This Japanese blog has some incredibly fun Java applets. It's mostly in Japanese, but on the right there's a handy list of 'games'. World of Sand (my personal favourite) also has a higher resolution version.

(Note: The navigation on the right is at the bottom of the page in Internet Explorer)

Lyle in Cube Sector is a cool new freeware game made in Multimedia Fusion. The gameplay is similar to the Metroid games (acquire new abilities to reach new areas), and it's got cool NES-style graphics.

The 'story': "Ohno! Lyle's kitty has been stolen and now he must journey through the wonked out lands of the Cubesector to retrieve his meowmeow companion!"

I played through it a bit and it's pretty hard, but lots of fun.

Check eet!

Noitu Love and the Army of Grinning Darns is a recently released game, and boy is it awesome. It's a 2D fighting platformer with great gameplay, clever boss battles and some very nice retro-styled pixel art as well.

I'm not too good at descriptions like this, so just check out these screenshots and download the game.

Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2
Screenshot 3
Screenshot 4

Download eet!

• Colors: 16 Max
  
• Canvas Size: 225 x 200 max.
• Transparency: Allowed
• Animation: If need be.
• Theme: Mexican or Japanese style wrestler (due to 'character')

Go! Underground (地底へドンドン！) is a short 2D platformer from Japanese game developer Dot Zo Games. The game puts you in the shoes of an archeologist searching for ancient artefacts in an underground cave complex. Only a few treasure chests are exposed from the start; the rest can be found by solving puzzles or performing certain actions. Thankfully, the treasure info screen (accessed with the A key by default) provides you with hints on how to find everything.
The signs you can read in-game explain the game's mechanics by means of icons, so you don't even have to know Japanese to understand what to do. Controls can be viewed and changed under the settings menu at the top of the window.

The game has charming pixel art graphics and nice music, and shouldn't take more than an hour to complete. To download, go here and click the yellow button. Please note that Windows is required, as well as a minimum display resolution of 1280x720.

Two freeware Commodore 64-style games comin' atcha.

Grand Mystic Quest of Discovery is a Flash-based puzzle platformer made by hulahulahest for the 19th Ludum Dare competition. You control a wizard in his quest to discover the secret of some ancient ruins. Learning spells gains you access to new areas, eventually allowing you to collect all six scroll pieces and find the exit. Due to the fact that it was made in 48 hours, the game contains no sound and has a somewhat disappointing ending, but the gameplay and pixel art graphics are solid. It takes about an hour to complete the game; your progress is saved automatically.

Rocky Memphis and the Temple of Ophuxoff is a downloadable platform game for Windows and Mac in which you guide the titular character through a large temple filled with monsters and treasure. The game presents you with the daunting task of collecting all 4000 pieces of treasure, which is done in a manner very similar to the gameplay in Jet Set Willy. Fortunately, a save function is available as well as an automatic mapper that keeps track of the rooms you've visited and completed, which makes things quite manageable and suitable for playing in short bursts. The level design and powerup placement appear to have been made with speedrunning in mind, so that should provide an extra challenge for those so inclined.

Hero Core is a superb 2D shooter by Daniel Remar (best known for making Iji). You control Flip Hero in his quest to destroy the machine warlord Cruiser Tetron once and for all. While it is possible to fight Tetron very early in the game, you can also choose to explore the game world (in a manner reminiscent of the Metroid games) to upgrade your weapons and defences. The game features simple but effective 1-bit graphics, a cool retro soundtrack and some well-designed game mechanics and bosses. Expect a lot of intense bullet dodging and button mashing (an autofire option is available, however).

Screenshots, video and download link here. (Windows only)

Canabalt is a fun little Flash game made by AdamAtomic using his flixel library. In the game, you control a running man as he makes his 'daring escape', presumably from the futuristic robots that can be seen destroying the city in the background. All you have to do is press the X or C key at the right times to jump over obstacles and to leap to the next rooftop, which gets pretty challenging after a while. The audio and visuals are quite good and do a great job at creating a sense of urgency. Give it a try.

April was a month dominated by characters in scenery. Many thanks go out to this month's top pixel artists and all the members who took time to rate.

Grandpa, it was this big by junkboy

The Cap socks Hitler! by The B.O.B.

Dark by Kaiseto

Mosquito's Insomnia Title Screen by albertov

Horny Chieftain by iLKke

Great Squidfish Crusade by Mrmo Tarius

Firewood Invasion by a3um

Sunset of a Human Life by a3um

Walk on the Wild Side by jalonso

Goodbye to the Ancestors by Mrmo Tarius

Welcome to the 5th April Fool's Gallery challenge.

For this challenge we want you to take a look at the gallery of another PJ member and try to emulate their style. Can you fool us into thinking your work is theirs? Well...can you?

No list of restrictions this week; pick what restrictions are appropriate for your chosen artist. Just make sure your entry is entirely your own work and that you name the pixel artist you are attempting to emulate in your description.

For inspiration, have a look at the entries for the previous four April Fool's Gallery challenges [1] [2] [3] [4]

The challenge thread will have all the challenge updates. The thread is also a great place to post your WIPs.

Create something using the restrictions from any challenge this year. The challenge thread will have a list of all challenges from 2009.

Only new or previously unfinished entries; nothing that's been submitted before. Also, make sure to mention which challenge your entry is for.

Bonus round: Post a comment here and tell us what your favourite challenge(s) from this year were! We'd love to hear your thoughts.

Challenge winner Kaiseto wants you to pixel a scene or landscape showing a setting that displays two or more different movie genres mixed together. Choose at least 2 of the following genres:

    Sports
    Romance
    Monster movie
    Western
    Steampunk
    Noir

Make sure to mention which genres you're using.

Canvas Size - Min 150 x 100; Max 240 x 160. Either horizontal or vertical.
Colors - Max 32.
Transparency - No.
Animation - Optional.

Lollige challenges you to pixel someone listening to music with just 8 colors. If you want to, you can even pick a song and try to draw your image in the mood of that specific song.

Canvas Size - Exactly 150 (width) x 50 (height).
Colors - Exactly 8.
Transparancy - No.
Animation - No.

The challenge thread will have all the challenge updates. The thread is also a great place to post your WIPs.

Summer is right around the corner for those in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, challenge winner Adarias challenges you to create a PSP mockup for a beach party game featuring ROBOTS!

Oh yeah, you know what I'm talking about...all those bronze beauties rubbing oil on each other, letting off some of the year's steam and kicking it into neutral for a while, recharging their batteries and going wild on pure ethanol. Yup, it's robots on the beach!

Canvas Size - Exactly 240 x 136.
Colors - Unrestricted.
Transparency - No.
Animation - Optional.

Combine at least 2 of these sayings and pixel a literal interpretation of it:

1.  Let the Cat out of the bag
2.  Laugh all the way to the bank
3.  Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth
4.  People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones
5.  When Hell freezes over

Some examples:

Let the cat out of the bank. (options 1+2)
When broth freezes over. (options 5+3)
People in hell shouldn't throw bags. (options 4+5+1)


Canvas Size - Max 170 (width) x 110 (height).
Colours - Max 25.
Transparency - Optional.
Animation - Optional.

The challenge thread will have all the challenge updates. The thread is also a great place to post your WIPs.

Create a mock up of an original game showing the final boss battle. Just a reminder: As per usual, your entire challenge entry must be made during this week.

Canvas Size - Max 320 x 240.
Colours - Max 32.
Transparency - No.
Animation - No.

Mr. Lollige challenges you to create a scene, of any subject, using the circle template below. You are not allowed to go outside the boundaries of the circle.

Your image must be a scene, this means it must include some kind of background. You cannot create just a single object.

Canvas Size - Use this template:



Colors - Unrestricted.
Transparenecy - Required. However, the only transparency must be outside the circle.
Animation - Optional.

Pixel your own interpretation of the tooth fairy. You may include a background if you wish, or you may simply draw the character, leaving the background transparent.

Canvas Size - Unrestricted.
Colours - Max 20.
Transparency - Optional.
Animation - Optional.

Create a scene using tall pixels that in some way depicts the giant lumberjack, Paul Bunyan. Remember, tall pixels mean that every pixel is twice the height of a regular pixel. Example of tall pixels.

The grid below has been provided to help you place your tall pixels. Feel free to modify it to suit your canvas size.

Dex's challenge idea comes from the History Channel's popular TV Show, Life After People. The idea is to pixel a famous location as it would look years after humans have left the earth. You need to make sure this area is a historic or known location.

You can pick any number of years or days from this list. Pixel how your chosen location would be affected by Mother Nature. Some ideas are: A shrub-infested Lincoln Memorial, the collapse of Stonehenge, or the San Fransisco bridge after being abandoned for years. Be creative!

Canvas size - Max 320 (width) x 240 (height).
Colors - Max 32.
Transparency - No.
Animation - No.

The challenge thread will have all the challenge updates. The thread is also a great place to post your WIPs.

You are to create a mock-up of an oblique game. Make sure that all your angled lines fit the perspective (45 degrees, as per the examples shown below).

An example of an oblique cube:

The challenge thread will have all the challenge updates. The thread is also a great place to post your WIPs.

You have a silly walk and are looking for a government grant in order to
develop it. Therefore, you must create a walk cycle animation for a character showcasing your proposed silly walk.

The more crazy/ridiculous/silly the better.

Canvas Size - Max 96 x 96.
Colours - Unrestricted.
Transparency - Required.
Animation - Required. The animation must loop seamlessly.

The challenge thread will have all the challenge updates. The thread is also a great place to post your WIPs.

Create an image representing one of the seven deadly sins using the Windows 7 Paint default palette provided below.

The seven deadly sins are:

Lust (try to keep it appropriate!)
Gluttony
Greed
Sloth
Wrath
Envy
Pride

Canvas Size - Max 200 x 150. Either horizontal or vertical.
Colours - Max 20. Use only colours from the Windows 7 Paint default palette:

The challenge thread will have all the challenge updates. The thread is also a great place to post your WIPs.

The month of Movember is now upon us, therefore we want you to make a portrait of an original character with a moustache (no real life people or existing characters).

Your character does not have to be male (or human!); you may decide to create a moustachioed miss or even a martian monster with a monstrous martian moustache if you so wish.

Canvas Size - Max 100 x 100.
Colours - Max 16.
Transparency - Optional.
Animation - Optional.

The challenge thread will have all the challenge updates. The thread is also a great place to post your WIPs.