Flappy Bird tributes: Sesame Street, abstract electronica and a multiplayer free for all

The original game has disappeared but the tributes keep rolling in

Flappy Bird may be dead and buried but like any major cultural icon its legend lives on.

Since one-man game studio Dong Nguyen removed his wildly popular creation from app stores, crazed fans have resorted to renting and even trying to buy phones with the game on to get their fix.

While Android owners (or those with jailbroken iOS devices) are simply able to download the original game and bypass their phone’s security settings to install it, there have been reports of malicious copies of the game circulating online.

Better instead then to enjoy some of the tributes to the game that have sprung up online. Although there’s been plenty of inventive takes on the original mechanism (including the impossibly hard First Person Flappy and the pleasingly abstract Flap) the three below were the ones we found most enjoyable to actually play.

Needless to say that probably goes against the very spirit of Flappy Bird.

Maverick Bird

For the more discerning Flappy Bird aficionado there’s this panic-inducing tribute by Terry Cavanagh, the developer behind the critically-acclaimed Super Hexagon game. Cavanagh’s remix of Flappy Bird borrows the jagged, pulsating feel of Super Hexagon, turning our avian hero into a spinning square and setting the game to a throbbing electro track (‘Vietnam’ by Kozilek).

Flap MMO

If certain games companies had managed to get their hands on Dong's game we might have ended up with a social-media infused title where you bought special flap power-ups at 69p a pop. What you probably wouldn’t have got was a massively multiplayer online game like Flap MMO. Misery loves company and in this inspired tribute there’s plenty of both. However, if you’re looking for a real treat we recommend just kicking back at the bottom of the level and watching the masses flap and fail overhead. Relaxing.

Flappy Bert

Created by The Sesame Workshop (the non-profit group of developers behind Sesame Street’s games and apps) this simple clone places popular Muppet Bert in the starring role. The colour scheme is pastely and the flapping is easier than the original, but Bert’s cries of despair for his close friend Ernie when he hits a pipe bring all the tragedy of Flappy Bird back to life.

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