While nowadays, you’d have to attempt to find a phone that isn’t a smartphone with a touch screen,iPod Touchesblew everyone away with its innovation when the first generation of the product launched in September 2007. These things could do everything iPhones can do except make calls.
And they were perfect for teens like me who just wanted to listen to music, check what little social media we had, and play a handful of fun games when touch screen mobile gaming was just becoming the rage. Here are the ten cool iPod Touch games I miss most of all.
Still Active?
Yes
Skateboarding and the alternative culture around it waseverywherein the 2000s, so having a skateboarding mobile game land as well as Touchgrind did wasn’t really a surprise to anyone. It was a fun, simple title that let you use your iPod Touch to perform all sorts of tricks anytime, anywhere.
You could do these tricks with unique finger motions that made the game feel like you really were in control. The Touchgrind series ended up putting out games that allowed you to use other modes of transport to grind, like bikes, scooters, and more.
On Apple Arcade
Despite being terrible at math and science in real life, I’ve alwaysloved physics-based games, and JellyCar really scratched the itch on that craving back in the iPod Touch’s heyday. You’d control a small car made out of some kind of gelatinous material, tasked with dodging and ducking all kinds of obstacles.
A sequel ended up offering all kinds of upgrades the original never had, like sticky tires to help stay in place a bit better or balloons to float over obstacles instead of carefully dipping below. Still, the original stays in my heart as one of the greats.
2009
I’ll be fair and not put the digital version of a board gametoohigh up on my list, but The Game of Life was easily one ofthe best board gameson the iPod Touch. Life has gotten plenty of console and mobile iterations over the years, but the iPod Touch was the very first to perfect it.
It was the first time I ever felt like I was able to take a beloved board game on the go with me, and I have distinct memories of sitting at restaurants with my brother passing the phone back and forth to take a turn spinning our minivans around the digital board that I miss more than the now-closed restaurants we played at.
No
You can find tons of spinoffs for Ninjump on other game stores now (like Steam or the Nintendo eShop), but Ninjump was a beautifully simple premise we all enjoyed diving into for a bit back in the day. You’d play as a small, pixelated ninja running vertically up either side of your screen, jumping back and forth to avoid obstacles.
The game never ends, tasking you with rising as high as you can to beat your own high scores from before, earn rewards like power-ups, and more. There were different themed levels to add a different ambiance, coins to earn, and plenty of fun to be had.
We kind of had a thing for endless runner mobile games back in the iPod Touch days, including but not limited to a fixation on Jetpack Joyride. While technically a Monster Dash spinoff, Jetpack Joyride really took on a life of its own as players helped protagonist Barry Steakfries make off with his pilfered pack.
Since not jetpack theft can really be easy, though, Barry needed to make it through tons of obstacles in an endless sprint to an unseen finish line. You collected Spin Tokens throughout the level to use in a kind of slot machine minigame to pull for a reward each time Barry met his end, allowing you to power up a bit for your next blastoff.
To be honest,I was sold on Cut the Ropejust because of how precious its mascot Om Nom was. Another game that tells you just what you’ll be doing in the title, your goal in Cut the Rope was to use physics and gravity to carefully navigate a piece of candy over to your adorable dino pal.
There are stars dotted around the board that offer additional points for bouncing the candy across them before you feed it to Om Nom, plus the later addition of enemies that might steal the sweet before Om Nom gets it.
Still Available?
Angry Birds is the first game I can remember really taking over as a hit mobile game in the way that it was bleeding off my screen and into the real world. The game became so popular even before its movies and spin-offs that you could buy clothing and branded snacks and toys before I even downloaded it.
The game sees you using the iconic birds to lob via catapult at shoddy structures on the far side of a map with the goal being to completely decimate it using only the weight of your different birds. It required some planning in the later stages, but it was always a good time!
I’ve never been the best at 2D platforming as someone who came up gaming during the infancy of 3D, but I put plenty of time into Doodle Jump nonetheless. The game is very much what it says on the tin: you’re a little green doodle guy, and your goal is to jump as far as you can.
The screen wraps around, allowing for almost infinite movement as your Doodler scales the endless layers of platforms. They become fewer and further between as you rise, but you could earn different backgrounds, costumes for The Doodler, and even new skins for the enemies you’d meet on the way up.
Who knew there was so much potential action in being able to stand in one of three spots while an adventurer automatically ran straight down a path? Temple Run was a title that saw you jumping into the shoes of an explorer trying to escape a temple as they collect coins, and you’ll need to jump, duck, and dodge obstacles to make it.
You could grab powerups along the way, like a magnetic ability that drags coins to you or an invisibility token that made you totally immune to the course’s obstacles for a time. The coins you collected could power-up your powerups, purchase new characters, and more.
This was the first game I ever remember being really, really into on my iPod touch, and I still kind of yearn for my days dicing digital fruits. Fruit Ninja was a pretty simple game that saw you slashing with your fingers on the screen to cut fruits that fell from the top of the screen, careful to avoid any obstacles that might end your run.
You were able to work toward a collection of different swords that had different effects on-screen when you slashed (I was fond of the rainbow blade), new backgrounds, and… that was pretty much it. It was a simpler time, man; we had a blast cutting fruit.
