Quick Fix Games for Smartphones?

[RCBH928]

I am looking to see whats out there for "quick fix" games on smartphones. I got iPhone but I am guessing most games are shared with Android. Plats vs Zombies was my go to game for 10 years but after that I got tired it just kept repeating and any advancement made was purely out of interest to increase profit and no art/enthusiasm about it. I found some shmups but they follow the dreaded freemium model where you forever upgrade mindlessly to create the "addiction" and is very dry/corporate-y. They are also replicas of each other. I tried Among US which seemed fun but in practice didn't work out too well. Eat/Hole.io and Crowd City were fun but got boring too quickly.

Any suggestions? As long as the game allows you to play and save in small burst of time its ok does have to be made of 5-10min level.

[Ziggy]

I suggest editing the title of your thread to "Smartphones Quick Fix Games" or "Quick Fix Games for Smartphones?" The way it is now sounds like you're asking for or offering how to repair smartphones. When I first saw this thread I thought it was a spam bot post.

[RCBH928]

Apologies...didn't see that confusion coming up

[prfsnl_gmr]

Here are the games I have on my phone right now that I think fit your criteria:

Art Club
Beat Sneak Bandit
Blazing Star
Circa Infinity
Danmaku Unlimited 2
Danmaku Unlimited 3
DoDonPachi Revolution HD
Darius Burst
Deep Sea Fish Kebab
Dr. Mario World
Eloh
Guardic
Holedown
Karateka
Mini Metro
Neo Turf Masters
Oddmar
One Million Onion Hotel
Raiden Legacy
RayForce
SlayAway Camp
Super Hexagon
Super Hydorah
Trap Adventure
Vectrex Regeneration
Wilmot’s Warehouse
Yankai’s Peak
Zanac

Some others I recommend are Angry Birds, Arkanoid vs. Space Invaders, Azarashi, Bloo Kid, Canabalt, Desert Golfing, Double Dragon Trilogy, Double Dragon 4, Downwell, Dungeon Scroll, Kenshō, Kero Blaster, Knightmare Tower, Konami Pixel Puzzle, Leo’s Fortune, Mekorama, Minit, Number Munchers, Pang Advantures, Pink Heaven, Pink Hour, Prune, Quell+, Reigns, Shadowmatic, Spl-t, Super Mario Run, Super Phantom Cat, and Yankai’s Triangle. (I’ve beaten most of these, but I still need to finish up a few of them.). Hopefully, this helps you find something you will enjoy!

[RCBH928]

WOW! such a comprehensive list, I think you replied on behalf of everyone else on this forums. I haven't heard about most of them. This will take some to digest, thanks!

[prfsnl_gmr]

WOW! such a comprehensive list, I think you replied on behalf of everyone else on this forums. I haven't heard about most of them. This will take some to digest, thanks!

Thanks! There are a lot more than this out there, certainly. These are just the ones that have interested me the most, whether they’re part of a genre particularly good for phones (e.g., shmups), part of a series I really enjoy (e.g., Double Dragon), retro classics (e.g., Guardic, Neo Turf Masters, Vectrex Regeneration, Zanac), from an auteur game designer (e.g., Azarashi, Kero Blaster, One Million Onion Hotel, Pink Heaven, Pink Hour), or just really, really good despite F2P mechanics (e.g., Dr. Mario World...I finally threw a few dollars at Nintendo not because I had to if I wanted to continue playing, but because I felt a little guilty about playing so much without paying anything!).

[BoneSnapDeez]

I like the Cally's Caves games. Cute little Metroidvanias. Not too maze-y and can be played in short spurts. The first one is permanently delisted, but parts 2/3/4 are on Android and iOS.

[RCBH928]

I like the Cally's Caves games. Cute little Metroidvanias. Not too maze-y and can be played in short spurts. The first one is permanently delisted, but parts 2/3/4 are on Android and iOS.

WOAH I really like this one! SNES quality game, original, not a copy cat, fun game mechanics, fun graphics, right balance of difficulty, not freemium model, has a real retro feeling, addictive gameplay. Checks all the boxes, and made with enthusiasm. This could have been released on Genesis/SNES and get a solid 8/10 at least. Sad to see these types of games completely buried in the App Store, it has like 53 reviews, meanwhile freemium junk with their unlimited upgrades trees has 10s of thousands.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Yeah thankfully the developer was smart enough to put them on Steam because, as noted, they are absolutely buried in the Google Play and (presumably) iOS storefronts. I only went searching for them on my Android tablet because part 2 isn't on Steam (though a remade version is).

[prfsnl_gmr]

Yeah thankfully the developer was smart enough to put them on Steam because, as noted, they are absolutely buried in the Google Play and (presumably) iOS storefronts. I only went searching for them on my Android tablet because part 2 isn't on Steam (though a remade version is).

I have those. I was hesitant to recommend the iOS versions, however, because the mobile version of Cally’s Caves 2 is pretty buggy. (You can’t access the map, meaning that, while the game saves your progress with regard to upgrades, you have to start at the beginning every time you play it.). Because your post reminded me I still need to beat those games, however, I actually powered through Cally’s Caves 2 this afternoon by power-grinding money for all of the upgrades, power-grinding all of my weapons, and sprinting to the final boss. (My run through the game took 45 minutes, maybe? It would have been a lot more enjoyable with the map feature, but the game was still bearable in a single sitting.) Level 15 Cally with a fully-powered flamethrower and $300K+ in the bank had no problem taking down Herbert.

Now that I have the buggiest game behind me, I’m looking forward to Cally’s Caves 3 and 4!