For those that got a hold of it, Typing of the Dead was one of the silliest but most addicting games on the Dreamcast. Tasked with eliminating zombies as they approach, you have to type out the word or phrase above their head to shoot them. What happens when you take that concept and mix it with Space Invaders and Lovecraft? Why, you get The Clatter of the Keys, one of the best, and prettiest, entries in the CPB competition.

Tasked with writing a weird novel, you are a writer who thinks that using free-form word association will let them tap into a vast reserve of racial memory. Translated into gameplay, this means that you have to type the strange words and phrases as they fall from the top of the screen in order to earn some money. You have four minutes to earn as much money as possible, and this is accomplished by completing words, chaining them together into thoughts, and increasing your "weirdness" meter. There's a lot more to the game, such as being able to correct mistakes, freeze thoughts in place, and join thoughts together, but these elements must be discovered one at a time.


A delightful change of pace from The Clatter of the Keys is Insomnia, an Indiana Jones-esque platformer with a delightful sense of art direction. The game revolves around a protagonists that must not fall asleep before he reaches the top of a tower, because if he does, tentacles of darkness will reach up and drag him into insanity. Or death. The game isn't really to clear as to which threat the protagonist faces, but it translates into a good way to keep the player moving throughout the tower.

The protagonist can run and jump, like just about any other protagonist can. He can also hang onto walls and ledge edges with the crook of a cane, and then haul himself up or leap off of them. The protagonist is a rather tired man, so he gets sleepy as time goes by, which makes him move slower, jump lower, and vision-impaired. In order to keep his energy up, he must find sleep-depriving items in the landscape, such as drinks, pills, and syringes. However, taking medicine (as opposed to drinks), which energizing the protagonist, will also cause the tentacles to reach higher.


Once upon a time, H.P. Lovecraft wrote a Frankenstein-style serial titles Herbert West, Re-animator. Later, it was adapted into a cult horror film that gained a significant following. Now, it has been adapted with a CPB entry into the gem Herbert West in 'Carrion Re-Animating!'. With a delightfully cartoony art style mixed with the monotone color of old horror films, it does well to parody the sort of films that it is derived from.

You, Herbert West, are performing experiments upon corpses in your mansion. However, members of the local populace have noticed their family members going missing, and come to you to demand answers. You must fool them by re-animating their loved ones and sending them to the door that the family member is knocking on. If you fail to respond, or send the wrong person, the family member will become suspicious and call for the cops. A cop will arrive and search for zombies, and as long as you keep the zombies out of sight, everything will be fine. It's a delightful little puzzle game and worth downloading for any puzzle or horror fans out there.

Death-its desolation and horror-bleak spaces-sea-bottom-dead cities. But Life-the greater horror! Vast unheard-of reptiles and leviathans-hideous beasts of prehistoric jungle-rank slimy vegetation-evil instincts of primal man-Life is more horrible than death.

This is the concept behind Verge, a platformer with some absolutely phenomenal pixel work that blurs the lines between living and dying. Taking place in an unnamed jungle, you play a creature who must solve various puzzles through clever thinking. They don't always revolve around surviving either, as sometimes death is the best solution to the puzzle. However, dying to enemies is never the solution, as they don't just kill you; they absorb your soul, erasing your entire existence. It's short, but very much worth it, if just for the beautifully retro graphics.


It's hard not to like Primordial Egg. It may be the way the game handles its subject matter with such silly seriousness, the wonderful art (noticing a pattern in the games from this competition?), or the endearing gameplay, but it has managed to stand out as one of the more entertaining games in the competition

The basis of From Primordial Egg is that you are a dinosaur hatching from an extremely old egg. As you mature, you must attack and devour hostile archaeologists to grow in size as well as protect yourself. It's a simple concept, but a lot more fun than one would expect. Pouncing on those snooty archaeologists is incredibly satisfying, as is ripping them to shreds. Defeating and consuming archaeologists allows you to evolve yourself, turning you from a wussy baby dinosaur into a veritable engine of death and destruction as you make your way through the game.

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