7 Games That Aren't Flappy Bird (Even Though They Totally Are)

It’s been a month since overnight success Flappy Bird was taken away from us. How are you holding up? If the flappy withdrawals have been too hard for you to take, legions of generous developers have been working tirelessly to remake the success that was Flappy Bird–purely for your enjoyment, of course. This batch of games ranges from parodies, to spiritual successors, to blatant rip-offs. Some of them are actually pretty great. Others? Well…

Fratty Bird

Fratty Bird is the best. I mean, it’s the same copy/paste Flappy game and brings absolutely nothing new to the gameplay experience, but Fratty Bird has character. That character is found through a Frat Bro Bird trying to flap his way between Greek pillars to a backdrop of collegiate Greek houses. Every time you tap, the bird says ‘Frat’. Every. Time.  When you inevitably die, the bird lets out a long and disappointed ‘Bro…’. Fratty Bird is one of the worst Flappy Bird clones out there but that fact alone makes it the best. I love it.

Flappy Wings

When someone says Flappy Bird clone, you should probably think of this game first. Flappy Wings is the MS Paint cousin of the popular bird flying game. What you see here is literally what you get: Flat menu with a toggle for Game Music, and buttons for starting the game, submitting your score, and checking the leaderboards. The music for the game isn’t bad, in a generic BGM way. That music is the only sound you’ll find in Flappy Wings, in fact. Much like the static, non-moving background images, the sound for this clone is pretty lackluster. There again, this game is currently ranked #197 on the iTunes free app store.

Crappy Bird

I told myself I wasn’t going to play favorites here, but Crappy Bird is my favorite. Crappy Bird starts you as a cross-eyed yellow bird, just hanging out on the ground. The title text above him has random, and hilarious, subtexts such as ‘Crappy Bird: Wants to be a dancer’ and ‘Crappy Bird: Because the other one’s gone’. Unlike his predecessor, Crappy Bird can roll along the floor as well as attempt to fly. His pipes are narrower than in Flappy Bird, but more of them appear in succession. Each time he passes through a pipe he makes this little squack and it’s the best thing. Same for when he dies. This has to be one of my favorite Flappy games out there.

Flappy City

Flappy City may not share the same graphical look as the rest of the Flappy games, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t similar. Here, our bird friend isn’t the same flappy guy, but his goals are the same. Flappy City gives you a plump bird to control as he adventures through a city, flying through buildings to eat the seeds within. The main menu has this slick drum-and-bass background song, but the game itself is just flappy, munching, and crashing sounds. High scores are the name of the game here. And while it may be inspired by Flappy Bird, this game is out for some money. While the original game favored nonintrusive ads, Flappy City shoves full page advertisements right in your face between runs. You can pay a buck to remove these ads. Or you could just try one of the other dozens of Flappy games out there.

Flappy Monster

For every three bad Flappy games, there’s a game like Flappy Monster that makes it all worth it. Flappy Monster takes its Flappy roots and puts its own spin on it. Most notably, you’re now in control of a wingless, one eyed, purple monster. This visual rework comes complete with a catchy theme song that plays throughout your journey. This game is complete with sound effects, and well done ones at that. Flapping, collisions, dings for scores, and even fire sounds are all included. Fire sounds? Yeah. Every few gaps, a unique obstacle is thrown your way. This could be a set of double wide pillars, a gap that moves up and down, or a pair of rotating fireball wands. This additional element of randomization really helps to make Flappy Monster stand out in the crowd.

Flappy Wings (again)

Not to be confused with that other Flappy Wings mentioned above, this Flappy Wings is a Flappy Bird ripoff that actually improves on the original, if you can believe it. Same ‘tap to fly’ controls, same Mario-esque graphics, but with some happy additions. The backgrounds have gained additional detail and move along with your bird and the pipes have been replaced with regular old blocks, though the very atmosphere is something inspired heavily by Super Mario 3.

The soundtrack is adorable, though repetitive. Flapping and crashing sounds all also sound better than the original and this version of the game has included a random pooping mechanic. Seriously. Clearing a gap now rewards the player with coins, which can be then be spent in the game’s in-game store oncute little equipable hats. Prices range from 150 coins right up to 3000. If you’re strapped for coins, there’s always the credit card option. A reasonable $1.99 will buy you 5000 coins.

Splashy Fish

What if Flappy Bird had been a fish instead? This alternate universe retelling of the cult classic Flappy Bird goes into the infinite possibilities of that scenario. …So its still the exact same game. Everything is the same as the original, only with a retextured underwater look. Splash your fishy through golden, Atlantan pillars and compete for the highest score. If anything, this game makes more sense than Flappy Bird. As a bird, Flappy was just really bad at flying. As a fish this seems normal.

This is only a handful of the Flappy Bird clones out there but it’s more than enough for me to play. We’ve looked at games like Flappy Doge in the past, so I know there are more ‘Flappy inspired’ games out there. Have a favorite that wasn’t mentioned here? Leave a comment below with your recommendation. The world needs to know the best and the worst of what post-Flappy Bird mobile gaming has to offer.