awards, alien invasions, theme park visits. He can handle everything, though, as long as he's gets a good night rest... and his sleepwalking makes that difficult. Good think he has you to point and click all the obstacles out of his platforming path! Good Night Mr. Snoozleberg's first chapter was released back in 1999: practically ancient in internet gaming terms. It may be an oldie, but it's definitely a goodie.

We hold a truth to be self-evident that all squishy bouncy blob thingies are born with certain inalienable rights, including those of life, liberty and the pursuit of hat-iness. The hero of Pursuit of Hat, a puzzle platformer from Anton Rogov, is willing to risk all manner of life and limb for his head-covering... mainly limb though, since his are detachable. Literally tearing ones self apart over a head-covering may seem a little extreme. In all fairness... it's a pretty sweet hat.

Most people would pay money to use a matter-absorbing gun to run through a gamut of puzzles, yet evil scientists still feel the need to kidnap people to do it. In this platform puzzler from Peregrimm you'll need to absorb and rearrange various objects to solve puzzles and reach the exit of each level. You're given unlimited shots to play and an efficiency rating at the end of the level so you can replay each to find a better solution. It's a novel and unique game that is a lot of fun to play.

Everyone wants to get into this plummeting into the bowels of the earth business: robots, ninjas, skeletons, pirates, even Santa is jumping over ledges and rolling down slopes. What's down there? Cake and ice cream? Play Plumet 2, a simple but addictive action game from Person333 to find out.

Discount Mayonnaise, an action run and gun platformer by Etienne Bergeron Paquet and Samuel St-Germain, is one of those games that blurs the line between genre tribute and satire. The art style is a strange mix of Jhonen Vasquez and Salad Fingers, and is so exquisitely ghoulish that it almost makes up for the stickiness of the controls. Strange as it is to say, this is exactly what you'd think a game called Discount Mayonnaise would be.

In this puzzle platformer by Arctic Arcade, control both heroes Sir Valiant and... err... Steve on their heroic quest to save the princess before they wind up killing each other. The 8-bit graphics, spot on music by Rayne Leafe, and the homage paid to classic console games are sure to please retro fans, while the snarky humor and challenging gameplay can make it a fun experience for any gamer

Damian Sommer created this short, no-frills little puzzle platformer to throw the player into a series of one-screen, "extremely distilled metroidvanias." He accomplishes this by first teaching the player some rudimentary game mechanics and then builds upon those rules incrementally while increasing the difficulty and complexity of each level's design. And it works quite nicely for a game made in just a day and a half.

Hamumu's latest creation for Boy's Life is a nightmare... literally! Help Pee Wee escape from his elaborate platforming bad dreams before he has to get up for school... OR ELSE. Run, jump, ninja-roll and soar your way past all manner of dangerous traps and obstacles through three stages of difficulty.

You are a box in this Lemmings-inspired puzzle platform game from Games Northwest, and you're going to have to use your special box powers to jump and slide to guide the little box buddies (called "Nabbles") to the exit of each level to progress. Push crates, create paths over spikes and use yourself as a means to reach higher areas. Collect power-ups and use them wisely because you'll need to be perfect as you reach the more difficult later levels.

They say that no jelly is an island, but jellies that cooperate can explore many mysterious islands. Georganism never gets too terribly challenging in terms of puzzle solving, but the character switching and ability combinations make for a well-made and entertaining diversion of a game, suitable for casual gamers and jelly fans of all ages.

No matter how cynical and jaded you are, it's hard not to be heart-warmed by the simple companionship of a boy and his octopus... especially when the boy is willing to help rescue the she-octopod of his pet's dreams from the evil kidnapping clutches of knights, archers and the dreaded Bad Mood Bear. With a wrench at Kit's side and a ready-to-be flung mollusc on his head, though, it'll be easy as octo-pie. Right? Jay Armstrong's Kit and the Octopod may sound like a silver age crime-fighting team, but it has a ton of charm to go along with its action-platforming.

Once upon a time there was a boy and a girl who couldn't stay apart no matter how often it seemed like the world and their own emotions were trying to make that happen. A puzzle platformer with a beautiful sense of style and a sweet, nostalgic look at relationships, Mattia Traverso's game is short but well made and surprisingly warm and fuzzy. D'awwww.

In Concerned Joe, the title character has to move or he'll die, and it'll take all your platforming skills to get him through nineteen fiendish puzzle and trap-filled stages. A high difficulty game whose superb voice acting, fantastic art and adroit programming provides rewards that are more than worth the effort.

The city is under attack! Regular citizens have gone red-eyed with uncontrollable rage, security robots are running amok, mutants are smashing up storefronts, and sales of crowbars and health syringes are through the roof. Could it possibly have something to do with all those high-frequency broadcasting towers that the mysteriously menacing GlobalTek Industries have constructed all over town? Well, there's only one way to find out. Put together a party, load up on weapons, fight or sneak your way past the psychos and start causing massive property damage! Legends of Kong, new from Nerdook, is a randomly generated action-RPG that never plays the same twice.

The cactus is back-tus! Cactus McCoy, spikey green distributor of western vengeance is back, and this time he has competition. He's met up with technicolor bird lady Ella Windstorm who spins him a tale of the Volados: a fallen civilization laid waste to by a mysterious cult known as the Reptaras. It seems that there's a secret vault that contains the lost treasure of the Volados, including the magical Serpent Blade. With Ella kidnapped, it's up to McCoy to find the vault before the Volados and their Enemigo henchmen, recover the Serpent Blade, save his possible love interest, and make out like a cactusy bandit with all the loot he can carry. A worthy sequel to the earlier installment released in March, Flipline Studios' Cactus McCoy 2: The Ruins of Calavera will steal as many hours of action-platforming as the original did, pardner.

Raze 2 by AddisonR and Juice-Tin is the latest in a long line of action shooters with spacey-marines and/or one-word non-indicative titles. Let's count them off: Doom, Quake, Halo, Descent, Unreal, and, uh... Haze. It's surprising there are any alien-demon-zombie menaces left to battle considering how quickly we're able to deploy a near-endless supply of Master Chiefs. It's a good thing then that Raze 2 has the quality gameplay and presentation to distinguish itself from the competition.

This gratifyingly fun action-platformer by Page52 departs from typical at its very start as your screen fills with intricately interesting sketches and then it continues into the extraordinary, stopping to command: "Draw your own..." weapon, hat, enemy. Although dotted lines suggest the shape of such invention, in your Sketch Quest notebook, you're limited only by imagination.

Guide a helpless, flightless, half-hatched baby bird from its nest to the safety of the ground below. Watch your step, slide down walls, and use powerups to avoid suffering too much falling damage in this simple, relaxing, vertical-scrolling platformer.

Leila is a toddler. She doesn't know much about platforming, and even less about physics. All she knows is that she wants her bottle, and there are all sorts of 2x4s and I-beams standing between in her way. Fortunately though, she has an ally: a ball that she can call to her hand; a ball that will smash against anything in its path and which is just perfect for bouncing off from. She's got a lot of places to explore, and a lot of bottles to collect, but she would have to do it alone. Leila and the Magic Ball, new from Paul Gene Thompson, is a cute little game that will keep you playing right up until nap time.

You're in a cave full of monsters, which is bad. But you have a sentient gun to help you, which is good! But you seem to have run afoul of a mad scientist, which is bad. But Arkeus' newest action platform shooter is a ton of fun, which is good! Gather diamonds to upgrade yourself and your weapons, unlock new play modes, drink in the fantastic retro aesthetic, and discover the truth in this impressive reboot of a Ludum Dare entry!

Think you can play platform games? Try this challenging game from Paradoxon Games and test your reflexes to the bitter edge... all so that Stu can get a night's sleep. Following in the tradition of VVVVVV and Gravinaytor is Sleepy Stu's Adventure, probably the hardest platform puzzler game you will play this year.

Alright, let's make sure we've got everything: Black and white stripped shirt? Check! Domino mask? Check! Lock picks? Check! Green toque? Check! Anti-heroic sense of morality that makes you more than happy to lift some cash from the unfriendly neighborhood mob boss? Oh, you'd better bet that's a check! It's Bob the Robber, new puzzle platformer from Flazm. All you footpads out should be prepared to burgle until the whole burg is burgled. Robble robble!

What do you get when you cross a stegosaurus with a bear? You get the lovable creatures in Tamus and Mitta, a new sidescrolling platformer produced by Lartar Games. The sun has had all its toys stolen by evil bats, and it's your job to get all 120 of them back. Find the tools and collect the toys, jumping on enemies to stun them, but don't let your candlelight run out! If you're looking for a well made, challenging platformer, try out Tamus and Mitta. It's kid-friendly and adult-approved!

Trapped in a cave! Gotta get out of there fast. There are flying jellyfish monsters, falling rocks, spikes, and other lovely bits of danger, but if you're fast enough, you can escape without harm. Connor Ullmann's Hollow is a platform game that's high on the challenge with a healthy injection of creative design on almost every level. You'll meet an untimely end dozens of times in this game, but you'll keep plugging away at it all the same. Practice leads to perfection!

A short-but-sweet platform puzzle adventure. Rather than raid the employee fridge, one behatted and unusually bouncy worker responds to his company's financial crisis by entering a puzzle filled dungeon to grab a treasure. Somewhat like I Don't Even Game, figuring out what to do in each stage is sometimes the only challenge. Once you know all the tricks, it'll take you only a few minutes, and even your first play-through probably won't take you longer than 10, unless you get really stuck.

The hermit's son has been kidnapped by demons! Are you a good enough king to rescue him? And, while you're at it, could you do something about that advancing purple wall of doom? And, also, could you tell the peasants to knock it off with all the portentous statements concerning the upcoming apocalypse? Sigh... It seems that a monarch's work is never done. Though by the end of KingStory, the new adventure platformer from KintoGames, you'll at least have a pretty sweet crown on your head. That makes it all worthwhile.

When you introduce a small and somewhat cute little green blob that has the power to take over people's bodies into your planetary conflict, expect things to get a little... squishy. Infestor is a new puzzle platformer featuring tight, responsive controls and clever, bite-sized levels, so crawl in the skull of someone with a computer and give it a play.

You've got your eye on the world... just the one, in this case, since you're a little blue cyclopean alien. But that's all about to change in this clever puzzle platformer; when your ship crashes on Earth and parts go missing, you'll need to hijack the sight of various characters in order to manipulate your surroundings and ultimately find your way back home. Repetition mars the execution, but Proxy By Sight is still a neat concept that deserves a look.

In this platform adventure game that spans multiple dimensions, help the robotic hero complete his quest and return home. Anyone who's played the classic SNES game Earthbound will feel right at home with TransDimensional. There's a certain air of irreverent weirdness about the proceedings that makes TransDimensional feel like something special. At around 20 minutes long, it doesn't require much of a time investment and fans of platformers are bound to have a good time hopping between dimensions.

Developed for Something Awful's GameDev VI Challenge, the retro metroidvania platformer Psychopomps puts you in the shoes of Anubis, who has overslept. In his absence, his fellow soul ushers have gone missing and evil spirits have grown powerful. Explore your environment and shoot down your enemies as you rescue your friends and right the matter of directing souls.

Do you ever think about death? Not just about dying, but about everything connected to it... the emotions, the concepts, the way people from all over the world look at it in vastly different ways? The End from Preloaded and Channel 4 is a bizarre puzzle platforming adventure through a series of realms that ask questions designed to make you think about life and what comes after.

How far are you willing to go for someone who doesn't even seem to know you're there? In this short, atmospheric artsy platformer, scour a grim world looking for bits of colour to return to a loved one, even at the cost of losing yourself in the process. Originally featured in a Link Dump Friday article, Grey's simple, repetitive gameplay may not win everyone over, but for others the changing environment and wordless message may deliver an intensely personal experience.

To make a good platformer, you don't need new ideas. You just need to make fun of platformers. Lee-Lee's Quest is more of a platformer doing it at the expense of the genre. In fact, start it in style. When the game starts and Lee-Lee awaits your movement commands, just hold back and do nothing. He's got a few things to say.

In Soul Tax, a new possession puzzle platformer from Jarod Long, the story centers on these two facts of... death. See, you're a ghost who's been haunting this extremely complex office complex, and one day the grim reaper shows up and lets you know that you owe tax on all the time you spent being an ethereal spirit. And how are you going to pay these taxes? Easy. Defenestration and pixellated murder.

You may have always wanted your own set of wings, and TwofoldSecret is going to grant them to you as you help their protagonist take to the sky in his crumbling, surreal dreamworld. In this explorative platformer, search the ruins of a dreamland for items of significance and discover the significance between his surroundings and what lies within them.

Mr. Runner looks so sleek, there's no reason why he shouldn't run quickly. You have three worlds with over a dozen levels each in which to jump, slide, float through the air and die and die and die. Whether you're searching for the five chests hidden in each world or racing to the finish to unlock the next level, you're bound to have 'a few' deaths while figuring out how to get to the end.

Muse Quest is an entry in the Project Eden Music Game Contest that combines platforming elements with unique musical gameplay. In it, you are a character that can control the behavior of other potato-like characters by playing different songs acquired across ten levels. With its cooperative elements, a stark graphical appearance and some nifty music, Muse Quest stands out from standard platformers.

Twenty years after nuclear confrontation wiped out the planet known as Earth, Cosmonaut Laika receives a distress bark from the ruined surface. Armed with your trusty swap-gun, a rainbow shooting device that lets you switch places with pieces of the world around you, you land upon the planet to locate your companions. Every dog has its day, and today is the day you... Escape from the Puppy Death Factory! Brought to you by Arthur Lee and the fine people at Adult Swim. A fun, if deceptively challenging, puzzle platformer.

We get you. You're too cool for regular platformers, right? They're so boring. So easy. Then why don't you bring your swagger on over to this tricky puzzle platformer and help one cool cat reach his goal. Can you make it to the exit? How about while only moving left? Without jumping? Within a time limit? You'll need quick reflexes, a cool head, and a dose of patience to proceed.

Who knew that a bunch of simians could create a game that depicts one of their number being cruelly experimented upon, forced to use a reality-bending helmet to manipulate his environment to avoid being killed? You'll just have to set aside a chunk of time to focus on this game. Get some infinite monkeys to do your other work. How do you think I manage to create such great reviews for JIG?

An excellent metroidvania style puzzle platformer that's easy enough to jump straight in, but has a ton of hidden secrets for experts to find (especially if you want the best ending)... along with a few locked doors that just beg for further expansion. Legend of Kalevala has that perfect mix of old and new, alien and human, story and action.

Most shooters not physics-sy enough for you? Then fire up Ant Karlov's creative spin on the genre! Start with sprawling levels, mix in some highly destructible scenery, and sprinkle liberally with zombies, machines, skeletons, and explosive barrels, and you've got a recipe for success. (... success... tastes funny... )

Simple does not mean that there's any less action, it just means there's more bullets and less to think about. No grenades, one weapon at a time, simple weapon shop and upgrades, it all means nothing but twitchy shooting action, one hundred percent of the time. Some might call it shallow, but I'd call it pure.

It's a long way to the top, baby, and if you want to keep your job in Nitrome's latest action arcade platformer, you'll have to survive the Office of Doom! Make your way to the helicopters at the end of each level, running and jumping through floors stocked with all manner of traps, tricks, and hazards. It's just a fact of life, kids; if you want that promotion, you have to be willing to dodge a few zombies and let your resolution get downgraded once in a while.

About as epic as any game about snails can be, Snailiad will take hours from you, and you'll be glad to see them gone. It's action-packed and adventure-filled, completely unlike the lives of real snails, who mostly sit around hoping they don't become escargot.

Nerdook is back, and once again here to hybridize disparate game genres, this time as an entry for Ubisoft's Project Eden game contest. Jacob and the Magic Piano, a game which deftly combines platforming, music, and tower defense gameplay is the result. A starving artist's unknown Aunt has passed away, leaving him a cat, a chest of drawers, and a piano... a magic piano. Playing the piano releases the spirits resting within, but also the golden stars that are the key to accessing the possible riches of the chest. Can Jacob slay the spirits and save the stars? It's all up to the power of music!

MaXploder is a brand new action exploration game from Ninjadoodle, creator of the ClickPLAY! series. The president needs your help rescuing some archaeologists who have become trapped in an ancient tomb. The catch is that you have to save them by yourself with only your whip-like wits, a generous jumping ability, and an infinite store of bombs!

What's more important... the truth or happiness? Sometimes you can't have both. In Thomas Brush's latest platformer adventure, you play a robot named Skinny, woken up from a pleasant dream by his Mama, who insists she's being terrorized by a little boy named Felix who only wants to steal from your friends and hurt the ones you love.

Once you pop you can't stop! Blocks, that is! Blast chains of coloured blocks in this simple, simply fun, and simply addictive action arcade game from Andrew Morrish! Coloured blocks fall from the screen and it's up to you to destroy them before they reach the top, while staying away from the spikes and racking up a high score in the process.

Robots, man. They're the worst. Always pulling you out of your workplace and forcing you to battle them in a series of psychedelic levels, blowing you up, killing your cows. It's ridiculous. Luckily, we have Deepak, representing the everyman in the daily struggle against robo-baddies. Deepak Fights Robots, from Run-Man: Race Around the World creator Tom Sennett, is loaded with mind-bending levels, quick arcade action, more colors than a rainbow drowning in a crayon factory.

Nitrome has done it again! We've guided the little blue piece of protoplasm test subject through two incredibly enjoyable series of experiments. Now, however, it (and you) faces its greatest opponent yet: a person sitting next to you at the keyboard! Yes, it's Green vs. Blue in Test Subject Arena

Goin Up is a new vertical-scrolling arcade platformer by Comix. Well... when I say "new", I guess I mean "recent" more than "novel". In truth, its gameplay feels more like a mish-mash remix of the mechanics of other releases than its own creation. However, what Goin Up lacks in innovation, it more than makes up for with style. After all, if I'm going to be steering my player-character into bombs to be propelled higher for the hundredth time, those bombs had better be darn pretty. And well... they are.

Everybody's favourite emotionally tortured little robot is back in this sequel to 2010's K.O.L.M., a Metroidvania style platformer about a lonely little robot with one very dysfunctional family. Picking up right where the original left off, having escaped the claws of his Mother, will our hero finally find out where he belongs, or will he be unable to escape his family ties?

Help the blocky-headed hero escape in this fun physics puzzle platformer hybrid from bart99. Labscape skews more towards the platform than the puzzle end of the spectrum when it comes to its challenge. While the level designs are clever and frequently charming, with my personal favorite being what I might call "razor blade surfing," it doesn't take more than a little thought to figure out where the missing pieces are that you have to draw. Completing this game won't necessarily turn you into a lithe athlete, but it will provide a fun little break for your day.

Go, Speed Runner, go! A superhero whose only super power is running really, really fast runs afoul of an evil genius whose extracurricular activities include building giant death machines and planting bombs all over the city. (... and... his... hideout?) Spring to the rescue in this bouncy, stylish arcade platformer that demands quick reflexes. Note: not for players with allergies to repeated spiky death.

14 Locks, the latest game from Bart Bonte, is not strictly an escape game but it is still fun to navigate your way through the imaginatively decorated spaces, each one becoming more elaborate than the last. Bart has created something that is pretty exciting and amusing to play with this Unity platform, although it can be a little nausea inducing, so please be warned.

This is Jack. This is Jack's spring. This is Jack's amusing hat. This is Jack's box. Jack wishes he were in his box. Jack needs you to guide him to the box. This is Jack's friend. Jack's friend also has an amusing hat. Jack's friend will follow Jack wherever he goes. This is the additional element of strategy added to Jack's puzzle-platforming game. In short, this is Jack in the Box, made by Jack's creator, Ali Bati. And if you think it won't be a good time, brother... you don't know Jack.

EA2D and Evan Miller of Pixelante Game Studios combine forces to create this fun, frantic side-scrolling hack-and-slasher set in the Dragon Age universe from Bioware and EA's popular RPG series. As one man against a seemingly unending tide of demons, beasts, madmen, and more, do you have a chance to make your way across hostile terrain to victory? Master four different combat styles, topple massive bosses, and indulge in a little wholesome face-stabbing in this straight-forward but very fun action title from both Industry and Indie talents.

I have to admit, if I was ever sucked into a Tron-like computer world, I don't know if I would be able to handle the games they would force me to play. Since getting my motorcycle, I think I could manage a draw in light-cycles, but Deadly Discs? Solar Sailor? Brawls at the End of Line club? I think I'd be derezzed pretty quickly. On the other hand, should the Master Computer challenge me to a game of hangman, I think I could take him. Such is the scenario presented by Langman, the new unity platforming word game from Von Lehe Creative.

Wasps stink. That's not a typo; they may sting, but they stink too, and you'll think so too after you fire up this cute, quirky little puzzle platformer. When the Wasp King steals all the honey before Bearboy can steal it himself, it's up to you and your cursor to help Bearboy get the goods across worlds filled with all manner of strange and challenging obstacles.

With its cute, cartoony visuals, throbbing music track, fast-paced action, and Super Mario-like platforming City Siege 2: Resort Siege is a wild ride through the world of special ops and hostage rescue. So you can't be a member of Seal Team 6 (which doesn't actually exist, anyway), try City Siege 2: Resort Siege and live out your wildest commando team fantasies of saving the day, killing the bad guys, and reducing some random unnamed resort to complete rubble.

Zounds! A movie-tie-in advergame that is a 16-bit platformer and doth not suck? And one that doth has been made by retro king Big Pixel Studios! Yea, verily! I personally may be a bigger fan of the Distinguished Competition, but any game that lets you control a Norse God that flings lightning and hammers around is certainly worth a look. Yes, it's Thor: Bring the Thunder, just released on the main Marvel site. Indeed, I've heard that the company has just released a 150 million dollar movie for the sole purpose of promoting this game. Was it a waste of money? By Odin's beard, I say thee nay!

Checkpoint is a quick-fire arcade platform game that's as much about avoiding things that make you die as it is getting killed. Created by Hero Interactive (Bubble Tanks, Storm Winds), Checkpoint goes the extra mile and taunts you with running commentary on each level, reminding you why you're a terrible gamer, questioning your every move, and laughing at you when you fail. On top of that, you're being timed and your deaths are tallied, so if your ego isn't crushed by Hero Interactive throughout the course of the game, just wait for your pitiful final score at the end!

Platform fans are bound to enjoy Test Subject Green while puzzle lovers won't be punished for a lack of twitch reflexes. It's an excellent hybrid of the two genres made possible through the power of science, much like astronaut ice cream is a delicious fusion of strawberry, vanilla and chocolate. Aren't you glad we live in this modern world?

Since the dawn of time, man has collected. This arcade platformer plays right to this compulsion by encouraging players to load up on diamonds like it's going out of style as they try to climb to the top of an endless cavern. This isn't a pretentious art game or a brain-wracking escape, this is down-and-dirty arcade action through and through and it succeeds spectacularly on that level.

Do K and S resent C for horning in on their territory? Is it agoraphobia or contempt for the other letters that compels Q to stay at home unless U is close behind? What sort of twisted inter-literal love triangle makes I go before E, except after C? And what happens when a formally happy literal couple decides to call it splits? This last is the premise behind The I of It, a unique puzzle platformer, in which the "t" of the word "It" runs off, prompting "I" to set forth on a quest find him.

Buried in the dirt or sitting in the open pathways are letters or bones, simply run across them (or dig across them) to pick them up. Spell words to earn bones to buy bonuses and to move further in the game. Simple to learn with a lot of vocabulary complexity to be found, Word Up Dog! is casual gameplay that can suck you in and give you hours and hours of enjoyment. This fun, amusing, challenging game of spelling is entertainment for a wide range of ages, from those youngsters who want to improve their mad spellin' skillz to the older folks who enjoy a vocabulary challenge.

Where do all the bugs go? What happened between early testing of a game and final release? Jonas Kyratzes may make you wonder with this experimental platformer. Recruited to test an early build of Jonas's new game, you wind up falling through the cracks into a strange place you were never meant to see.

The only thing standing between you and victory is a painful death! Actually a lot of painful deaths. But don't worry, they're not yours... technically. Jasper Byrne's retro platformer is a quirky, challenging psychedelic journey through another very dangerous and very weird world.

Crazy Over Goo is a physics-based projectile platformer that puts you in the gooey guise of a spheroid on a quest to find his pink-bowed friend. Use the mouse to aim your trajectory and try to reach each level's flag in as few jumps as possible. Contend with mid-air leaps, variable environments, gravity, spikes, and many other platform game elements.

The riddle of the sphinx is invoked at the beginning of Convergence, the flixel-based platformer/life simulator/interactive art piece that serves as the first release from Streetlight Studios: "What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?"... No, the answer isn't "William the Performing Dog". It's that miserable pile of secrets itself: man. And you'll be be spending an interesting three days in a life herein. Wake up, fall out of bed, drag a comb across your head and check it out.

A lovely little game that will twist your perception of reality into a hundred lovely different shapes. Psychosomnium was originally a downloadable game by cactus. Now, with its Flixel-based Flash port from Miroslav Malesevic, anyone with a browser and a keyboard can experience the body-switching weirdo-world that is the inside of cactus' mind!

I think it's about time that I admit that I just don't understand marketing. I wouldn't know why a jump and run platformer based around racing through a myriad selection of websites would be considered an apropos format for an ice cream bar ad . But hey, I do know a good time when I see it, and Lowe Brindfors and B-Reel have certainly given Unilever their money's worth in Magnum: Pleasure Hunt

If to be 'stalwart' is to be filled with resolve, courage and physical endurance, then it's fair to say that Jonathan Whiting's game may bring out the little stalwart knight in all of us. This is a game that presents simply with pixel art and easy to master controls, but a closer look reveals its true side-scrolling, platform and challenging avoidance essence. And all with rhythm!

Bored with running games such as Canabalt and Robot Unicorn Attack? You should be, because they don't have giant squids, lava, lightning, oil slicks, and main characters who are on fire. Flood Runner 3: Armageddon, however, does. We mentioned Clockwork Monster's Flood Runner 2 in a previous Link Dump Friday, and this one's got even more over-the-top action to help you feel like a demi-god dashing through the mortal realms.

Pigs take to this sky in this very creative and original platform puzzle game, where physics and time meet in a why you've not seen before. And it is so captivating that you will probably end up finishing it in one city. So go on, get those pigs in the air.

Crime does not pay, especially if you're Ziggy Fraud, the most suspicious looking man alive who probably gets arrested just for existing. Help him pull off the greatest heist of his career and then escape his would-be captors in this bizarre puzzle platformer that defies the laws of physics (and even the game engine) to make one silly, clever experience.

Nitrome's latest damsel in distress is actually the one doing the distressing. Jump and run past Princess Nectarine's array of traps and monsters, rescuing villagers and avoiding peril in this cute, tricky arcade platformer. Just ask yourself... is this lady fair's hand in marriage really something you want? After all, it's not like there's going to be room at the loony bin for both of you...

When the Sun and the Sea have a falling out, it's up to you to dive into the ocean and retrieve the Idols hidden beneath the waves, carrying them all to the mountaintops where they rightfully belong... or so you think. Gregory Weir's latest experimental platformer is short, dreamlike, and surreal, and worth a play despite suffering from some tedious avoidance/platforming sequences.

When you run into a problem, it's always a good idea to look at things from a different perspective. In Sky Island, your perspective changes throughout the entire game. Tackle fifteen star-hunting levels that introduce a number of twists, such as enemies that need to be bounced upon, tricked to walking over certain blocks, or otherwise manipulated using your world-twisting abilities in this unique and engaging platformer.

Lots of wizards can shoot fireballs. Blasts of ice and electricity aren't so uncommon either. However, creating large stones out of nothingness requires an MC^2 amount of E, so only the most skilled are able to accomplish it. Such is the power of Wizard Hult, star of the new puzzle platformer from Bloblob. Alas, Earthbending skills ia not, in and of itself, a sufficient display of manliness for the witch who has caught his eye. And so she wait atop her challenge-filled tower waiting for the wizard to show his dedication... and to bring her something shiny and expensive. An innovate platformer with slightly finicky physics.

Don't let the man or your burgeoning psychosis keep you down! In this quirky, bouncy 3D platform-puzzler, you play as a hapless worker in a cardboard box assembly plant finally driven to the drink of insanity by his endless, repetitive work and finds himself transported to a weird and puzzling realm where the very world flips and rotates as you move. Will you ever get home? Do you even want to? A fun, silly game with one heck of an intro.

You wake up alone and abandoned in a cell, with no clue as to the big W's; Why are you here? What's going on? Who are you? This short little puzzle/platformer is a moody bit of storytelling from KrangGames that shows sometimes you don't have to say a word to tell a compelling story.

You might think that the combination of Boys' Life, the monthly Boy scouting magazine for ages 6-18, and retro-action-meister Hamumu make for an unexpected pairing. Heck, I was a cub scout and even I find it a little strange. However, I do know that when the creator of the Robot Wants series releases a pixel platformer based around a trio of differently-abilitied characters fighting their way through an alien landscape: I'm there. That game is Mad Planet, and it's got quality worthy of a merit badge.

You'd think it'd be clear by now that you shouldn't pick up a shiny gem when the statue holding it warns you of a curse. Sadly, Cactus McCoy, the titular protagonist of the new platformer from Flipline Studios, does just that, and the result is that he's been transformed into a walking, talking, punching Saguaro. So now, if he ever wants to make balloon animals again, he must return the gem to its proper location across the beautiful landscapes of the old west... all the way pursued by the mercenary gang that hired him to swipe the gem the first place. An excellent game for fans of westerns or beat-em-up adventures in general.

James was waiting. Waiting for someone to need his skills as a private eye. Or rather, he would have been if someone hadn't murdered the head of his five-person detective team. Radical Dog's quirky new noir-themed puzzle platformer offers a healthy dose of ridiculousness to go along with its mystery.

Everybody Edits is a bare-bones platform game played on the backs of the very people who build it! In this charming retro-looking game, you are given basic tools to place blocks, lay gravity-altering objects, and craft mazes and traps of your own design. All of this happens in real-time, meaning you can move and build at the same time, all while people from around the world run around in your world!

Transmover: New Generation is the sequel to Polygon Gmen's Transmover, and it features as much great puzzle-platforming and laser-effected teleportation as the original. The original Transmover boasted a clever concept and fun puzzles, and if Transmover: New Generation is more of the same, it's more of the same good casual gaming.

Test Subject Blue is the latest platform puzzle game from Nitrome. Jump platforms to reach the food pill that unlocks the exit capsule for each level. You will have to jump through force fields that transport you to different locations throughout the level. Navigate through each level in the shortest time possible.

Despite its shortcomings, Duplicator provides some challenging puzzles and an hour or more of ambient diversion. The appealing presentation combined with fluid platforming override the difficulties of the game, and the puzzles will get you thinking and may even test your patience.

Shoot and jump your way through this interesting hybrid of action, platform, physics and one-button games. This duality might put some off Cuboy Quest, but it honestly is a nice idea that has been executed well. Perhaps not everyone's cup of tea, but that's because not everyone likes tea.

Survive for 30 seconds. Sounds simple, right? But you're just sitting there in your chair, reading this excerpt. You're not the hapless protagonist of styxtwo's challenging survival platform game, where the goal is to stay afloat as the island slowly shrinks beneath you.

Wooly the Mammoth has stolen your hat, and in order to get it back, you're going to need to get some epic questing going on, exploring a huge, non-linear environment, completing side-quests, collecting keys, and shooting cute but evil monsters in the face with your laser. Whimsical and with wide-appeal, this is certain to be another major hit from jmtb02!

Nice to see you, old sport! In just four levels, this gloriously retro platformer parody of the classic story will capture your heart, make you raise an eyebrow more than once, and have you striking down ghosts with a boomerang hat. Despite its length and ease of play, this is one weird and silly little title you shouldn't miss checking out.

Tealy & Orangey is a retro platformer with a twist. You use the arrow keys to navigate the two colored protagonists from start to finish in each of twenty hazard-filled levels. The thing is, you can't control just one or the other; you always control both characters, whether you like it or not.

In the futuristic world of Armor Mayhem, Loussi's new action shooter, the world has run out of energy. Thus, major corporations send teams of faceless space marines to discover a new source. And, of course, once they find a planet filled to the brink with Unobtanium, they land and immediately start blasting each other in the face with lasers... what it lacks in plot depth, it more than makes up for with enough frenetic blasting action to make Master Chief jealous.