The Arduboy's built-in library is divided over 17 categories/genres. The full collection can be a slog to rifle through...hence this reviewer's determination to find, then highlight, the best of the system's wonky library.
Ever play Doodle Jump? This is that, just with the perspective flipped to a top-down view. Players must bounce a hapless little guy from trampoline to trampoline, ever-ascending auto-run style. It's fun, it's simple, and it looks good--the scaling effects of each approaching or receding platform is done with effective aplomb.
In Lasers, players must guide their little spot through waves of rotating lasers. By alternating between the dot's two shades, black and white, players earn points on like-color lasers while taking damage on the opposite. It's more fun than it sounds and makes for a fun, if brief, distraction.
Perhaps the most impressive game on the system, not only does Catacombs offer players a true FPS experience in the vein of Heretic and other early fantasy classics, but it's simply a marvel to behold visually. It also plays and controls surprisingly well, with strong visibility despite the Arduboy's puny screen.
Although ostensibly a text-driven bit of interactive fiction, Shadows does what it does well, offering players a story packed with outcomes and possibilities right from the very the beginning. Not for everyone, but it's a good complement to the built-in Arduboy library.
A very simple game in which players lift hapless people from the rooftops of burning buildings and transfer them to the hospital on the far right. Feels like an old Game and Watch game updated for modern times, and in that, it succeeds quite succinctly.
Crate Confusion sees players maneuvering a little lunar module of sorts over (but not exactly on) the lunar surface, collecting starry gem-like things. Because of that physical phenomenon known as inertia, whisking the module from star to star can be tricky--especially when, if too much time passes, those twinkly lights become obstructions deadly to the touch. With skillfully implemented controls and a simple point system, the game is basically a mix of Lunar Lander meets Snake.
Remember those levels in Super Mario in which the ceiling would slowly descend, threatening to squash poor Mario? Hollow Seeker distills this concept down to its most fundamental form, forcing players to run, then pause in a life-saving crevasse, then run again as the ceiling perpetually rises and falls again. Very basic, very engaging.
The Arduboy FX Special Edition adds a new category--Classic--that seems to exist primarily for the many Game and Watch knock-offs on the platform. Fire Panic is one of the better of these "remakes," featuring two firemen haplessly catching and bouncing citizens into the waiting ambulance.
Oil Panic is another Game and Watch port, although this one offers multiple screens/viewpoints to help create a more dynamic, immersive experience. It's probably a little too complicated, actually, but it's an impressive reimagining all the same.
Developer Team A.R.G. was one of the earliest, and most preeminent, developers for the Arduboy platform, creating works of a sublime posh and style rarely matched by its contemporaries. Mystic Balloon was the team's attempt at creating an attractive platformer for the device, and as usual, it succeeded brilliantly. It's just a shame A.R.G. never bothered with an expanded sequel.
Castle Boy is an unapologetic homage to Konami's Castlevania series, most specifically Castlevania: The Adventure. Boy's lower level of challenge might even make it superior to the chief series, although the samey-ness of its stages gives the more-varied Game Boy classic a slight edge.
Omega Horizon is a Metroidvania (adventure platformer) largely inspired by, well, Metroid. The tiny graphics don't really do the game many favors visually, but there's no denying the sprawling journey within.
Micro City is a SimCity clone, and despite the bare-bones approach, the game offers a convincing if somewhat squished experience. For anyone hankering to grow a city on a screen the size of two postage stamps, well, this is the best way.
Tower Defense games were once a popular mainstay on mobile phones...so why not the Arduboy, too? Hence Micro Tower Defense, a perfectly proficient exercise in building, planning, and upgrading that gets the basics right if not much else. It's no Field Runners, but it serves its purpose.
Circuit Dude forces players to create a singular path through nests of nodes--these panels cannot be crossed more than once, but must all be traversed before the exit opens. It's a simple concept modeled on some serious thinking.
Dungeon crawlers are not rare on the Arduboy, and The Curse of Astarok is amongst the best in terms of graphical splendor and complexity. Fans of the genre won't find a better example on the system.
KnightMove involves directing a chess piece around a grid, stomping panels to highlight them while trying to avoid the open voids. It looks and plays better than it's described; a unique and accessible puzzler.
Although it might appear to be a Tetris clone, Stairs Sweep more resembles to old puzzler Pac-Attack (or Pac-Panic) in which, along with stacking cubes, little enemies must be defeated/eaten once the "hero" is dropped atop the blocks. The more enemies that can be aligned and then gobbled, the better the score. Interesting, this game is played vertically, forcing players to turn the Arduboy onto its side.
An obvious knockoff of Bejeweled, Begemmed is still another fun time-waster courtesy of Team A.R.G. Basically, players must shift the gems around the grid, creating matches of three or more. Simple but strangely addictive.
Blob Attack evokes the best of '90s-era, character driven puzzlers like Puyo Puyo, Super Gem Fighter, and Tetris Attack. The tiny Arduboy screen does betray some of the fun on this one, as microscopic eyesight is practically needed for identifying all the little critters constantly falling. But overall, a good effort on Team A.R.G.'s part.
The long unsung puzzler once pushed by Nintendo for its Game Boy and DS platforms returns here in a bland but otherwise still entertaining effort. Players, by reading the numbers lining the X and Y coordinates of the grid, must deduce which blocks are filled and which remain empty...all to create a picture (or the semblance of one) at completion. Always taxing, always fun.
Team A.R.G.'s Dice of Fate isn't a game but a sophisticated dice roller matched with the team's excellent presentational skills and art sense. For fans of tabletops games requiring a multitude of different-sided dice, this is indeed a handy alternative to carrying a pocketful of cubes, dodecahedrons, and whatnots.
Press Play on Tape is another talented developer with skills neighboring Team A.R.G.'s. Farkle is proof of this, a fun "dice meets poker" style of game in which players roll to achieve three-way matches, straights, flushes, and other combinations.
'Ard Driving is a fast-paced racer that makes a good first impression. It looks good and offers a flash of fun. (But it's nothing like the original Hard Driving arcade game.)
Another impressive effort by Press Play on Tape, Road Trip dazzles with its super scaler-style visuals. Rolling hills, day/night cycles, smooth framerate...this one is a stunner, even if the gameplay is still hampered by the Arduboys' squished screen and digital controls.
Probably the closest to The Legend of Zelda Arduboy fans are ever going to receive, Ardynia features a personage of indeterminate race and gender wandering the land, slashing monsters, uncovering dungeons, and collecting treasure. The game is a noble effort despite lacking the polish a game of this depth and breadth generally needs. A little janky, but still worth a looksee.
Considered by most to be Team A.R.G.'s masterpiece, Arduventure even inspired a limited-edition Arduboy themed in the game's aesthetic colors and branding. In truth, it's a rather straightforward, no-frills RPG with little story and a very basic battle system. It sure looks great, though, and remains a compelling piece of software for the platform.
Dark & Under 2 is another dungeon crawler that, perhaps, trumps even The Curse of Astarok in terms of graphical acumen and quality. Just beware, it's easy to get lost...especially early on.
One of Team A.R.G.'s earliest entries is the winsome Sirene, an old-school cuter shooter featuring a mermaid fighting against, apparently, her entire underwater world. The game is fun but feels more like an extended demo that a full-fledged title. Shame it never got a sequel or expanded re-release.
Evade 2 is a decent space shooter that, following its more conventional 2-D predecessor, decided to go for a cockpit, more personal view. It's well done but somewhat limited in its overall scope.
Funnily, Pyoro was a Nintendo mini-game included on the original WarioWare GBA release. It has since been released for other platforms (like a DSiWare release), but no doubt, this unofficial port makes for a perfect Arduboy game. It looks awful, of course, but the slurpy gameplay and is suitably captivating. A great addition.
SFZ is a fusion of Sega's Fantasy Zone and Space Harrier, with the aesthetic of the former and the gameplay/perspective of the latter. Like Catacombs of the Damned, it's a true stunner on the wee Arduboy screen, and even features a fair amount of catchy music for a device that's usually all but silent. It's not easy, though.
The most technically impressive game on the platform is a golf game?! It's true, Ardugolf uses fully 3-D (polygonal?) constructs to present its many miniature golf courses. The game itself is merely decent, but the graphics are so impressive, it's an instant classic for a handheld in desperate need of them.
Magic 8 Ball is just that, a digital reworking of the famous toy fortune teller notorious for playing coy or being altogether wrong. It's...fine.
A simple text adventure that does what it needs to do--give readers some control over how their in-game future unfolds.
An e-book that can be read in five-minutes. It's a wacky story, though...well-worth that five minutes.
The Guy is a strange drain of stream of consciousness nonsense. Again, maybe worth a look just for that wackiness factor.
The purpose for the Arduboy Sprite Editor is unclear. But it works...and it's sorta cute.
Not much of a PDA of anything, really--no one will be using this in place of the apps on their phone. But for those Arduboy-only folks? This is a great way to calculate tips out at the restaurant!
