Gallery: Ouya Is Here! Our Favorite Launch Games So Far
01fistawesome
The (not especially long) wait is over. Ouya, the $99 game console [Kickstarted to the tune of $8 million](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gamelife/2012/07/ouya/) less than a year ago, hits store shelves this week. Although the tiny Android-powered box is hardly as powerful as the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One — heck, even Wii U can run circles around it — Ouya has a couple of distinct advantages that might just give it a foothold in the difficult console market. It costs a hundred bucks, for one. And it has a wide-open app store that allows any and all developers to create and sell games with minimal restrictions. That might not be enough to make Ouya a success, but if the console goes down, it won't be for lack of quality content. Already, there are more than 100 games available, all of which are free to try. We've been digging into the launch day games and we've found many worth playing. Here's a sample of our early favorites. __Above:__ A Bit of a Fist of Awesome -------------------------- This Kickstarted parody of side-scrolling beat-em-up games stars a lumberjack who punches deer, bears etc. It's not quite available yet, but its creator wanted to have something in the store for launch. This a two-level free demo gives you a taste of the insane humor (bear strip clubs!) that awaits in the full version. *-- Chris Kohler* *Image: I Fight Bears*
02towerfall
TowerFall --------- Almost no one can resist using the word "killer app" when talking about Matt Thorson's [TowerFall](http://www.towerfall-game.com/index.html). Spend just a couple of minutes with the game and it's easy to see why. This is couch multiplayer at its finest. Currently only available on Ouya, TowerFall pits up to four player-controlled archers against each other in a 2-D arena. Like Super Smash Bros., TowerFall is a game about careful positioning. Just one well-placed arrow can take out an opponent, so learning how to rapidly escape to cover or effectively predict an arrow's flight path is crucial. Even if an incoming bolt is unavoidable, hitting the Ouya's trigger button will cause you to dash toward it, grabbing it out of the air and adding it to your quiver. This feature will make your friends angry. *-- Ryan Rigney* *Image courtesy Matt Thorson*
03cratebox
Super Crate Box --------------- Most games measure your score in the millions; this fast-paced action game from Vlambeer (Ridiculous Fishing) usually does so in single digits. The premise: Jump around a Donkey Kong-styled construction site collecting crates, which hold a variety of different weapons, as enemies endlessly stream out from the top of the screen. You get a point for each crate you pick up before you're annihilated. So far my high score is 10. The tricky part is you equip new weapons automatically, so if you pick up a crate while blasting away with a machine gun, you might find yourself with a katana or land mines or whatever. So it demands your full attention, and games rarely last longer than a minute (at least for me). But you can start over instantly, and the next thing you know it's an hour later. [Super Crate Box](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Crate_Box) is also available on Windows, Mac and iOS, but no other consoles. What's more, the Ouya version is free for a limited time. *-- Chris Kohler* *Image: Vlambeer*
04curves
Curves ------ Here's a one-line pitch: Curves is a deathmatch twist on Snake for up to four-players, but with controls that are more loosey-goosey. You turn your constantly moving, constantly growing line by tilting left and right on the stick, and you aren't confined to the grid-style movement that Snake always has been known for. Power-ups reverse all players' controls or even remove the walls surrounding the arena, creating a wrap-around effect. From there, you try to head off other players and force them to collide with the side of your snake (or with themselves). *-- Ryan Rigney* *Image: Levire UG*
05nobrakes-ouya
No Brakes Valet! ---------------- The first time you play this retro-styled game, you will be confused. Without warning, cars will come screaming into a parking lot and the game will not tell you what to do with them. You'll attempt to control them somehow, but it will be no use. You will be left with a mangled pile of cars and told you did a terrible job. You will question why you even downloaded No Brakes Valet. Stick with it. Eventually you figure out how to get the cars under control and park them. But there's always an excellent chance you'll screw up and turn all of your carefully arranged rows of cars into another giant mangled pile of metal. And that's what makes it so much fun. *-- Chris Kohler* *Image: Ouya*
06bombsquad
BombSquad --------- It may have started life as a mobile game, but BombSquad was meant for the Ouya. The core game is sort of a free-for-all take on Bomberman, with 3-D arenas and lots of ragdoll physics to accommodate brutal chain reactions between the different bomb types. Developer Eric Froemling has tossed in tons of goofy minigames like Capture The Flag and "bomb hockey." It runs at a solid 60 frames per second. The controls are a little too loose at times, but it works both as a competitive party game and a cooperative arcade game thanks to its surprisingly challenging onslaught mode. *-- Ryan Rigney* *Image: Eric Froemling*
07EMUya1
EMUya ----- Since Ouya's app store is wide open for any and all developers to create projects, there already are many emulators for classic systems available. Of course, most of them do not include game ROMs, so the majority of Ouya emulators are pretty useless by themselves. Not so [EMUya](http://www.oriku.com/emuya.html), which includes a selection of homebrew games you can play for free. The developer also promises homebrew developers eventually will be able to sell games individually through the EMUya store, with [games like Battle Kid 2 and Nomolos: Storming the Catsle](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gamelife/2013/01/battle-kid-2/) coming soon. *-- Chris Kohler* *Image: Ouya*
08amazingfrog
Amazing Frog ------------ The offices of [Amazing Frog](http://www.fayju.com/blog/projects/amazing-frog/) developer Fayju overlooks a fairly normal parking lot in Swindon, England. The premise of Fayju's ridiculous but wonderful game: what if you could turn into a giant, clumsy frog and hang out in that parking lot? It's hard to pin down exactly what makes Amazing Frog so fun. It might be the over-the-top ragdoll physics that kick in whenever the game's namesake frog trips over in-game objects. It might be the prevalence of explosive objects in the world, or the terrible-yet-great running animation that activates whenever you haul froggy butt between locations in the small sandbox. There are no goals in Amazing Frog, no carrot on a stick to keep you playing, but there are some soccer balls and a net on the top of a parking garage that you can play with. There's a point system that rewards big jumps, but if you go play in the bouncy castle, there's no limit to how high you can juice your score. A big blimp towing a shipping container floats high in the sky above Swindon, but reaching it is a reward in itself—you won't unlock any weapons or get an achievement. *-- Ryan Rigney* *Image courtesy Fayju*
