Mobile gaming may not have a history as long as console or PC gaming, but after more than a decade since the launch of the Apple App Store, it’s now possible to be nostalgic for the early days of playing games on your phone. Much has changed since then, sometimes for the worse. For instance, developers continue to delist some old games as business models shift toward free-to-play mechanics.
Subscription services that offer unlimited access to many games for one monthly fee represent one of the few positive trends in modern mobile gaming. GameClub, one such service, keeps hope alive. A GameClub subscription lets Android and iOS owners alike find and enjoy dozens of wonderful, old mobile games previously lost to time. It’s a great deal, a genuinely positive force for mobiles games and games preservation, and an Editors’ Choice for subscription services.
What Can You Play?
I’ve covered mobile gaming for many years, and in that time, I’ve seen countless fantastic games disappear because publishers didn’t update them for new hardware. It was a devastating situation, because many of those classics were premium games that could never survive in today’s mobile gaming landscape dominated by exploitative free-to-play games. Apple Arcade does an impressive job delivering new premium mobile games to subscribers, but what about these forgotten gems?
Enter GameClub. As a publisher, GameClub acquires and re-releases older mobile games, or mobile ports of PC and console games, in one subscription service. Calling it the Criterion Channel of mobile games might be a little dramatic, but any company that makes an effort to preserve underappreciated video games deserves praise and admiration in an industry that’s shamefully, willfully ignorant of its own history. Eli Hodapp, GameClub’s VP of Business Development, was a premier mobile gaming critic and journalist as the head of TouchArcade.
GameClub’s library of more than 100 Android and iOS games has some real blasts from mobile gaming’s past. My eyes lit up when I rediscovered hits like Frozen Synapse; Skulls of the Shogun; Swords and Soldiers; Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon; Toki Tori; and dozens more. If your game is missing, you can request it and the team will see what they can do. The catalog reminded me that mobile games have always had the capacity for creative gameplay ideas, before they became all about ads and in-app purchases. In fact, any GameClub games that previously locked content behind in-app purchases are completely unlocked for subscribers.
By rescuing old and expired mobile games, GameClub serves a niche retro gaming audience you never knew even existed. However, that vintage focus means that its relatively humble collection can’t compete with Apple Arcade when it comes to modern, exciting, and avant-garde modern mobile games that Apple itself funds.
Price and Platforms
After a month-long free trial, GameClub costs $4.99 per month. That’s the same price as Apple Arcade. Unlike Apple Arcade, GameClub works on Android devices, too. Surprisingly, one account carries over across both operating systems. I started my trial on an iPhone 11 and then used the same account to download games on a Google Pixel 3a XL.
The two versions aren’t identical. While many games appear on both Android and iOS, the Android library is slightly smaller. Hook Champ, for example, is an iOS exclusive. Looking at the release calendar, Android games also tend to launch later on the service compared to their iOS counterparts. Still, being able to use the same account across devices makes the services very appealing.
The service embraces this flexible gaming model in other regards, too. For example, you can share one account on up to 12 devices, whereas Apple Arcade limits you to six. You download games, you don’t stream them from the cloud. This gets around Apple’s block on services such as Google Stadia and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. It also means you can still play games even when offline, after the initial online verification.
In the Club
You’ll spend most of your GameClub time simply enjoying its games. You can launch games from within the app or download titles directly from the App Store or Play Store; icons for the supported games you download sport a GameClub border on your home screen. Although you don’t technically need to open the GameClub app that often, it offers useful features that are worth checking out.
Discoverability issues have plagued mobile gaming since the start. Stores are packed with so many unrecognizable games that it’s tough to figure out what’s worth playing. GameClub has a curated library, but the app also has tools that help make sure you’ll enjoy the games you play. When you first create an account, you take a quiz—with peppy music and Tinder-esque swiping—that helps GameClub determine which genres you prefer and which ones you don’t. Zombie puzzle game? Yes, please! GameClub then serves you your first batch of recommendations.
From there, you can browse through the slick interface (a tad slicker on iOS compared to Android) to search for individual games, or look through categories, such as Family Games or What’s New. Each game has tags like “play with one hand” or “controller support” to give you even more information when searching. Huge, colorful icons show games in all their glory, whether in a screenshot or a video that plays in the menu. The production value rivals Apple’s own apps. Listings highlight a game’s critical praise and let you read strategy guides along with editorial pieces that share some development background about the games.
GameClub tracks which games you play. Although you can’t transfer save data around, the app at least knows what games you’re most recently playing. I started playing Sword of Fargoal on my iPhone, and the app asked if I wanted to continue playing when I moved to my Android phone, even though I hadn’t even downloaded the game there yet. Playing GameClub games earns you achievements to level up your global profile for bragging rights. You can pull up your profile in the app, as well as in each game. If you particularly love a game, you can also favorite it and share it on social media apps, such as Discord and Instagram.
Memories of Mobile Gaming’s Past
Mobile tech changes gradually from year to year, so it doesn’t have set generations like console hardware. So, when we lose mobile games to the inevitable march of progress, we aren’t sure precisely when it happens. It’s a tragic, invisible process. For shining a light on these old mobile games, reclaiming them for modern Android and iOS devices, and offering them in a fantastic and flexible package, GameClub is an Editors’ Choice for subscription game services. With the service, there’s no mobile game left behind.
