No matter what kind of genre sicko you may be, UFO 50 more than likely has the cure for what ails ya in some form. There are precision platformers, Metroidvanias, strategy-RPGs, JRPGs, idle games, puzzlers, text adventures and more. As a result, your mileage may vary when it comes to any specific recommendations, but I’m going to throw the first one out here like an errant shuriken: Ninpek.

Ninpek is a simple arcade platformer at heart, and it’s an auto-scrolling one at that. Thanks to the nature of its design, you’ll be able to finish it in a fixed amount of time, so getting the trophy is just a matter of quick reflexes and a bit of rote memorization. Getting the cherry—which is the secondary key accomplishment to “beating” any given UFO 50 game—is just a matter of doing that all over again… with some wrinkles in the mix. 

The setup is as simple as a fictional ‘80s platformer gets. You’re a ninja and your hamburgers have been stolen. It’s the picnic equivalent of the Ghosts ’n Goblins intro, swapping a sweet hanbaga in place of a damsel in distress. Now you must brave the fierce, pig-filled lands beyond your home and chase down the angry octopus that pilfered your patties. 

READ: WOLFHOUND Brings WWII Sci-Fi Metroidvania Action to Consoles and PC in 2026

At first brush, Ninpek is difficult in the way most UFO 50 games are. You’re going to die instantly, probably quite a lot, during your first handful of attempts. Once you learn the enemy patterns, however, it becomes much easier to react on the fly, and I even found my muscle memory kicking in after putting down the game for long periods of time.

Thanks to the straightforward nature of this one—there aren’t a ton of ‘gotcha’ moments outside of discovering how a new enemy attacks—running in place and leaping from one end of the map to the other quickly becomes second nature. Once you trivialize the initial game loop and turn your home screen cartridge gold, you just need to do a second loop immediately after to get the cherry and close out Ninpek for good.

The music and visuals are stripped down but memorable, and you’ll be able to hang with the toughest of ninja once you accept the fact that you can never stop moving if you want to live. Make this your first gold and/or cherry and you’ll be well on your way to getting the hang of UFO 50 as a collection!

Keep an eye on the hub page for more recs!