How to kill some time
July 16, 2010
…simply by playing various games on your Pandora (you probably guessed that already).
Many devs have been busy the last week to provide you with more, new and unique game experiences, from retro, to GP2X ports to real Pandora homebrew.
This post tries to recap some of the new releases, which include:
- Sqrxz
- BomberClone
- Clonk2x
- XScorch
- Lopan
- Tworld
- Opentyrian
- Thruster
- Spout
- Elemental
Be excited:
Sqrxz
From the team which brought you Giana’s Return (a remake of “The Great Giana Sisters”) comes Sqrxz, a very hard game with a high frustration factor.
It also is a remake of a classic with the same name, but has been enhanced with “deluxe” graphics and a new twist, which makes the game even harder than the original.
You control the little Sqrxz, who is on a quest to retrieve his valuable items he lost for some reason while taking a walk (see, it’s more safe to stay inside and play games anyway).
In a jump-and-run manner you hit blobs on the head, collect stars and smash blocks, while avoiding all the other dangerous hazards, like spike-traps and bottom-less pits.
If you like the game, please consider donating a few bucks to help the team buy some more coffee and booze for further productions.
BomberClone
Now, most of the games we present here are single-player only. So in the case you got some friends over, they might tend to get lonely, while you are playing with your Pandora.
This problem has been solved!
BomberClone is, as the name suggests, a clone of Bomberman, a game probably everyone has already heard about.
You play a little fellow, trying to blast some other guys to little bits using bombs – and this time you can take it up with up to 11 AI enemies or human players via network.
Use IRC or the forum to organize online matches and battle out who the best demo-man, owning a Pandora is.
Clonk2x
Clonk2x is described as a cross-breed between The Settlers and Worms.
You fight a battle between two forts, which for some reason have been built directly next to each other only separated by a pit with a bridge conveniently connecting each of the hills.
The game is really nice looking and provides some good fun for a short break in-between.
Kudos go to Pickle for the port.
Xscorch
Just like in the classic Scorched Earth you play a tank in a battle of King-of-the-hill against some other tanks using various missiles up to the infamous nuclear bomb.
The game is simple: Buy some weapons, aim your gun (taking wind and terrain into account), shoot and hope to hit your opponent before they hit you.
Again, thanks to Pickle for the port (what’s up with that guy and destructive games 
)
Now for a triple shot by zx-81 (that guy is on fire!):
Lopan
This is a Mahjong-Solitaire game by Dave Ashley, which should give you some good minutes of puzzle-gameplay (great for a short break when you are slacking off compiling code).
Tworld
Tile World is an emulation of the game “Chip’s Challenge”. “Chip’s Challenge” was originally written for the Atari Lynx by Chuck Sommerville, and was later ported to MS Windows by Microsoft (among other ports).
It does not come with the (copyright protected) original data file, but you can still play it as there are many, free, fan-made levels available.
Your objective is simple: You control Chip and just want to get the **** out of here by reaching the exit.
This however is easier written than done as there are many hazards and puzzles in your way.
The game throws conveyors, teleports, bombs, bear traps, bugs, crazy security-robots, thieves and many other stuff at you to keep your from reaching your objective.
Tworld is played from a top-down perspective with all the levels being made of tiles. You will have to use your logic skills and reflexes to get to the exit, which will become harder every time.
Opentyrian
OpenTyrian is a port of the DOS shoot-em-up Tyrian.
Despite being from the DOS era the game looks beautiful and features fast-paced, vertical-scrolling shooting-action.
You play as Trent Hawkins, a skilled fighter-pilot and your job is nothing less than to save the whole galaxy from the evil Microsol.
Thruster and Spout
“Two games in one entry, what is up with you?” you might ask.
Well, these two games are very similar and to save me some time writing the same stuff twice and you reading my words twice, I decided to pack them into one description.
In these games you simply have to get upwards without hitting the obstacles (platforms) on your way.
Your only weapon is your engine which drives your upwards, but at the same time erodes your surroundings, too.
So you constantly have to decide between trying to get up or aiming your thruster at an obstacle, while flying in the opposite direction.
The gameplay is simple and easy to learn, but very addictive.
Both ports by PokeParadox, thanks man!
Thruster: Source - Download
Spout: Source - Download
Elemental
You might remember this blog post.
Now chaosmage is back with some more action, puzzle-action to be precise.
In Elemental you play a little guy blessed with the power of utilizing elements at will. You can breath fire to burn down wood, use water to fill gaps or pile up dirt to form a hill (and much more).
The game pretty much is a big sandbox for you to play and experiment with (the elements interact with each other and might even form new ones in the process).
Version 0.2 however adds “rooms”, which require you to reach an exit and therefore challenge you to use the given elements wisely for your process.
You can even build your own rooms with the built-in editor, so get creative and challenge the author to beat your puzzle.
While not being very graphically appealing (everything is presented as a big pixel), the style is very functional and lays the focus on the gameplay mechanics, which are great and fun to play with.
Check the video for some in-game footage.
some pretty decent games
Yeah, multiple people who’ve all gotten their Pandoras, in the same room . That’s likely to happen
Yeah, I thought the people that needed something to do to kill time were those of us waiting to get our units.
You still can do that as most of the games are also available for Windows and Linux
Additionally you have more stuff to be excited (this time with ‘c’) about when you finally get your Pandora
Why not online multiplayer?
Or, hell, even cross-platform multiplayer?
All we need is POND and TINXL (which are actually still in the works, despite the lack of news).
BomberClone supports online multiplayer (and probably also cross-platform gaming).
Quake should also support networked games, as should many other.
It’s just the majority of games for the Pandora are single-player (like most emulators).
Though I still would like to see the above system for Pandora homebrew.
but i’m trying to kill time until i get the PANDORAAAA
Thank you, this will be a great to-get list when my Pandora arrives.
On that note, My turn to play spelling/grammar nazi:
“Be exited” – I’d rather be entrance-d (I think you mean “excited”)
“more save to stay inside” – “safe to stay”
“and just want to the the ****” – “just want to get the” (I assume)
“But ports by PokeParadox” – “Both ports”?
These are just things that jump out at me because my own writing is awful (your’s isn’t), so I am trying to train myself to proof-read a bit
Uuhh, thanks, will fix that immediately.
Sorry for the inconvenience, I should not be writing blog posts at 2am anymore…
“be exited”?
are you telling me to leave?
oops, ninja’d. By half an hour.
no, please stay :-3
Just a reminder (since no one from PandoraPress has plugged this feature yet), you can see an up-to-date list of games released for the Pandora over here:
http://pandorawiki.org/Games
Me and Cheese (for the most part) have been working on it over the past while. If you click on the square beside the “release date” column, you can sort everything by the date of release, and find what has been released since you last checked the list.
Wow, that is pretty nice indeed.
Thanks for the effort, you certainly deserve a blog post
Getting sick of waiting for them to deliver the rest of the Pandoras…
Yes killing some time on your Pandora is probably a great thing. Good thing i have no time to kill currently. Because i don’t have a Pandora yet, my only alternative would be cryogenic sleep.