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
Godlike
2
Timeless
Sacred
Touching
Clever
6
Chill
Stressfree
Engrossing
Mind-melting
10
Trippy
Gorgeous
12
Bangin’
Good
14
Soulslike
15
Calming
16
Plinko
17
Rips
18
Neat
Nostalgic
Old-School
Newgroundsian (in a good way)
Well-Polished
23
Waldo
Pitterpatter
Stylish
Juicy
fwooosh
swoooosh
29
Vibes
Pop
31
Pop!
32
Hmmmm
Standard
vrooom
Fantastic
( Deceptive)
( Deceptive)
36
Hygge
Chesslike
38
Numerical
Spyhunterlike
40
Breezy
Goofy
42
Traditional
Tasteful
Throwbacky
45
Interesting
46
Shiftless
Frustrating
Exhausting
Hamfisted
50
Meow
Fishing
Fine
53
Bog-Standard
Zzzz
55
Antiquated
56
Underdeveloped
Cruddy
Pointless
Imprecise
60
Nah
61
Dime-a-dozen
Newgroundsian (in a bad way)
63
Uninteresting
64
Empty
65
Unappealing
Kiddy
67
Basic
68
Ungamelike
Wack
71
Disappointment
72
Substandard
73
Headache
Low-Effort
Derpy
Atrocious