By 
OUYA, the Android-based gaming console, is set to launch in March. Its success will largely depend on developer support: will there be enough games, quality games, and variety? In anticipation of the big debut, we’re running a series of posts highlighting some of the early-adopting OUYA devs (both large and small) and their upcoming games. The series is being done in conjunction with OUYAboards.com and GameFans.com where you can find more extensive coverage of the console, its games, and the developers behind them.
Roboto
This chart-topping success was once awarded “Game of the Week” on iTunes and featured as a Top App amongst legendary titles such as Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, and Fruit Ninja. Although it hasn’t fared as well on Android, we couldn’t be more excited about Roboto on OUYA. The game has a level of polish and attention to detail that gamers will appreciate. Not to mention, Roboto is a shining example of the OUYA’s potential: add a classic gaming controller and nice big television, and the Roboto beloved on iOS will take on yet another experience and life. [Discuss Roboto]
Orbital Blaster
Despite originating as a failed Kickstarter project, Hashbang Games continues development of their on-rails shooter called Orbital Blaster, and we’re glad they didn’t throw in the towel. Combine Contra boss fights, Galaga gameplay,a sweet time-warp story line, and an objective summarized as, “want[ing] to blow shit up in space,” and you’re left with one thing: a sack of awesome. Hopefully these indie devs can find the time and energy to get Orbital Blaster on OUYA by launch, because it looks like an intergalactic winner. [Discuss on OUYAboards]
Around The Rock Disc Golf
This recently launched Frisbee Golf title looks incredibly promising: it’s got great reviews on the Google Play Store, simple and straight forward gameplay, and attractive graphics. The company behind the game, Tribaloid, has a handful of other titles on Android (ATRDG is also available on iOS, other Android app stores) and thankfully… the OUYA is next up. The look and feel of this game, combined with the multi-player mini-game focus, remind me of something we’d see on the Nintendo Wii. And trust me when I say that’s a good thing, people. [Discuss on OUYAboards]
The Lost Heroes
This side-scrolling game is being developed by the popular Android developer, Magory. With 5 games earning both 100,000+ downloads and 4+ star ratings, OUYA enthusiasts should be excited to have him aboard. Lost Heroes is based on games like Trine and The Lost Vikings with your character being a wizardress, knight, or troll. The below screenshot shows the version for Android tablets which will (obviously) have onscreen controls removed for the OUYA version.
SpaceRoads
The 1993 sensation SkyRoads lives on through WurdIndustries who are launching a retro-style remake of the classic game. So far the levels look beautiful, but as can be expected, the developers still have some work to do ironing out the gameplay details. Nonetheless, this looks promising and the dev team has requested opinions and ideas for new levels and concepts to be incorporated- now’s your chance to contribute! [Discuss SpaceRoads]
Politico
19-year old Josh Siegl shows why open source is awesome, making his entrance into the world of game development by single-handedly creating Politico, a 2D Sim City type game coming to Steam that will receive a full OUYA port. He has some work to do, but should get a ton of credit for his efforts in his debut. [From OUYAboards]
Legacy of Barubash
Coming to both Android and OUYA, I would liken Barubash to the story-driven RPGs in the vein of Fable. Of course as indie game devs, Kactus Games won’t be producing virtual 3D worlds of outrageous wonderment as seen in Fable, but conceptually speaking the development of stories, quests, and settings seem familiar. The team already has the game up and running on the OUYA Dev Kit and it’s looking pretty good for an Alpha build. [Discuss Legacy of Barubash]
Space Dodger
This unnamed game by Hypercane Studios should be ready in time for the console’s launch if the below video is any indication. I took the liberty of identifying the game as Space Dodger due to the game’s obvious objective: you’re a spaceship dodging obstacles in a tunnel. The gameplay mechanics and overall look/feel seem solid with my main complaint stemming from the sample level’s darkness. Black tends to be tough on video compression though, and a quick look at screencaps of the same level show a much more stunning output. Hopefully the game will also feature a bunch of levels, some of which will include brighter and more vibrant colors.
Dragon Maze
This game reminds me of Diddy Kong’s Quest on N64 but unfortunately Dragon Maze won’t include the multi-player co-op that made that game so popular. However, Feline Arts – the company behind the game – has already got such requests and is considering multi-co-op for future versions. While Dragon Maze’s pre-alpha gameplay video looks less polished than the Phoenix Run scroller they’ve got on the Play Store, it still looks like a promising proposition. [Dragon Maze on OUYA Boards]
Alien Patrol
Without any iOS devices (that’s a badge of honor statement) I’m unable to comment on the quality of Inane Games’ iOS titles: Alien Patrol and Gatsby’s Golf. But, I must admit: from a graphical standpoint they’re pretty beautiful. The company (Inane Games) has committed to bringing Alien Patrol to OUYA, a title that was just launched on iOS in December. If you’ve played one of Inane’s games, let us know what to expect from their titles on OUYA. [Discuss Alien Patrol on OUYA]
La pesadilla de Ripollés (The nightmare of Ripollés)
Mix Renegade on NES, replace the villains with Spongebob looking characters, insert Spanish music and it appears you’ve got this game, which won a game development award in Spain. While I don’t condone the killing of characters that look fun loving, this game looks like just the right mixture of odd to be enjoyable. Developed by PiX Juegos, this 4-player game is described as a “Beat’em up multiplayer classic” where “statues of Juan Ripollés have come alive and are destroying the city of Castellón.”
Garnatron
Also developed by PiX Juegos, Garnatron is a classis space shooter. Although previously a single person game, their making it multi-player on OUYA to increase the fun level, and this game looks like it could be a solid little mini-game.
Retroformer
This is your classic puzzler game: take your little alien-ish character around an ant-in-the-ant-hill type maze, collecting keys, dodging challenges, and making your way to the finish line. Said to be available on iOS and Android (and of course OUYA) soon, the developers behind Retroformer aim to let users create and upload their own levels, extending the fun to whatever levels you and you friends can personally imagine. [Discuss on OUYA Boards]
Aggro Tactics
Combine chess, strategy/tactical RPG, and the simultaneous game-play of MMOs and you’ve got yourself Aggro Tactics, designed and programmed by aspiring game dev GodlyPerfection. The concept seems to have some real potential, and if the look/feel of the hexagonal board and game pieces is polished up to be more aesthetically pleasing, this could be a really enjoyable chess game with a fresh approach. [Read More on Aggro Tactics]
Tales of People
The thought of this game is absolutely hilarious, and luckily, the game’s maker appropriately pins it as a “dysfunctional comedy”. That’s exactly what I gathered from the game’s first screenshots which mash my brain into thinking that “Tales of People” is a game where Southpark cartoon characters play warrior in real world environments/settings. I’m completely unsure of this game’s future, but in my defense so is the developer who claims, “it might be kinda good. Maybe not. I dunno.” The game features a “depressed, drunken” character named Peoples, described as a guy who “sucks at [life] just like the rest of us.” The game takes him on a journey in “search of love, happiness, and then revenge because that love shit never works out.” If nothing else, at least we got a laugh out of the game’s concept, but ya never know… maybe Peoples will surprise us.
That wraps up our first edition of “OUYA Games to Watch”! Stayed tuned for continued coverage in our own OUYA Section, on GameFans.com, and continue the conversation on our OUYA Boards!
I just hope the trend is that these OUYA games transition to the regular Play Store with native gamepad support.
These graphics look terrible! Like a bunch of games from 1998.
They’re all indie devs but I thought some of the graphics were pretty cool. Can’t totally disagree with you. Next week’s roundup should blow you away a bit more though.
I wouldn’t say they’re ALL bad…just a few of them…
more like 1988 lol
Games looked much better in 1998 (my junior year in hs) I think quake 3 was out by then. im serious, who the heck in their right mind would buy this junk for 100 dollars. Some of the ones shown here are worse than a game my friend made on his pentium 133mhz. Dang scam rip off if you ask me.
Can’t ouya play all tegra3 games?
Diddy’s Kong Quest wasn’t for the N64, so I’m not sure what game you’re referring to…
This is a joke right? lol
Right.
None of those games interest me…
Gunslugs is a Ouya game that you can play right now :)…
meh
All these games look like crap if this is whats coming this system wont last long i might as well just hdmi my Asus TF 300 to my TV play games with a blue tooth controller like i do now this thing is not needed the games look like they were made in the 90s
That’s all ouya is. If you have a tegra3 android device you all ready have ouya. I use my nexus 7.
It has its own skin like kindle fire. Basically the same.
This is supposed to be better than gaming on mobile devices? Bwahahahaha
This is exactly why they needed a Tegra 4 and would’ve been better postponing a few months until they got that. But no, they decided to ignore the warning of many people, and went with Tegra 3 any.
Agree
lol. now i felt regret backing my $99 to them.
Jeez, tough crowd. I’m actually going to dissent a bit and give credit to these devs because considering the fact that the dev units shipped out less than a month ago, these games look pretty impressive. Secondly, everybody seems to forget that the Ouya is a $99 console. It’s not going to compete with PS3 or Xbox in the graphics department. The Ouya is something more akin to XBLA or Steam Greenlight, so if graphics mean that much to you then Ouya just isn’t for you. You’ll do well enough by ignoring it and moving on. On the other hand, there are tons of open minded people out there whom the Ouya is a perfect fit for. Boxer8’s primary strategy is to carve out it’s own nichè by appealing to those craving something new. It’s nichè I happen to occupy and I’m personally looking forward to the finish product.
$99 Ouya with the games shown in this post or $199 PS3 with the well known games lineup inclusive some real nice indie-games.
Ouya games are free as opposed to $50 for ps3: Ouyo + 1000 games = $99, PS3 + 1000 games $50,199 fair comparison eh? now back to your iJunk fanboi…
I’ve done something of a 180 on this console, and now I’m looking into eBaying some junk to get one.
The reason is that there are all these “stick” Android computers out there that are pretty much crap.
THIS one is a Tegra 3 SOC, which love or hate is a known performer and will be supported not only by a growing community, but by the manufacturer as well.
IMO based on my research on the subject, I think it’s the better value in this segment right now.
As far as the games go, this is an example of some early work by some dedicated enthusiasts.
This is in addition to everything else it does.
You detractors are aware of that right?
It looks like the Ouya will have a lot of games at launch time, which was something very few consoles could boast. Just the developer enthusiasm should give people a sign of how much hope they have in it. Graphics aren’t really that important, the Wii sold better despite having worse hardware. Some of the best games I’ve played in the last years have been very low on the graphic spectrum but very high on the entertainment one. Plants vs Zombies, Machinarium, Thomas was alone are just a few titles that come to mind.
The wii also offered motion control that nobody else had at the time. Now we have kinect for true hands free gaming and I don’t think anyone really cares about Nintendo anymore.
You guys are comparing these games, games made largely by 1 and 2 person teams over the course of a few months with games that are made by groups of 200-1000 people over the course of 3-5 years. If you expect the same level of quality and polish then you might consider signing up for remedial math 85 at your local community college, then once you finish, hop over to programming 101 and graphics 101 and then come back here and show us how it’s done ;)
A great game mechanic is fun regardless of whether you are drawing flat boxes or doing hyper-realistic nextgen rendering. Amazing graphics won’t save a crappy game mechanic, a truth easily proved by the number of unbeaten crappy AAA games sitting in your closets.
Also, our game is called Rage Runner, although Space Dodger was an accurate guess ;)
I really hope someone shows you how it’s done cause obviously theses guys don’t.
Sounds like some ouya folks are on here. To each his own. I still say its doomed.
hmm I miss old games like Maniac Mansion or Gabriel Knight (In Gabriel knight 2, they even came up with an original opera sequence just for the game). These new games seem to have similar graphics but without the depth.
As a console… kudos for the effort.. but long way to go (hopefully) $99 is still a lot of bucks… i can see some of the game here.. *sigh*
Why buy this junk instead of getting nvidia android shield
I believe you can play all tegra zone thd games
my vita is still the winner. hell even the 3ds is better. again im not into touch screen/IOS/android games…
I’ve gotten used to touchscreen, play deadzone/modern combat4, on android ya can use a ps3 controller, n ios has Bluetooth controllers.
Ign I believe did some tests. And ipad4 did better in benchmarks n stuff than psVita
i’m not gonna lie! these games look like garbage!
If I was OUYA I’d be trying to get phandroid to pull this article. I’ve been trying to sell mobile gaming to friends/family and I won’t be showing them this article.
Graphics don’t matter for squat – as long as the game play is fun. I still play games from the 80’s and 90’s that modern games don’t hold a candle in the wind to.
Cooper. I just agree… Ricky`s st0ry is amazing, last wednesday I bought a brand new Peugeot 205 GTi since I been making $4097 this – five weeks past and just a little over 10 grand this past munth. no-doubt about it, this really is the most-comfortable work I have ever had. I actually started four months/ago and straight away was bringin in minimum $69 per/hr. I use the details on this website, jump15.comCHECK IT OUT
These games look terrible for a console.
So who didn’t know this is what the games would look like? I never thought much of Ouya for this very reason.
You don’t need super graphics for a game to be fun (ie: Mario/Sonic/angry birds/tiny wings etc…)
These games look like crap though… They don’t have ”style”.