Canabalt (2009)
A few years after the advent of the smartphone, it was clear that games were going to be a huge part of its long-term success, but attempts simply to port existing console and PC game ideas to devices that lacked any physical buttons were meeting with mixed success. Often the games looked great, but controlling them was awkward and counterintuitive. Canabalt, the first hugely successful side-scrolling endless runner, changed that.
Developed by Adam Saltsman as part of the Experimental Gameplay Project, Canabalt was about a dude running from left to right, occasionally jumping. The sole interaction was activating that jump, by tapping the screen. It sounds incredibly basic, but the frantic pace and hectic environments made for an addictive experience.
Other mobile game developers clearly agreed, because within a few years you couldn't move for endless runners on the various mobile app stores. Some took the concept and, uh, ran with it, like Temple Run, which involved guiding an Indiana Jones-like figure in third-person past obstacles, jumping, ducking and even turning left and right now and then. The ultimate tribute arrived last year though, when Nintendo's first serious mobile title, Super Mario Run, adopted the auto-run-and-tap-to-jump mechanic. When Shigeru Miyamoto starts borrowing your ideas, you know you can probably call it a day.
