My mobile gaming history can be safely summed up within three distinct eras: Snake, Snake II and the next-gen games (primarily, a whole bucketload of Snake games).
The fact that I have a mobile gaming history is testament to the geekery that I have been endowed with, which, thanks to new handsets, is finally becoming cool.
That’s right, the dawning of the age of the geek is upon us.
Snake
While not technically being the first mobile game out there, Snake was definitely the first mobile game to actually get noticed. The graphics were amazingly 1980s, the gameplay was simpler than a simple thing and the noises that emitted from your phone could cause anyone within a 15 metre radius to start pulling hair out. However, it was also one of the most addictive games ever released.
Thanks to Snake I became a casual mobile gamer…
That is, if casual meant sitting on a stool in a dark room until 3am trying to beat my high score.
Which is 690, by the way.
Snake II
Fast forward a few years and a lot has changed in the world. Brooke Shields and Andre Agassi have divorced, The Teletubbies have come under fire by the press, and Star Wars: Episode I was released. In short, it has been a very sad year or two. That is, until Snake II was released on to the world in 2000.
There were loads of new features… The graphics were improved (well, there were strange bug looking things) and the gameplay was improved a million-fold. Snake could now go through walls AND there were bonus… things…
Not only that, but the scoring system was changed. Suddenly, I was capable of scores not in the tens, not in the hundreds, but in the thousands.
I was a high roller now.
Oh how naive I was to think that this was the pinnacle of Snake games…
Next Generation
.JPG "Cobra")
The next step in my mobile gaming path came in the form of growing up. Gone were the days of Tonka Trucks, GI Joes and simple mobile phones. I welcomed the addition to my life that meant that I was finally an adult… My first PDA.
And with it, a figurative bucketload of Snake games.
When I first received my PDA (a fair few years after my last handset), leaps and bounds had been made in mobile gaming. First off, the internet had finally gripped the mobile world. Big name adult titles such as Age of Empires, Simcity and Lemonade Tycoon had made it to phone.
They had already released at least 5 different Snake games.
3D Snake, Crazy Snake, Absolutely bonkers Snake, you name it and my Windows phone had it. I was stocked full of Snake to the point that I became a little Snaked out. I lamented the fact that when I ate an apple I didn’t grow an extra 6 inches, and I endlessly feared turning a corner and running into the end of myself.
I dabbled in other games, but none had the same appeal. Need For Speed had the speed, but not enough reptile. Assassin’s Creed had the ruthlessness, but not enough fruit based incentives.
I recently moved back into my Snake days by giving Resco Snake a try. That is, a snake that is controlled entirely by the accelerometer.
Suffice it to say, it ended in tears and the foetal position.
I’ve taken a break now. However, once in a while I’ll still indulge in some original Snake gaming…
I am a casual gamer after all…
Have you got a gaming story? Let us know and we’ll post the ones we like…
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