On February 8, 2014, after experiencing a sudden explosion of popularity and huge discussion, developer Dong Nguyen posted a tweet, indicating that he could no longer stand the current discussion and heat that was very different from his expectations, and decided to remove the addictive game Flappy Bird, which brought him income and fame.
This year marks the ninth year that Flappy Bird has been removed. In the past nine years, we have witnessed the rapid development of smartphones, and we have also seen mobile games from independent mini games to the point where today's major giants are competing for the market.
In the face of more beautiful graphics and more network-dependent game modes, we can't help but think back when we experience novelty, how are those old games that have been kept in our mobile phones and played two from time to time.
▍ Became the legendary Flappy Bird
@北鸮: In early 2014, a bird flying up and down broke into the phones of people around the world. Developer Dong Nguyen could never have imagined that the "casual" mini-game he launched six months ago would become a phenomenal hit that everyone talked about overnight.
Flappy Bird is incredibly simple to play, with birds flying forward at a constant speed, fingers tapping the screen to bounce upwards, and getting a point through the gap between each pair of pipes.
The game seems simple, but in fact, the hand will find that the seemingly wide gap is actually difficult to fly through accurately, and a casual crooked will hit the corner, plus each opening position is randomly generated, often making the player ignore the tail, and lose the passion without scoring a few points.
Its addiction also comes from this, the kind pixel art style, super high difficulty, ultra-low threshold for getting started, almost zero failure penalty, coupled with the boom of mobile social at that time, Flappy Bird did not take long to top the multi-country App Store list.
As a free-to-play game, Flappy Bird brings great wealth to developers with advertising revenue alone, but also sends unprecedented pressure. He does not want to see the "casual game" he made become an addictive time disappearer, and it is difficult to face the criticism and accusations thrown by many players and the media.
After careful consideration, he removed the smash hit game and even caused many social incidents, which once caused the price of second-hand mobile phones with Flappy Bird to skyrocket.
After the game was removed, neither Dong Nguyen nor the Dotgears company he founded released the original Flappy Bird. The official sequel to Flappy Birds Family is only available on Amazon TV. After leaving the public eye, Nguyen continued to live the quiet life he wanted, leading Dotgears to release several simple and fun mini-games, but none of them achieved the success of Flappy Bird, and eventually stopped updating.
However, Flappy Bird has survived in other forms, with a large number of imitation games emerging, and the most famous of them, Splashy Fish, still has a good daily life. The shadow of this masterpiece can also be seen everywhere in the online world, and in the Android 5.0 and 6.0 era, it even became a system Easter egg. Chrome's famous little dinosaur also has its charm.
This is the legend of the Internet age: it is not present in the rivers and lakes, but its descendants are everywhere.
▍ Angry Birds of the high-headed iron
@北鸮: In 2009, Finnish game studio Rovio released a game called Angry Birds. The plot, or synopsis, of the game is very easy to understand: a group of green pigs steal the eggs, and then the birds are anxious and decide to use themselves as projectiles of a slingshot and fight the pigs to the death.
This basic parabola-based slingshot game has been a regular on major download lists since its launch. The game has cute graphics, simple gameplay, and different abilities for each bird, making the game full of fun solving puzzle strategies. The game's sound effects are also a big feature, each bird has a unique sound, and every throw is endearing.
Source: Rovio
After a generation of games became popular, Rovio took advantage of the victory and won several collaborative projects, while also developing gameplay beyond slingshot catapult. The Rio version with "Rio Adventure", the Star Wars version that transformed into a Jedi, and the shooter game with "Transformers" all received good reviews when they were released. Spin-off game Bad Piggies once became the fastest-selling game on the App Store with relatively new gameplay and a consistent vision.
Things changed with Angry Birds 2. Angry Birds 2, released in 2015, updated the graphics and engine to include Arena mode, and introduced Free + Ad mode, which Bad Piggies later switched to.
Commercially speaking, this shift is understandable and more sustainable than the buyout system, but after adding the stamina system, the difficulty of the game has increased, the number of in-purchase points is numerous and frequent, and the gameplay update does not erase the dissatisfaction in the hearts of old players.
What's more, Angry Birds 2 also needs Kunlun Games' domestic agency operation, and under a series of classic "localization" blessings, the game experience has only decreased. After the end of the agency operation, Rovio's game in the national App Store was only Bad Piggies.
After that, Rovio's mind was not spent on this series of games. In addition to continuing to maintain operations and developing other eye-catching spin-off games (such as RPG Legend of Heroes), Rovio has given more energy to the development of Angry Birds as an IP, trying to make it a sustainable big IP with an independent world view.
In 14 years, Angry Birds had nine spin-off animations (two of which are still on the air), two movies, and several licensed theme parks. Even though his income fell for a while, Rovio was able to earn money from his peripheral income.
Fortunately, in the past two years, Rovio seems to be slowly reborn as well as Angry Birds' games. In July 2021, Angry Birds Reloaded launched Apple Arcade, bringing the most original slingshot experience to subscription service users and maintaining frequent updates.
Then, on March 31, 2022, Rovio remastered the original version of the game, renamed Rovio Classics: Angry Birds, and launched it on the App Store in the original buyout mode. Fortunately, the familiar bird did not fly far after all.
▍ Temple Run & Subway Parkour: A fantasy journey of native gods
@克莱德: One-finger Zen, vertical play, 3D graphics, and the competition is quick - in 2011, when dual-core processors were just starting out, 5-inch or "big screen", the charm of these elements together was difficult to resist, which may be why "Temple Run" was popular in the first place.
In August 2011, medical app developer Keith Shepherd and his wife, Natalia Luckyanova, launched the first generation of Temple Run on the App Store as an Indie studio at Imangi. The game started with a price of 99 cents and quickly topped the App Store download charts.
At that time, the charging model of free downloads and in-app purchases was just emerging, and Imangi immediately decided to convert the game to free in December of the same year, monetizing in-game purchases ranging from $0.99 to $19.99 - unexpectedly, this bold decision caused "Temple Run" to soar 5x in revenue in just one month and quickly out of the circle. After the official launch of the Android version in 2012, the popularity of "Temple Run" also came to a peak.
In the same year that the Android version of "Temple Run" was launched, Danish mobile game developer Kiloo, who fancy similar gameplay, also decided to get a piece of the game. Unlike the former's setting with the Aztec civilization and the Great Wall of China as the main scenes, Kiloo took a different approach to borrow the idea of an animated short film from Sybo Studio to create a parkour game with the theme of "graffiti kid escaping the police".
Although the gameplay is similar, with lively graphics, witty sound effects, and successively launched scene elements connected with elements from different cities around the world, "Subway Surf" quickly became a "must-have" for smartphones during that time, and also became one of the running points for the loading speed of smartphone games during that time.
Many people's impressions of temple escape and subway parkour must be indispensable to fail again and again: maybe they missed it in a hurry, maybe they were mentally tense and their fingers were in the wrong direction. But whether it's the Great Wall or the railroad tracks, being bold and just the right amount of luck is the only trick that makes you a high-scoring player among your friends – until the advent of Fun Fun.
At present, most of the temple escape and subway parkour that you can download in the domestic app store are special versions represented by Le Tu Games, a subsidiary of Shenzhen Dream World Technology Co., Ltd. Unlike the game experience mentioned above, today's Temple Run and Subway Parkour:
Allows in-place resurrection via in-game tokens
Multiplayer and PvP mechanics are built-in
More optional characters have been added, including some localized characters, such as Jiro God and Nezha
New mount and pet systems that provide buffs or decorations
……
Open the temple escape or subway parkour of the fun game agent, the main interface is paved with various benefits, first charge, treasure unboxing and in-store purchases, in addition to the "resurrection" during the game, other game interfaces will pop up from time to time various promotions and recharge information - which is why in 2023 you can also see a variety of recharge and refund news related to these two games.
During the temple escape, even if you become Digga, you have to hide from the police
What's more, the introduction of these in-app purchases in addition to breaking some basic settings of immersion (such as why are Chinese immortals chased by a wild monkey?). Could it be Goku? ), which also destroys the essence and balance of the original gameplay. According to the B station UP main @好运的鱼 test, in the multiplayer game of Temple Run, you only need to recharge about 200 yuan to complete the matched opponent in a way that is almost hands-free, and the whole process does not even need to be hands-on...
Temple ride
Yes, no need to do it. Fleeing on a temple with a pet on a mount has become a "road" trip with the purpose of venting your mood here, without the oppression of monsters chasing after you, nor the tightness of making a wrong step, but only the purest, simplest and most rude "recharge to become stronger" krypton gold rule.
Therefore, it is recommended that friends who want nostalgia try to choose the version released by overseas app stores, the risk and reward of krypton gold are not so great, although there are still many in-app purchases over the years, but it can still allow you to relive what they look like in your memory.
▍ Steady fruit ninja
@北鸮: Of all the game developers, Halfbrick is probably the least crisis-looking. In April 2010, Fruit Ninja landed on the iOS App Store, and in July of the same year, it adapted to the iPad that had only been released for three months. Its popularity can be described as taking advantage of the time and place.
In an age when everyone was still excited about touchscreens, Fruit Ninja dominated almost all touchscreen devices with extremely simple controls and comforting cutting animations.
Halfbrick revealed in an interview that they spent a long time researching various platforms and finally decided to try iOS, which has just gone mainstream, and in the process of exploration, the prototype of the fruit ninja was born. Based on the consideration of the characteristics of the touch screen, they used the fastest speed to advance the development of this game, and as a result, as we can see, Fruit Ninja became one of the most iconic games of the 10s.
The price of 6 yuan is not too high, and with various distribution plans, the game is also available from time to time with a limited free and cooperative version. As the game version evolved, Fruit Ninja surpassed three million downloads in September 2010, and in 2012, that number became 300 million.
Halfbrick didn't stop investing in the game, adding arcade and zen modes in addition to the original limited-time mode, as well as a subsequent two-player battle mode to enrich the gaming experience. In addition to iOS, the game has also been ported to various mobile platforms, Android, Windows Phone, and even Samsung's Bada and the soon-to-be-be-born Symbian. And because Fruit Ninja only uses one finger to play, it was also seamlessly ported to the Xbox 360 Kinect, as well as subsequent VR platforms.
It wasn't until 2020 that Halfbrick released Fruit Ninja 2. This time, they added a simple story to the game, using a free + in-app purchase model, but the basic game experience was not affected, and the cost of props was relatively reasonable. The original Fruit Ninja is also included in Apple Arcade, providing players with an original fruit cut service.
Halfbrick didn't try other approaches. Fruit Ninja tried to launch movies, animations, and tabletop cards, but only one Fruit Ninja: Frenzy Force anime was broadcast on YouTube Premium, and all other attempts were declared dead.
Fortunately, Halfbrick still maintains their momentum in making games, and its casual games such as Jetpack Joyride and Dan the Man have also achieved good results. I believe that if there is a new platform, according to the efficiency of Halfbrick, it will not be long before we can see the fruit ninjas quickly enter the new stage.
▍ Pacesetter of Conscience Tiny Wings
@PlatyHsu: If you can sing The Hills, you've mastered the basics and gameplay of Tiny Wings.
Climb over the hills, though no one is waiting – you command a bird in the game and glide through the rolling archipelago. The only operation is to control the falling timing with a single finger, and the only goal is to find the downhill time to fly faster and farther; Except for a round of sun in the distance, and the fragments of sunlight spilled on the mountain road, there is nothing else in heaven and earth.
Chatter, constant mourning – Depending on the gliding, birds will constantly chirp with pleasure (acceleration downhill), mutters in disappointment (hitting uphill) or chirping with excitement (flying over the island). Despite its format, there are no traps or enemies, and the only limit is time: as the sun sets and the night catches up behind you, the bird falls asleep and the adventure comes to an end.
Tiny Wings twelve years ago (also Tiny Wings twelve years later)
However, with such a simple design, Tiny Wings immediately hit the App Store's paid game list after it hit the shelves 12 years ago, in February 2011. In less than a week, he actually climbed all the way to the top and pulled another popular fellow - "Angry Birds" off the throne.
Although German developer Andreas Illiger is very low-key and reluctant to release sales figures, according to Game Center, Tiny Wings has sold at least 12 million copies in history.
The reason is that, in addition to the new platform dividends in the early days of the App Store, Tiny Wings is indeed remarkable in game design. The colorful, soft hand-painted style carries a healing and zen feeling; The soundtrack and sound effects are not gorgeous, but they match the sunrise and sunset scenes and the high-low flying state just right; The open-source Box2D physics engine provides Tiny Wings with an excellent feel and balance, easy to learn and difficult to master, and can be used to get stuck in passes.
2011 was also the year I first introduced to iOS; The evening time of "walking the bird" with classmates with the iPod touch still comes back to my mind with the familiar opening music.
In addition to the achievements of the game itself, Tiny Wings is also a game that is so "conscientious" that old users are a little overwhelmed. Except for two completely reasonable split sales for the new platform when it landed on the iPad in 2012 and Apple TV in 2016, the original version of Tiny Wings has insisted on free updates for these twelve years: always supporting new systems, occasionally adding new maps, and never charging a penny. Compared to other classic games in the collection that have become smoky over time, this is a real breath of water.
Last year, the game was added to Apple Arcade under the name Tiny Wings+ (but the original continues to be released and updated with conscience), somewhat reflecting Apple's recognition of its classic status. In the Internet era, ten years is already an epoch-level timescale, and it is a blessing for players that Tiny Wings still maintain their original appearance; You can still continue to experience this beautiful and healing colorful world like a picture book as you did at the beginning.
▍Chaotic plants vs zombies
@广陵止息: When it comes to "Plants vs. Zombies", everyone must recall the year 2011, when this game swept the country. The story of "Plants vs. Zombies" is actually very simple, we players need to use various plants created by next-door neighbor Dave to resist the zombie invasion.
PopCap, as a game company founded in 2000, launched the originator of the "triple elimination game" "Bejeweled Maze" at that time, followed by "Zuma" in 2004, and its reputation was even greater.
In 2009, the PC and console versions of the protagonist of this part "Plants vs. Zombies" were launched, and although it became popular in China relatively later, the complex and interesting tower defense, novel art style, and weird but atmospheric soundtrack have been recognized by gamers around the world. It was ported to the iPhone and iPad in 2010, and landed on Andoird and Windows Phone in 2011.
iOS version of "Plants vs. Zombies", image source fandom
But after PopCap was acquired by EA in 2011, the situation took a sharp turn, and the follow-up "Plants vs. Zombies 2" only landed on Android and iOS platforms at the beginning, and the popular game that I thought would also be installed on mobile phones gradually faded out of our vision after it was launched.
The biggest difference from "Plants vs. Zombies" is that "Plants vs. Zombies 2" is a free-to-play game and the priority landing is on the mobile platform, Dave will drive the time machine he created to take us players to various time and space for exploration; In fact, standing at our current time, we will more or less suspect that "Plants vs. Zombies 2" is a game that wants krypton gold, but I didn't expect it to be more money, and there is a special version of "Plants vs. Zombies 2" for Chinese players.
First of all, let's talk about the overseas version of "Plants vs. Zombies 2", as a free game, in-app purchases are naturally indispensable, but as long as you want to "liver", you can still completely clear the level. Let's talk about the Chinese version of "Plants vs. Zombies 2" operated by Topway Information Agency shows the krypton gold element to the fullest, whether it is plants, maps, energy beans or sunlight can be obtained through krypton gold, and even some scenes have the feeling of forcing krypton.
At present, the Chinese version of "Plants vs. Zombies 2" operated by Topway Information Agency is still operating normally, and the Chinese version operated by Topway Information Agency is also downloaded from the main domestic app stores. Real-name authentication is required to enter the game, and there is a game protection system for minors. The krypton gold system still exists, and according to the krypton gold situation of Bilibili UP for more than @坠落天空无尽玩家 years, it cost about 23,000 yuan from 2020 to 2022.
Source: @坠落天空无尽玩家
Krypton gold naturally also brings a breakdown of balance, and it can even be said that the Chinese version and the foreign version are completely two games: the Chinese version has a lot of "innovative plants" for krypton gold, and the characteristics of the Chinese version of many plants are also different from the international version.
If you want to experience the "Plants vs. Zombies" game again, I first recommend that you re-download the original "Plants vs. Zombies" on your mobile phone, although it has not been maintained for a long time, but you can still play; Secondly, I recommend the overseas version of "Plants vs. Zombies 2", and finally recommend the domestic version of "Plants vs. Zombies 2".
It is worth noting that there are still many Bilibili and Tieba players in China who are still studying the skills of the original "Plants vs. Zombies". and Plants vs. Zombies 3 was briefly tested in some countries, but is still in development.
▍A skiing adventure that disappears quietly
@张奕源Nick: When the "magical" BGM of Ski Adventure, developed by Defiant Development Studio, sounded, I'm sure many of you will also remember the afternoon skiing in the Penguin Valley.
Ski Adventure, also born in 2012, is essentially a side-scrolling parkour game that allows us to slide over obstacles and farther with just our fingers. It was inspired by the Tiny Wings we mentioned earlier.
But Ski Adventure doesn't stop there, you can also speed up your journey with new props such as penguins, snowmen, eagles, and motorcycles, which make ski parkour even more fun.
In Ski Adventure, one mistake doesn't mean the game ends immediately, but instead gives you the chance to keep tapping the screen and get your character back on their feet before the avalanche hits. This illusion of always sliding down is likely to leave you unminded for an afternoon.
This addictive gaming atmosphere soon sparked a download boom abroad, and major game review agencies also scored more than 9 points, and it can always be seen on the paid game rankings of the App Store and Play Store in all regions. However, because "Ski Adventure" needs to be downloaded for a fee, it did not cause any waves in China at first, and it was not improved until Youdaoyi represented China.
YouDaoyi's approach is actually very simple, changing paid downloads to free downloads, and adding a large number of watchable advertisements to obtain revenue. Of course, the trail is easy to do is not so simple, most of the purchasable content of "Ski Adventure" in the national region can be used to watch advertisements, giving people the illusion of "if you don't watch it, you will lose", no wonder you can make crazy profits in China.
In 2015, Youdaoyi released "Ski Adventure 2", and the gameplay of the 2nd generation has not changed much from the 1st generation, and the 2nd generation mainly optimizes the graphics and actions.
The latest version of "Ski Adventure" is "Ski Adventure: 10th Anniversary", developed by Yudo Yi, in addition to familiar advertisements, but also added a lot of new characters and props that can be interacted with, such as: Tang Monk, White Bone Spirit, Terracotta Army, Ninja, etc., and the map has also been greatly expanded.
The old version of the game can still be downloaded in the outer zone, but lacks the adaptation of the new model; Secondly, "Ski Adventure: 10th Anniversary" may also be a good choice, the game experience is good if you don't watch ads, but it is still recommended to give priority to foreign clothing, and there are many fewer ads; Finally, I strongly recommend you to download "Ski Adventure" in China, not only are there many ads, but the adaptation is really poor.
Sadly, the Defiant Development studio has closed down in 2019. While the studio's other games after Ski Adventure achieved good results, it was abruptly disbanded in 2019, leaving only a trailer for My Attic World, which was expected to be released in 2021.
▍ Cut the rope on the road of peace and warmth
@张奕源Nick: Unlike other game developers who have experienced exciting commercial peaks and lows, the story of Cut the Rope and its development team, ZeptoLab, is smooth and uneventful.
The protagonists of the story are a pair of Russian brothers, Efim Voinov and Semyon Voinov. Efim and Semyon are typical "Russian computer prodigies" who acquired their first computer in elementary school and became interested in game development.
After using the iPhone, his brother Efim developed a small game for the phone called Parachute Ninja and decided to start a studio called ZeptoLab. Younger brother Semyon was intrigued by his brother's plan and soon joined ZeptoLab as well. The two brothers set about developing a new puzzle game, and Cut the Rope was born, which became the super IP in the field of puzzle games.
Semyon (left) and Efim
Cut the Rope has a concise and clear worldview from the start. The protagonist of the game is a little monster named Om Nom, who loves to eat candy and stars. In Cut the Rope, players have to cut a rope or solve some simple puzzle, using gravity to make Om Nom eat candy and stars to complete the level.
The main gameplay is to cut the rope or break the balloon so that the candy or stars above can be eaten by the little monster
After the original Cut the Rope fire, ZeptoLab developed a number of sequels to the game, including Cut the Rope: Experiments and Cut the Rope 2, which continued the classic gameplay, to Om Nom: Run, which resembled the parkour gameplay of Temple Run, and Om Nom: Merge, which was match-3.
Several major works in the current "Cut the Rope" series, images taken from the "Cut the Rope" website
Despite its popular IP, ZeptoLab has no ambitions to commercialize it indefinitely. Instead, they very clearly positioned Cut the Rope and Om Nom in the field of childhood enlightenment.
In addition to the games, Cut the Rope also launched a series of short films and a YouTube channel about simple adventure stories and preschool education content such as "Babies Come to Find Fault", peaceful and loving.
Cut the Rope's YouTube channel
Time has passed, and the Cut the Rope series itself has changed with the times, from the previous buyout system to a subscription system, and the subscription price is $9.99 per month, which is not cheap. However, you can play for free without paying under the premise of opening ads and in-app purchases, and the overall charging model is no different from the mainstream.
Considering that the game has fixed levels and cannot be played endlessly, the existence of a subscription system is more like a sponsorship and has almost no impact on the game experience itself.
A subscription prompt will pop up in the game, so you can turn it off if you don't like it. The in-app shop can also buy items that can be used or not
If you've purchased Cut the Rope before, you may have a little trouble playing it now - some versions of Cut the Rope have been removed or replaced by subscription-based versions and need to be re-downloaded; There are also several games that add the suffix "Original" or "GOLD" after the game name, which is equivalent to the "classic version", and the degree of adaptation to new iPhone models is uneven.
Fortunately, the subscription-based version of Cut the Rope is still being updated, and it can be played without spending money, so you can still try it if you want nostalgia.
Some versions are still there, others are removed or almost playable
In addition, it is said that "Cut the Rope" in China has been made full of advertisements by agents, and it is recommended to play the original version.
https://sspai.com/post/78197?utm_source=wechat&utm_medium=social
Author: Minority Editorial Department
Responsible editor: Northern Owl