When Vietnamese game developer Dong Nguyen launched "Flappy Bird" in 2013, he wasn't expecting it to be the explosive hit that it quickly turned into.
The simple mobile game - which took visual cues from Nintendo's "Super Mario" franchise - cost nothing, and employed an intuitive, addictive mechanic to its gameplay: tap the screen to make a bird bounce in between pipes of varying heights.
dotGEARS
The longer you last, the higher your score. Simple!
The combination of explosive success and being cast into the spotlight actually put off the game's creator - to the point that he pulled it from the iTunes App Store in an effort to regain a level of privacy.
Since then, Nguyen has re-emerged as a mobile game developer. He released a game in 2014 named "Swing Copters" that took the mechanics of "Flappy Bird" and applied them to a vertical landscape. It was positively received, but nowhere near the level of explosive success that "Flappy Bird" reached.
But now, in 2017, Nguyen has another new mobile game: It's named "Ninja Spinki Challenges!!", and it's nothing like his previous games.
Obok Aidem
"Ninja Spinki Challenges!!" is made up of several minigames, all with the goal of training an apprentice ninja in the art of...ninja-ing. It's very tongue-in-cheek. Here's the full description of the game, straight from the iTunes App Store listing:
"Ninja is not an easy business.
Ninja training is just super hard.
6 different games with lots of challenges.
.GEARS which created legendary casual game 'Flappy Bird' and OBOKAIDEM known for 'Green the Planet 2' are filing down the most difficult Ninja challenges to you!"
What that actually means in terms of gameplay is another question altogether. What do you actually do in those six minigames? Shaun Musgrave at Touch Arcade played the game, and he describes it with more specific wording:
"None of the games are terribly complex, with most of them requiring you dodge incoming objects of various sorts, but they quickly become tough as nails. Not quite 'Flappy Bird' or 'Swing Copters' tough, mind you, but you're probably going to be swearing at your phone just the same."
If that sounds like something you'd be into, the game is out now and costs nothing. Snag it for your iPhone/iPad right here, and your Android device right here.
