Amiga Android Emulation

It's neither Doom nor NetHack; it's quality Amiga emulation that proves the maturity of any platform, and Android owners will be happy to know that their smartphones can now brilliantly emulate the best 16-bit computer ever. This of course means they can also play the tons of classic Commodore Amiga games released through the ages, including such unsurpassed gems as Sensible Soccer, Agony, Monkey Island, Alien Breed, Space Quest III, Xenon II, Kick Off 2, Shadow of the Beast, Lemmings, Ishar, Another World and -oh, well- I can go on for ages. Anyway. The emulator you're looking for is UAE4Droid and you can, among other places, grab it here. Oh, and I do suggest you have a look at this very handy guide of getting things to run smoothly. 

One Single Life for iOS

There are hundreds, even thousands, of free games available in Apple's App Store and admittedly more than a few are quite excellent. There is though only one game that grants gamers one single life, allowing them to actually play it only once. Said game is none other than the aptly named One Single Life and you can happily grab it for free. It's not unlike Canabalt mind and will graciously let you practice for as long as you will. 

iPhone (HEARTS) World of Goo

Until today you could -and frankly should- play World of Goo on anything from the PC to the iPad, though shockingly no iPhone version had been made available. Well, good news is cosmic balance has just been restored, and said brilliant indie arcade-puzzler has finally made it to the iPhone. If you hurry, you might just be able to grab it for $0.99 too. Here's the link.

NetHack HD for free (iPad)

If we consider the iPad a portable device -and up to a point we really should- then I can't help but proclaim NetHack HD the best portable version of classic dungeon-crawler NetHack ever. It comes complete with a lovely interface, some of the best NetHack graphics ever and, as always, a ton of stuff to kill and an infinite number of dungeons to explore. It is of course a freeware game and you can grab it via the App Store. CRPG and rogue-like addicts shouldn't miss it.

Flaws for Kindle

I've yet to play some proper interactive fiction on my Kindle, but I'm pretty sure that Flaws should fill that gap rather nicely. Truth be said, it isn't a proper text adventure, but more of an interactive sci-fi short story (closer to a choose-your-own-adventure book) with a rather impressive number of branches. Grab it via Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk and find out more about it here. It's a really well written thing, mind.

A Virtual Boy Promo Video

Well, it certainly wasn't the most successful 3D game for a 3D world, but Nintendo's Virtual Boy was a rather unique and interesting console, that tried to popularize full-3D gaming a tad to early. Now, while we're waiting to see how the 3DS faires, why not have a look at the promo video posted above?

ChuChu Rocket! iOS for free

Apparently it's free for today only, meaning that gamers that haven't bought Sega's ported Dreamcast classic should immediately do so. Just follow the link and grab ChuChu Rocket! for your iPhone, iPod or even iPad. Mind you, it's not the best conversion possible as Sega has apparently been its recent lazy self, but it remains an immensely fun, fast-paced and great looking puzzle game. Oh, and it happily supports multiplayer too. 

FinalFight@CAPCOM ARCADE

Formerly known as the Capcom Arcade, the pretty excellent FinalFight@CAPCOM ARCADE is a lovely free app, that will let you play some of the best Capcom arcade games on your iOS device, via the use of three free tokens each day. For further play, you can of course grab the games of your choice via handy and decently priced in-app purchases. The available games include 1942, Commando, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Street Fighter II, Street Fighter II Champion Edition, 1943 and Final Fight. Mind you, from what little I have seen the controls work much better than expected.

Number Slide free for the Kindle

The Kindle besides being a most excellent reading device (here is a handy review of the thing) is also the perfect handheld for enjoying text adventures. Then again, it also seems pretty capable of handling a variety of other, mostly word and puzzle, games. Number Slide is a pretty perfect example of the sort of stuff currently available for Amazon's handheld. It's a number-sliding puzzle game with simple graphics that can be grabbed here. Oh, and it's happily freeware too.

The new and improved iPad Frotz

The iPad might be no Kindle, but I suppose it could still work as a pretty decent interactive fiction platform. Especially now that version 1.5.1 of Frotz finally supports Glulx. You can find out more about it here and -of course- download Frotz for your iDevice here.