latest
The original Angry Birds dates back to 2009 as an iOS release, and the game was a huge hit thanks to cute graphics and accessible slingshot-based controls. After this breakout success, the game was ported to a multitude of platforms, including Android, and it ran for years receiving new content. Well, thanks to the #BringBack2012 Twitter hashtag campaign, Rovio took note that the preferred rendition of the classic game was the 2012 version, which offered eight Angry Birds episodes (over 390 levels), and so the company has recreated this version for modern devices, known as Rovio Classics: Angry Birds, which is officially available on the Play Store starting today.
Sega has been re-releasing its back catalog of Genesis / Mega Drive games as part of the Sega Forever collection on a bi-weekly basis. Gunstar Heroes is the latest game in the lineup, though actually being able to play the game is another problem altogether.
As part of its recent push to mobilize its classic arcade portfolio, Capcom has dusted off 1985's famous action-platformer for an Android release. Ghosts 'N Goblins, first released in the arcade more than 30 years ago, now has an official port in the Play Store going for 99 cents. It's playable on just about any phone or tablet running Android 4.1 or above, but sadly, not with Android TV or Bluetooth controllers. As some of the game's bad guys would say: boo.
What is this? Another classic Capcom title with the word "Mobile" affixed at the end? If you think that looks eerily familiar to the Mega Man Mobile games recently released on the Play Store, you would be correct. Sadly, this means that 1942 Mobile is not a port of the arcade classic but a rehash of one of their mobile JAVA releases from years back. Yep that is correct, this is a port of a flip-phone game. While not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself the question remains... has Capcom learned from past mistakes?
Retro-style games are all the rage these days. From their simple camera angles to their usually endearing pixel art, they have a sense of nostalgia to them regardless of your age. Evil Factory is one such example. This top-down arcade title is action-packed and sure to provide some good fun.
After some teasing in weeks prior, Samsung has taken the wraps off the Gear S3 at IFA. Although the Gear S2 was already a potent smartwatch, the Gear S3 adds a host of new features that make it even more competitive with Android Wear's crop of offerings, including the just-announced ASUS ZenWatch 3.
MojoTouch has been releasing some notable classics of the point-and-click adventure genre for the last few years. First came Simon the Sorcerer (and eventually its sequel ), then The Seventh Guest. Now the developer has ported Flight of the Amazon Queen, an Indiana Jones-style adventure parody first released for MS-DOS and the Amiga way back in 1995. You can grab it on the Play Store for $4, and the game has no ads or in-app purchases.
Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our bi-weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got a unique head-smashing platformer, another Kairosoft management sim, a classic WWI dogfighter, a minimal lane-based strategy game, an interesting text-based interrogation title, a game where you eat people and smash paintings, and an anime-inspired badminton game. Without further ado:
Normally an Android re-release of a decades-old RPG means we're talking about another Squaresoft or Enix port, but this one is digging deep into the annals of Japanese role-playing game history. The Ys series (pronounced... okay, I honestly have no idea how it's pronounced) is a collection of action-RPGs that stretches across four decades and dozens of platforms all the way back to 1987. Ys Chronicles 1, an updated port of the game that began the franchise, is now available on Android from DotEmu.
Today's gaming machines allow for experiences that we could only dream of decades ago, but nevertheless, the early years of gaming were a time ripe with innovation. While gaming at home was no longer a new concept by the time the 80's came around, the decade was still a time of creativity as developers experimented with genres and art styles that wouldn't hit their heydays until years later. Others were just weird by design, such as Deus Ex Machina, an interactive movie released in 1984 that has now found its way over to Android.
Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our bi-weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got a retro revival, a sickeningly cute jumping game, an appealing escape title, and a Flappy Bird clone with zombies. (I apologize in advance.) Without further ado:
The golden age of PC role-playing is coming roaring back on mobile devices. After releasing the enhanced edition of Baldur's Gate earlier this year, developer Beamdog has kept its promise to bring Icewind Dale to Android. This game was released in 2000 and had a lot in common with Baldur's Gate, though some would say it was even better. Now it can be yours on Android—all 2.6GB of it.
Square seems to have run out of Final Fantasy games for Android (and no, you can't have FFVII, so stop asking). The company has been going to its Enix side for mobile re-releases as of late, publishing Dragon Quest VIII, then Dragon Quest IV, then the original Dragon Quest to the Play Store. And since Square Enix is apparently ready to start counting in the right order, you can now play Dragon Quest II in non-emulated form for the not-so-low price of five bucks.
Android is becoming a veritable haven of classic RPGs, and Square Enix's mobile ports and re-releases are a big part of that. In addition to no less than six of the original Final Fantasy games, Chrono Trigger, The World Ends With You, and the fourth and eighth entries in Enix's Dragon Quest series, the company published the original Dragon Quest to the Play Store last night. You can get the 1986 NES title for a reasonable $2.99.
Want to travel back to the golden age of fantasy strategy games? Well, maybe "golden age" is a bit dramatic, but the 90s brought all manner of well-crafted strategy games that focused on gameplay in place of graphics. Conquest of Elysium II was released in 1997, but the third incarnation came to Steam a while back with the same traditional vibe. Now it's on Android, but it won't come cheap.
Defender of the Crown was an oddity when it debuted in 1986: a highly-polished game with impressive visual presentation (for the time), but one that didn't fit into any established genre. Civilization players of today might recognize a sort of proto-strategy in the slightly fantastic Medieval England setting, where you raise an army and conquer Britain in bits and pieces. But the actual gameplay requires real player interaction with the pre-rendered background, including various forms of fighting, jousting, and management.
If you couldn't get enough of Dirk and Daphne from the original Dragon's Lair, they're back in the arcade sequel. Dragon's Lair 2 was originally released back in 1991 on arcade laserdisc machines, enabling the beautiful 2D art from master animator Don Bluth to shine through. Dragon's Lair 2: Time Warp is five dollars on the Play Store (the same price as the original) and is compatible with Android 1.5 and up.
We don't have Tekken. We don't have Street Fighter. We don't have DOA. But Namco just gave fighter fans one hell of a reason to celebrate: the original SoulCalibur is now available on Android. The Dreamcast port of this arcade fighter favorite has long been considered one of the gems of the genre, and you can play it on your phone right now. It's a pricey $6.67 and compatible with Gingerbread and up.
There's something strange going on with SNK's The King of Fighters. Way back in March of 2012 an Android version of the classic 16-bit 2D fighter series was published, with a frustratingly short list of supported devices and no small amount of technical problems. The app disappeared from the US Play Store before too long, only to reappear this July. Now there's a brand new version, The King Of Fighters-A 2012, available alongside the original Android release.
If you spent the early to mid 90s tapping away on a Neo-Geo controller, you're probably familiar with Samurai Shodown II. This classic fighting game was much loved at the time, and it's seen a bit of a comeback in recent years on Xbox Live Arcade and Wii Virtual Console. Now this title has arrived on Android thanks to SNK Playmore, but nostalgia doesn't come cheap.