Hundreds of aliens are swarming your homeworld! Stay cool and start blasting in Cosmo Panic. Zip into range to automatically unleash blasters, rockets and even wilder weapons on a nonstop barrage of 8-bit extraterrestrials. Level up to expand your arsenal and transform every retro invasion into a fireworks show of cosmic chaos.

What we love: Reducing aliens to space dust. Sweeping your upgraded laser beam across the screen and watching dozens of baddies detonate at once – producing a satisfying kshhh! effect that sounds like popcorn popping – makes you feel like an all-powerful space warlord.

Quick tip: Tap the question mark beside the stage number for intel on incoming aliens, then gear up to exploit their weaknesses. Facing a swarm of green spider-things? Equip flaming meteors and give those space bugs a scorching send-off.

Meet the creator: Tokyo-based indie developer Fundoshi Parade is also known for Mystic Mansion and the Just Kill Me series. In Japan, a fundoshi is a type of traditional loincloth, and the phrase fundoshi o shimete kakaru – “tighten your loincloth” – is the equivalent of “roll up your sleeves” in English.