TGS 2015: Best of Mobile Indie

Tokyo Game Show this year was packed to the rafters with all kinds of playable demos and games. However, due to dim lights, long queues and exceptionally loud press conferences going on all over each other in Japanese, I somehow found myself drifting towards my favorites—the indie developers, tucked away in a hall with the food and merchandise. 

I didn't play all 100 or so indie games on show, but here are just a few of my favorite mobile games I did have a go at.

Plug and Play

There's not a lot of gameplay in Plug and Play, and in all truth it is just a little bit weird, but I guess that is mostly what attracted me to it. You simply click around pressing buttons and putting in plugs. The art style was pretty cute though and reminded me of Bill Plympton. It's only about 10 minutes long so maybe not worth the $3 asking price, but it's something nice to check out in any case.

Wonton Leap and Goat Punks

Studio Canvas had 2 games on display, and both of them were pretty fun and incredibly cute. In the first, Goat Punks, you play online as a goat scaling a mountain in order to beat down the other team: lightning or fire. Once you reach the top you can rain down bombs on your opponents to try and stop them toppling you. In the second, Wonton Leap, you sling shot across rooftops via the power of wonton soup. Both are coming soon to Android, but Goat Punks is already available at the App Store for just $0.99 and is well worth it.

Mole Rangers

Mole Rangers is a cute and typical mobile game. It plays out much like Whack-a-mole except with chaining bonuses for whacking moles of the same color. You need to whack a rainbow mole in order to change your color without losing bonuses, making this game harder to play than you might think. There are bonus rounds for completing levels making it thoroughly satisfying. Mole Rangers is currently free to play so download and see for yourself.

Lost in Harmony

My final pick is from the creator of games such as Valiant Hearts, Beyond Good and Evil, Assassin's Creed and Rayman Raving Rabids, Yoan Fanise so you KNOW it's good. You play as Kaito, skating through various places while at the same time making music. It can get quite complicated at times trying to work out precise moves and jumps while hitting the perfect notes, but the pay off is incredible fusing music and game in a way very rarely seen. 

What do you think of the indie mobile games at TGS 2015?