Space Invaders, Missile Command and Breakout are like the venerable elder statesmen of the video gaming world. But what if hundreds or thousands of years in the future, scientists are picking through a then-ancient landfill of Atari 2600 cartridges and have to try to piece together what they mean? They might come up with something very much like the arcade mash-up Missilebreak Outvaders. A classic example where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, with three classic arcade games rolled up into one awesome experience that is exceptionally 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.

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.

Sometimes it's all about going fast and getting far. This is the premise behind Tenebrous' arcade game Accelerator. A deceivingly simple game, you only need a mouse for the controls. The game is in first person perspective where you careen around and through 3D obstacles towards a non-existent finish line. The longer you play, the faster you go. The menu offers many options in the controls to assist in your avoidance through these randomly generated corridors. This game's a trip, so roll your computer chair real close, flex that mouse hand and dive into a world of soft sound effects in Accelerator.

Roguelike, The Legend of Zelda, a dual stick shooter, and the twisted mind of Edmund McMillen, part of the team behind Super Meat Boy. Put them all together and you've got The Binding of Isaac, a game that is as unhinged as it is entertaining, as good-looking as it is, well, disgusting. Even still, it's the kind of game you'll play through again and again, just to collect every item and explore every corner of the game's randomly-generated world.

From Nitrome, creator of Final Ninja, Test Subject Arena, and a few dozen other grand browser games, comes Mega Mash, a game that is sort of seven games but is really just one game (does that make it eight games?). The gist of it is all of these games are interwoven due to the buggy nature of the cartridge they're on. Instead of playing one or the other, you hop between them, using abilities from one to clear a path to progress in the other. Unusual? Yeah. But it works better than you might think!

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.

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.

The hottest graphics of 1982 are back in Vector Stunt, a sequel to 2007's hit Vector Runner from DigYourOwnGrave. Pull off some tricks to get a high score while listening to a thumping electronic soundtrack in this arcade action driving game, or provide the MP3 of your choice.

Sometimes, it's not that bad to be a little fish in a big pond. Or at least it isn't when Neutronized is the one at the helm of a new action-arcade game. Little Fins stars a goldfish who wants nothing more than to explore the ocean and clean up some of the soda cans laying about. Unfortunately, there's sharks and rays and groupers afoot... err, a-fin. So with heaven above and the sea below, it's up to you to help a little fishy on the go!

People of Earth, beware, for the doughnuts are finally coming for us in Fodo!, an action arcade planet defense game. The game is pure fun, and charming to boot. It gets high marks for originality and has a decent replay value, and I know those dapper doughnuts in their fancy bowler hats and monocles don't stand a chance against you. Now get out there and save the planet!

Blocks That Matter, an indie game from Swing Swing Submarine, likes to do things a little bit differently. It likes to break the rules, mix up genres, tear down that fourth wall, and borrow the best from some of the most popular games ever released and turn it into something new. Blocks That Matter is part Tetris, part Minecraft, part Dig Dug, part platformer all wrapped into one, with a cute main character leading the whole thing up that serves as the perfect gateway to a game you won't be able to get enough of.

Flee Buster is a retro arcade game about a little human escaping abduction from an alien tractor beam. No wait, it's about a spaceship on the run from Pac-Man's violent quadrilateral cousins. No wait, actually it's about a frog trying to jump as far up as he can from some evil looking spike-water. A bit schizophrenic? Perhaps. But this action-arcade release from Chevy Ray that took first place overall in Ludlum Dare 21 makes one think of Neapolitan ice cream: it has three great tastes that taste great together

The Last Rocket, from Shaun Inman, looks and sounds like it belongs on the top shelf of your Game Boy Color library. It plays like a puzzle-oriented version of VVVVVV, high level of difficulty and retro presentation included. It's the sort of game that will challenge you to make precise movements, quick decisions, and flawless maneuvers, and if you fail, you die and have to start the level all over again. But hey, you don't get to be the big hero without crashing into spikes a few dozen times, do you?

As Dr. Wesley MacGregor, you've developed a poison that will kill an alien menace which you must deliver in Dustin Auxier's side-scrolling shooter, Parasite Strike. Your defeated enemies burst into different colored orbs which go toward the purchase of a staggering amount of options in the choice of your plane, weapons and gadgets. At a length of just six missions, Parasite Strike may feel short, but six additional secret missions, four ranks to achieve in each mission and four difficulty settings keep this game interesting enough to kill all the aliens again and again.

From Halfbrick Studios comes a cave flying-style game with the power to keep you playing for many multiple hours. Jetpack Joyride takes the best from jump-and-run-style games and mixes in a host of achievements, missions, store upgrades, vehicles and more, crafting a game that looks phenomenal and will keep you doing "just one more joyride" dozens of times in a row.

The sky is full of adorable, aimless, harmless yellow birds who currently aren't covered in pink bubblegum! That simply will not do! In PhotonStorm's weird yet lovely and cheerful little chain-reaction game, make use of a limited amount of air to clear the sky of birds as their flight patterns get increasingly more complex.

Owners of iOS devices have been enjoying Mobigame's isometric arcade/puzzle game EDGE for over two years now. The game survived legal battles and multiple removals from the iTunes App Store to win a number of awards for mobile gaming excellence. Now, Mac and PC can come to the party! EDGE has arrived on Steam, carrying with it all the content of the mobile release with updated visuals and a new interface.

Look at that coinbox. All smug. Smiling. Withholding its shiny goodness. Teach it a lesson why don't you, in jmtb02's latest absurd arcade game chock-full of upgrades, coins, heavy weaponry, and polka music. Though fairly repetitive and slow to start, it's a silly, frantic game with a surprise ending that might just catch you off guard.

Climbing through the trees, squishing fruit and shaking nasty critters out of the tree... it's a monkey... green... thing's life for me! And it will be for you too in Nitrome's latest quirky, creative action arcade game! Use the mouse to pull yourself through each level in a bizarre wonderland of strange flora and stranger fauna.

Is there a occupation cooler than Vampire Hunter? After seeing the exploits of Van Helsing, Buffy, Blade, Alucard and D, I'd be surprised if high-schoolers don't flock around the recruiting table at the yearly career day. However, not all of us have time for the years of intensive training that is required to spot vampires on sight. Thankfully, the University of Winconsin's Center for Game Science has developed an online training program that will focus your Vampire Vision through a combination of arcade puzzling and hidden object spotting... and it just might improve your regular vision too.

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.

More pachinko, anyone? Kickin' Momma is the latest from Hothead Games, the team that is perhaps most famous for creating the Penny Arcade adventure episodes beginning with On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. Now, though, the studio is focusing some efforts on the iOS market, creating a crazy sort of game that's very similar to Peggle.

Hey! Orcs, skeletons, giants, mosquitoes, bunnies, and evil bees! Those acorns are mine! Armed with a bow and arrows and a few other more boom-inducing weapons, Elliot Pace's Defend Your Nuts is a fast-paced defense game that puts you in the furry shoes of a squirrel perched on a tree. As evil minions tromp in from the right side of the screen, take aim and fire to send them back to the flames of Hades where they belong, keeping your winter stash safe and secure from their muck-covered paws!

If you've ever wanted to reenact a summer blockbuster sequel in the comfort of your own Flash game screen, Exit Path 2 by jmtb02 will have you running and jumping and dodging lasers like your very own action hero. This time... it's personal. Uniplayer and multiplayer fast-paced jump-and-run action return with a vengeance in an addictive, flashy experience.

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.

It's a zombie railshooter cheese-stravaganza in Xplored's fast-paced first-person shooter starring Joe, the guy with a machine gun for a hand, and scores of squishy zombies just waiting to be burst. Save the world on rails, gain powerups, and blast bosses in this fast, frantic homage to classic arcade action.

Ready for some brawling? Superfighters from MythoLogic Interactive is a single-screen single-player or 2-player versus fighting game replete with weapons, tactical maneuvers, and chunky pixel art your eyes will adore. It's a game where little dudes shoot, stab, burn, kick, shoot (again) and trick each other until they pass out from non-livingness, and once that round is over, you get to do it all over again!

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.

Don't you just hate when you wake up and find out that the sun is exploding? Yeah, me too. What with the shock waves of the supernova and the imminent threat of incineration, it just about ruins your whole day. Then you have to pack up everything into the family rocket ship and blast from world to world in your solar system, and because of the ever-approaching wall of flame, there's no time for sight-seeing. All you can do is try to stay one step ahead of the heat-death. Such is the premise of Run from the Sun, by FreakyZoid. And considering the title, it's kind of ironic that it's a game you'll want to run towards as quickly as possible.

Have you Nyan'd yet? If you haven't you will when you try the bizarre endless game that is Nyan Cat FLY! Pilot a flying oddly shaped cat through the expanse of space to catchy music, collecting yummies and avoiding veggies until... until someone stages an intervention. As if you needed another excuse to Nyan even harder, Krang Games' addictive arcade experience gets sneaky with a bunch of new cheats that do a variety of things to your beloved pop-tart space cat and the playing field.

Make ready thine lance, young knight! And then make ready to hand it off to thine children, because thou art about to get thine hind end kicked. Joust for the ultimate price (the fabled "the lance") against powerful knights and the king's own Champion in this adorable action game that's a snap to play and a joy to behold.

You know, somewhere deep in the blackness of infinite space, there have to be all sorts of life forms bouncing around the void. Space clowns, for example, could exist here, living off of stray particles or digesting dark matter itself. With these life forms comes the inevitable life forms that feed off of them. In the case of Space Parasite, an arcade/action game by Kale Kramlack and Andy Wolff, you are that life form, infecting every piece of space life that floats your way!

Ragdoll Cannon 4 will have you propelling hapless stick-like ragdolls at "HERE" targets across 50 new levels. This physics-based projectile puzzles now features 3 different ragdoll types, including explosive and sticky ragdolls. Clever level design and a stylized approach makes this one a worthy addition to the Ragdoll Cannon series.

Mega Miner is a mining game that's all about repeated trips to the underground that challenge you to balance your fuel levels and item capacity for maximum efficiency, all so you can make your drill-bot the best it can be. There's something wildly addictive about unearthing gems, and let me tell you, one hip cat to another, I dig it. Can you dig it?

Helios Minor is under attack, and you're the only one close enough to respond to the distress signal! Fortunately, it's nothing you can't handle... just hundred and hundreds of vicious, fast, resilient enemy fighters and thousands and thousands of space bullets! Upgrade your ship and go up against the tide of foes in this vertical scrolling shooter!

Drop is a fine physics-puzzle game with a musical theme that shows a little clever attention to detail can liven up an otherwise ordinary game. Offering both Sandbox and Puzzle modes, the goal of Puzzle mode is to fill all the end pipes with bouncy white projectiles. Draw lines across the screen to maneuver those projectiles around obstacles and to their goal.

Presented in crispy pixel graphics and a soundtrack reminiscent of truly old console gaming, Froggish Swimmer is a fiendish little offering where you guide your frog towards a whirlpool. In his way are various obstacles, some to be avoided, others to be bombed away. Sounds simple? This is not your average one button game...

Maybe I'm expecting crime syndicates to have a unreasonable level of precognition, but I gotta say... I really can't see a situation in which killing the family of a guy named Mr. Vengeance is going to end positively. I mean, you have to think that with that name might get a little ticked off and have access to revenge-friendly weaponry. But hey, you have to kick off a rail shooter somehow, and you can't argue with what works. It's Mr. Vengeance: Act One by Russian developer TxGames. He'll roar. He'll rampage. He'll get bloody satisfaction.

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.

Can you beat the evil black space rectangle in the bullet hell vertical shooter? In Boss Battle, you will guide your ship through endless bullets and obstacles as you pump thousands of bullets and missiles into a boss that gets stronger each round. The game employs simple graphics and gameplay, but is ultimately a fun, short break game.

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!

Leap into a world of irresponsible driving and geometric collisions in Oslo Albet's simple but breezily fun and fast-paced 3D racing game! Swoop around the screen across 32 different courses, avoiding hazards and nabbing time bonuses, in an effort to lock in the high score and prove once again what all adults know... driving in the real world is boring.

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.

Summer is often a season of sequels, a season of unimaginative rehashings of proven hits, hoping that the sweaty populace will be too befuddled to notice that the movie or game they're consuming is exactly the same as its predecessor only with all the charm and surprise sucked out. That's why Learn 2 Fly is as refreshing as a blast of south pole air.

Nobuyuki Forces 4 is a remake of 2003's Nobuyuki Forces 3, and feels similar to arcade rail shooters like Time Crisis and House of the Dead. You control a wily female soldier infiltrating a heavily-guarded office complex. Alternate between hiding behind cover and darting out to pick off the enemy across numerous stages to reach the roof and a powerful boss.

Pixels and physics, two things just about every casual gamer is thoroughly familiar with. Pixel Explorer takes these simple ideas and turns them into a challenging and precision-oriented game of action and reflexes. Using just the mouse, you play a little pixel ball that can transform with nothing more than a [left click]. Turn yourself into a shooting ship that can blast in any direction and work your way through over 30 stages of increasing difficulty, encountering strange new types of pixels while you play!

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.

Sad armadillo is sad because he can't fly like the birds. He can run and roll, though, and with your help, he can do something remarkably close to flying! Dillo Hills is a browser-based action game similar to the iPhone release Tiny Wings. All you do in this simple physics-centric title is hold the [down] arrow key to dive towards the hills. When you hit terra firma you start to roll, coasting along the slopes to gain more and more speed. Release the button and soar high into the sky, picking up speed and traveling to distant lands in the process!

Anyone who has ever played the classic PC game Lemmings will recognize the gameplay in Dibbles. In each level, a troop of marching ant-like critters (who I suppose are the eponymous Dibbles) must be ferried to the exit point with as little loss of life as possible, taking special care to spare the life of the chief monarch Dibble. The fun in Dibbles is in breezing through the levels and seeing what other gruesome tasks you can set your Dibbles to executing. All For The Greater Good, of course.

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.

You like Dino Run SE, right? And Nanotube? Well, imagine a game that's nothing like either of those games but co-created by the makers of each. Imagining that? Now stop and check out Super Space Rubbish, a game that satisfies the wildest fantasies you've had since starting this review, and does so with a fantastic retro style. Super Space Rubbish looks a lot like the classic Asteroids game on the surface, but really it's a mining/upgrading sort of experience where you customize your ship using materials extracted from asteroids smashed with your turret.

Hotel Dash: Lost Luxuries is time management done fantastically well, challenging, amusing, beautiful, and frantic. Take a few minutes and get sucked into the world of Flo and Dinertown!

As per usual with Tonypa games the difficulty curve in Regrebluli is pretty steep, but that's about the only complaint there is with this addictive, entertaining game. The one thing we can always count on with Tonypa is a simple idea (plain stark graphics and elementary gameplay) done exceedingly well.

Help a fledgling Dreamsong Catcher's own dreams come true in Nerdook's latest unique game! Collect the imagination and music that emanates from dreamers as they sleep, using it to create fantastic creatures, destroy horrors looking to disturb your work and restful sleep, and experience a whole mess of dreams that are silly, sweet, or just downright weird.

If you've ever had sand kicked in your face at the beach by a vending machine, then this ridiculously over-the-top arcade game will provide some much needed closure. Unleash a massive array of upgradeable abilities and weapons, including volleyballs, lightning, guns, magic scythes, and lightsabers, to showcase the most "epic man vs vending machine" brawl ever.

In the tradition of games like Worms and Scorched Earth, take your tank onto the 2D battlefield and drop a few bombs on your enemy in this excellent multiplayer artillery title from Kyle Champ. Addictive, demanding and fun; the hallmarks of a great artillery game. And Shell Shock Live is a great artillery game. Maybe even one of the best...

Sumo wrestling, as everyone knows, is a noble and ancient Japanese art where a rotund man bounces around like a ping pong ball, occasionally careening into other sumo wrestlers, and shoveling rice down his gullet as quickly as possible to increase his size and convert all adversaries into clones of himself. So loosen your belt, grab your industrial-strength chopsticks, and jump into Hungry Sumo for seconds. Or tenths. Or fiftieths. Yum.

I appreciate the specificity of Space Arcade: The Game's subtitle. I was seriously worried for a couple minutes that I was going to have to deal with Space Arcade: The Hit Broadway Musical. However, as much as I crave toe-tappin' hits and elaborate choreography, I enjoy Galaga-inspired pixel shooter action even more. This appears to be music-meister Matt McFarland's debut game release, and it's so much fun that maybe he should consider quitting his day job.

Slide as long as you can before the heat gets you in this quirky, fast-paced arcade game. If you have to ask why there are fires on a waterslide, well, clearly you have never heard the sad tale of Dormant Volcano Waterpark and the gypsy that cursed it. Maybe you should be asking yourself why you'd want to take one last ride down something known as a "death pipe" instead.

Dust off that old Nitrome Entertainment System and maybe even your super sneaky Game Muscle cartridge for a little old-school arcade glory! Help the world's cutest pink elastic puppy stretch his way around all manner of dangerous obstacles to retrieve gems in this beautiful nostalgic homage to classic arcade avoidance gaming.

Fame! Romance! Excitement!... none of which are for you. After all, Count Thrashwoode is the hero here, and you're just his lowly assistant. It's up to you to properly organise all the treasure he uncovers during his adventures and then properly equip him for battle in this quirky, unique puzzle game.

Forget Tremors and Sarlacci, you've got Death Worms to worry about! Indie developer Play Creek brings 2007's smash arcade hit to your browser with sleek new graphics, fifteen levels, achievements, upgrades, thirty different enemies, and all the fanged, gaping maws you've ever wished for.

Those gosh-darn Giraffe-neck-extending Russkies are at it again! No longer content to simply stretch their ungulates up through the stratosphere, now it seems that they won't be satisfied until they've gone across the horizontal horizon as well. Yes, it's Soviet Rocket Giraffe, an amusing new launch/platformer hybrid from Jmtb02, a guy who knows a little something about launching animals into space. And while some of the elements are more than a little familiar, there's no finer forgotten chapter of the space race than this, comrade.

You can keep your CGI mippy-maps and digitally inserted explosions. In my mind, what the best movie stunts need is non-negotiable: An actual dude, in an actual car, making actual jumps (possibly with an actual dude hanging from the rear axle with an actual whip). I suppose then it's a little contradictory that I turn to computer gaming to recreate this real-life experience, but Stunt Crazy, the new physics driving game by The Podge definitely has the right spirit... and a ton of stuff that goes boom. Can't forget that.

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!

Minerbot features a distinctive minimalist art style that might be confusing for the first couple runs. Once you get into the groove of the game, though, there's definitely an addictive quality to watching a collector hollow out a massive expanse of ore. The action's accompanied by a hopping techno soundtrack.

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.

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.

Leroy Smith's 2 on 2 Hall of Fame Challenge is an off-the-charts, old school basketball game featuring the self-proclaimed motivator of Michael Jordan. Use the keyboard to control your teammates as you attempt to defeat Team Leroy in three periods of no-holds-barred, high flying dunk action. Shazaaaam!

No wait, come back! This one is satire, I promise! For one, there's its pedigree: Anna Anthropy, master designer of such games as Mighty Jill Off and Redder, someone who clearly knows from killer pixel art, engaging concepts, and uber-difficulty minus uber-frustration. Then, there's its sponsor, adult swim a network that time has shown to have quite the track record in promoting works that capture just the right blend of retro aesthetics and modern sensibilities. And, last, but not least, there is the fact that Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars is a heck of a lot of fun to play. It's a high-quality throwback to 80s arcade-style risk-reward action whose gameplay sucks you into a frantic world of patterns and rhythms, scratchy sounds and blocky graphics, high scores and extra lives. And Lesbian-Spider Queens, of course.

Second Person Shooter Zato is a unique kind of action game that flips everything you know about shooters on its head before turning it inside-out and looking at it through a mirror. Well, that sounds like it would cancel the weirdness out, but it doesn't! In this game, you control a gun-toting hero who is being attacked by groups of enemies. However, instead of getting a first-person view of the action, you can only see yourself through the eyes of the enemy. Spin around, fire your weapons, and hope you can survive without looking at the world from behind your own gun!

Front Runner's protagonist would rather sit unaccosted on his asteroid outpost, playing his space-recorder, but all the quirky locals just won't leave him be. And as arcade games have taught us for years, such aggravation can only be answered by taking the wheel of an absurdly overarmed runabout and showing all comers what-for. It takes the vastness of space and turns it into a strange, colorful neighborhood of oddly shaped planets and goofy, irksome monsters. Empty space is rarely this lively, or this silly.

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!

When dungeon crawler meets Bomberman, BinB is the result. A simple-looking arcade game at heart, this little release from Maxim Karpenko (a.k.a. Kendja) packs a lot of bombs, a lot of power-ups, and a surprising amount of strategy, especially when you consider it's mostly about blowing things up and collecting gold.

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.

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...

The shooter lives! Matt Roszak's Epic Battle Fantasy series steps out of its genre and into the shoes of the "bullet hell" arcade action greats. Unlock new characters, improve your abilities, earn challenging medals, or just last as long as you can in Survival Mode. Bullet Heaven is a fantastic example of the shooter genre doing what it does best; making you squeal "ohgeezohgeezohgeez" over and over again while you sweat bullets to match the hundreds onscreen.

Bugs and I have an uneasy friendship. On the one hand I can appreciate the beauty of creation in their skeletons, the elegance of their societies, and the important role they play in our ecosystem. On the other hand, should one drop down the back of my shirt, talks are going to break down pretty quickly. It is to the latter part of my psyche that Insectonator, the new shooter from SonarGames, is aimed. It might not be too nice to all things great and small, but if you have a hankerin' for some arthropod blastin', it'll be sure to catch you in its web.

Fly and Blast asks you to choose between piloting a jet, a helicopter and a super-powered heavily armed flying exoskeleton within minutes of loading the game, all of which will serve you well in this side-scrolling shooter. Give Fly and Blast a shot if you enjoy flying or blasting. Just don't be surprised when you find yourself drawn to the battle suit.

Not Your War is a classic-style vertical shooter that feels like Robotron or Smash TV. Use the mouse and keyboard to control your small craft as you survive through 11 levels, taking on waves of enemy drones, fighters, and ships. Upgrade your ship and take down the Rhean forces in this challenging arcade title.

From Foddy.net, creator of QWOP, comes another bite-sized keyboard-based game that makes about as much sense as a boat made out of tahini. In GIRP, you play a climber scaling the side of a rocky cliff. The water is on the rise, so you've got to stay ahead of the liquid or face certain watereyness. By using the keyboard, you can fling your hands to nearby grips, moving one arm at a time to ascend the wall. If you played QWOP, you know this isn't a game of slow precision. It's about slapping the keys in some sort of strategic pattern and hoping everything works out in the end!

infect.evolve.repeat.2 is the sequel to Manuel Fallmann's original infect game from 2005. Control a green germ by clicking and dragging to infect red blood cells and multiply your numbers. Evolve your germ to make it powerful enough to take on white blood cells and survive against waves of antibiotics. The game now features enhanced graphics, new missions, and achievements.

This lovely game by inversecoma offers everything we could want in a game, and possibly even that much more. This is an avoidance sidescrolling game that looks simple on the surface, but there's a whole lot more to it that will test your skills, patience and perseverance.

BIT.TRIP RUNNER is the latest in a series of loosely-related retro-styled arcade games from Gaijin. You take on the role of CommanderVideo, a blocky little guy who can run, slide, and kick like nobody's business. Work your way through over 50 stages, using rhythm-based platforming as you nail every jump, grab every pile of gold, and avoid every obstacle in your path. Because you're just that awesome.

Planets have gone un-drilled for far too long, and Nitrome wants you to answer the call in this colourful, bizarre follow-up to 2010's popular arcade game about weird looking aliens with a passion for property damage. Smash, drill, and blast your way through 24 new levels and wild environments.

Would you like a jet-pack? Sure, we all do! However, I'm not so sure I'd be willing to volunteer for the strict testing procedures that would have to be completed before it's released to market: what with the dodging of missiles, the zapping of lasers, and having to deal with the inevitably-snarky AI running the whole thing. Omega Box, the new action game from Ironzilla, is the tale of a test-subject either much braver or much less lucky than I, who must fly around the experimentation room avoiding everything said snarky AI can throw at him.

LightSpeeder is a modern day update of a classic light cycle survival racing game. This Unity title features impressive visuals, dynamic cameras, and the ability to jump over light walls as you face against three AI opponents. You can also play against a friend simultaneously in split-screen.

The winner of the 2011 Stanford Hackathon represents the theme of benevolence by putting you behind the wheel of a truck making deliveries for the local food bank. Stop in as many green areas as you can before time runs out to earn cash to upgrade your vehicle in simple ways. It's a simple but solid step in the right direction for new developer JacobG, and as his prize included a review by us, we talk about what was done right, and what could be improved.

Ten HUT! Are you prepared to go out there into the colorful floating void, soldier? Are you ready to calculate angles on the fly in order to line up chain shots? Spreading smiles to shapes is serious business! I want you to get behind that cannon and cheer up the ever-lovin' crap out of those shapes, soldier! It doesn't hurt that the game boasts a marvelous soundtrack and adorable art, either. Arcade fans should give this one a try. At least it's cheaper than Vegas.

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.

Test your speed management skills while you try and stay one step ahead of the mob! Garage Inc. is a frantic but not hectic time management game with a superb visual style and plenty of variety to keep you engaged for hours on end.

Shoot the pearls and save your ammo in this creative twist on the Peggle genre. What starts off as a simple, cheery arcade game gradually ramps up the challenge by introducing new elements to contend with on the playing field that do a lot to both make it stand out and steal your time.

When a seed meteors into the ground, it finds itself in hostile terrain. Nasty-looking plants sit nearby, easy to provoke by the slightest bit of resource gathering. Defend your plant from the invading species in this fun take on tower defence games. You might even learn a thing or two...

If there's one sci-fi rank that has the highest level of awesome associated with it, it's "commander". Some of the greatest protagonists of all space-time have it appended to their name: Riker, Sisko, Adama... Keen. So it's only fitting that when puzzle-master Johnathan May chooses to surprise us with rocking a vertical-side-scrolling space shooter, that he should dub it Cosmic Commander. And let me tell you, it has a challenge more than worthy of its station.

Ever wonder how the Space Invaders feel, or even why they're invading from space to begin with? This retro arcade game allows you to experience the classic action from the other side of the fence for a unique concept with some challenging play.

In the original, he met his true love; in the level pack, he had to defend their honeymoon from various tropical mishaps. Now, in Sushi Cat 2, Joey Betz presents another thrilling chapter in this epic romance: rescuing the pink kitty from her diabolical bacon-snarfing puppy kidnapper!