Canabalt

Canabalt is controlled with a single button — tapping the screen makes your character jump across gaps between the collapsing rooftops of a changing, apparently invaded city, while forward running is automatic and the only variable left is the timing of the jump. Out of this minimalism was born an entire genre of endless runners, where the goal is to survive as long as possible and surrender to the game's rhythm, which gradually accelerates with every meter covered, forcing the player to react ever faster.

Semi Secret Software released Canabalt for free in 2009 as an experiment within the Experimental Gameplay Project movement, and yet it became one of the most influential mobile titles of its time. Gray, pixel-art graphics with dramatic lighting and a fragmented background told the story of a catastrophe without a single word of text — just atmosphere and music underscoring the feeling of fleeing from something unexplained and menacing.

The simplicity of the controls — one tap, one jump — proved to be an ideal recipe for a phone, where a player often plays for just a few dozen seconds between other activities, and it inspired countless followers from Jetpack Joyride to Temple Run. Canabalt thus remains in the history of mobile games as the title that gave a name and shape to an entire genre, even though it itself offers no unlockable characters or branching routes — just the pure question of how long the player can stay focused before one badly timed second sends them back to the start.

Why play it: Anyone who wants to experience the root of endless runners in their purest form will find a short but intense and atmospheric ride in Canabalt.