Showdown is an awesome cross between Downwell and Samurai Gunn

What happens when you combine the immediately compelling vertical shooting of roguelike Downwell with the tension of one-hit-kill multiplayer fighter Samurai Gunn? You get a hell of a game, even in unfinished demo form. That's the recipe indie developer Omrii followed for the demo of his game Showdown, a gorgeously minimalist versus multiplayer game that borrows liberally from Downwell and other games. Omrii submitted a build with local multiplayer to the recent Amatueur Game Dev General demo day, a frequent recurring game jam.

In some ways, Showdown is obviously a demo. It's missing the bounty of options you'd see in a finished multiplayer fighter like Samurai Gunn or Towerfall, and it has only one "world" of map choices with more clearly planned but not selectable. It's also using assets from other games, as Omrii writes on Showdown's itch.io page: "i used sfx and music from a bunch of games as a proof of concept. I did not make them! I used music from Downwell, Silver Surfer (NES) and Battletoads. I also used SFX from a few Tribute Games' games, Half Life and some other games i don't remember lmao"

That aside, it's already really fun to play. This is what dancing looks like when your feet are made of guns.

You use one key to fire a gun and another to jump. Double jump in mid-air and you'll fire downward—there's the Downwell influence—which quickly introduces a great tension to movement and combat. The stages are simple but thoughtfully laid out to require double jumping. If you're too cavalier, you'll blow through your small three shot ammo magazine and need to wait a few seconds for that ammo to recharge, leaving you vulnerable. But you always want to stay above your opponent, or get in position to blast them with a horizontal shot.

And if you're a show-off, you can jump on an opponent's head Mario-style to kill them and get back one of your own lives. The art style is gorgeous, with colorful lines surrounding each simple white avatar making them easy to tell apart.
Showdown blatantly owes style, inspiration and assets to Downwell, but developer Ojiro Fumoto doesn't seem to mind:

If Omrii turns this into a four-player battler with a few options and custom audio design, I'd pay money for the final version in a heartbeat. He's already planning to add online multiplayer in a future update.

In the meantime, you can download Showdown's demo for free on itch.io.