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Early mobile games were such a delight. I have fond memories of Angry Birds, Plants vs Zombies, Cut the Rope, Flight Control, Threes, Monument Valley, Bad Piggi

Early mobile games were such a delight. I have fond memories of Angry Birds, Plants vs Zombies, Cut the Rope, Flight Control, Threes, Monument Valley, Bad Piggies... But then predatory freemium games like Clash of Clans and newer replacements for Angry Birds and Plants vs Zombies burned me out. They eliminated any desire I had to invest time or money or attention into mobile games. Popular freemium games in the App Store now bury any new gems. It's quite disappointing. A better GPU isn't going to help the situation.

simonh 3y ago
It’s still a bit thin on top class games, but I still hold out hope for Apple Arcade.
- firecall 3y ago
  Apple Arcade is excellent value IMHO!
javajosh 3y ago
>Angry Birds, Plants vs Zombies, Cut the Rope, Flight Control, Threes My list of games is basically the same. I think they are legitimately rare, and we believe at the time that they are not. It's like YouTube. You find one 3blue1brown or Adam Neely and you think there are a hundred more. There aren't.
itishappy 3y ago
Anybody remember GeoDefence or Tap Tap Revenge? These weren't hidden gems either, these were front and center promoted links in the App Store. I'm sure it's possible to find experiences like these in modern games, but I've given up hope long ago. I don't have time to sift through the trash.
jerojero 3y ago
I still play Threes! to this day, still haven't been able to get a 6000 card even after all these years. I don't think there's a mobile game out there that has given me more entertainment.
- kjsthree 3y ago
  I feel seen! Just over 200k is my high-score and I've yet to witness the 6144 card. Still out here trying though!
  - jerojero 3y ago
    My high-score is 247,641 which is basically a 3072 and a 1536 but at that point... I don't know. I feel like my technique is lacking, it's as though there's just something I don't know that will make me better and I can't access that knowledge. Probably planning ahead for potential killing cards? But as you say, still out there trying.
- Nekhrimah 3y ago
  Threes! was literally the perfect game at launch. Of course, the shitty free clone 2048 took the concept, made it worse, and somehow (because it was free) captured the majority of the market. I still play Threes! regularly as well.
krsna 3y ago
Tiny Wings and Alto's Adventure were standouts for me. Also Device 6 gave me some hope that puzzle games could be special on mobile. But that dream never materialized unfortunately.
earthnail 3y ago
IMO this has so much to do with how Apple advertises the App Store. They were able to get people to spend some money on apps, which was a HUGE improvement over no money at all. But then, instead of managing to get people to pay higher upfront prices, they heavily supported a race to the bottom and micro transactions, which inevitably resulted in freemium games that felt like casinos. Unfortunately that isn't just true for games but also for apps. I wish Apple had focused more on building a healthier App Store ecosystem.
- simondotau 3y ago
  One could argue that Apple Arcade is exactly that healthier ecosystem. Games with less bullshit and no in-app purchases.
  - goosedragons 3y ago
    It's a tiny garden in a dump of shit. Some titles probably can't make money from a revenue share of service that costs $6 a month.
    - simondotau 3y ago
      Which is fine, because I don't need a thousand games. Honestly the only thing I wish Arcade offered is more games for the 5–10 year old crowd.
- Gareth321 3y ago
  They've been actively fostering the enshitiffication of the App Store. Practises like preventing paid upgrades forces developers to use micro-transactions to survive. They also aggressively change and deprecate APIs without adequate notice or documentation. This means apps require constant maintenance. So one-time purchases are much less viable for developers. Soon we'll be able to install whichever apps we like in the EU thanks to the DMA. I think there is a hunger for alternative app stores.
- qubex 3y ago
  Not to mention the rise of the dreaded Subscription Model. That has to be the most miserable scam ever inflicted upon software users. I’m sure a lot of developers here will disagree and quote needing a constant stream of revenue, but the same is true of any business including a Mom&Pop corner shop—and yet they survive (or don’t) on the margin they make on the products they sell, not by selling a subscription card you need to possess in order to have the privilege of shopping at their store.
candiodari 3y ago
TouchHLE supports emulating a bunch of these (only on android devices, windows or macos, because, you know, Apple)

simonh 3y ago

It’s still a bit thin on top class games, but I still hold out hope for Apple Arcade.

firecall 3y ago
Apple Arcade is excellent value IMHO!

javajosh 3y ago

>Angry Birds, Plants vs Zombies, Cut the Rope, Flight Control, Threes My list of games is basically the same. I think they are legitimately rare, and we believe at the time that they are not. It's like YouTube. You find one 3blue1brown or Adam Neely and you think there are a hundred more. There aren't.

itishappy 3y ago

Anybody remember GeoDefence or Tap Tap Revenge? These weren't hidden gems either, these were front and center promoted links in the App Store. I'm sure it's possible to find experiences like these in modern games, but I've given up hope long ago. I don't have time to sift through the trash.

jerojero 3y ago

I still play Threes! to this day, still haven't been able to get a 6000 card even after all these years. I don't think there's a mobile game out there that has given me more entertainment.

kjsthree 3y ago
I feel seen! Just over 200k is my high-score and I've yet to witness the 6144 card. Still out here trying though!
- jerojero 3y ago
  My high-score is 247,641 which is basically a 3072 and a 1536 but at that point... I don't know. I feel like my technique is lacking, it's as though there's just something I don't know that will make me better and I can't access that knowledge. Probably planning ahead for potential killing cards? But as you say, still out there trying.
Nekhrimah 3y ago
Threes! was literally the perfect game at launch. Of course, the shitty free clone 2048 took the concept, made it worse, and somehow (because it was free) captured the majority of the market. I still play Threes! regularly as well.

krsna 3y ago

Tiny Wings and Alto's Adventure were standouts for me. Also Device 6 gave me some hope that puzzle games could be special on mobile. But that dream never materialized unfortunately.

earthnail 3y ago

IMO this has so much to do with how Apple advertises the App Store. They were able to get people to spend some money on apps, which was a HUGE improvement over no money at all. But then, instead of managing to get people to pay higher upfront prices, they heavily supported a race to the bottom and micro transactions, which inevitably resulted in freemium games that felt like casinos. Unfortunately that isn't just true for games but also for apps. I wish Apple had focused more on building a healthier App Store ecosystem.

simondotau 3y ago
One could argue that Apple Arcade is exactly that healthier ecosystem. Games with less bullshit and no in-app purchases.
- goosedragons 3y ago
  It's a tiny garden in a dump of shit. Some titles probably can't make money from a revenue share of service that costs $6 a month.
  - simondotau 3y ago
    Which is fine, because I don't need a thousand games. Honestly the only thing I wish Arcade offered is more games for the 5–10 year old crowd.
Gareth321 3y ago
They've been actively fostering the enshitiffication of the App Store. Practises like preventing paid upgrades forces developers to use micro-transactions to survive. They also aggressively change and deprecate APIs without adequate notice or documentation. This means apps require constant maintenance. So one-time purchases are much less viable for developers. Soon we'll be able to install whichever apps we like in the EU thanks to the DMA. I think there is a hunger for alternative app stores.
qubex 3y ago
Not to mention the rise of the dreaded Subscription Model. That has to be the most miserable scam ever inflicted upon software users. I’m sure a lot of developers here will disagree and quote needing a constant stream of revenue, but the same is true of any business including a Mom&Pop corner shop—and yet they survive (or don’t) on the margin they make on the products they sell, not by selling a subscription card you need to possess in order to have the privilege of shopping at their store.

candiodari 3y ago

TouchHLE supports emulating a bunch of these (only on android devices, windows or macos, because, you know, Apple)