The GbJam 5 was a game jam that challenged developers to create a game that is GameBoy Themed. To achieve this, the game needed to have the original GameBoy screen resolution of 160px by 144px and use only four colors. I was able to play and record all of the games entered into this jam in my video compilation series. Below are a few of my favorites, in no particular order.

Acropod is a phsyics based aquatic puzzler that has you trying to move around obsticales as a three armed cephalopod. You are a three armed octopus-like creature who is on an adventure. Each level presents an obstacle that you need to overcome by learning how to control the creature and guide it to an exit portal. Each of the three arms on this animal can be moved separately by you and you can also join the legs together to make one mega arm, which has better reach. You will need to use these arms or legs to get around by climbing or pulling yourself. Some of the game is underwater, where you can move around almost effortlessly, while others are above and require some precision. Levers, rocks, buttons, and other objects can also be moved and used to complete puzzles. Controlling this cephalopod is quite challenging, you must learn when to use your mega arm or how to change arms quickly to climb. Good luck mastering the challenge of this game!

Print Shop Panic! has you printing up shirts for unique customers to try and make some money! Each day, you have a limited amount of time to produce some custom shirts for your customers. Each time you make a shirt, you will be rated on how well made it is, and make some money accordingly. If you fail badly at making a shirt, you will lose money. To make a shirt, you must listen to what the customer wants and pick out the right base shirt, ink color, and design. All of the designs you have are at the bottom of the screen, so you must scroll through them until you find the one you want. Once you are set to make your shirt, you need to hold down space until the right time to get an even coat of ink on the print, then bake it until it hits the square area on the conveyor belt. Then the customer will receive it and judge it themself. These customers come with a variety of funny stories that are all quite unique! See how many customers you can make shirts for and how much money you can earn!

Soulstice is a local co-op puzzle platformer that has you performing a ritual to become one with your love. You and your friend play the magical couple Kinn and Kala who are on a quest to become one and achieve Deity status. To do this, both of you must work together to solve many challenging puzzles on the way to becoming a God. Each of these two characters have a special ability; one can move boxes and activate them, so that they move up and down, while the other can double jump across the map. These abilities give each one an advantage over some parts of the puzzle, but both are very helpful when it comes to working together. You can switch between the two characters, but your abilities never change. You must be near the other player to switch, seeing your heart connect at the bottom of the screen. If the couple’s heart is not together, you cannot restart or complete the level. The screen itself is split in half, showing each player in their part of the map and each side with a different GameBoy-styled color pallet. This game is skillfully made, challenging, and takes loads of teamwork!

O U T S I D E has you breaking out of your GameBoy game! You were just at the end of your game, when all of a sudden a tardis appeared! A sonic screwdriver popped out of it, and you have got your hands on this magical device. With it, you have broken the glass and are breaking out of the machine! Giant thumbs look to squish you, but you can avoid them and shoot back at them with your screwdriver! You can break the buttons off this gameboy to go and explore inside it. Monsters lurk inside, but so do bits of the machine that you can destroy. Explore the inside of a GameBoy and break out of your game!

Monkey Warp is a cute game that lets you play a monkey with a magical banana. This banana will act as your only weapon, helping you to defeat enemies, but it will also teleport you around the level. You can point this banana in any direction to throw it. If it comes into contact with an enemy, (depending on what it is), it will destroy or stun it. You can also, at any point before it reaches you, swap places with the banana. The banana will always come back to you, almost like a boomerang! You must find a key in each level before finding an exit and moving on. There are a fair few levels in this game, so explore around and take full advantage of your magical banana!

Pixel Soldier is a fast paced shooter that has you destroying waves and waves of enemies! You are stuck in a square room, and have the ability to dash from wall to wall and walk along them. In the middle of the room, enemies appear. These enemies will shoot at you, move along the walls, and generally try to destroy you. You must kill the enemies whilst skillfully avoiding their shots. Luckily you cannot get hurt while you dash around, so make sure you dash often! After a couple of waves, you will get the chance to take on bosses. These bosses are even more challenging, so you must shoot and dash around with accuracy. See how many waves you can survive!

Keys and Cowls is a retro platformer that sees you sneaking your way through the Temple of Iris! You are looking to make it to the treasures deep within the Temple of Iris. The temple is heavily guarded with enemies who have lasers! You must make your way around them, or destroy the ones in your path. You are able to shoot the keys you have picked up at enemies, which will then kill them and they will drop coins! These coins (and the keys you threw) can be collected. Levers also must be pulled and keys can be thrown at locked walls to unlock them. This temple is also full of secret paths, so keep a lookout for hidden doors and way around things. See if you can discover all of the secrets and make it to the treasure!

Shuriken is an open platformer that has you exploring and looking for keys. You have a couple of ninja stars that you can use to defend yourself against enemies. These stars are limited to three, so you have to collect the ones you throw after you use them to destroy a monster. Monsters come in the form of snakes, flying skulls, and bats. You must evade them and look for keys dotted around the level. Sometimes you will need to kill all of the baddies on one screen to unlock a door, but if you go back to any screen that has monsters you have defeated, the monsters will respawn. There are a few checkpoints around the area as well as a progression percentage at the bottom of the screen. Work your way around this world but be sure to keep track of your throwing stars!

ThiefShip is a space shooter that has you stealing enemy ship’s power by dashing into them! You are looking to get some “source” - something needed for your home planet. To do this, you must pilot your ship through waves of aliens to try and make it to the source. As you fly through these areas, enemies with different types of ships and guns will attack you. You are able to shoot at them until they are weak and then either finish them off, or, dash through them to gain more powers!The more ships you dash through, the better your ship will become. Bullets will do more damage, pierce ships, and be greater in number - and you can even end up with a shield! As you go through the game, you will get little bits of dialog from your home base, telling you about the ship. This game is quite challenging as you need to dash through enemies at the right time, otherwise you will take damage. How long can you last?

Elevate is a short and unique unique puzzle platformer where you must change the land in order to complete the level. You are able to move left and right, but not jump. So to get to higher ground, you must hit a key that changes specific points of land by making them grow or shrink. This will lift you up to higher places. Some areas have buttons that will slightly change what you are able to do. Each level has one or two keys that are supposed to be collected before you make it to the door. Sometimes, it is quite straight forward when it comes to collecting keys. Other times, it takes a bit of playing around with the environment before you will be able to collect everything. Move hills and collect all of the keys in this simple but well made game!

Legend of Ball is a dungeon baller where you must use your ball as your only weapon and to solve puzzles. You love your ball so much that you have followed it into a dark dungeon full of monsters. Now you must find your way out by solving puzzles and defeating enemies! You are able to charge up and throw your ball at enemies, destroying them. You can also use the ball to change touch stones to a different color and light things on fire (when passed through a fire block). As you solve puzzles and defeat monsters, you will get keys which will then help you go deeper into the dungeon. You will also find extra lives and life capsules along the way to help keep you going. This dungeon is super fun to explore!

Child of Fire has you taking the power of fire and using it to reveal the world around you. You are a child who is able to turn your hair into flames. These flames help show the world in its light form, instead of the world in darkness that you see around you. The areas that you light up will reveal platforms that you can use to get to new areas. Sometimes these platforms block the way, forcing you to turn off the fire to get through. Lights are also dotted around some levels. You can move these around to shine on platforms or light up blocks that open new areas. There are also light bugs deep in this world - these bugs are repelled by your light and the light of torches. You can use your light to guide them onto buttons to solve puzzles. Sometimes you will fall into water, making you unable to ignite your fire, so you instead can float around and explore. This unique world is full of secret platforms, puzzles, and light!

Reap What You Sow is a top-down action and farming game that has you growing spooky crops! You are a farmer who is just looking to grow awesome crops. You can grow candy corn, which increase your health, and when planted, produce more corn, cursed bones, and pumpkin seeds. Cursed bones will grow into skeletons and pumpkin seeds will grow pumpkin enemies. If you defeat them once they are fully grown, they will drop more of their seeds. These items can then be collected and possibly used in the future. There is a large farm for you to grow your crops in, with multiple plots of land. You can collect water from wells with your watering can to grow your plants. There is also a maze nearby, where you can explore and collect items from boxes. This game is a unique blend of spooky and farming!

Ottopunk is a super challenging dashing game where you are looking for a part for your ship. Your airship has broken down, causing you to land on a strange, desert planet. A man on this planet tells you that he can fix your ship, if you find a replacement part. You are able to borrow his device that allows you to dash over obstacles or through tank-like enemies. Lasers cannot be dashed through however. This device uses water, so you must watch your water level while you dash around. Generally traveling around this hot planet also slowly drains your water. Without it, you will die. As you make your way East, you will discover you need to dodge lasers, move around robots, and avoid spikes. If you can make it to the ship part, you must then make your way back to the mysterious man, without gaining back any of your lost life. This game is really challenging, getting your ship back together is no easy task.

Pumpkin Kid is a shooter where you are illuminating pumpkins and destroying monsters. You are a pumpkin headed person who is in a graveyard. This graveyard is lit up from the light that shines out of your pumpkin head. Other Jack-o-lanterns also dot the area, which can be lit at the cost of your candles. These pumpkins then drop candies that will help your health and your score. As your candles burn out, the area that you can see in is darker. You must destroy monsters to gain more candles. You can do this by hitting them with your shovel or shooting them with your gun. This game is quite fun to play, as you need to manage your lit pumpkins and defend yourself from these spooky monsters!

Boxy in the Cave of Feeling is a unique adventure game that has you playing a box who is looking to become human. You have fallen in love with a human person. This person does not love you back, as you are a talking box. So you must go on a quest to become a human as well, by experiencing the 7 deadly sins. You can travel around the caves, facing sins as you make your way through. These emotions will challenge you, by shooting objects towards your box. You can open your box and let in the objects that will fill up that sin’s bar. If you gulp down black spider-y objects, it will empty all of the things you have been collecting out of your box, so make sure you only collect what you want. Some areas in this dungeon have items that you can challenge, that specifically help with a sin. All this adventure is for true love. Will you be able to become human?

CRAIG’S RAD VIDEO GAME FOR COOL PEOPLE is a fast paced shooter that has you gaining speed and momentum, while shooting giant heads. You are a cube that moves quickly across the ground, gaining more speed. You are able to jump into the air - activating slow motion, and shoot at the enemies. If your speed bar is more full, your first few shots will be quite big, but will drain your speed bar. You are also able to go higher in the air, when you are speeding forward. Your goal is to get to the end as fast as possible, but shooting these enemies will gain you some points. At the beginning of the level you can choose area’s to put points into, making your slow motion better, or your speed faster. There is also an adorable sock-puppet there to explain the tutorial to you! This game is pretty unique and fun to play.

#GBJam #Acropod #PrintShopPanic #Soulstice #OUTSIDE #MonkeyWarp #PixelSoldier #Shuriken #TheifShip #Elevate #LegendOfBalls #ChildOfFire #ReapWhatYouSow #Ottopunk #PumpkinKid #BoxyInTheCaveOfFeelings #CRAIGSRADVIDEOGAMEFORCOOLPEOPLE