Nintendo Announces Their IndieCade Lineup

IndieCade is taking place this weekend in Culver City, California. This is a big deal for the independent games industry as a whole, but other segments of the gaming market are showing up as well.

Nintendo, one of the biggest names in the video game business is going to be there. Not only are they planning to highlight fifteen playable independent games for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS systems, but also many of the creative minds behind the games themselves.

Nintendo has even coined a new term for these independent developers who have aligned themselves with the Nintendo systems: Nindies. These “Nindies,” or Nintendo independent developers, will be at IndieCade in person show off their wares and to share their experiences working with Nintendo.

“Nintendo has always supported creativity and innovation in video games,” said Steve Singer, Nintendo of America’s vice president of Licensing. “These Nindie developers are currently making some of the most exciting and imaginative games out there, and Nintendo is pleased to offer them multiple platforms to bring their creative ideas to life.”

The Nintendo booth will feature the following Wii U and Nintendo 3DS digital games, many of which will be playable for the first time:

Wii U

• Affordable Space Adventures from KnapNok Games: A 2D side-scrolling spaceship simulator. Players use the Wii U GamePad controller as a “Heads-Down Display” in the spaceship cockpit. Play it alone, or fly as a crew of two or three players. Exclusively on Wii U.

• The Fall from Over the Moon Games: The Fall is a unique blend of adventure-game puzzle solving and side-scrolling action. Players take on the role of ARID, the artificial intelligence onboard a high-tech combat suit.

• Costume Quest 2 from Midnight City: Pick a fight with demented dental soldiers in Costume Quest 2, the sequel to the hit original RPG, Costume Quest. Includes a range of new features and game-play improvements.

• Stealth Inc. 2 from Curve Digital: Players step into the role of a clone escaping a sinister and high-tech testing facility in this puzzle-platformer. The game tests brainpower and reflexes in more than 60 levels linked together by a detailed world. Exclusively on Wii U.

• Swords & Soldiers II from Ronimo Games BV: Like its predecessor, Swords & Soldiers II is a side-scrolling strategy game that allows players to buy units, cast spells and build structures to overwhelm their enemies on a 2D battleground. Exclusively on Wii U.

• Runbow from 13AM Games: Runbow is a party action game for up to nine players. Platforms and obstacles appear and disappear as the background color changes, so players have to think fast, stay alive and make it to victory in Run, King of the Hill and Arena modes. Exclusively on Wii U.

• Sportsball from TOO DX: Up to four players take the reins of exotic birds that flap, tackle and dunk balls into the net for points and glory, leaving their opponents as feathery tarred balls of shame. Exclusively on Wii U.

• Chariot from Frima: Chariot is a physics-based co-op platformer in which a brave princess and her suitor carry a funeral wagon through ancient caves to bury the King’s remains in a gold-filled tomb.

• Beatbuddy from THREAKS: The action-adventure Beatbuddy combines puzzle solving and enemy vanquishing with exploration, set to an original soundtrack.

Nintendo 3DS

• Woah Dave! from Choice Provisions: In Woah Dave!, players gun for digital glory by slaughtering aliens, stealing their loose change and racking up the highest score possible.

• Xeodrifter from Renegade Kid LLC: A story of an interstellar drifter traveling the stars on a simple mission of exploration, Xeodrifter offers classic 2D platforming, shooting and exploration game play that will test players’ skills. Exclusively on Nintendo 3DS.

Wii U and Nintendo 3DS

• Shovel Knight from Yacht Club Games: A sweeping classic action-adventure game with intense platforming, memorable characters and an 8-bit retro aesthetic. Play as the eponymous Shovel Knight, a small knight with a huge quest!

• Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse from WayForward: Set sail for adventure with Shantae, the belly-dancing, hair-whipping half-genie. When Shantae loses her genie magic, she must team up with her arch nemesis Risky Boots and become a pirate in order to save Sequin Land from an evil curse. Exclusively on Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.

The Nintendo booth at the IndieCade festival will also feature a massive concentration on “Nindie” developers. A list of attending developers includes the following:

Do any of these games sound interesting to you? Sound off in the comments section!