Best Mobile Games for a Trip Down Memory Lane

So many entertainment companies have invested in rejuvenating old-school franchises for movies and TV shows right now, like Star Wars and Star Trek. Plus, plenty of entertainment properties feature reboots of classics.

Many video games provide the same thrill of "something old is new again."

In today’s collection, we feature the five best mobile games for a trip down memory lane.

No one would think that, at one time, these games existed on PCs or game consoles. But now, because their programming takes up so little memory, they work perfectly on your suped-up smartphone that would make your Commodore 64 look like an abacus. (Bonus points if you know what a C-64 is and you know how to use an abacus!)

This list zigs, zags, shapes, runs, adventures, and screams through five fantastic choices for mobile games that used to enthrall gamers for hours and hours and hours until 2 a.m.

Who knows? Maybe your son or daughter will fall in love with one of these mobile games, and then they will shush you when they're playing just like you did to your parents. 

(And you laugh at how the parenting comes full circle.)

Enjoy!

1. Remember the old gorilla game you have played in school with your friends back in the 90ies?

Retro Gorilla Artillery Game

Ad

INSTALL

It's your classic old school gorilla artillery game from the 90ies, but newer, better and with cool new featuresPlay against your best buddy on one device, or take the challenge and try to beat the computer.Features:+ Highly destructible environment+ Unlimited new skyscraper landscapes+ 2 player mode on ONE device+ vs. CPU mode+ including wind mode+ 11 different skins: EGA, CGA, Monochrome, Orangutan, GB & many more!+ Perfect touch gameplay+ Sophisticated & stunningly precise 2D physics engine+ 100% offline gameplayTurn back the time and dive into your childhood with this awesome artillery game!Retro Gorilla Artillery Game is optimized for both - phones and tablets.This app has NO annoying ads (in fact, no ads at all), just 100% gameplay.

2. The Game Every Teenager Obsessed About in 2001

Old School RuneScape

Ad

INSTALL

How many times did you as a teenager beg to go to the library in the summer of 2001? No, you probably were not going to read a book. Instead, you wanted to use two hours of internet time to play RuneScape. Although not the first MMORPG, Old School RuneScape was one of the first second-generation, graphics-based MMORPGs to become a commercial success.Think of this game as a medieval fantasy adventure, only you get to interact with other players in the same world. Your health bar appears above your head, and you get to level up like most any other video game. Games like Old School RuneScape are everywhere now. But this one was the first to do it right. How goofy do those dragons look?

3. And Now the Game About Roller Coasters

RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic

Ad

INSTALL

Despite the myriads of entertainment options available for kids these days, nothing beats a thrill ride. If you couldn't go to an amusement park every day, you could build the ride of your dreams in RollerCoaster Tycoon. Before The Sims was cool, Microsoft released RollerCoaster Tycoon on PCs in 1999. Its success led directly to the first Sims game a year later, also from Microsoft.Build your own amusement park with the biggest, tallest, and baddest roller coaster as the centerpiece. Feel free to add carousels, bumper cars, a go-kart track, haunted houses, and log flumes to attract visitors. As your park grows, you need to hire more people and enact safety measures to make sure no one gets hurt. The goal is to make a place where everyone gets to have fun, and you get to make money.

4. "Gotta go fast. Gotta go faster." Remember the theme song?

Sonic the Hedgehog™ Classic

Ad

INSTALL

Now, our favorite blue hedgehog is getting the Hollywood treatment with Jim Carrey playing the nemesis in Sonic the Hedgehog in not one but two movies. You needed to build up speed, collect rings, and battle the minions of the evil Eggman/Dr. Robotnik.The original Sonic the Hedgehog came out in 1991 on the Sega Genesis console as one of its featured games. Rolling, jumping, and attacking all happened with a single button. The key to this game involves picking up enough speed to circumvent jumps, ramps, and hurdles at amazing speeds and using twists and turns like a roller coaster.

5. Please Let the Next Shape Be an L!

Tetris®

Ad

INSTALL

How many times did you tell your Tetris screen to give you the shape you needed to clear multiple levels at a time? Believe it or not, Tetris has real-world applications to teach people spatial orientation. You start with a blank screen. Then various shapes, composed of four smaller squares arranged in different patterns, start falling from the sky. Your job is to arrange the shapes so they fit together a certain way that fills in rows and columns at the bottom of the screen.Your reward for getting good? The shapes fall faster! You earn points for each row you clear, and you get bonuses for clearing multiple rows at the same time. Today's kids might think this game is monotonous, but Tetris kept players busy for hours at a time with the challenge of getting better and faster.

6. Remember the old gorilla game you have played in school with your friends back in the 90ies?

Retro Gorilla Artillery Game

Ad

INSTALL

It's your classic old school gorilla artillery game from the 90ies, but newer, better and with cool new featuresPlay against your best buddy on one device, or take the challenge and try to beat the computer.Features:+ Highly destructible environment+ Unlimited new skyscraper landscapes+ 2 player mode on ONE device+ vs. CPU mode+ including wind mode+ 11 different skins: EGA, CGA, Monochrome, Orangutan, GB & many more!+ Perfect touch gameplay+ Sophisticated & stunningly precise 2D physics engine+ 100% offline gameplayTurn back the time and dive into your childhood with this awesome artillery game!Retro Gorilla Artillery Game is optimized for both - phones and tablets.This app has NO annoying ads (in fact, no ads at all), just 100% gameplay.

7. The Game Every Teenager Obsessed About in 2001

Old School RuneScape

Ad

INSTALL

How many times did you as a teenager beg to go to the library in the summer of 2001? No, you probably were not going to read a book. Instead, you wanted to use two hours of internet time to play RuneScape. Although not the first MMORPG, Old School RuneScape was one of the first second-generation, graphics-based MMORPGs to become a commercial success.Think of this game as a medieval fantasy adventure, only you get to interact with other players in the same world. Your health bar appears above your head, and you get to level up like most any other video game. Games like Old School RuneScape are everywhere now. But this one was the first to do it right. How goofy do those dragons look?

8. And Now the Game About Roller Coasters

RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic

Ad

INSTALL

Despite the myriads of entertainment options available for kids these days, nothing beats a thrill ride. If you couldn't go to an amusement park every day, you could build the ride of your dreams in RollerCoaster Tycoon. Before The Sims was cool, Microsoft released RollerCoaster Tycoon on PCs in 1999. Its success led directly to the first Sims game a year later, also from Microsoft.Build your own amusement park with the biggest, tallest, and baddest roller coaster as the centerpiece. Feel free to add carousels, bumper cars, a go-kart track, haunted houses, and log flumes to attract visitors. As your park grows, you need to hire more people and enact safety measures to make sure no one gets hurt. The goal is to make a place where everyone gets to have fun, and you get to make money.

9. "Gotta go fast. Gotta go faster." Remember the theme song?

Sonic the Hedgehog™ Classic

Ad

INSTALL

Now, our favorite blue hedgehog is getting the Hollywood treatment with Jim Carrey playing the nemesis in Sonic the Hedgehog in not one but two movies. You needed to build up speed, collect rings, and battle the minions of the evil Eggman/Dr. Robotnik.The original Sonic the Hedgehog came out in 1991 on the Sega Genesis console as one of its featured games. Rolling, jumping, and attacking all happened with a single button. The key to this game involves picking up enough speed to circumvent jumps, ramps, and hurdles at amazing speeds and using twists and turns like a roller coaster.

10. Please Let the Next Shape Be an L!

Tetris®

Ad

INSTALL

How many times did you tell your Tetris screen to give you the shape you needed to clear multiple levels at a time? Believe it or not, Tetris has real-world applications to teach people spatial orientation. You start with a blank screen. Then various shapes, composed of four smaller squares arranged in different patterns, start falling from the sky. Your job is to arrange the shapes so they fit together a certain way that fills in rows and columns at the bottom of the screen.Your reward for getting good? The shapes fall faster! You earn points for each row you clear, and you get bonuses for clearing multiple rows at the same time. Today's kids might think this game is monotonous, but Tetris kept players busy for hours at a time with the challenge of getting better and faster.