Rogue Ninja is a pixelated, dungeon crawler RPG with some seriously old-school RPG looks.

The game includes random dungeons (a great replay value element for any game), tons of items and monsters for players to encounter, chiptune music, and a Japanese-themed ninja world.

The interface is obviously tailored to look as retro as possible with an eight-directional D-pad with a center button, a large attack button (denoted by a swinging sword), “skip,” a loot bag, and what appears to be a ninja star button. Dungeons include the traditional mini map with colored dots telling players everything they need to know about the dungeon.

Rogue Ninja is currently on sale for $0.99, $2 off in celebration of the release of the game. Rogue Ninja is developed by Q-Cumber Factory and was released just last week.

The trailer below shows plenty of ninja star-throwing, sword-slashing gameplay.

$2.99

Rogue Ninja

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2012-04-06 :: Category: Games

Retro-looking games are always a fun distraction from the high-end graphics and expensive production of games from big developers. Captain Nova is one of those old school-style games.

Captain Nova has crashed on a strange planet and lost pieces of his ship all over the planet’s surface (this reminds me a bit of an old Sega Genesis game, Toe Jam and Earl). Of course, the planet is filled with all kinds of evil creatures that want to prevent the captain from retrieving his lost spaceship pieces.

The game includes 30 challenging levels and an original soundtrack to accompany the game. The game looks like it’s setup in the standard, 2D platformer style with a D-pad for movement and a single button (the “A” button in this case) for actions. The captain collects gears on the various levels and looks to pick up power-ups like a cups of coffee. Apparently Captain Nova likes his caffeine.

The game is going for $0.99.

$0.99

Captain Nova

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2012-04-05 :: Category: Games

Remember those posters that were pretty big in the 90′s? The ones made up of a bunch of teeny tiny images that, when positioned correctly, created a slightly abstract-looking larger image (i.e. Star Wars stills created a portrait of Darth Vader)? Pixl is a photo app designed by Innoiz to do something very similar, just without the pictures-within-a-picture concept.

With Pixl, users can take existing photos and run them through a filter with variable settings that will reduce all of the textures and shades down to basic shapes and flat colors. In other words, instead of using a full image that’s predominantly blue (for the sake of argument) as blue for a larger image, it creates a blue box or circle for the same purpose. It’s the same basic idea, though. In either case, it results in a stylized abstraction of the image.

Users are also able to take images from within the app, so if they’re out walking and see something that would make a good Pixl image they can open it up and get right to work. Photos can then be saved for later viewing in both portrait and landscape orientations. It sounds a little like a gimmicky photo filter app, and depending on the user that might be all it amounts to, but it can also be an incredibly useful learning tool.

Specifically, Pixl seems to be designed more for artists or art students than for someone looking to mess around with their vacation photos. In breaking an image down into basic shades, it allows users to study the way colors react to one another when in close proximity. It also makes it easier to scrutinize color values without visual distractions like texture to get in the way. In short, it’s Color Theory.

Anyone looking to have fun making the pictures on their phone look artsy, or those who could use a little help with their swatches, can download Pixl from the App Store right now.

$0.99

Pixl™

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2011-08-18 :: Category: Entertainment