{"id":13664,"date":"2015-07-10T00:01:21","date_gmt":"2015-07-10T00:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=13664"},"modified":"2015-07-03T23:17:03","modified_gmt":"2015-07-03T23:17:03","slug":"carys-top-five-favorite-indie-game-characters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/10\/carys-top-five-favorite-indie-game-characters\/","title":{"rendered":"Cary’s Top Five Favorite Indie Game Characters!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SHANTAE_BOX\"<\/a>Lately I\u2019ve been working on reviewing a lot of downloadable indie Wii U games lately.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got four on my list right now, with a good possibility of more to come later.\u00a0 The Wii U has been doing a pretty good job of having a sizable list of indie games in their eShop roster lately.\u00a0 They\u2019ve been a godsend since it\u2019s getting harder and harder to review mainstream titles recently.\u00a0 And it got me to thinking about my favorite indie video game characters.\u00a0 So here\u2019s a blog about that.\u00a0 Enjoy!<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The Maw<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I know that Twisted Pixel isn\u2019t really considered an indie company anymore, since they were bought by Microsoft.\u00a0 But when they made The Maw, they were still an indie company.\u00a0 In fact, The Maw won an indie award at PAX the first year it was shown.\u00a0 Speaking of Twisted Pixel, are they even still around anymore?\u00a0 I haven\u2019t gotten a press release from them in over a year, my press contact email there bounced back like they don\u2019t work there anymore, and they didn\u2019t even have a booth at PAX Prime last year.\u00a0 It makes me wonder if Microsoft dissolved them or something.\u00a0 That would be a shame, since I liked every game Twisted Pixel made and I thought it was neat that they were based in Austin, TX, where I went to college.<\/p>\n

    Anyway, The Maw is a 3-D platformer that is like a combination of Banjo-Kazooie and Katamari Damacy.\u00a0 You play as a little boy alien who is captured by bad guys.\u00a0 On the ship you befriend another prisoner, a little one-eyed purple blob.\u00a0 Together, you escape the alien ship and crash on an unknown planet and must escape guards to find your way home.\u00a0 The little boy alien leads the purple critter named Maw around on an electric leash, or he can call him if The Maw strays too far.\u00a0 The Maw can eat creatures to grow bigger, like the ball in Katamari Damacy, and some enemies can give him special abilities when eaten, like Kirby.\u00a0 The game doesn\u2019t have the best graphics in the world, as it looks like an early Dreamcast or PS2 game.\u00a0 But it\u2019s still lots of fun.\u00a0 If you can still download it on the 360, I\u2019d recommend it since there aren\u2019t very many colorful kid-friendly (you can\u2019t really die in the game) 3-D platformers anymore.\u00a0 Twisted Pixel had so many great characters; you could make a whole kart racing game with them all!<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Pip<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Pip is a single red pixel and stars in the recent downloadable Wii U, PC, and iOS game Adventures of Pip.\u00a0 Hm, a single red pixel, huh?\u00a0 I wonder if he\u2019s the red pixel from the Twisted Pixel logo?\u00a0 If they really did go under, I guess he had to find other work!\u00a0 Ha ha!\u00a0 Anyway, Pip\u2019s game is a 2-D platformer, and when you defeat certain enemies, Pip can change into 8 and 16-bit versions of himself, each with different skills and abilities.\u00a0 The game was made by ex-WayForward employees, and while it\u2019s not \u201cthis year\u2019s Shovel Knight\u201d like I thought it would be, it is still fun game with very solid play control.\u00a0 I also really enjoyed following this game with the developers via meetings for nearly two years at PAX conventions.\u00a0 It reminded me of the days I used to do that at The Dallas Morning News with bigger games, like Pac-Man World.<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Commander Video<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Commander Video stars in the Bit.Trip series of games.\u00a0 Sometimes he\u2019s just a single bar, but sometimes they give him more character (like arms and legs) depending on the game.\u00a0 The Bit.Trip games represent the best in retro styled gameplay and visuals paired with a thumping music style rhythm challenge.\u00a0 They\u2019re also pretty hard, but still fun.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been fortunate enough to review most of the games.\u00a0 You can also buy a collection of these games on the Wii and DS. \u00a0In a way, Commander Video kind of represents modern indie games, and he even got his own guest trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U!<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Shovel Knight<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Shovel Knight is just a really good game!\u00a0 Some reviewers even named it their Game of the Year in 2014.\u00a0 While I wouldn\u2019t go that far, I will say it is one of the best retro themed indie games out there.\u00a0 With a mix of Mega Man, Castlevania, and DuckTales gameplay, the developers just really hit the mark, and pairing a knight with a shovel makes for some fun ideas.\u00a0 And boy is the music REALLY good!\u00a0 I liked it so much I bought the CD soundtrack!<\/p>\n

          Shovel Knight has even made appearances in other games, like the indie Wii U title Armillo.\u00a0 He\u2019ll also appear in the upcoming Wii U obstacle course game Runbow, along with a bunch of other indie game characters like Commander Video and the two main good guys from Guacamelee.\u00a0 Speaking of which, while the characters from Guacamelee didn\u2019t make my list, the game is very good.\u00a0 I do like the player two character in the special edition version of the game, as she\u2019s a female fighter named Tostada.<\/p>\n

          Honorable Mention: Jazz Jackrabbit<\/strong><\/p>\n

          Before we get to my number one favorite indie game character, I wanted to give a shoutout to a forgotten game hero from the past.\u00a0 Back before we had indie games, there was something called Shareware.\u00a0 What is shareware, you ask?\u00a0 Well, back in the late 80\u2019s and early 90\u2019s, when PC game shelves had to compete with the rising popularity of consoles, it became harder and harder for PC game developers to get their games out there.\u00a0 The Internet wasn\u2019t as widely used as it is now, so what they would do is give out free demos of their games on a disk.\u00a0 If you liked them, you could order them directly by phone (the games usually had a phone number you could call), or you can purchase them from a shareware catalog.\u00a0 I played many a video pinball and Arkanoid\/Breakout clone via shareware back in the day, and I think that\u2019s how Wolfenstein got started, too (speaking of which, did you know that Commander Keen, another Shareware hero, is the descendant of the good guy from Wolfenstein?<\/p>\n

          But I think my favorite shareware game and character was Jazz Jackrabbit.\u00a0 Definitely a product of the 90\u2019s, Jazz was a green intergalactic rabbit hero not named Bucky O\u2019Hare.\u00a0 His first game was like a cross between Mega Man and Sonic the Hedgehog.\u00a0 While I don\u2019t think the game has aged very well, I still have fond memories of playing it.\u00a0 Jazz Jackrabbit 2 got a physical release in stores, and played more like Sonic the Hedgehog mixed with Earthworm Jim.\u00a0 That one featured two playable characters (Jazz and his brother Spaz), and a level editor!\u00a0 There was a 3-D Jazz game planned, but never released.\u00a0 There is also a little known Jazz Jackrabbit 3 game on the GBA that plays like a mix of Earthworm Jim and the SNES Duck Dodgers game, but it\u2019s not near as good as the other ones.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t mind a downloadable collection of the Jazz Jackrabbit games, how about you?<\/p>\n

          OK now we\u2019ll get to my number one favorite indie game character\u2026<\/p>\n

            \n
          1. Shantae<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            I know the Shantae games are made by WayForward, who isn\u2019t really considered an indie company now.\u00a0 BUT, the newest Shantae game, Half-Genie Hero, got its start via a kickstarter.\u00a0 And any game that needs a kickstarter is an indie game in my book (except for Shenmue 3, that\u2019s just bonkers).\u00a0 Plus it\u2019s my blog and I can do what I want.\u00a0 Shantae games are a good example of the kinds of games I really like to play, and the main character is cute and fun and stuff.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been a fan of the games since the first one on the Game Boy Color (yes I do still have my original cartridge and yes I do know how much it\u2019s worth).\u00a0 These 2-D platformers have a \u201cMetroidvania\u201d style to them, and they play a lot like the Monster World titles.\u00a0 In fact, don\u2019t believe what the developers say about not ever playing Monster World 4 before making Shantae, the games are just too similar for me to buy that.\u00a0 At any rate, you can play most of the titles by downloading them now, so I\u2019d recommend trying them.\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait for the next Shantae game in the series: Half-Genie Hero!<\/p>\n

            Conclusions<\/strong><\/p>\n

            And that\u2019s all for now!\u00a0 In the comments section, let me know what you think of my list, and tell me who YOUR favorite indie game characters are!\u00a0 I have a feeling I may be adding more to the list later on, like the cast of Freedom Planet or Yooka-Laylee.\u00a0 Later!\u00a0 –Cary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            Lately I\u2019ve been working on reviewing a lot of downloadable indie Wii U games lately.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got four on my list right now, with a good possibility of more to come later.\u00a0 The Wii U has been doing a pretty good job of having a sizable list of indie games in their eShop roster lately.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13664"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13666,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13664\/revisions\/13666"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}