Don't know whether this has already been mentioned on AGN before, but this has to be one of the greatest freeware games ever. Also known by its original name, Doukutsu Monogatari, it belongs to the same 2D platformer / shooter / adventure genre that Metroid and some of the Castlevania games (ie: SOTN and the GBA ones) belong to.

The best site to get it and the translation by Aeon Genesis is here:


This game has:
  • a good variety of weapons (2 necessary, 1 really hard to avoid, 2 optional, 4 trades), including a cool sword
  • an interesting plot (okay, that's really a subjective matter) and 3 possible endings (1 bad, 1 good and 1 hidden)
  • plenty of secrets, a lot of which will be missed on the first one or two playthroughs
  • a hard mode, triggered by doing something special partway through the game (also leads to the final, hidden level if other conditions are met)
  • plenty of intentionally included and rewarded sequence-breaking (don't bother on your first run)
  • a great soundtrack which can also be found in MP3 format on the above site - ~40 MB