Top 10 best arcade games for Android (2012)

The Android platform is home to a fair old number of arcade games, and plenty of them are well worth a download.

But, which are the cream of the crop? Which are worth your hard-earned cash? Which are deserving of your precious, precious free time?

Below is a list. It contains ten entries. Each of which is a superlative Android-based arcade game. That's why we called this feature the "Top 10 best arcade games for Android". Pretty clever stuff, huh.

Scroll down, read, download, blast, be happy - preferably in that order.

PewPew 2
By Jean-Francois Geyelin - buy on Android

Chock-full of polygonal shapes and monsters chasing your around space, PewPew 2 is a prime example of how to 'do' arena shooting.

It's hectic, it's difficult, it's shooty - essentially everything you're looking for in an arena shooter. Most importantly, it's great fun and well worth a blast on the bus.

Deflecticon
By MeteorPixel - buy on Android

Do you like Pong? Awww. How about 3D Pong? Okay, that's slightly more interesting. How about 3D Pong, with a twist of Tron, and a dash of Dreamcast cult classic Cosmic Smash? Theeere we go.

While bouncing the ball back and forth in Deflecticon, you can also crack open some power-ups, which give you the upper hand and allow you to charge up special shots that your opponent will have a tricky time sending back.

Robot Unicorn Attack
By Adult Swim - buy on Android

Having started life as an extremely popular browser game, Adult Swim's endless-runner Robot Unicorn Attack was soon spun off onto multiple formats, including smartphones.

Watching that unicorn dashing along and smashing through stars, all to the tune of 'Always' by Erasure, will forever remain one of my favourite things.

Pollushot
By YoYo Games - buy on Android

Angry Birds isn't the only game in which a slingshot is used to great effect. Pollushot isn't simply a 'direct ball at target' game, however, as your ball can actually weave in the air.

There's a bit of a learning curve here, but you'll soon be timing your shots beautifully. There's a certain rhythmic action to it all, too. Splendid.

Mr Legs
By I Like James Games - buy on Android

What would YOU do if you had ridiculously long legs? Consider entering the high jump at Rio 2016? Take up basketball? How about dodge birds and eat floating cherries?

Well, if you're Mr Legs, a man who cannot stop walking, you focus on the bird dodging and cherry eating.

The longer his legs grow, the faster Mr Legs moves - as you'd expect. Speeding up and slowing down to dodge obstacles is incredibly tricky, yet so, so satisfying.

Blazing Star
By SNK Playmore - buy on Android

Here's a bit of a classic for you. Old skool coin-op shooter Blazing Star serves up plenty of side-scrolling, bullet-dodging carnage for you to take in, consume, spit out, and re-chew over and over.

As you'd imagine from a retro space shooter, the action is pretty frantic and furious, with huge boss battles to blast your way through. Weaving through bulletstorms has never felt so good.

ZombieSmash
By Zynga - buy on Android

Zombies are very much the 'in thing' in video games at the moment. Actually, we're pretty sure zombies are always in fashion. Which stands ZombieSmash in good stead, for, unsurprisingly enough, it centres on the undead blighters.

In this castle defence-styled game, our hero is able to grab zombies, flick them up in the air, then slam them into the ground. Watching their limbs flail about is easily the best bit.

Node.Hack
By 4gency - buy on Android

We love mini-games involving hacking. Saying that, who doesn't? Node.Hack is one of the best we've come across, mixing up dodging security bots and stealing information with classic Pac-Man action.

Security bots will move between nodes, hunting you down and deleting you from the mainframe. However, you can set off traps to kill them off and save your hide. Just make sure you escape before they surround you.

Extreme Skater
By Miniclip - buy on Android

Arcade sports time now. With its intense, action-packed gameplay, Miniclip's Extreme Skater takes the age-old side-scrolling extreme sports experience to a level we don't often see.

Coming at you like a combination of Trials HD and Sonic the Hedgehog, this fast-paced title features simple swipe controls that allow you to jump serious gaps and pull off sweet grinds and flips.

MiniSquadron
By Gray Fin Studios - buy on Android

An oldie but a goodie. MiniSquadron is a literal flight of fancy, in which you zip around in a biplane shooting down rivals and collecting power-ups.

The plane handles incredibly gracefully, most noticeably when you're executing loop-the-loops.

Be warned, though: in the later levels, the action gets pretty frantic, so your airborne abilities will be tested to the max.