A mix of mobile nostalgia and addiction
Cast your minds back to 2013 and you’ll probably be able to recall memories of the phenomenon that wasFlappy Bird. For those who don’t remember, it was a mobile game that became an unbelievable (if brief) success, possibly one of the most popular iOS and Android releases of its time. Well, now it’s back. Kind of.
GitHub usersomhi(viaTime Extension) has managed to bringFlappy Birdback from the dead. In this instance, it’s been ported to the likes of theAnalogue Pocket, so the game is once again playable on mobile devices, just not one that many people are aware of.
The Analogue Pocket was released in December 2021. Essentially, it’s a handheld gaming system that allows you to play Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance titles. No emulation, either. This thing uses the actual cartridges from the OG devices. It’s described as the “ultimate tribute to portable gaming” and there are optional adapters for the Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket, and Atari Lynx. Check out our review of ithere.
What happened toFlappy Birdanyway?
Given the enormous success ofFlappy Birdin such a short span of time, it’s a wonder it didn’t last much longer. However, it was reported that its creator Dong Nguyen felt guilty about theaddictive nature of the game. Although he was raking in around $50,000a dayfrom ad revenues and sales, Nguyen decided to remove the app from both the Apple and Google stores in February 2014.
There was a version of it released for Amazon Fire TV in August of that year, but for all intents and purposes,Flappy Birdhas been dead for almost a decade. If you do miss its simplistic gameplay mechanics and that rush of dopamine, you can always check out somhi’s port for the Analogue Pocket, if you have one, that is. Who knows, maybe other versions will come out off the back of this.
