Top 5 arcade-inspired games on mobile

The arcade is a much diminished force in modern gaming.

Advances in technology have meant that, where once they were the place to go for cutting edge gaming experiences, they now occupy something of a gimmicky niche. Somewhere to go and act like a prat on a giant dance mat for ten minutes before your film starts.

When any gamer over the age of 25 mentions ‘arcade,’ though, it’s often meant as an adjective. A handy go-to word for a game that’s simple, accessible, slick, and addictive.

Many mobile games today have their roots in the arcades of yesteryear. We thought we’d highlight some of our favourite examples of mobile games that have been directly influenced by coin-operated machines of old.

The title says it all, really. Rampage was an arcade classic that involved taking control of one from a selection of giant monsters – chief of which was a Kong-like gorilla.

Despite the obvious nod, though, and a similar premise of climbing towers and mashing bothersome humans, that’s where the similarities end. Whereas Rampage was a frenetic beat-'em-up of sorts, Digital Chocolate’s effort is nothing of the sort.

Instead, Gorilla Rampage turns to another legendary arcade source for its gameplay – Space Invaders. Your giant simian wanders left and right, leaving you to lob rocks at the climbing hordes - plus the odd ‘boss’ character.

Peggle sees you launching a series of balls into a field of pins. As each ball rattles around, the pins disappear, your score tots up, and your endorphin levels go through the roof.

The game’s influence can be seen in that corner of the arcade that contains the unique chimes and flashing lights of the pinball table, as well as in the arcade-gambling hall fusion of a Japanese Pachinko parlour.

PopCap’s game is a modern masterpiece. But the chimes, colours, and stratospheric high scores are firmly rooted in those alluring, coin-gobbling machines found in pubs, cinema complexes, and piers the world over.

The first of two games on this list to have gained their inspiration directly from the king of the arcade, Pac-Man, is also the one that hides its influence the best.

That’s not to say that Treasure Grab’s debt to the great gobbler is anything less than glaring. Rather, the maze-running template is dressed in a rich, detailed world and stuck with an entertaining story.

You play as Alya Loot, a nimble apprentice thief who must clean out the coffers of a host of medieval aristocrats. In practice, this is essentially boiled down to an accomplished Pac-a-like, with dots replaced by gems and ghosts by guards.

One of the freshest mobile games of 2009, Chuck Norris: Bring on the Pain managed to capture the zeitgeist by playing on the trend of ironically lauding the ginger ninja himself. It’s rare to find a mobile game with such a finely tuned sense of humour.

Look a little closer at the game behind the concept, though, and it’s a fairly traditional (if brilliantly realised) arcade-action title.

Taking its cues from scrolling coin-op beat-‘em-ups such as Final Fight and cartoony arcade blasters like Metal Slug, Chuck here gives a suitably sizeable nod to the machines that were around during his hey-day.

Neon Runner isn’t just an arcade-influenced mobile game. It’s a loving tribute to a whole era of fast-moving, minimalistic, coin operated experiences.

The obvious influence is Pac-Man, with its top-down maze-running gameplay. But Neon Runner goes further by embracing the whole pseudo-futuristic aesthetic of the time – the kind of sharp-edged, glowing neon-on-black visuals seen in the likes of Tron (itself a film based around the burgeoning arcade scene).

While it sticks to its arcade roots by refusing to stray from a strong core premise, Neon Runner isn’t afraid to elaborate. By changing the colour of your craft, its speed and capabilities change completely, enabling you to access new areas an pick up sufficient glowing nick-nacks to exit the level.