Indie Heroes Collection 1 Game List and Review – There’s a Lot of Platformers on This, but How Is the Cart as a Whole?

As I’ve shared repeatedly, one of the big things that caused me to become interested in the Evercade platform was its promotion of modern Indie titles. Especially after the release of Indie Heroes Collection 1 which came out near the beginning of the 2^nd year of the first system. It features 14 games of different genres and I looked forward to playing it highly. After a few years I was finally able to buy a couple of Evercade-compatible systems and the cartridge.

Now that I’ve played all the games, here’s a list of all of them and my varied thoughts concerning them. Because this post is intended to be both a guide to the cart, and a review, I’ve broken it up into different sections based on what readers may be looking for. These include,

• A List of the Games in Alphabetical Order
• A List of the Games by Genre in Order of Most Unique to Most Common
• Brief Descriptions of the Games Ranked in Order of Worst to Best
  • Negative
  • Mixed
  • Positive
  • Very Positive
• All the Games Ranked Worst to Best (No Descriptions)
• Overall Thoughts
• Review Overview

In each of these parts you’ll find the game’s title and genre listed. All of these will link to my individual review of the game. Feel free to check them out if you want more in-depth details of what I like, or don’t, about each title.

A List of the Games in Alphabetical Order

The games included on Indie Heroes Collection 1 are,

• Alien Cat 2 (Puzzle)
• Anguna: Warriors of Virtue (Action RPG)
• Chain Break (Runner)
• Debtor (Puzzle Platformer)
• Deadeus (Top-down Adventure)
• Doodle World (Platformer)
• Flea! (Precision Platformer)
• FoxyLand (Platformer)
• KUBO 3 (Platformer and Top-down Adventure)
• PLOID (Action Platformer)
• Quest Arrest (Top-down Adventure)
• Super Homebrew War (Fighter/Action Platformer)
• Twin Dragons (Platformer)
• Uchusen: Ultimate Ploid Battle (Shmup)

A List of the Games by Genre in Order of Most Unique to Most Common

As listed above, this collection features a variety of different genres, with about half of the titles being platformer related. Yet, others are more unique in what they offer. To help highlight these differences, here’s a separate list that shows the games in order of those that are the most unique, down to the ones that are primarily Platformers.

There are four games that are rather unusual,

• Anguna: Warriors of Virtue (Action RPG)
• Chain Break (Runner)
• Super Homebrew War (Fighter/Action Platformer)
• Uchusen: Ultimate Ploid Battle (Shmup)

There are also two games that are both unique, but also share puzzle elements between them. These are,

• Alien Cat 2 (Puzzle)
• Debtor (Puzzle Platformer)

Two titles are Top-down Adventures,

• Deadeus (Top-down Adventure)
• Quest Arrest (Top-down Adventure)

Finally, there’s six that are primarily Platformers,

• Doodle World (Platformer)
• Flea! (Precision Platformer)
• FoxyLand (Platformer)
• KUBO 3 (Platformer and Top-down Adventure)
• PLOID (Action Platformer)
• Twin Dragons (Platformer)

Brief Descriptions of the Games Ranked in Order of Worst to Best

For the purposes of this review, some readers may be curious of how I would rank the games in order of worst to best. I’ll do this while also sharing a brief summary of my thoughts on the game. If you want more complete details, click the title of the game to go to a full review.

Negative

14 – PLOID (Action Platformer)

Unfortunately, the game that I disliked the most was one that I was quite curious about. It’s a 2D Action Platformer developed for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) with some cute graphics, a pretty good soundtrack, and a maze-like level design. Sadly, I became very frustrated with this title because of the main character’s massive hitbox and the almost worthless number of invincibility frames after being hit by an enemy.

13 – FoxyLand (Platformer)

This is another game that I was looking forward to playing. Especially because the graphics are quite nice with the appealing character design and having that SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive aesthetic. I initially enjoyed this title. Yet, over time I grew to despise it due to some of its gameplay design elements. The main reason why it isn’t in 14^th place is because I think the graphics and music are superior to PLOID.

12 – Uchusen: Ultimate Ploid Battle (Shmup)

Some readers may be surprised to learn that I didn’t place this title at the bottom of my list. Admittedly, it’s an extremely basic and short side-scrolling shmup that was developed in a day. And well, that last point is the main reason why I don’t list this as the worst. I’m giving it a bit of leeway because it was made in just one day. Additionally, it isn’t as insanely frustrating as the prior two titles.

Mixed

11 – KUBO 3 (Platformer and Top-down Adventure)

We now come to the first title that I rated as Mixed. I will say that KUBO 3 is better than the two other games in the series (KUBO 1 Review and KUBO 2 Review). One enjoyable aspect was searching the overworld for the entrances to the different stages. I also appreciated that they could be tackled in any order. Yet, in some ways the overworld was worse than KUBO 1 and you couldn’t (initially) use your gun from KUBO 2 either. After publishing my review I learned that a further refined version of the game was released that is likely better than the edition found on this cartridge. Still, my review is based on this version and I rated it as Mixed at the time. Even though this is one of the lower-rated titles on this cart, I considered giving it a positive rating (along with all the other games rated as Mixed). It’s available for free on Itch.io, as linked in my review.

10 – Anguna: Warriors of Virtue (Action RPG)

My review for this game has the distinction of being one of the most positive mixed reviews I’ve ever done. At least according to one of my readers. To be honest, I was actually slightly dreading playing this title because I had already finished the game previously. Nor was I the biggest fan of it when I played it then.

However, I still played a good chunk of this again before posting my final review. Frankly, I’m not a fan of the game’s dungeon design or extremely repetitive music. Yet, there are still some good things about this title, as I shared in my review. It’s available for free on both the GBA and Nintendo DS, as linked in my review.

9 – Quest Arrest (Top-down Adventure)

Of all the “Mixed” titles, this was the one I struggled with the most in relation to its rating. I considered it a positive experience at multiple points during my playthrough. How the game’s story was made up of about half a dozen small mysteries was a big part of that.

Yet, the gameplay mechanics didn’t have much depth and the “Good Cop” or “Bad Cop” choices were wasted. Oh, and the nearly constant cussing became super irritating. That was the final straw that caused me to bring its rating down from Positive. The B&W version of this game is available free. A link to it is in my review.

Positive

8 – Super Homebrew War (Fighter/Action Platformer)

One thing I appreciate about this game is that it’s one of the most unique on the cartridge, with it being a four-player single-screen Fighting Platformer. Obviously inspired by Super Smash Bros., in it you can play as a multitude of Indie characters and try to defeat others by jumping on their heads or achieving other objectives.

Sadly, I didn’t think it was the most fun to play and the AI was flawed. Still, it does more things right than what many other reviews give it credit for. To get the most out of it you have to play it multiplayer. It’s also available for free.

7 – Debtor (Puzzle Platformer)

This Puzzle Platformer has an unusual art style where your main character is shaped like a brick. Despite not finding that appealing, I quickly looked past that aspect and found the game to be pretty fun and enjoyable. Many of the puzzles were fun, and the title does a good job of teaching you how to use your different abilities as you progress. Too bad it only has limited password usage and it’s very easy to put yourself in an unwinnable position after just one move on a level.

6 – Doodle World (Platformer)

Doodle World stands out as a Platformer that’s explicitly designed to be enjoyed by children. The art style is great, and looks like a child who doodled on sheets of lined notebook paper with crayons. The graphics are very charming, but the hit detection is not the best. That flaw makes the game more frustrating than it needs to be, but at least with Kid’s Mode it’s easier to play for little ones.

5 – Alien Cat 2 (Puzzle)

As the only “pure” Puzzle game on this cart, it’s an important title for fans of the genre. Thankfully, this is a quality game with 30 or so single-screen stages and a good deal of gameplay to explore. For some people, this is the best game on the cartridge. However, I knocked it down from Very Positive due to some iffy hit detection and a high reuse of graphical assets throughout.

One cool thing about it is that it has passwords between every level, though. At least some of the 8-bit versions of the game are available for free.

Very Positive

4 – Chain Break (Runner)

We now come to my top-tier titles! Chain Break is a side-view 2D Runner developed for the original Gameboy. It has good pixel art in the background of its stages and some rather challenging level design at times. A big reason why I gave it a Very Positive rating was because it was a quality game all around, with everything working well together. It’s available for free online with a link to the rom file near the bottom of my review.

3 – Deadeus (Top-down Adventure)

We now come to the last game in the cartridge that has Adventure elements, or a focus on a storyline. It is Deadeus, and is the creepiest game on the cartridge! it’s a top-down horror title developed for the Game Boy that takes place over the course of a couple of days. In it, you’re a boy who is having nightmares and you go around town trying to figure out what’s happening.

To avoid spoilers I won’t say much more here. I don’t in my review either. Just know that this game isn’t for everyone, or me, for that matter.

Yet, I could tell that a lot of work went into this open-ended adventure and I expect horror fans will easily consider this to be the best title on the cartridge. You can find some more vague details of why I liked it, and what impressed me about it, in my review. It’s available for free.

2 – Flea! (Precision Platformer)

Here we have the Platformer that I consider to be the most addictive on the cartridge! Flea! is a great game that takes the technology of the home system it was developed for and provides a quality gaming experience for us. It has tons of levels, a slightly quirky sense of humor, excellent control, and a good soundtrack. Check out my review for more details.

1 – Twin Dragons (Platformer)

As I shared in my review of this title, Twin Dragons is my favorite game on the cartridge. I consider it to be the most well-rounded of them all! As the title gives away, you play as two dragons who need to rescue their sibling from a magician that has stolen him or her away. I literally enjoy everything about this game and don’t see any serious flaw with it. If you want to read me gush about it, go ahead and check out my review.

All the Games Ranked Worst to Best (No Descriptions)

For those who just want the list of game rankings, here they are from worst to best! As I said before, clicking on the game’s name will take you to my full review of the title.

The rankings are,

• 14 – PLOID (Action Platformer)
• 13 – FoxyLand (Platformer)
• 12 – Uchusen: Ultimate Ploid Battle (Shmup)
• 11 – KUBO 3 (Platformer and Top-down Adventure)
• 10 – Anguna: Warriors of Virtue (Action RPG)
• 9 – Quest Arrest (Top-down Adventure)
• 8 – Super Homebrew War (Fighter/Action Platformer)
• 7 – Debtor (Puzzle Platformer)
• 6 – Doodle World (Platformer)
• 5 – Alien Cat 2 (Puzzle)
• 4 – Chain Break (Runner)
• 3 – Deadeus (Top-down Adventure)
• 2 – Flea! (Precision Platformer)
• 1 – Twin Dragons (Platformer)

Overall Thoughts

Indie Heroes Collection 1 has the distinction of being the first Evercade cartridge I played to completion in the sense of giving every game time to shine with my undivided attention. Near the end of 2025 I worked hard to focus on it so that I could play them and share my honest opinion.

While a number of them were quite disappointing, especially PLOID and FoxyLand, I still think I had a pretty enjoyable time with the cartridge. I was particularly grateful that it ended on a strong point with Twin Dragons and Flea! Playing Alien Cat 2, Deadeus, and Chain Break were all impressive in different ways as well. Even titles that weren’t amazing still had some value that made me want to show them off to you all. Some examples of these include Debtor, Doodle World, and Quest Arrest.

Because of these various titles, I consider this cartridge to be a good value if you can get it for a decent price. As of this writing (February 2026), it is readily available for $60 plus shipping on eBay. I wouldn’t want to pay more than $50 for it, but I’d also be OK with it if I purchased it at that higher price.

Still, remember that Anguna: Warriors of Virtue, Chain Break, Deadeus, KUBO 3, Quest Arrest (B&W GB), and Super Homebrew War (Different version) are available for free online. Alien Cat 2, Doodle World, Flea!, and Quest Arrest (GBC) are all available affordably at various online stores, too. Those games, and Twin Dragons, are the ones I think are worth playing.

Because of those factors, for me, the determining keys of whether this cart is worth it to you is based on two main ideas:

• How much do you value having so many of these games available in one place (and physically)?
• Do you want to play Twin Dragons?

In response to your answers to those questions, this cartridge is either an easy pass, or it’s really worth purchasing. I’ll let you decide what it is for you.

For me, I enjoyed it a good deal, and look forward to playing more Evercade carts. My next one will be Mega Cat Studios Collection 1.

Title: Indie Heroes Collection 1 (Blaze Website)
Genre: Various
Year Released: 2021
Developer: Various
Available On: Evercade
Price Paid: $16.00

Remember, we can have different opinions about the games we play. If you like something more (or less) than I do, both of our perspectives are valid. Please see my Review Rating Scale to know more of how I rate games.