This is hard for me to believe but it’s been five and a half years since the whole Flappy Bird phenomenon took the world by storm. Dong Nguyen’s viral sensation left a permanent mark on the world of gaming, whether people liked it or not. In the wake of Flappy Bird’s success came a flood of clones and copycats trying to ride the original’s coattails to riches, but alongside that also came a lot of developers playing around with the flappy formula in earnest. Remember the Flappy Jam? That brought us a ton of great titles. Or things like Flappy Golf or the more recent Flappy Fighter which seem to be poking fun at Flappy Bird on the surface but actually contain totally solid and entertaining gaming foundations below. While the world of Flappy-inspired games has slowed down in recent times, there’s apparently still some gas left in that tank when it comes to flapping, and Flappy Royale is the latest example of that.
Yes, Flappy Royale is exactly what you’re probably thinking it is. You play a Flappy Bird-style game against 99 other players, until just one remains. Just like any other Battle Royale but with more flapping and less shooting. There’s also a Daily Trial mode that gives every player just 10 chances to make it as far as possible on a set level design. The level changes each day and everyone plays the same layout. I know what you’re thinking, and that is that Flappy Bird is crap and anything that springs from it is also crap and why am I wasting your time telling you about this? The thing is though, Flappy Royale is just damn fun. The formula works. It turns out that Flappy Bird is a whole lot more fun when you’re competing against dozens of other people in real time (or at least their ghosts in real time, haven’t quite figured out the exact deal with that yet).
Finally, Flappy Royale is the product of Orta Therox and Em Lazer-Walker with contributions from Zach Gage, and do you think that lineup of talent would steer you wrong? Of course not. But don’t just take my word for it, Flappy Royale launched in open beta today for iOS, Android, and web browsers, so head over to the official site and check it out for yourself. The full launch should come sometime next month.
