Flappy Bird sequel Swing Copters set for release on iOS and Android 21st August

The game offers a vertical take on the addictive and frustrating gameplay of the original and will be free to download (with an option to remove ads for $1)

Vietnamese video game developer Dong Nguyen may have pulled the viral phenomenon that was Flappy Birds back in February this year, but seven months later it seems he’s finally ready to release a sequel: Swing Copters.

With a similar visual style and game mechanics - you simply tap the screen to swing your avatar left or right, avoiding barriers - Swing Copters looks like it has all the same addictive qualities that shot Flappy Bird to viral fame at the beginning of the year.

Previewing the title exclusively, iOS gaming site Touch Arcade says that Swing Copters – which will be released on iOS and Android on the 21st this month - is “even more brutally difficult” than the original, with the main difference being that players travel upwards instead of horizontally.

The original Flappy Bird was released in 2013 but became a viral phenomenon at the beginning of this year as players took to Twitter to vent their spleen about the addictive and thumb-breakingly difficult game.

The title became perhaps the first rolling news story of the mobile game world as Nguyen removed the title from the App Store in February claiming that his life had been overrun by the game’s success. At this point it had accrued more than 50 million downloads and was estimated to be making Nguyen more than $50,000 a day in ad revenue.

This abrupt removal of the game triggered the creation of hundreds of clones, with opportunistic developers seeking to tap into the massive interest in the game. But will Nguyen be able to replicate the success of the original? Well, I guess we'll have to download Swing Copters to find out.