(Please note that the commentary is not by me, but by a Youtube reviewer.) “That Orange Guy” is a great platformer that somehow has flown underneath my radar for the first 400 days of my indie game extravaganza. This game departs from a lot of the common tropes of the platformer genre, including:
– enemies stay dead after being killed (obvious when you backtrack your steps)
– enemies have varied amounts of health (with visible health bars)
– when you get an upgrade, you have to beat the level in order to keep it (!)
The game gets the regular stuff right too, with a wide variety of power-ups/weapons, tight controls, the ability to destroy some environmental objects (such as spikes), and some neat bits of equipment (such as trampolines). Many power-ups are satisfying difficult to get to, so when you finally snag one you feel a real sense of accomplishment. All in all, an easy 80 Microsoft Point recommendation.
Here’s what the developer (ShavedRat) has to say about the game:
“Blast, scorch and sprint your way through hordes of monsters, zombies and robots! Collect upgrades and weapon power-ups as you make your way through 50 action packed stages, all while dual wielding a gun and a flamethrower for twice the deadly firepower.”
Writings of Mass Deduction 
This one’s got my attention. Probably my next trial download.
I’ve played it now, and what this game reminds me of most is Mega Man. That’s not to say it’s a clone, or even particularly similar (it isn’t), but the influence is pretty conspicuous. It would benefit from more refinement in some areas (the jumping, for instance, feels a little out of control) but it’s a fun game, and the departures from platforming convention are welcome.
Tell me, did you find a noticable difference between the weapons? I find a lot of them seem very similar, in terms of how much damage they inflict and so on.