Mobile game recomendations

[hudson]

I know, mobile gaming can suck. Especially if you're asking me to use the screen as a traditional style controller. There are however, some games that can break on through that wall of negativity I have when thinking about the platform. Many come from daddy games that were release on console/PC and translate well using mobile touch controls. Slay the Spire, for example. Vampire Survivors and more.

Ladies & gentlemen... I ask... what are those mobile games that keep you from going to sleep on time on a school/work night in 2024?

Currently I am playing Game Dev Story (I know, a retro cut!), Slice and Dice (a very decent turn-based RPG involving dice), Wordle, Suika Game (officially just released on mobile).

[QualityChimp]

Love Game Dev Story too!

Hmmm, I have a bunch of boardgame adaptations that I get in sales then rarely touch (sound familiar?), although I really like Potion Explosion.

Super Hexagon is always amazing and due a replay soon.

However, if I'm honest, the only game I play on my mobile is Marvel Puzzle Quest and have been doing so for bloody years now.
It's just enough of a distraction for a daily play or you can put more time into it if you want to get more rewards.
You can pay for lots of stuff, but I rarely ever do as you can get most things for free eventually.

It's a match-3 tile game, but the Marvel element makes it more interesting with characters I know and like and introducing me to new ones or ones a bit daft.

I hear good things about Marvel Snap, but I didn't want to commit to two games, both Marvel.
I also found it a bit needy, constantly begging you to play more.

Might look at Slice and Dice, cheers.

[wakka]

I got a new phone recently, and I have been using the three months of free Apple Arcade to play a few titles.

Easy Come, Easy Golf I've mentioned elsewhere on here. It's Everybody's Golf, without the Sony-owned license, by Clap Hanz (the makers of EG). It feels a lot easier than EG ever was, but things are mostly present and correct (triple tap controls, for example) and the visuals are good.

I've also been playing Horizon Chase 2. For those who don't know this series, it basically controls like a retro 2D racing game. It's often compared to Outrun but its circuit-based gameplay is more akin to Jaguar XJ220 or maybe Suzuka 8 Hours.

It's a lot of fun - I played all the way through the first game on an old iPhone, mostly in very short bursts on the tube. This sequel plays very similarly but features enhanced graphics. I do like the inclusion of more effects but I actually kind of miss the spare, often unshaded or lightly shaded textures of the original. It's a very good game to have on your phone to dip into.

I've also been playing Air Twister. This is the modern Space Harrier/Panzer Dragoon type game from Yu Suzuki, featuring Queen-style BGM and some interesting Dune-esque sandworm enemies.

It's good - the visuals and sound are excellent - and controls fairly well on a touchscreen, but the game must be played all the way through in one go, just like an old school arcade game. That doesn't really work too well for me on mobile to be honest, where I'm normally filling in little gaps in my day rather than settling in for a big session.

I also downloaded Williams Pinball but quickly tired of the F2P, loot boxy infrastructure built around the core pinball gameplay. This actually ended up sending me off in the direction of playing emulated tables on VisualPinballX on Mac, which is much better!

On a side note, with Apple running scared of the EU's DMA legislation and the recently launched DoJ antitrust case, they're lifting some of the restrictions on the App Store - and emulators will soon be coming to iPhone officially for the first time. That should be quite interesting (although to be honest I can't be bothered carting around a pad for my phone and touchscreen controls for this type of thing are generally terrible so I can't say I'm overwhelmingly bothered).

[fuse]

If you're on iOS, I would make a strong recommendation for Holovista, which is this AR photography thing that deserves to be more well known than it is. Monument Valley is another that I've still got installed and would strongly recommend. If you're into scaled-down shooter ports, a lot of the Cave games are now incompatible with current firmware, but a few are still holding on (Death Smiles, Dodonpachi Maximum) and there's also Aka to Blue which is a very good bullet hell that is otherwise only available on the exA-Arcadia system.

Given how well the puzzle genre fits mobile gaming, Threes is an absolute must, and Knotwords is also very good - Zach Gage also is now jointly responsible for the web-based Puzzmo which has been a daily habit of mine now since I started it and is easily enough played on a mobile too.

There's a mobile version of Papers, Please now, and I'm fairly sure that most of the Ace Attorney games are available too. Those would likely fit the format well?

I've also been playing Air Twister. This is the modern Space Harrier/Panzer Dragoon type game from Yu Suzuki, featuring Queen-style BGM and some interesting Dune-esque sandworm enemies.

I've still not stuck the PS5 version on yet, but I did spend a good amount of time with the iOS version - have you unlocked the charge weapon thing yet? I can't remember the proper name for it and am not subscribed right now to be able to check, but that kind of breaks the game from what I remember. Ps. add "fuse2dx" on Game Centre!

On a side note, with Apple running scared of the EU's DMA legislation and the recently launched DoJ antitrust case, they're lifting some of the restrictions on the App Store - and emulators will soon be coming to iPhone officially for the first time. That should be quite interesting (although to be honest I can't be bothered carting around a pad for my phone and touchscreen controls for this type of thing are generally terrible so I can't say I'm overwhelmingly bothered).

The (very good, highly recommended) Read Only Memo substack had a good summary of what we know about this (there's a web version of the specific issue here), which I think does some good pondering on the topic. In particular -

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure how Apple's rules here that "retro game console emulator apps can offer to download games" but also that the apps are "responsible for all such software offered in your app, including ensuring that such software complies with these Guidelines and all applicable laws." Obviously emulators aren't gonna be able to let you download a whole load of pirated roms, but does this mean Apple is cool with users being able to load whatever files they wish into an emulator? Or can emulators only allow explicitly licensed games? In other words, can anyone upload a Game Boy Advance emulator to iOS, or can only Nintendo upload an iOS version of its Switch Online emulators?

[Lebowski]

I've been playing Nobody's adventure Chop Chop for about a week, It's a free game where you log in each day and set your character to work hitting a tree with an axe, every hit of the tree gives you a bit of armour, occasionally you get better armour and you can choose to equip it if its better. if the armour is not better you can destroy it and get a small chunk of XP to level up your character, That's pretty much it 99% of the game is hitting a tree to get armour and xp for your character to make them stronger.

The other 1% of the game is a bare-bones boss rush Turn based RPG thing that you play until you until can't beat the current monster, I say "play" as you have no control over the battle bar clicking go. Once you can't beat the monster, its back to the tree to hit it some more for some better gear. I think this type of game is called an Idle RPG and is for people that like to see numbers go up but also don't want to engage their brain too much. I don't really like seeing numbers go up but also don't like my brain, so I'm stuck in this loop of logging on using my daily allowance of chops clicking about a few menus to level up some other bits i don't really understand and then logging off again.

1 out of 10 boring and pointless

[wakka]

fuse

Wow, lots of great recs! Holovista looks very interesting, I will give that a try for sure.

I had totally forgotten I already owned Aka to Blue. Good reminder, thanks. While searching it up in the App Store, I noticed that Dodonpachi Resurrection is now back - I remember that vanishing due to a lack of updates, but it's now an Arcade game. Which is nice (if you have Arcade).

I haven't unlocked the change weapon thing in Air Twister I don't think. I need to give it some more time. Honestly I might just play the Mac version with an Xbox pad, I think I'm more likely to settle down for a proper session that way.

I also subscribe to Read Only Memo and I agree it's very good.

But with regards to the paragraph you've quoted, I keep seeing chatter about this clause voicing the same concerns, but I really don't get how it's an issue at all.

Apps on iOS have allowed you to open up your own files since forever - even way before Apple added a user-accessible filesystem, App Store approved apps like VLC offered workarounds. Nowadays it's way simpler, since you can actually browse the filesystem and your iCloud files directly. Plus, Safari for iOS has had the ability to download files for many years.

I can't see how it will be any more inconvenient than opening ROMs up on a computer or on anything else.

EDIT: Oh, and I will add you on Game Centre!

[wakka]

The first official App Store approved iOS emulator is here

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/delta-game-emulator/id1048524688

It supports:

- Nintendo Entertainment System

• Super Nintendo Entertainment System

• Nintendo 64

• Game Boy (Color)

• Game Boy Advance

• Nintendo DS

Apparently it supports the gyro so I'm actually going to give Warioware Twisted a try, cos I've always wanted to play that (although I've probably played most of its minigames via Warioware Gold).

[wakka]

Just been giving Delta a try. It’s a really nice little multi-emulator. It doesn’t support screen filters right now, but that’s the only real drawback I can see. No ads and entirely free, too.

I’ve been playing WarioWare Twisted and it works great with the built-in gyro in the phone. Been wanting to play this for years!

Fears about getting ROMs into it were fortunately unfounded as it’s as simple as accessing the file system and choosing whatever you want it shows recent Safari downloads first, conveniently.