Mobile gamers had good reason to rejoice last week, as Flappy Bird creator Nguyen Ha Dong and his company DotGears Studio debuted a flashier second version of the original Swing Copters game.
Swing Copters' new and improved edition appears to be much the same as its predecessor, according to tech and arts website The Verge, albeit with a few more bells and whistles. Swing Copters 2 remains free to play, however users can also make a handful of in-game purchases, including new characters and ad-free play, for around US$0.99 apiece.
Much like the original version, which was released last year, Swing Copters 2 requires players to guide a tiny pixelated guy in a propeller hat between swinging hammers without getting hit. Just like Flappy Bird, the only way to do this is by tapping the screen. As for visuals, The Verge describes them as an step up from the previous version, however both Swing Copters versions bear Dong's telltale retro graphics.
Swing Copters 2 became available on December 17 and can now be found in the iOS App Store, Google Play and Amazon's app store.
In case you've been living under a rock, here's a little Flappy Bird history: Dong skyrocketed to fame in early 2014 after his bird-themed mobile game became a global sensation, racking up 60 million downloads and earning the attention of international media, not to mention pulling in around US$50,000 a day for the developer.
Ultimately, however, Dong couldn't handle the pressure and wound up pulling Flappy Bird from app stores before trying his best to fade into obscurity. It didn't really work – Dong received several death threats from especially serious Flappy Bird fans – but in the end everything settled: Dong founded his company, DotGears Studios, and Flappy Bird made it back onto smartphones everywhere, helping to put Vietnamese mobile games on the map.
[Screenshots via DotGears]
