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Comment by phaus | Hacker News Reader

Flappy Bird is a clone itself. There were a few different flash/java games that features almost identical gameplay. IMO, helicopter game was the best of these.

helicoptergame.net

Flappy bird actually is supposed to be a troll, and that's why its so popular. People found its ridiculous difficulty to be funny, and that's why the game went viral.

I agree with the other commenter that it isn't well-tuned at all. The hit-detection is so bad that it ruins the game.

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I think it's a disservice to call it a clone of the helicopter game.

It's a very similar idea, but how the game is played and the consistency of the obstacles are very different.

I think its a disservice that millions of people act like this guy stumbled on a new genre when he didn't.

The way the game is played is nearly identical. You either increase your altitude or decrease it.

I agree that the consistency of the obstacles is different though.

Every "genre" and gametype you could ever think of has already been done to some extent by someone in the last few decades so to discredit him because it's not a "new genre" is silly.

Also, it doesn't really matter if he did something already done or not. What matters is that he did it in a way that was seen as better by a significant amount of people.

I'm calling you on this one. It might not be obvious to us right now, but new game genres will continue to sprout up. Touch (included pinch, swipe, etc.) as an input mechanism is new enough that many genres have only come into being in the past few years or so. Games like Osmos and Kosmo Spin are pretty much unique, the latter I just can't imagine working on anything other than touch. People have surely been saying that all genres have been covered in every medium for the last 60 years, yet new ideas keep getting created.

I can remember playing what is essentially the same game on an acorn computer in 80s, pretty sure a helicopter. All this talk is just a witch hunt by jealous people, ignoring how rare original ideas actually are.

I believe SF cave came before the helicopter game, and I'm sure if even that was the first of the genre.

http://www2.sunflat.net/en/games/sfcave.html

http://www2.sunflat.net/en/games/sfcave3d.html

3D SF cave is my favorite by far.

Thanks. I'll have to check this one out. I guess helicopter game wasn't the first, which makes it even more ridiculous that people are acting like this is something new.

I'm pretty sure I saw something recognizably similar to this used as a sample program for the Commodore 64 in Compute's Gazette.

I played a game like this when I was in school around 1990.

I think we had a game like this on BBC Micros

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