Check out this trailer for Minitroid, a cool, fan-made Metroid game featuring a Super Deformed Samus Aran:

Awesome stuff!

Here’s another clip that shows a bit more of what to expect from the game itself, including some sweet original music and some really cool enemy designs:

The Minitroid Tech Demo is brought to you by Construct, a three-person team that includes programmer Tokinsom, artist Betatronic, and music composer Jamie Billings and is a free download available at the Metroid Database.

"How High Can You Get?"

The game is played in one of two ways: either by following the traditional rules of the game or by using the included Spinner to play Donkey Kong-style!

"Play classic Jenga or use the Spinner and play custom Donkey Kong rules!"

Up to 4 players take turns on the Spinner which determines how many Jenga block “Girders” to remove from the stack and how many Girders the player’s Mario climbs at the end of each turn.

Each of the 4 Mario game pieces are attached to pegs which can then be inserted into the holes at the ends of the Jenga blocks, giving the illusion of Mario climbing the construction site!

"Donkey Kong Jenga Girders, Mario, Pauline, and DK!"

The goal is to reach the top of the stack and save Pauline from that crazy ape, Donkey Kong, yet again. The player that reaches the top or is closest to the top when the stack falls wins.

Players can strategically remove Girders out from under the other players’ Mario game pieces to keep their opponents from reaching the top first!

"Donkey Kong + Jenga = Donkey Kong Jenga"

A brilliant combination really, marrying these two classic games together!

"Panda Poets. Fond of spelling bees, apparently."

Naturally, I had to pick it up.

Developed by Spry Fox, Panda Poet is an adorable, and utterly addictive, little word game in which players shoot for the high score by spelling out words using the letters provided; the longer the word, the higher the point total, naturally.

So where do the pandas fit in?

Pandas add to the point total each turn, and larger pandas are worth more.

Players begin with a single tiny panda in the center of the screen.

As letters are used, they become little pandas themselves.  Little pandas join up to form slightly larger pandas, which in turn, come together to form still larger pandas.  And on and on.

Here’s a screenshot:

"Pandas - perfect for the black and white Kindle."

After each turn, more and more letters are revealed.

There’s one wrinkle, however.  The numbers (shown in subscript) next to the letters count down with every turn until they reach zero, at which point the letter turns into a skull and is no longer playable, limiting the room for your pandas to spread out.

Panda Poet is a fun little diversion; well worth the $2.99 it costs to download the game.

Alliterative appeal aside, the title’s a bit misleading, really.  The game has little to do with poetry (they both involve words, I suppose?), and the pandas could just as well have been penguins, or piggies or, well, anything at all really.

(Although, truth be told, if it weren’t for the ridiculously cute giant pandas, I most likely would never have bought the game.)

Kindle owners, check out the game’s official site at pandapoet.com.

Apparently, these have been around for awhile, but I wasn’t aware of them until recently.

Here’s another self-playing Mario level (an incredibly long one, I might add) that takes things a step further – the sound effects go along with the dance mix background music:

Check out a short video presentation on the making of the video above as well as more of his work here.