Posts tagged frustrating Flappy Bird

AOTW/TOTW: Top 5 Most Frustrating Mobile Games

0
10 years
by in AOTWs, TOTWs

The app store, featuring billions of apps and hundreds of categories, has one category that is unfortunately addicting and seems to be a recent fad: frustrating games. Frustrating, but in a weird way good apps. These apps have been gaining followers, all who want to kill themselves every time they play the game. For those of you out there who haven’t experienced the mindless rage you get when playing these games, here is a list of the best games in the Frustrating category. (remember, this list is mostly consisting of the best, most frustrating game that I have played. These are my favorites. Though if you end up throwing your phone out the window, don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.)

#1. Duet

Duet is currently my favorite game (which changes often), but even that can’t stop me from feeling like a want take by phone and through it down a well, then haul it up and do it again. The way the game works is that there is two balls at the bottom of the screen, both rotating on opposite sides of a circle axis. if you press on the right side of the screen, the balls spin right, and vise versa for left. The screen then moves under the balls, bringing forth a maze of obstacles that you have to navigate without having the balls touch any of the obstacles. It is actually a  brilliant game, well thought out and well designed, but it is very frustrating, which is why it is numero uno on this list.

#2. Flappy Bird

Flappy Bird. How could that impossibly annoying bird not be on this list. Made by Dong Nguyen, this game has swept over the nation like a plague, infecting everyone on it’s way. All you do is tap. Over and over. And over. And over. Just to get a bird through some tubes. Yet every time you play, and you fail, you want to play again. For some odd reason. But it does have some good qualities, and the story behind the short life of the game is almost as odd as the game itself.

#3. The Impossible Road

The Impossible Road has got to be the most self-explanatory game ever on the app store. It is basically just a road. With a ball on it. You can turn the ball left and right. The point of the game is to stay on the road and get past as many checkpoints as possible. Which is almost impossible. Yet when you fall off, you just want to play again in frustration. Some people may be able to resist the frustration, since it is less than Flappy Bird or Duet, but it is still pretty strong.

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#4. Super ball juggling

Another, lesser known masterpiece of Dong Nguyen is Super Ball Juggling, fraternal twin of flappy bird. Just like Flappy Bird, all you is tap, but this time, it is to keep the ball in the air. You car a guy, juggling a soccer ball, and when you tap he kicks and hopefully hits the ball to make your streak continue. The problem is, there is a very short window of when you can hit the ball, you it is hard to get even over ten. Still, just like Flappy Bird, you want to try again, but in this case, the urge can be avoided after a couple tries.

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The Juggler

#5. BIT.TRIP RUN!

BIT.TRIP RUN! (yes, it is actually all caps and has a exclamation) is another runner game, yet instead of a floating cam behind the character, it is on the side, watching your player navigate through a course of obstacles and gaps in the platform. You can avoid them by flicking on the screen different ways to perform different moves, such as kicking, jumping and sliding. In this game, the frustration is on a different level, more like the urge to finish the level battling your abilities. Anyway, out of these apps, this is the least appealing, but still a good game.

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The BIT.TRIP Runner

(curated by FFtech)

TOTW: We Hardly Knew Ye, Flappy Bird

0
10 years
by in AOTWs, TOTWs

Every once in a while, a game or an app goes big on the app store. Angry Birds, Doodle Jump, Candy Crush, or Threes, for example. Usually, especially in the case of Doodle Jump and Angry Birds, they come out with many sequal apps, varying in sponsors and themes. No doubt they make loads of money, and are practically set for life. Even though this is a rare situation, the short, yet odd story of Flappy Birds is one in a billion.

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First, for those of you who don’t know what this game is or how to play it, the one good thing about it is that it is incredibly simple and repetitive. You tap the screen. The bird, which you will learn to hate as a reincarnation of the devil, will jump up, then immediately start plummeting until you tap again. You will quickly reach a set of tubes, hanging like stalagmites and a stalagmites, which you have to navigate the Flappy Bird through. If you get through the first tube on the first try, you are either incredibly, amazingly skilled or a god. If you don’t, you’re normal. Sooner or later, you will get through, then even later maybe 10 – 20. But, if you get addicted to the incredibly simple game like more than 50 million other people did, you will learn why Flappy Bird is, well, @#$%!. Sometimes, you can get 24 or higher, and you celebrate like you won the lottery, and you try again thinking you have finally found the golden method and will do better. Then you get 0, and you get so mad you could have easily just won the lottery, just to have it stolen by your long-time rival. Even if you are well mannered and not easily made mad, don’t underestimate the power of that small 8-bit bird.

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A Game Over Screenshot

Some people, before they download Flappy Bird, say “Well, it’s just a game, it can’t be that bad”. Don’t listen to them. But if it is so frustrating, or as @trainwreckniall said on Twitter, “Flappy Bird is like the new Angry Birds only this time I’m the angry one.” why is it so popular. It does have one good trait, behind the simple graphics and gameplay, which is, the well known gaming quote, by the Atari founder, Nolan Bushnell, “A good game is easy to learn, and hard to master.” Flappy Bird is definitely easy to learn, and almost impossible to master.

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The Devil Himself

Switching over to the personal side of the game, the Vietnamese creator, Dong Nguyen was, after the app blew up, $50,000 a day, he told The Verge, all of advertisements. After all, his app was topping the free charts in China, UK and US. But, it was so much of a success he was soon pressured to make a android version and getting angry messages from people who either lost at the game or didn’t like that it made it big. It, I am assuming, was just to much for the indie game designer, so he tweeted these:

And he did. Soon after his Tweet, he took down Flappy Bird, ending the surge of popularity, to the gamers who were late to the party, and also slowing down the booming anger management clinics. That was not the end of it, though. After the take down, people quickly decided to take advantage of the hit and make their own parodies of the game, ending up with not only Flappy Bird, but Splashy Fish, City Bird Flappy Flyer and Ironpants, 123 on the US free app list. You might think the saga will end there, where everyone with the app will keep it, there will inevitably be parodies, and over time it will peter out of style. Oh, no, Google and Apple were not done with the annoying game just yet.

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The Current Top Free Apps In The US

Since the parodies kept coming, Apple and Google decided to put a stop to all the madness. Since they both have the ability to not accept apps into Google Play and the App Store, they used that ability to it’s full potential. They have started rejecting apps that have the word “flappy” in the name. It’s good that they did that. No more ridiculous Flappy Penguin or Flappy Justin Bieber. Eventually, the game must stop attracting so much attention, but until then, if you want to keep your sanity, STAY AWAY FROM IT. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.

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