Crystal Towers 2 XL by @DavidXNewton & nKaruga PC demo by @matrefeytontias

This news is extremely late, as we haven't cleared the news pending queue for a long while, so as a result, only existing topics were being promoted to the front page. But as you will notice, we have begun featuring non-calculator games, so from time to time, you will notice front-page content about games that looks like material from the 8 or 16-bit era, or anything else with a retro-gaming vibe.

Crystal Towers 2 was released by David Newton during Summer 2011 on Desura, but an enhanced version has recently come out on Steam as well, after years of wondering if it would ever receive the go from the many gamers on Steam who only like Call of Duty, Big Rigs and Assassin's Creed. Crystal Towers 2 is a 2D platformer that is very reminiscent of Super Mario and Sonic series. The music and graphics are very inspired from Sonic and the gameplay features are similar to Super Mario 64 star system, with each stage featuring multiple objectives and crystals to find. You can also acquire new magic spells and items and there is a leaderboard on the official website that shows your ranking and progress. If you are a big fan of old Sonic and Mario games, but want more freedom like in Zelda, then this game might be for you!

The game is not free, but a very long free demo, as well as the paid version, are available at http://store.steampowered.com/app/340250/ The original version is still available at http://www.desura.com/games/crystaltowers2 .

Around the same time a few months ago, @matrefeytontias started porting his TI-Nspire clone of danmaku-type shoot-em-ups called nKaruga to the PC. It is still in demo stages, but so far, what he has released is absolutely awesome, bringing a retro-like gaming experience to fans of that type of game on the PC.

However, in order to continue developing the game, matrefeytontias needs new sprites, so feel free to help him out.

You can download the demo at http://gamejolt.com/games/nkaruga-2d-ikaruga-demake/92026 and the discussion topic can be found here.