The month of June saw more classic conversions and more cross-platform delights. We could get used to this.
Keep it up, Android developers.
The World Ends With You
By Square Enix - buy on Android
Okay, so this one has been a long time coming. Too long, in truth. The original Nintendo DS game was released, well, back when the Nintendo DS was still a thing.
Less forgivable, though, is the fact that the iOS version of The World Ends With You launched a year and a half ago.
Still, Square Enix's game is so out-there-bonkers, it hasn't really aged a day. It's the same curious mix of JRPG, teenage angst, and fashion accessorising. And it's brilliant.
VVVVVV
By Terry Cavanagh - buy on Android
Another conversion of a modern classic, Terry Cavanagh's hard-as-nails platformer first launched back in 2010. Now it's made its way with Android (via 3DS and iOS).
It's a retro-tinged free-roaming platformer where flipping gravity and walking on the ceiling replaces that boring old jump.
You'd think that would make things easier, wouldn't you? You'd be Captain Wrong, sole survivor of the HMS Wrong.
Kiwanuka
By Jakly - buy on Android
Here's our first smartphone original, and it's a corker. Kiwanuka is one of those intelligently constructed, freshly thought-out platformers that feels perfectly at home on Android.
You guide your colourful clan around a series of precarious rock formations, forming them into flexible bridges and swinging them around until they affix to an adjacent surface.
Yes, it's a bit weird. And yes, it's a bit good.
Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
By Disney - buy on Android
If you're a long-term console gamer of around 30 years of age, the title of this game probably had you going all gooey with nostalgia.
The slightly worrying news is that this lush platformer isn't a conversion of the classic Mega Drive platformer. The good news is it's a surprisingly decent successor that manages to capture much of the original's magic.
Only, with impressive 3D graphics in place of the original's gorgeous 2D sprite work.
Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake
By SleepNinja - buy on Android
Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake does a wonderful thing. It takes the essence of Zelda and sprinkles it over a series of charming puzzles.
The art style is to die for and the spatial puzzles, while the very definition of gentle, are never less than pleasant to work through.
Hitman GO
By Square Enix - buy on Android
It's Hitman, but not as you know it. Hitman GO takes the core stealth concept of the original console and PC series and applies it to a stylised boardgame.
At heart, you're still sneaking around, sliding past guards, hiding behind walls, and "retiring" targets.
It's just been executed in such a way that it's more of a turn-based strategy game than an action-stealth game.
Wave Wave
By Thomas Janson - buy on Android
Wave Wave is another of those sadistic arcade games that seem to be so popular right now. You know, the ones that usually kill you off within two seconds of hitting the start button.
Here you're guiding a a zig-zagging line between spiky barriers, pressing to ascend and releasing to descend. It's like Flappy Bird, but more... binary.
Oh, and then the whole playing field starts spinning around, and you lose your lunch. Or the game. Probably both.
Fluid SE
By Radiangames - buy on Android
Quite how the tiny one-man team that is Radiangames keeps churning out such consistently polished gems on such a regular basis is beyond us.
But here's Fluid SE, looking and playing like a hyper-stylised modern reinvention of Pac-Man.
It's beautiful to look at and a delight to play, but then you knew that was going to be the case when you saw who made it, didn't you?
Qvadriga
By Slitherine - buy on Android
And the weird Android game of the month award goes to... Qvadriga! Sorry Kiwanuka, but that warm Lemmings vibe cost you the title.
Slitherine's game looks and plays like no other. It's a chariot-racing game with surprisingly (and dauntingly) heavy strategic elements stirred in.
If you make it through the dense instruction screen and learn how to play the game, you'll be hooked.
Tales of the Adventure Company
By Slothwerks - buy on Android
Making your game into a roguelike seems to be the done thing right now, regardless of genre.
Tales of the Adventure Company is another to adopt random levels and perma-death, but it applies these elements to a game of Battleship. Or that's what it feels like, at least.
You tip-toe through grid-based dungeons, uncovering enemy squares and engaging in stat-based battles. Then you die, swear, and do it all again.
Keep it up, Android developers.
The World Ends With You
By Square Enix - buy on Android
Okay, so this one has been a long time coming. Too long, in truth. The original Nintendo DS game was released, well, back when the Nintendo DS was still a thing.
Less forgivable, though, is the fact that the iOS version of The World Ends With You launched a year and a half ago.
Still, Square Enix's game is so out-there-bonkers, it hasn't really aged a day. It's the same curious mix of JRPG, teenage angst, and fashion accessorising. And it's brilliant.
VVVVVV
By Terry Cavanagh - buy on Android
Another conversion of a modern classic, Terry Cavanagh's hard-as-nails platformer first launched back in 2010. Now it's made its way with Android (via 3DS and iOS).
It's a retro-tinged free-roaming platformer where flipping gravity and walking on the ceiling replaces that boring old jump.
You'd think that would make things easier, wouldn't you? You'd be Captain Wrong, sole survivor of the HMS Wrong.
Kiwanuka
By Jakly - buy on Android
Here's our first smartphone original, and it's a corker. Kiwanuka is one of those intelligently constructed, freshly thought-out platformers that feels perfectly at home on Android.
You guide your colourful clan around a series of precarious rock formations, forming them into flexible bridges and swinging them around until they affix to an adjacent surface.
Yes, it's a bit weird. And yes, it's a bit good.
Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
By Disney - buy on Android
If you're a long-term console gamer of around 30 years of age, the title of this game probably had you going all gooey with nostalgia.
The slightly worrying news is that this lush platformer isn't a conversion of the classic Mega Drive platformer. The good news is it's a surprisingly decent successor that manages to capture much of the original's magic.
Only, with impressive 3D graphics in place of the original's gorgeous 2D sprite work.
Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake
By SleepNinja - buy on Android
Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake does a wonderful thing. It takes the essence of Zelda and sprinkles it over a series of charming puzzles.
The art style is to die for and the spatial puzzles, while the very definition of gentle, are never less than pleasant to work through.
Hitman GO
By Square Enix - buy on Android
It's Hitman, but not as you know it. Hitman GO takes the core stealth concept of the original console and PC series and applies it to a stylised boardgame.
At heart, you're still sneaking around, sliding past guards, hiding behind walls, and "retiring" targets.
It's just been executed in such a way that it's more of a turn-based strategy game than an action-stealth game.
Wave Wave
By Thomas Janson - buy on Android
Wave Wave is another of those sadistic arcade games that seem to be so popular right now. You know, the ones that usually kill you off within two seconds of hitting the start button.
Here you're guiding a a zig-zagging line between spiky barriers, pressing to ascend and releasing to descend. It's like Flappy Bird, but more... binary.
Oh, and then the whole playing field starts spinning around, and you lose your lunch. Or the game. Probably both.
Fluid SE
By Radiangames - buy on Android
Quite how the tiny one-man team that is Radiangames keeps churning out such consistently polished gems on such a regular basis is beyond us.
But here's Fluid SE, looking and playing like a hyper-stylised modern reinvention of Pac-Man.
It's beautiful to look at and a delight to play, but then you knew that was going to be the case when you saw who made it, didn't you?
Qvadriga
By Slitherine - buy on Android
And the weird Android game of the month award goes to... Qvadriga! Sorry Kiwanuka, but that warm Lemmings vibe cost you the title.
Slitherine's game looks and plays like no other. It's a chariot-racing game with surprisingly (and dauntingly) heavy strategic elements stirred in.
If you make it through the dense instruction screen and learn how to play the game, you'll be hooked.
Tales of the Adventure Company
By Slothwerks - buy on Android
Making your game into a roguelike seems to be the done thing right now, regardless of genre.
Tales of the Adventure Company is another to adopt random levels and perma-death, but it applies these elements to a game of Battleship. Or that's what it feels like, at least.
You tip-toe through grid-based dungeons, uncovering enemy squares and engaging in stat-based battles. Then you die, swear, and do it all again.
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