Endlessly running towards something
There was a time when you couldn’t move for autorunners on the App Store. These compact arcade action games distilled the essence of the platformer and racing game genres, and stirred in an endless high score-chasing mechanic.
While the market is no longer saturated with auto-runners these days, they still get released quite frequently. Aside from maybe the match-three puzzler, we’d say that the autorunner is the most enduringly popular genre in all of smartphone gaming.
Why is that? The genre’s suitability for mobile play is one huge factor. Often only taking a few minutes and a single screen input (albeit tapped multiple times) to play a round, a good autorunner offers the perfect between-stops gaming experience.
And also, there’s a fair amount of room for free-styling on top of this basic template. There are 3D autorunners, 2D autorunners, racing autorunners, roguelike autorunners, shooter autorunners, RPG autorunners – the list goes on.
Hopefully, we’ve reflected some of this diversity in the following list.
You might be wondering why we no longer refer to this as the ‘endless runner’ genre, as we often used to. The reason for that is simple: some of these games have a definite end, and don’t merely require you to keep going until you drop.
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1
Super Mario Run
Publisher: Nintendo
Available on: iOS + Android
Genre: Platform
You may not have directional control over Mario in Super Mario Run, but the range of jumps at your disposal makes for a game of surprising depth.
2
Alto’s Odyssey
Publisher: Snowman
Available on: iOS + Android
Genre: Endless running
Alto’s Odyssey is a truly beautiful endless skier that has you leaping and flipping down a vast mountain. Auto-runners don’t come any more polished or satisfying than this.
3
Badland 2
Publisher: Frogmind Games
Available on: iOS
Genre: Casual
Badland and its superior sequel helped put the tap-to-fly mechanic on the mobile map. Few other auto-runners can match the silhouetted majesty of their fantasy worlds.
4
Rayman Mini
Available on: iOS + Apple Arcade
Genre: Platform
Rayman’s mobile outings nailed the whole auto runner template years ago with their stunning graphics and imaginative worlds. Rayman Mini brings that formula to Apple Arcade, and it’s sharper than ever.
5
Chameleon Run
Publisher: Noodlecake Games
Available on: iOS + Android
Genre: Platform
Chameleon Run combines slick 2D auto-runner gameplay with chunky 3D graphics, resulting in a truly tactile experience.
6
Crossy Road
Developer: Hipster Whale
Available on: iOS + Android
Genre: Arcade, Platform
In Crossy Road you move forward crossing streets full of moving cars. Avoid obstacles and make sure that your character is not hit by a car or falls into the water. By default, you play as a chicken, but you can play other characters as well. It offers the player several modes, which promise you dozens of hours of exciting gameplay.
7
Punch Quest
Developer: RocketCat Games
Available on: iOS + Android
Genre: Arcade, Fighting
The auto-runner can be applied to any genre, and in Punch Quest that means the scrolling beat-’em-up. What a wonderful combination it is.
8
Boson X
Publisher: Mu and Heyo
Available on: iOS + Android + Steam
Genre: Endless running
A brilliant, twitchy arcade masterpiece that takes the 3D endless runner to new heights.
9
EarthNight
Developer: Cleaversoft
Available on: iOS + Apple Arcade
Genre: Action, Endless running, Platform
Perhaps Apple Arcade’s most notable contribution to the auto-runner genre (sorry Rayman Mini), EarthNight brings a stunning dragon-filled world, varied levels, and surprisingly varied gameplay.
10
Pigeon Wings Strike
Publisher: Ignacio Schiefelbein
Available on: iOS
Genre: Endless running
A super-fast-paced endless flier that stirs in chunks of racing game and shmup goodness. The result is one of the freshest auto-runners in recent years.
11
Wave Redux
Available on: iOS
Genre: Puzzle
A complete rejig of the masochistic Wave Wave, with a similarly angular approach to the auto-runner, but a more relaxed vibe. Thank goodness.
12
Pac-Man 256
Developer: Hipster Whale
Publisher: Bandai Namco
Available on: iOS + Android
Genre: Arcade, Endless running
A game that ingeniously takes the familiar maze-running premise of Pac-Man and applies it to a modern endless runner framework.
13
Jetpack Joyride
Developer: Halfbrick Studios
Publisher: Halfbrick Studios
Available on: iOS + Android + Facebook and social + PSP + PS Vita
Genre: Action, Arcade, Endless running
One of the undisputed endless runner classics from the early days of the App Store, Jetpack Joyride is still going strong thanks to its tactile and surprisingly varied gameplay.
14
Super Glitch Dash
Available on: iOS + Android
Genre: Endless running
An extremely slick and challenging first person runner with a sharp sci-fi setting. If you want to feel like you’re really running through a futuristic dystopia, this is your game.
15
Ava Airborne
Publisher: Laser Dog
Available on: iOS
Genre: Endless running
A free-spirited auto-flier that’s simply packed with content. It’s almost impossible to grow bored of Ava Airborne.
16
Ninja Chowdown
Available on: iOS + Android
Genre: Endless running
A gloriously fast and fluid update of the autorunner genre, Ninja Chowdown sees your chubby warrior hopping and skipping through detailed 2D levels, hoovering up donuts and chucking shuriken.
17
Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!
Available on: iOS + Android
Genre: Action
Crash Bandicoot pretty much formed the template for Temple Run and every 3D autorunner since. So this bright, bouncy autorunner from King makes perfect sense.
18
Summer Catchers
Available on: iOS + Android
Genre: Platform
Think the auto-runner genre is fresh out of ideas? Summer Catchers says hi, with its added deck-building elements and bouncy car-platformer gameplay.
19
Into the Dead 2
Publisher: PikPok
Available on: iOS + Android
Into The Dead 2 pulls the auto-runner genre kicking and screaming into first person, as you run for your life through fields of the undead. Eek!
20
Super Impossible Road
Available on: iOS + Apple Arcade
Genre: Action, Racing
Is Super Impossible Road’s title suggesting that it’s super-impossible, or both super and impossible? Both are accurate, as you try and fail to keep your ball on a cruelly twisting road.
21
Tiny Wings
Developer: Andreas Illiger
Publisher: Andreas Illiger
Available on: iOS
Genre: Casual, Platform
We’re not 100 percent sure that Tiny Wings is an auto-runner – you need to hold the screen to pick up downhill momentum after all – but it’s been so influential that it seems wrong not to include it.
22
Double Pug Switch
Available on: iOS + Android
Genre: Casual, Platform
An auto-runner that sees you taking control of an adorable dimension-hopping pug. Or rather, two, as you switch between them according to the colour of the obstacle.
23
Monster Dash
Developer: Halfbrick Studios
Available on: iOS + Android
Genre: Platform
Monster Dash dates back to the early days of the App Store, but it received an unexpected “bigger, badder” revamp in mid-2020. It still plays great, but it now looks a little sharper.
24
FOTONICA
Developer: Santa Ragione
Available on: iOS + Android + Steam
Genre: Endless running, Platform
This starkly minimalist first person auto-runner has you dashing and bounding through wireframe landscapes. It’s stomach-lurchingly immersive.
25
Rest in Pieces
Publisher: Itatake
Available on: iOS + Android
Genre: Endless running
A refreshingly odd 3D auto-runner that ladles on the schlock-horror factor. But it’s the fresh swing-based control system that really marks Rest in Pieces out.