Hero Emblems ($2.99) was first sold on the App Store about seven and a half years ago. Its sequel was officially announced and a trailer was shown a little less than six years ago. A few weeks later, at the 2016 Tokyo Game Show, I played Hero Emblems II for the first time. It cost $6.99. At that time, the people at Heat Pot Games told me that the game wasn't coming out until at least late 2017.

The idea behind the first HOOK ($1.99) was very simple. You were given a bunch of hooks and loops that were all tangled up, and you had to take each one off without catching any others. At first, the puzzles were very easy, but as they went on, more layers of difficulty were added. By the end, it would take a mix of careful observation and patience to figure out the puzzles. On top of that, these later puzzles were also beautiful to look at. People were surprised by how popular the game was, and it made them want more.

When you read about games online, certain types or games are always called "perfect for Switch." Since I play a lot of games that can be played on more than one system, I like to talk about what makes a game stand out. Some games are perfect for a platform but don't work well on that platform. FTL by Subset Games was one of the few games that not only worked well on iPad, but also worked best on iPad. Since then, the studio has been working on Into the Breach (Free), a turn-based tactical game that came out first on PC and then on Switch. Having played it on both, it was perfect for Switch and was my favorite way to play the turn-based strategy game.

When I heard that Joel McDonald's new game, Hindsight ($4.99), would be available on multiple platforms, including iOS, I was pretty excited to try it out. Annapurna Interactive putting out a game is usually a good sign, but what really got me excited about Hindsight was how its story would be told. I've played a lot of interactive story-based adventures that have a good story but don't let you do much. It's worth your time to do these things, but I'm always hoping someone will do more. This is where I was surprised by Hindsight. For this review, I've now played it on both the Nintendo Switch and iOS, but I'll focus on the iOS version played on my iPhone 11 and iPad Pro.

Shovel Knight came out a little over eight years ago, but thanks to a lot of updates and cameos, it feels like the character has never really been out of the spotlight. Still, if we count all of the updates to the main game as part of that game, Shovel Knight Dig is only the third game in the series. This is also the first Shovel Knight game to come out on mobile. Before this, mobile was about the only active platform that didn't have a Shovel Knight game on it. This game is available on the platform through Apple Arcade, so you know what to do if you want to play it.

Horizon Chase (Free) by Aquiris, a great arcade racer, has been on the App Store for seven years. Since then, the game has been on its own tour, going to a lot of different platforms and adding new things to play all the time. We finally got a sequel when Horizon Chase 2 () roared onto the Apple Arcade service about a month ago. The game will be released to a wider audience in 2023. Since then, I've been playing the game nonstop, so I thought I'd write a review in case anyone needs a push.

We looked at Burning Fight ($3.99) a few weeks ago. It was one of SNK's early attempts to make a hit beat-em-up on its new NEOGEO platform. It almost stole directly from Capcom's Final Fight, and the lack of a unique theme may have been what hurt it in the end. Well, Robo Army ($3.99) can't be accused of not being its own thing. Robot warriors that can beat their robot enemies with their own arms and sometimes turn into cars for a while? Yes, I think SNK was the first to use that well.

Over the years, there have been a lot of games that came out on consoles and PC that seemed like they would be great on mobile. The game went further with Dicey Dungeons ($4.99). It even looked like it was made for mobile interactions from the beginning, but it's a rare game that feels great whether you use touch controls or buttons. Even though it's a late port, Dicey Dungeons is a fascinating game that might be my favorite mobile game of 2022. It's a mix of deckbuilding, roguelikes, and dungeon crawlers. I've now reviewed it on Steam Deck, Switch, and iOS, and I'll compare those versions with the iOS release, just like I do with my other port reviews.

It's hard to explain to our younger readers just how popular mutants were in the 1990s. There has never been a better time to be a genetic oddity, what with Marvel's X-Men going to new heights and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles slicing and dicing their way into the hearts of kids everywhere. Every company with mutant characters seemed to be pushing them forward, and every company without mutant characters seemed to be making their own. Even just the word "mutant" was enough to get people's attention. So it probably didn't come as a surprise when SNK released Mutation Nation ($3.99) for its NEGOGEO system in 1992. A beat-em-up with a lot of mutants to fight? Why not, why not?

If I had to say what all of the most popular NEOGEO games have in common, I would say that they are "games you can enjoy playing with a friend." Some of these games were played with other people, like Metal Slug and Sengoku 3. Some games, like King of Fighters and Samurai Shodown, were played against other people. Of course, some types of music work better with one style or another. Co-op beat-em-ups make a lot of sense. One-on-one fighters who are competitive are another good fit. Twinkle Star Sprites ($3.99) is a rare shoot-em-up that chooses violence between players, and that's what makes it so great.

A few months ago, Aero Fighters 2 ($3.99) by Video System was added to the mobile Arcade Archives. In my review, I said that it was good for mobile play and gave it a strong recommendation. At the time, I said that Aero Fighters 3 ($3.99) probably wouldn't be out for long, and, well, here we are. Aero Fighters 3 came out just over a year after the last game in the series. It is definitely more confident than the last game, but is it better?

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales is an example of a sequel or expansion that is much better than the original game. I loved Marvel's Spider-Man on PS4, PS5, and most recently on Steam Deck, but Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a better game overall. After how good Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered was, I couldn't pass up the chance to check it out on Steam Deck. I'm happy to say that Nixxes did a great job with Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

The first game in Sigono's OPUS series, OPUS: The Day We Found Earth, came out on iOS and Android in 2015. That game was eventually made available on PC and Nintendo Switch, and OPUS: Rocket of Whispers followed the same pattern. I loved the first game so much that I've played it on every system. Even though I have some problems with how OPUS: Rocket of Whispers is played, I still think fans of the first game should try it out. When OPUS: Echo of Starsong ($8.99) was announced, I hoped it would be available on iOS because it looked so much bigger and better made than the first games.

Old Man's Journey+ by Broken Rules is now available as an App Store Great on Apple Arcade. Old Man's Journey+ came out on iOS, Android, and PC five years ago. The beautiful puzzle adventure game about life, death, and hope was fun to play again on console.

There were a lot of good games coming out this week, so it was hard to pick just one as Game of the Week. When this happens, I usually go with the game I keep coming back to. This time, it's the new version of Handy Games' Wreckfest for iOS. It helps that Bugbear Entertainment's original version of Wreckfest was already a popular game on consoles and PC, so the source material was always going to be good. But what has really impressed me is how well Handy Games has made this technological marvel work on mobile devices.