20 Games Perfect for Playing on a Flight

Animal Crossing’s gameplay is easy to get hooked into, and it’s something that you can play continuously for hours on end. The 3DS version of this popular series, New Leaf, gives players more options than ever before as they become the mayor of their very own town. What better way to spend a long commute than visiting your animal pals, decorating your house, catching bugs and exploring your city of Whateversville.

Fire Emblem games have always been seen as being a little hardcore, but Fates changes things up by offering an experience for both new fans and old. With two different versions telling two different stories, there’s a ton of content to dig into. Your tactical prowess will be put to the test as you navigate the war between Hoshido and Nohr, and your relationship with your siblings on both sides.

If you’re looking for an intense story-heavy experience to waste the hours away, look no farther than Zero Escape. The series contains three separate visual novel games; 999 (Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors), Virtue’s Last Reward and Zero Time Dilemma. Each has a self contained story mixed with puzzle sequences that you can experience separately, although they all tie into an overarching narrative. Zero Escape has some of the finest examples you can find in video games of character building and development, with each game telling a desperate story of nine participants trapped in a life-or-death situation known as the “Nonary Game.”

Angry Birds is one of the most successful mobile series of all time, and for good reason. It definitely had a strange premise, but shooting “angry birds” out of a slingshot to destroy pigs and their structures turned out to be a ton of fun. The gameplay is incredibly simple only requiring a few taps and slides on your phone, but planning out your attack on the pigs does require strategy. Since the first game in 2009 the series has seen tons of entries including a Transformers and Star Wars version. It’s simple enough that you can just play for a couple minutes, but has enough depth that you could spend hours if you wanted to.

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is easily packed with over 100 hours worth of content between different quests and hunts. The most recent entry on 3DS is easily the most robust and accessible in the series, with players traveling between multiple villages taking on quests, and hunting down the most dangerous beasts around. If you’ve got the time to spare commuting, kick back and enjoy a few hours of grinding, hunting and building your perfect character.

Pokemon may just be one of the most time consuming series out there. How many hours have all of us spent with each entry, beating every gym and tracking down every Pokemon to fill out that Pokedex. X and Y bring even more improvement than ever to the series, along with additions like Mega Evolutions. There’s never a bad time to hop into the world of Pokemon and catch some creatures.

The Kingdom Rush series has some of the best tower defense gameplay available on a mobile device. For a few bucks each title gives you plenty of maps to play, with a few different options on four kinds of towers; archers, close range combat, magic and siege weapon. They are challenging games so don’t expect to breeze through if you’re wanting to get the best score, but each game provides plenty of replay value as well.

Phoenix Wright games are perfect on the go, as each one contains mutliple “cases” that are often self contained. Every game tasks Phoenix, or Apollo Justice in some cases, with defending nearly hopeless cases in court. Players need to investigate the crimes, talk to witnesses and then find discrepancies in testimony during court proceedings. They’re quirky games with a fun cast of characters, and have plenty of twists and turns in their stories to keep players excited.