[Over 250 titles were released on downloadable consoles throughout 2009, so it's not surprising that some fell through the cracks. Throughout this week we'll pinpoint 10 games or models that we feel were ignored over the past year, discuss why they were ignored, and try to convine you, the reader, to give them a quick look.]

Lode Runner (Tozai Games, XBLA)

Lode Runner XBLA is a great revitalization of the series – it’s has a ton of levels to complete, numerous modes to play, online cooperative play and you can create your own levels. It’s got everything you’d want in a Lode Runner game.

Unfortunately its release was a troubled one – the game was announced at being a $15 title, a little expensive but it had a lot of content to back it up. But due to a screw up on Microsoft’s behalf it was accidentally released at $10 for the first 10 hours of release, and was then hiked back up to $15 once the problem was fixed.

This caused an instant backlash on the developer and Microsoft, and basically made a lot of people not want to pick up the game, and wait for a price drop at a later date. It’s sad to see a mistake like this causing such a problem. There was a price drop later on, but few people picked it up as the newer titles got top billing.

Definitely give the demo a go though, it's still tons of fun and perfect for some coop play with the missus.

Rocket Riot (Codeglue / THQ, XBLA)

A twin stick shooter of sorts, Rocket Riot is a game with a funny premise, cute character designs and is a lot of fun to play. So what happened?

Basically, Rocket Riot just took an awful long time to come out. With a lack of promotion of THQ’s behalf (alongside the Major Nelson blog not announcing it for its week of release), few people knew it came out. The only thing it had was buzz from some website editors who had been playing it on a development system, and absolutely loved it.

The game had been done for an awful long time, it just had to come out, and in a week that included several other high profile titles , it got thrown under the bus.

It's still quite fun to play, you may not find much of an on-line audience anymore, but grab a few friends around an Xbox 360 and you'll have a blast. Download the demo here.

Axel & Pixel (Silver Wish Games / 2K Play, XBLA)

With the event of Secret Of Monkey Island: Special Edition on XBLA, you’d think that more point-and-click adventures might be viable on the platform, but it seems there might be a ways to go before that happens. Case in point – Axel & Pixel.

The journey of a nonsensical artist and his dog companion, Axel & Pixel is a mixture of point-and-click adventure and a hidden object game, wrapped in a bizarre and fascinating art style. The game is filled with character and was plenty of fun to play through.

Its problem was getting out just what it was. The game didn’t have a trailer until about a week before it came out, and the 2K Play label never really had much dealings with the gaming press either with their previous titles being Dora The Explorer or Carnival Games.

But for a simple point-and-click adventure it was great, and I had fun playing it. I hope Silver Wish Studios continue on this trend, or release a PC version onto Steam. For now, download the demo.

[Tune in tomorrow for two more overlooked titles of 2009.]