Arduboy, Day 3
### Breaking it in
So when I tried to flash a game onto it to replace Space Cab I couldn't.
I checked online. Sometimes games are too big for the system!
If the Arduboy gets stuck on a game; The first step is to try turning on flashlight mode.
If you hold up when turning on the Arduboy it just lights up the screen to operate as a flashlight.
Sometimes if a game is a little too big, booting into flashlight mode will let you flash to a new game.
It didn't work.
If that doesn't work there is a reset button on the bottom of the system. You can hit the reset and then flash to a new game while it is resetting.
That worked.
### Some more games
The scope of Arduboy games varies drastically. Some games are very small, simple, and unambitious.
Some games are very ambitious, sometimes they feel too big for the system, and as I learned today sometimes they really are. It's strange to switch between games that feel like flash games, and games that feel like console games.
There are some good games big and small.
**Space Battle - Trench Run** is a simple and small game that I like. It is the trench run from Star Wars.
You are moving forward down the trench at a fixed speed. All you control is the firing system.
You can aim and shoot, _and pause_.
You shoot Tie Fighters before they ram into you.
Always watching the counter, anxiously waiting for your big moment.
This one works in the Arduboy emulator. So if anyone wants to try this simple fun rail shooter,
you can play it from your browser [here.](https://community.arduboy.com/t/space-battle-trench-run/8075)
**Hopper** is another simple one. You bounce on platforms and have to try to bounce higher and higher.
[Play it here.](https://community.arduboy.com/t/hopper-a-simple-action-game/4293)
**Arduventure** is an ambitious Arduboy RPG. I popped it into onto my system briefly to take a look at it. If you flash it onto your system it's too big to let you flash normally, but the designers were aware of this and created an option in the game to let you enter a flash ready state.
It's a pretty game.
It has the ability to save anywhere. You basically have one save state like save.
I'm impressed with the way it handles saves. I'll probably actually try playing this some day, but it certainly makes a good first impression. I'm going to save this one for later.
I tried some more shooters, I was pleasantly surprised by two of them:
**Evade** gives you a charge meter. You have two modes of fire. You have a small shot you can always use, and a big shot that eats away at your meter. The meter recharges quickly. Enemies don't fly toward you. They stay on the opposite side of the screen and you fight little duels with them.
**Do You Remember Love** is a Macross themed shooter that starts you in the center of the screen. Enemies approach you from both sides. It's a two directional ala Trouble Shooter (aka Battle Mania). The left button shoots left. The right button shoots right. Some enemies fire impressive bullet patterns so you want to shoot them before they get the chance to fill your screen with bullets.
I've only played this a little. I have no idea how long (or short) it is. From seeing a screenshot I didn't expect much from this, but it might just be my favorite Macross game.
### The Arduboy emulator
It can play in a browser, and seems to be commonly placed on some of the pages where you can download Arduboy games, but it seems to cause weird glitches in the games. It would probably give a pretty bad impression of a lot of games, as games sometimes look like they work in it, but they don't.
If you try to play Castleboy in it, you can play for a few seconds and then you clip through the floor.
https://i.ibb.co/6WYm8kd/Arduboy.png