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If the pressure of responding to fan comments and complaints proved too much for Flappy Bird creator Dong Nguyen, he may find that pulling the game from app stores has only made the situation worse, as his Twitter feed becomes filled with angry players hurling abuse.
You would think people had been denied oxygen rather than the opportunity to relentlessly tap a screen in order to navigate a small bird through a system of pipes to seemingly no end, with the caps lock key being firmly depressed as the threats rolled in.
"YOU BEST NOT BE DELETING FLAPPY BIRD BECAUSE I WILL MURDER YOU IF U DO," one Twitter user wrote (sic), despite the fact the game is still very much playable as long as you don't remove the app.
"If you delete flappy bird I will literally kill myself. It’s my drug and I am so addicted!! PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS TO MEEE PLEASEE.” another added, with a third chiming in: "I’ll find you and i’ll kill you."
Flappy Bird's flight off into the sunset came to the shock and dismay of its legions of fans, leading some to bid up to £50,000 for an iPhone with a functional copy of the game on it on eBay .
The side-scrolling app was downloaded over 50 million times in the past year, but the fame it brought Nguyen was not something he wanted.
Show all 10 1 /10In loving memory of Flappy Bird: 10 of the hardest games to break your thumbs on In loving memory of Flappy Bird: 10 of the hardest games to break your thumbs on QWOP Released: 2008. Created by developer Bennett Foddy, this 2D running game has some inexplicably awkward controls. While the location of the keys used to operate the athlete are close together to work the calves and thigh muscles, you'll soon find yourself pressing the keys to no avail as the athlete simply flops onto the ground. Nevertheless, despite its difficulty, the game helped Foddy's website reach 30 million hits, showing the vast reach the game has had.
foddy.net
In loving memory of Flappy Bird: 10 of the hardest games to break your thumbs on Super Hexagon Released: 2012. Created by Terry Cavanagh, Super Hexagon is a game that requires you to rotate a small triangle absorbed on the top of the hexagon without 'crashing'. At first, it may be difficult to discover what you actually have to do, with the game simply consisting of rotating hexagons. The game has six difficulties, a set of "normal" modes - Hexagon, Hexagoner, and Hexagonest - and a set of "Hyper" versions of those levels which are unlocked upon surviving for 60 seconds or more. As the difficulty increases, so does the likelihood that your iPhone will smash against the wall.
superhexagon.com
In loving memory of Flappy Bird: 10 of the hardest games to break your thumbs on The Impossible Game Released: 2009. Originally released on Xbox 360, The Impossible Game has just one control, tapping the screen to jump. The gameplay really is quite simple: you can control a fast moving square through a level, tapping to jump over objects at just the right time. However, even the most experienced gamer will struggle to cope with the number of 'fail' attempts at trying to move through the levels.
impossiblegame.org
In loving memory of Flappy Bird: 10 of the hardest games to break your thumbs on Canabalt Released: 2009. One of the first of the infinite-running type games where players navigate a series of oncoming obstacles Canabalt induces the kind of self-destroying sinking feeling you get when you're running into a series of obstacles yourself. Created by Adam Saltsman in 2009 and available on iOS, Playstation Portable and Android, the endless nature of this game means that the tradition of highest scores dominate the purpose of the game, with leaderboards allowing users to compare with the rest of the world.
YouTube
In loving memory of Flappy Bird: 10 of the hardest games to break your thumbs on Battletoads Released: 1991. Created by Tim and Chris Stamper, Battletoads presents itself as a one-player game but is widely remarked to be impossible to play alone. Bizarrely, you can play in co-op mode but instead of helping one another, players can damage their friends, making it nearly impossible to go through the level when players are close together.
YouTube
In loving memory of Flappy Bird: 10 of the hardest games to break your thumbs on Ninja Gaiden Released: 1988. The Ninja Gaiden series is regarded as one of the most difficult of all time in the industry of gaming. The storyline provides many twists and turns, with a cliffhanger being presented at the end of one game. As the PS4 was released in 2013, developers have opted to release a new title in the near future. With catchy music and an exciting story, the original NES title is one of the most celebrated, but has maintained the same level of complexity throughout.
thegamershub.net
In loving memory of Flappy Bird: 10 of the hardest games to break your thumbs on Dark Souls Released: 2008. Across all platforms such as PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows, Dark Souls is a game that rewards a gamer's bravery and courage, while also penalising for costly mistakes, losing your progress if you die twice. One of the most difficult games ever made, it literally throws you into the deep end. Those who like some instructions before you start a game, forget it. Working out how it works is also part of the deal, and only expert gamers are expected to conquer this near-impossible game.
complex.com
In loving memory of Flappy Bird: 10 of the hardest games to break your thumbs on Ironpants Released: 2013. Following Flappy Bird's removal from the App Store, Ironpants has taken over as the most downloaded game on iTunes. Although it was created by a different developer, it's essentially a clone of Flappy Bird. However, rather than simply dropping, the Ironpants chracter floats for slightly longer but, if anything, it looks to be tougher than Flappy Bird.
iTunes
In loving memory of Flappy Bird: 10 of the hardest games to break your thumbs on I Wanna Be the Guy Released: 2007. Created by Michael O'Reilly, I Wanna Be the Guy is a 2D platform indie freeware game and represents everything that was good about early gaming, constructed as a difficult platform adventure. Starting off as 'The Kid', the player then finds themselves on a journey to becoming 'The Guy.' The ever-fragile Kid explodes in a shower of red pixels at the slightest brush from the game's many obstacles, from traditional spikes and bottomless pits, making it enjoyable while also infuriatingly frustrating.
In loving memory of Flappy Bird: 10 of the hardest games to break your thumbs on ARMA II Released: 2009. Only available on PC, many have criticised the ARMA series from Bohemia Interactive as far too realistic for it to be a game, which is inevitably a positive comment towards the graphics produced. Those expecting a game similar to the likes of Call of Duty and Battlefield will receive a nasty surprise, as ARMA II represents more of a military simulation that is bound to baffle the average gamer, with extensive manuals and life-like workouts.
He wrote on Twitter late last week: "I am sorry 'Flappy Bird' users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down. I cannot take this anymore.
"It is not anything related to legal issues," he added. "I just cannot keep it anymore."
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