This has been around for a while, but with Baz Luhrmann's 3D version of The Great Gatsby doing gangbusters at the box office, it seems like a fine time to revisit the (faux) NES version of The Great Gatsby. This straight-faced, side-scrolling brawler take on F. Scott Fitzgerald's seminal Jazz Age novel is fun, fitting and proof positive that Luhrmann isn't the only guy around screwing with the classics.

 

The jobs you have as a video game player... In Test Subject Complete, you're a tiny blob of fluid injected into an itty-bitty robotic power suit. Your job is to navigate a deadly-micro-organism-filled maze while a creepy mad scientist watches over you and chuckles. Hey, it's a living.

 

You are a monkey and you work for a horrible boss and you get paid peanuts: Now as true in video games as in real life. In the puzzle platformer Super Stock Take you are a simian stockboy working in the warehouse answering to the whims of a blowhard boss. Jump here, grab that, retrieve this. The key here is your ability to pick up and move large boxes, which you'll need to do a lot of to reach your goals. Move quick, though, you make more peanuts the faster you solve the puzzles. Yeah, peanuts!

 

Hopagon is a one-button platforming-style game. You play a small, smiling block who must jump (or, in the parlance, "hop") over larger, frowning blocks. Sounds simple, no? Since you've only got one button to mash, though, this game isn't going to make it easy on you. Your jumping must be incredibly precise to get through each fast-paced, seconds-long level. What are you waiting for? Get hopping!

 

In the innovative, experimental game 400 Years, you play a big-headed, kind-hearted dude who just wants to save the world. But you've only got 400 years in which to pull it off. Sounds pretty easy, huh? Unfortunately, you'll be doing it through the unusual mechanic of time manipulation. You have the ability to speed the clock, forcing the world to race through the seasons, letting years zip by at the touch of a button. Need a lake to freeze over, so you can walk across it? Just wait until winter. Need a tree to grow to climb higher? Just wait a few years. Suddenly 400 years seems kinda short. You'll spend a lot of time standing around waiting in this unusual game, so patience is something of a virtue. What are you waiting for? Get to waiting.

 

Nitrome, one of the Internet's leading developers of awesome free games has released its newest, Plunger. You control a cute robot thing equipped with four directional plungers. Shoot the plungers vertically or horizontally to navigate a maze. Connect various electrical points with your plunger lines and you move on to the next level. This game's unique control scheme makes it a real standout in the platformer category. Just be on the lookout for the game's increasing hazards.

 

Sometimes fast is good. Sometimes red is bad. As true in real life as it is in the zippy action platformer Fae. Jump your little ... head-thing around a maze of platforms and walls. Don't touch anything that's red. And get a move on, this is a race against time, people!

 

Broken Robot Love casts you in the role of, well, a broken robot. You're a small, sad toy that has been cast aside. Your goal is to return to your young owner, a better and stronger plaything. The only thing standing in your way is a backyard maze full of of lava, pirates and other deadly obstacles. Sucks to be you. This puzzle platformer will have you placing blocks and jumping quickly (and I do mean quickly) in order to make your way to the next treacherous level. No dawdling! Get moving!

 

Recursion is a nifty platformer, neatly haunted by the ghosts of Super Mario Bros. Your ship has crashed on a mysterious world, and you must escape by collecting stars and raising flags. (OK, I don't get the connection either.) What makes this one stand out is its warped puzzles and clever art style--which transforms 8-bit gaming into a near-needlepoint experience.

 

Sky Island will probably look very familiar to a lot of video game players. It borrows more than a little inspiration from a certain game starring a couple of plumbers, some turtles and a whole lot of blocks. But, unlike Super Mario Bros., Sky Island can't be solved by simple 2D platforming. Occasionally, you'll be required to grab the screen with your mouse and rotate it. Depending on which direction you move it, the playfield will change drastically. You'll surmount certain obstacles, reveal new items to collect and open whole new pathways. Half platformer, half puzzler, Sky Island is a nifty variation on and old formula.