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There's a good chance that, unless something crazy happens, this post is the last thing I'm writing for 148Apps. I feel odd writing a personal essay for a website with no real “community” to speak of, but if you invested four years of your life into something wouldn't you want to say a few words when it's all over? Besides, it's not like I haven't done it before. In fact, if you care at all about how working here has improved my career as a young games journalist, the thoughts I expressed in that post are pretty much the same thoughts I have now. So the rest of this piece will be other post-mortem musings.

TxK, created by Jeff Minter and Llamasoft (GoatUp, Caverns of Minos, Minotron 2112), is an action shooter that's kind of the spiritual successor to Minter's previous game, Tempest 2000, which was published by Atari in 1994. Recently, Atari has set their lawyers upon Minter in an effort to shut down TxK and any other titles that might be related to Tempest 2000.

Minter has posted an explanation of the situation on Llamasoft's discussion boards that detail Atari's accusations of theft by Minter of source code, music, and the concept of "jumping" of all things.

Jeff Minter: "... in order to create TxK I must have had access to, and stolen secrets from, Atari's source code, in order to steal the work of the other people who worked on Tempest 2000. (I *wrote* the source code for Tempest 2000, and didn't need to refer to it at all to create TxK, even if I still had it. The only other people who worked on the game were Joby Woods who did bitmaps (TxK has no bitmaps apart from one 64x64 graduated dot) and the Imagitec musicians (TxK has neither a modplayer nor any of Imagitec's music). So I stole my own work out of my own brain I guess.

"The soundtrack to TxK sounds identical to the soundtrack of Tempest 2000. (In fact the TxK soundtrack is entirely original and highly acclaimed; it won a Develop award and went to #1 on Bandcamp).

The player ship can jump. Apparently Atari owns jumping."

While most of the allegations could be argued, Atari has created a legal situation that will be astronomically expensive to contest. They are using their significant size and wealth to force the smaller company and developer into submission, basically. Atari also changed the original name of Tempest 2000 to Tempest X (along with just enough of the content) when porting the game to the PlayStation in order to cut Minter off from any royalties he might have earned through sales.

According to Minter, "...they are still trying to insist that I remove from sale Vita TxK (even though it's plainly at the end of its run now and only brings in a trickle these days) and sign papers basically saying I can never make a Tempest style game ever again. So no chance of releasing the ports."

Say goodbye to all those Tempest spin-off dreams. Atari is laying down the law with a fist made of money.

Now that Nintendo has decided to throw their hat into the mobile ring, it's only a matter of time before we'll start seeing Mario and the gang on the App Store. And we're already well past the point where people make free-to-play jokes. But if you really think about it, there are actually a fair number of mobile games that could do well with a Nintendo coat of paint.

With that in mind, we've taken a look at DeNA's current catalog (as well as a couple games from other developers) to try and pair like with as close to like as possible. And we came up with a list of 14 combinations that could actually be pretty interesting once the Big N gets their hands on them.

At this point it’s pretty safe to say that no MOBA is going to dethrone Dota 2 and League of Legends anytime soon. After all, if Batman can’t do it, nobody can. However, with a genre as popular and profitable as this one, there’s still room for smaller games to carve out unique identities. Jurojin: Immortal Ninja opts for this path with its shinobi battle arena, and we see if it’s worthy in this edition of It Came From Canada!

What immediately sets Jurojin apart from its contemporaries is its theme. Ninjas are nothing new for video games, but in a MOBA landscape full of nothing but vague fantasy archetypes, it’s refreshing to see bamboo forests and stealth assassins instead of generic crystals and character designs two steps away from a Blizzard game. The smooth visuals and movement complement the elegance of the heroes and gives the game the precision the eSport-friendly genre demands.

Also aiding the precision are the controls that work around the limitations of a touch screen in some clever ways. Instead of controlling the character directly, players freely spin a flowing cursor/camera around and their ninja will follow. It’s quick and sharp and makes targeting opponents for melee or projectile attacks a breeze. Although there are paths to follow and enemy structures to take down, in general Jurojin’s environments are more open than the rigid lanes of other MOBAs, so the more open control scheme really shines.

Players put those controls to the test in typical multiplayer battles as well as some welcomed single player challenges. Kill waves of enemies to get the loot and cash necessary to upgrade elemental spells and skills for the next real challenge. Obviously these missions lack the depth of a true duel, but they still do a great job rounding out the package and making up for the lack of additional characters to master.

Ninja Gaiden meets Dota might be too much praise for Jurojin: Immortal Ninja, but that’s not the most inaccurate comparison either. See for yourself if this ninja way is right for you when the game launches everywhere soon.

Set for release next month, RAD Boarding is looking to be a pretty fun endless runner in the vein of Tiny Wings. You play a burnt-out 90s celebrity with nothing left to do in life but grab his snowboard, don his shades, and go on one final ride because, oh yeah, the world’s ending. The game promises a 90s inspired soundtrack as well as the inclusion of collectible Milk Caps, which will seem somewhat familiar to fans of Pogs from the 1990s. Plus you can smash through tombstones, if that’s your kind of thing.

Developed by Other Ocean, best known for NBA Rush, and published by the team behind the Super Stickman Golf series, Noodlecake Games, RAD Boarding certainly has some quality pedigree backing it. Intrigued by the game, we were able to talk to Noodlecake Games’ Ryan Holowaty and Other Ocean’s Marc McGinley to learn more.

148Apps: As a Tiny Wings style game, how many areas/worlds are there going to be to explore in RAD Boarding overall?
Marc McGinley (MM): Players can unlock new environments by beating Tiny the Bear (the boss). Tiny is a (not-so-tiny) eye patch wearing circus bear who is impressed by performing crazy trick combos. There are four environments in the game at launch: Grasslands, Desert, Jungle, and Ice Lands. Later environments help you earn more coins and collect more frogs.

148Apps: How long has the game been in development, roughly?
MM: We started out with a very different game and have gone through a lot of iteration and player feedback to get to where we are today. What you see right now in the game took us around a year to develop.

148Apps: What kind of in-app purchases will be available? Are there any upgrade paths to pursue?
MM: All of the upgrades in the game are focused around helping the player get further into the level, or earning them more currency to buy more upgrades. For convenience, players can purchase coin packs to speed up their progress, but the game is balanced fairly for non-paying users. Players can also buy Boost Tokens that multiply the number of coins they earn for a number of runs. We also have ads in the game, we're proud that they're very non-intrusive and players can optionally earn rewards by watching certain ads. Rewards could include Boost Tokens, coins, or Frogs.

148Apps:Regarding the Milk Caps and other types of collectible, are they just visual collectibles or do they offer anything extra?
MM: Milk Caps are just one type of collectible which you can find inside a frog. Frogs spawn on the slope occasionally and you have to collide with them to collect them. Milk Caps are mostly for collection, but who knows.... maybe they'll be worth something in the future? Players can also collect costume pieces which unlock new costumes once players have a full set. Tombstones and Tricks are earned by leveling up, and upgrades can be purchased with in-game currency.

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Thanks to Ryan and Marc for taking the time to answer our questions. RAD Boarding sounds like it could be a pretty cool endless racer. It’s set for release March 5 and, of course, we’ll have a review for you then.

Ubisoft's new runner, Monkey King Escape, tells the story of the Monkey King as he races to escape the Jade Emperor's armies. The story is based on the classic Chinese novel, Journey to the West.

You'll be flying, dashing, and jumping your way through the mythical world of Chinese mythology. You can also connect with your friends online to compare scores and see who is the most agile Monkey King of them all. In celebration of the Chinese New Year, there will be two special in-game powers for a limited time. You'll be able to decrease your speed by changing into a sheep or increase your running distance by performing the Lion dance.

You can download Monkey King Escape for free on the App Store now.

Fans of the classic Japanese manga, Fist of the North Star, will be excited to hear that GungHo Online Entertainment, have joined together to create an awesome event in Puzzle & Dragons.

For a limited time the game will feature a Fist of the North Star dungeon and several of the characters including Kenshiro, Rei, Shin, and Toki. If you manage to fight your way down to the hardest depths of the dungeon you'll face off against Raoh, Ruler of the Century's End, and in defeating him you'll get the Raoh ChibiDra.

The event has already begun and will run through Sunday, Feb. 22. You can download Puzzle & Dragons for free to check it all out.