IOS / Android - Orange Pixel Studios

Orange Pixel studios make some of the most compelling, replayable pixel action platformers for the mobile market place. Available on both IOS and Android these are some of the notable games that I say we all need to atleast give a quick go, hey most of them are free so why not!

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'Grounds Keeper'
  Side Scroller / Action

Guard the violent pixel infested graveyard, theres even a sweet soundtrack to make sure you know just how awesome you are. Extremely simple concept, all you can do is run left and right holding down the trigger on your little gun on a single rather limited screen. Enemies start spawning all around you, just keep shooting and survive at all costs. 

Although the entire game is one screen, the endless incline of enemy variations makes up for that.

If you get bumped by an enemy you will loose 1 health, you start with only three. When enemies die they drop items such as hearts for health, shoot-both-ways power ups and tempory shields. As uncompelling as Grounds Keeper seems I do end up playing for about 15 - 20 minutes every now and then. Considering it costs the same as the oxygen we breath and is slightly bigger than the file size of an mp3 its not bad at all.

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'Meganoid'
Platformer







The city is under attack, all the heroes have already died, so its your turn. With its one-touch-death play style Meganoid is about making your way through increasingly tougher side scrolling levels with just a virtual dpad and a jump button. Armed with nothing all you can do is avoid enemies as you aim for the exit teleporter. 

Keep ripping through the stage until you could do it blind folded, reminds me of Super Meat Boy.

The controls are crisp, this type of precise platforming demands this. There are no lives and retries are unlimited which is very necessary as this game gets tough very quickly, get ready to die, a lot. The overall level design and theme is born from Megaman blood. Suits both long and short plays provided you are comfortable with touchscreen controls.

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'Meganoid 2'

  Platformer

After the success of the first Meganoid Orange Pixel brought out a much deserved sequel. This time round its tougher right from the get go. Now there are many more obstacles requiring you to memorise the level and its danger patterns until you get it. There is also a talisman to find hidden in each stage too, sometimes getting these is the trickiest part on a level.

Meganoid 2 ditches its industrial future theme for a more Indiana Jones style.

The controls are tight as in the previous title in the series and this time there are more then 70 levels. Theres a lot of room for a decent amount of deaths and teeth cutting runs to the finish in some of the later stages. Looks superb on tablets and also has controller support!

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'Gunslugs'

  Action / Platformer

The moment you start up Gunslugs its slick dudes leaping out of a plane to cause pixelated Rambo destruction down below. You rampage from left to right using virtual directional buttons while you gun down baddies and jump ledges. There are buildings to destroy, helicopters to blow up and all sorts of things to pick up. Besides health packs and ammo there are various weapon power ups you can snag, such as bigger bullets and shooting behind you while firing straight.

The amount of variety packed into each level keeps you coming back, you feel unstoppable.

There is looting to be done, almost everything you do causes coin drops which can later be spent inside certain buildings along your path. In my opinion this is the highest quality and most thought out and original Orange Pixel game in their library, truly worth paying for the add free version just to say thanks.

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*more soon*