A Mario platformer where you don’t have any directional control over Mario himself might sound like heresy, but Nintendo has found a way to work layers of depth into Super Mario Run.
2
Alto’s Odyssey
Publisher: Snowman
Genre: Endless running
Alto’s Odyssey is a stunning endless skier that has you leaping and flipping down a vast mountain. There’s nothing original about it, but auto-runners don’t come any more polished or satisfying than this.
3
Badland 2
Publisher: Frogmind Games
Genre: Casual
Badland helped put the tap-to-fly mechanic on the mobile map, and this sequel improves upon it in every way. Few other auto-runners can match the silhouetted majesty of its fantasy world.
4
Rayman Fiesta Run
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: Arcade, Endless running, Platform, Retro
Rayman’s mobile games have given a huge jolt to the auto-runner genre, showing that simple gameplay needn’t preclude console-standard refinement.
5
Chameleon Run
Publisher: Noodlecake Games
Genre: Platform
Chameleon Run combines slick 2D auto-runner gameplay with chunky 3D graphics, resulting in a truly tactile experience.
Alone is a super-stylish endless flier that sees your doomed space shuttle crashing through a crumbling cave system. It’s pretty brutal.
7
Punch Quest
Developer: RocketCat Games
Genre: Arcade, Fighting
Punch Quest takes the traditional auto-runner and then mixes in some retro scrolling beat-’em-up magic. It’s a wonderful combination.
8
Bubbles the Cat
Classy one-tap platforming with sharp retro visuals and a number of clever twists on the familiar formula.
9
Spicy Piggy
Publisher: Nitrome
Genre: Action, Arcade
Nitrome takes the auto-runner and does what Nitrome does with things – makes them tighter, more colourful, and more challenging than normal.
10
Boson X
Publisher: Mu and Heyo
Genre: Endless running
A brilliant, twitchy arcade masterpiece that takes the 3D endless runner to new heights.
11
Rest in Pieces
Publisher: Itatake
Genre: Endless running
A decidedly unusual 3D auto-runner that adds a schlocky horror vibe to this typically chirpy genre. There’s a swing-based control system that lifts the game a further notch above the ordinary.
12
Ava Airborne
Publisher: Laser Dog
Genre: Endless running
Ava Airborne attempts to give you everything in one auto runner package – and pretty much succeeds. Packed full of content, it’s very difficult indeed to grow bored of Ava Airborne.
13
Jetpack Joyride
Genre: Action, Arcade, Endless running
An undisputed endless runner classic from the early days of the Google Play Store. Jetpack Joyride’s tactile, surprisingly varied gameplay is still going strong.
14
Pac-Man 256
Developer: Hipster Whale
Publisher: Bandai Namco
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.
15
Into the Dead 2
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!
16
Glitch Dash
Developer: David Marquardt
Genre: Endless running
Glitch Dash is a first person auto-runner with finely crafted, devilishly challenging levels and a slick abstract art style.
17
Ski Safari
Developer: Brendan Watts & Shawn Eustace
Publisher: Defiant Development
Genre: Casual, Endless running
Think of Ski Safari as a brighter, bouncier, sillier Alto’s Adventure. No, it’s not as good. But any game that lets you ski on the back of a penguin is alright with us.
18
FOTONICA
Developer: Santa Ragione
Genre: Endless running, Platform
This starkly minimalist first person auto-runner has you dashing and bounding through wireframe landscapes. It’s stomach-lurchingly immersive.
19
Hyperburner
Hyperburner is an auto-runner that stirs in elements of sci-fi flight sims and futuristic racers. It feels pretty darned epic, all in all.
20
Crossy Road
Developer: Hipster Whale
Genre: Arcade, Platform
The game that kicked off a new kind of auto-runner, Crossy Road combines tappy gameplay with adorably blocky graphics and loads of unlockable characters.
21
Race the Sun
Developer: Flippfly
Genre: Arcade, Endless running, Racing
Combining elements of the auto-runner with a futuristic racer, Race The Sun offers a strikingly beautiful art style and an exhilarating sensation of speed.
22
Dragon Hills 2
Dragon Hills 2 is like an inverse Tiny Wings, but with oodles of gleeful destruction. One of the most empowering auto-runners on the App Store.
23
Agent Dash!
Developer: Full Fat
Publisher: Full Fat
Genre: Action, Arcade, Endless running
Plenty of games have copied Temple Run’s 3D auto-runner gameplay, but few have pulled it off with as much style and polish as Agent Dash.
24
Temple Run 2
Developer: Imangi Studios
Genre: Endless running
The sequel to the daddy of 3D auto-runners isn’t as fresh or as game-changing as the original – how could it be? – but it is a very polished example of the format.
25
Canabalt (Smartphone)
Developer: Semi Secret Software
Publisher: Semi Secret Software
Genre: Arcade, Racing, Retro
Canabalt is arguably the game that kicked off the whole auto-runner craze – at least on mobile. It’s still a smooth mover today.
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