I'm listing the games I played in alphabetical order, and I intend to complete the following list during the next weeks (I found it too much to write for just one session)
Alchemyst Dig 1-5 & Alchemyst DangerDash 1-3 by Altermaven (Alchemystics)
Made for my favourite platform GDash, these games have a very classical style including the 5 levels. I find them nice to play, as if you would play a new official release. The difficulty is very moderate, so it's recommendable for beginners as well!
Arno Dash 1-21 by Arno
I remember I played these games already 20 years ago. I made it through the first four games and it felt quite classical! Then Arno Dash 5, cave 01 was a kind of "shock" because it was suddenly so hard and I couldn't solve it! I expected all the caves from there on to be that difficult, so I decided I wasn't yet good enough to play the rest of the series. Meanwhile I played almost all the caves and I still find 5-01 one of the hardest caves of the series, but no, not all the following caves are that difficult!
I can definitely recommend Arno Dash 1-4 for beginners (although there're some challenging caves there as well!). As the series continues, the caves become more challenging on average.
The style of the caves is a mixture of many nice classic-style caves, some chaotic random-fill caves, and some very detailed maze caves which can be explored area by area. Definitely check out those if you liked the official games (otherwise you would probably not read this anyway!) and want to find out what one of the world's biggest BD fans has created for you!
Boulder Dash 4 by Dr. Watson
One of the first fanmade BD games in 1986! Dr. Watson experimented with the colours, and his caves are classic in style and noticeably harder than the originals. Alone for historic reasons, definitely check out this one!
Boulder Dash 5-11 by Don Pedro
More pure Boulder Dash fangame history! These games were also among the very first fan creations, so they're widely accepted as "the" Boulder Dash 5-11 games (while there were many different creators afterwards who called their games "Boulder Dash 12" and onwards).Don Pedro had - as he said himself in this forum - limited knowledge about the engine. Yet I think some of his caves are absolute masterpieces, at least for that time, given that there were almost no previous fangames which could have inspired him! Creative new ideas, difficult, thoughtful puzzle caves... one feels that Don Pedro had really fun trying out the possibilities and letting out his creativity! The games also have their "rough edges", for example in form of a few overly difficult or even unfair spots. If you're a beginner and you're looking for fangames to play through completely, then there're probably other games to start with, but if you're curious to see what ideas the earliest fangame creators came up with, and/or if you really want to challenge yourself inside the wonderful BD universe, then this series is definitely for you!
Boulder Games 0-9 by MB Soft
Maybe these games are closest in style and difficulty to the official games (among the fangames I played, of course)! So I think they're very playable for beginners, although I think if you've played 3 or 4 of the 10 games, you've seen (almost) everything because the cave ideas are somewhat repetitive the more you play. Still, a few caves are quite inventive as well! These games could be for you if you want to re-experience the BD1-2(3) style with a lot of classic and a few new ideas!
Brain Delicacy by Dr. Guru
Well, I can't really say that I played this game - it's too hard for me! - but I watched solution demos at Krissz's site (with big pleasure!), so I feel safe to write something about it. It's an outstanding, deeply and very carefully designed puzzle game which is a big challenge for every (advanced!) Boulder Dasher who especially likes the puzzle aspect of the game. There's no combination of random fill and regular objects as in the official games, but each and every element is placed on purpose and part of the puzzle. So I can definitely not recommend this game for beginners, but rather for BD fans who want to see something different and who don't want to play through a fangame in less than an hour, but rather like the challenge and also like to think, maybe for hours, about the solution of a puzzle!
CWS Boulder Dash 1-3
Although these are "only" three games, they can be divided in two categories:
CWS BD 1 is a very playable and traditional-style game to recommend for beginning fangame players!
CWS BD 2-3, on the other hand, use non-classical BD characters (like bombs, clocks etc.) and effects. These are used very thoughtfully and one-by-one, so I think these two games are a nice introduction for those who want to explore new, fanmade BD territory! I think the caves are significantly harder than CWS BD 1 (partly for that very reason that there're new, unknown chars and effects), but still far from expert level, so these can be recommend for adventuresome beginners as well!
DeLuxe Remix 1 by Marek a.k.a. Logic DeLuxe
Marek has made a whole lot of games (as well as the Crazy Light CKit!), yet this one is the only one I fully played (so far). I shied away from playing Marek's caves because I often heard (and saw in the cave maps) that the caves are partly very crazy and difficult to solve, and I'm more the kind of player who wants a cave solved within 15 minutes (at most!)
Yet when I played "DeLuxe Remix 1", I played through it quite quickly, and I liked it! Some caves use multiple Rockfords, and I think this is a good game to get introduced into the possibilities of this feature., so if you haven't experienced multiple inboxes yet and if you're open for something new, this game can be for you. Still, the caves are rather for advanced players, so I give only a "restricted recommendation" for beginners. Other game series from Marek are "DeLuxe Caves", "DeLuxe Dash" and "Crazy Dream" (which is definitely crazy!), but I haven't (yet?) played enough of those to feel confident to write about them.Exploding Dash 1-2 by Arno
If you expect a lot of fireworks from the title, you won't be disappointed!
The caves are made in style of Arno Dash, just with many many explosions, so if you want a lot of BANGs, these games are for you! But don't expect every cave to be easy, some caves are also quite difficult to solve!Falcon Dash trilogy by Falcon Soft
My ultimate recommendation for beginners! The caves are super beginner friendy, yet quite detailed and thoughtfully designed. I haven't seen another fangame with that combination, and when I discovered the series and played the first caves, I immediately loved them and I always wanted to play on. These caves are great fun if you want to make yourself a chilling and interesting Boulder Dash evening!
Mega Boulder 1-6 &Mix by Skeletor a.k.a. Uwe Drichel
I love these games! They're wonderfully detailed and thoughtfully designed, challenging enough to keep your attention awake and at the same time playable enough to solve each cave in one or few attempts. So it never gets boring, there's always something new to discover and it's also just amazing to experience the ideas and how the caves work! I'm not sure if the games are recommendable for complete beginners, but at least every slightly advanced player (such as I would consider myself) who wants to experience a new cave style compared with the official games should absolutely dive into more than 300 highly addictive caves!
Metsemakers Dash by Peter M.
This Boulder Remake original is a great puzzle game! The cave design is very detailed and thoughtful, and it's clear that each cave was created with care and caution. When I first treid the game shortly after the release in 2009, I already couldn't solve cave B, which requires two very specific tricks related to the cavescanning order! The other caves don't require such specific tricks, though. Overall, the game is perfect for puzzle enthusiats who love the "aaaaaaaah that's how it works!"-feeling when you suddenly have a good idea, and also for everyone who likes it if everything is set in place to work perfectly once the solution is figured out!
No One's Boulder 1-46
This is often considered to be the classic-style BD game series, created in 1986-87 by one of the absolutely biggest fangame creators of all time! The style of (most of) No One's caves is very close to the official games, and unlike most other hackers of the original BD1 engine, he even cared about the higher levels (although there might still be a few errors in these).Some of his caves are also challenging, but to a degree which I think feels quite natural after playing the original games. So i can recommend this series for beginners and advanced players, both for historic reasons and for the gameplay!
RTA Dash 1-8 by RTA Dash a.k.a. Rory Agsten
These games remind me much of the offocial games! The caves have a very classical style, and the series also starts very educational - RTA Dash 1 takes the player by the hand and teaches him the different elements and possibilities of Boulder Dash, very similar to the official BD1. There are challenging caves in the series as well, so that Rockford can grow and learn without being overstrained. A very recommendable series for beginners! Note that RTA Dash 8 was created for GDash and features 5 classic-style difficulty levels!
Sendy Dash 1-3 by Sendy
It's been a long time since I played these big games (47 caves each!), and I still have very good memories to them! I found the style of these caves quite unique - many caves look classical (with random fill combined with regular objects), but then the solutions are quite specific and puzzling! And always after finishing a cave, I was curious for the next one, because I wanted to see the next clever designing idea! Beginners (and also advanced players) should expect quite challenging but still doable caves with cool new ideas and interesting gameplay!
Water Dash 1-5 by Dino
Very playable and enjoyable caves! The colours are fitting with the title; it feels quite like Rockford is diving for treasures underwater About half of the caves have butterflies, often in combination with amoeba, and in general there're often lots of diamonds and bonus diamonds to collect - a dream for a true treasure seeker!
So far I've played episodes 1-2 and it's a lot of fun ! The games can absolutely be recommended for beginners as well.Conclusion/ Summary:
My favourite for beginners: Falcon Dash
Close to the originals in style and difficulty: Alchemyst Dig/ DangerDash, Arno Dash (at least the first 4 games), BD4 (Dr. Watson, remarkable colours), Boulder Games (MB Soft), CWS BD1, No One's Boulder, RTA Dash, Water Dash (underwater feeling)
Close to the original in style, slightly more challenging than the aforementioned: Arno Dash 5-21, Sendy Dash (increasing difficulty), BD5-11 (Don Pedro, very fluctuating difficulty)
Puzzle games in order of increasing difficulty:: Mega Boulder, De Luxe Remix 1, Metsemakers Dash, Brain Delicacy
Lots of explosions: Exploding Dash
Experience with fanmade characters and effects: CWS BD2-3, and if you like these kind of caves, definitely check out Crazy Dream 1-9 by Marek and First Boulder 1-3 by Posocopi as well (although I have barely played those so far).
So I hope that's helpful for beginners as orientation and also the creators of the mentioned games find their work well represented!
I have intentionally not mentioned my own games - I find it hard to objectively write about one's own creation, but of course I'm also happy for everyone who wants to try out Dustin's Boulder Dash 1-22 and my other GDash games
