Apple Arcade ranked
Back in the ‘90s, when I was first getting into PC games, you could buy these $20 discs from the bargain software rack in places like Office Depot, with names like “100-in-1 Games!” They were generally collections of shareware games (demos, basically), as many as the publisher could jam onto one 600MB CD-ROM. I used to loooove these. Some of the games would barely work, some would be forgettable clones of better games, but then some would be interesting never-to-be-seen-again experiments, and the occasional few would be absolute bangers like Jazz Jackrabbit, Operation: Innerspace, or Doom. A lot of the fun was just in digging through the pile and pressing play.
Apple Arcade has that same vibe for me. The main difference is that they’re all complete games and Apple’s curation is way way better than some random, bootsy CD-ROM maker. (Being able to play them all in bed on my iPad is a plus, too.)
Would I buy or even seek out any one of these games as individual purchases? Probably not. Would I spend $60 once in awhile for a curated 100-in-1 package of Great New iOS Games? Absolutely.
And I can, and so I do. That’s kinda the whole deal.
Anyway, I thought it’d be fun to make a ranked list of these, just to keep track of what I’ve played and maybe shine a tiny spotlight on the ones I liked the most.
(The one-word description thing was just a bit that I started on the first few entries and decided to keep going.)
Apple Arcade has that same vibe for me. The main difference is that they’re all complete games and Apple’s curation is way way better than some random, bootsy CD-ROM maker. (Being able to play them all in bed on my iPad is a plus, too.)
Would I buy or even seek out any one of these games as individual purchases? Probably not. Would I spend $60 once in awhile for a curated 100-in-1 package of Great New iOS Games? Absolutely.
And I can, and so I do. That’s kinda the whole deal.
Anyway, I thought it’d be fun to make a ranked list of these, just to keep track of what I’ve played and maybe shine a tiny spotlight on the ones I liked the most.
(The one-word description thing was just a bit that I started on the first few entries and decided to keep going.)
76 Games
Spyhunterlike
swoooosh
Standard
vrooom
Touching
Substandard
Fishing
Low-Effort
Soulslike
Interesting
Pop!
Old-School
Frustrating
Nostalgic
Meow
Chesslike
Throwbacky
Derpy
Breezy
Hmmmm
Unappealing
Headache
Stylish
Hamfisted
Newgroundsian (in a bad way)
Clever
Imprecise
Juicy
Gorgeous
Numerical
Godlike
Zzzz
Pointless
Waldo
Neat
Newgroundsian (in a good way)
Wack
Atrocious
Antiquated
Fine
Mind-melting
Engrossing
Sacred
Hygge
Disappointment
Pitterpatter
Ungamelike
Calming
Good
Exhausting
Plinko
Kiddy
Shiftless
Bog-Standard
Tasteful
Fantastic
( Deceptive)
( Deceptive)
Nah
Traditional
Dime-a-dozen
Trippy
Empty
Stressfree
Chill
Well-Polished
Bangin’
Timeless
Rips
Underdeveloped
Vibes
Goofy
Basic
Uninteresting
Cruddy