A new year means a new group of games to get excited about, but you might not need to look ahead to play some of the potential best mobile games of the year. January has seen some stellar releases, from the beat ’em up TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge to the quaint puzzler Resonance of the Ocean.
We’ve curated the best games of January into today’s listicle so that everyone can keep up with the hot new titles on Android. A good few have already made their way to our roundup of the best games on Android, so rest assured, we have some heavy hitters this month. We haven’t limited ourselves to any particular categories, so even if you’re rocking a budget Android phone, you can still play all of the choices below to start your year off right with some fantastic games.
1 TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge is a beat ’em up inspired by the side-scrolling arcade brawlers of the 80s and 90s. But it isn’t just a nostalgia trip. TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge has all the quality-of-life features we expect from the best Android games, including uncapped framerates, controller support out of the box, and a wide variety of characters.
While there are plenty of great brawling games on Android, TMNT: Shredders Revenge is easily one of the best. Fans of the original cartoon will love the faithful reproduction of their favorite characters, but beat ’em up fans will appreciate the varied and fluid combat, fantastic pixel art, and elegant controls. Keep in mind the game is only available through a Netflix subscription, but this affords players a microtransaction and ad-free experience.
2 Fatal Fury 3
Two days after TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge hit the Play Store, a retro fighting game from the 90s landed. Fatal Fury 3 isn’t a beat ’em up, but a fighting game where you’ll engage in 1v1 fights to defeat various characters.
Many retro games from the ACA NeoGeo library have been ported to the Play Store, but Fatal Fury 3 is a clear standout as one fo the best fighting games around. It revamped most of the roster of the prequels, along with new sprites for everyone. But it didn’t just bring graphical improvements. A new battle system meant players could use the foreground and background areas to dodge, along with better dash capability, jumps, blocks, and chain combos. Often these old-school fighting games can be challenging for younger players, as the genre has grown in leaps and bounds over the decades, but Fatal Fury 3 is a fantastic starting point for a retro kick. The concepts mentioned above would become a mainstay of future titles, and the touch controls and controller support developed for Android make it easier than ever to play. At $3.99, it’s an absolute bargain.
3 A Slight Chance of Sawblades
As Android phones grow in power, we’ve seen many PC and console staples make their way to the Play Store. These tried-and-tested games are a pleasure to see, but sometimes it’s nice to explore an original arcade game that steals our hearts. A Slight Chance of Sawblades doesn’t offer a nuanced story, complex characters, or phenomenal graphics. What it does offer is a lot of sawblades and hours of frustrating, addicting fun.
A Slight Chance of Sawblades evokes the same reactions as Flappy Bird back in 2014. There’s only one thing to do in the game (jump over sawblades), but it’s just tricky enough to make you think failure can easily be overcome with a couple more tries. And try you will until the controls click, and you reach high scores you’d never dreamed were possible. A Slight Chance of Sawblades isn’t complex, but with gameplay this addicting, it doesn’t need to be. A Slight Chance of Sawblades is free to download with ads that can be removed for a one-time purchase of $1.99.
4 Perfect Grind
The heydey of skateboarding games might be long gone, but Perfect Grind shows they’re still fun. It condenses various skateboarding tricks into a series of simple swipe controls that, while challenging to master, let you pull off satisfying combos with just one hand. It’s a quirky and fun game that will satisfy you for hours.
Perfect Grind has more substance than you might expect from its appearance. The multicolored world of skateparks is full of NPCs that’ll challenge you to perform different skateboarding tasks, and the world is full of rails, ramps, and objects to help you chain your combos together. It’s free to download with ads, but not only does a $2.99 purchase remove these, but it adds a sandbox mode where you can design the perfect skatepark. While it would have been nice to see this mode be included by default, it’s easily worth the asking price. Overall, Perfect Grind is ideal if you need a fun game that has substance without requiring too much commitment.
5 Sands of Salzaar
As we noted in our hands-on, Sands of Salzaar has a few flaws that can put off players. Imperfect translations, bugs, and repetitive gameplay are some of them, but they don’t ruin what is, at its core, an ambitious open-world RPG, especially when these bugs also exist on PC.
In Sands of Salzaar, you’ll traverse a living world, completing quests and defeating bad guys while building up your army. This army is used to engage in real-time battles, where every soldier you’ve recruited has its part to play. January has been a little short on substantial RPGs, so we’re happy to see a game that can’t be completed in one sitting. If you can overcome the bugs, you’ll find that Sands of Salzaar will keep you occupied for weeks on end.
6 Sengoku 2
One week after Fatal Fury 3 came another retro ACA NeoGeo title. But Sengoku 2 is part of the beat ’em up genre that TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge harkens back to rather than a 1v1 fighting game. So if you enjoyed TMNT, give Sengoku 2 a go to see where many of its concepts originated.
Sometimes these retro ports can be a little hit-or-miss, but Sengoku 2 is easily one of the best from SNK. Side-scroller brawlers are well suited to Android, and thanks to the included controller support, you don’t need to rely on the touch controls (although these are more than sufficient to enjoy the game). Sengoku 2’s gameplay loop is refreshingly simple. Defeat a wave of enemies with your katana, then advance to the next. There aren’t many complex features like combos, but this means combat is fluid, satisfying, and easy to learn. Like Fatal Fury 3, Sengoku 2 is a $3.99 download with no ads or in-app purchases.
7 Various Daylife
Various Daylife has had a strange history. Originally released as an Apple Arcade exclusive in 2019, it was pulled from the platform two years later. Since then, it’s been released on Switch, PC, PS4, Android, and iOS (no Apple Arcade this time). While it may be simplistic, this RPG from the developers of Octopath Travelers is a great way to pass the time, an area where mobile games excel.
At $20.99, the price of Various Daylife might raise your eyebrows. However, this is the cheapest place to find it (it’s $28.99 on PC and consoles). Various Daylife is a simple RPG where you’ll perform everyday tasks between battles to level up your team. Combat involves chaining your party’s abilities to manipulate your opponent and deal heavy damage. It’s a satisfying loop that is a great game to relax with after a long day.
8 Prehistoric Isle 2
Rounding out the collection of ACA NeoGeo games released in January is Prehistoric Isle 2. It’s a side-scrolling bullet hell game where you’ll pilot a helicopter through a landscape of prehistoric dinosaurs. Don’t expect your usual swathe of Jurassic Park creatures here; these imaginative dinosaurs can shoot projectiles.
You can control one of two helicopters in Prehistoric Isle 2. Each offers unique weapons, but both can be powered up throughout the game by rescuing civilians. While the graphics aren’t top-tier, the pre-rendered sprites aren’t ugly (a frequent failing of 90’s games). Gameplay can be simplistic, but the enormous amount of bullets and enemies on the screen means you won’t have time to ponder mechanics. Good bullet hell shooters are hard to find, so if you want to try this classic example of the genre, you can download it for $3.99.
9 NBA All-World
Niantic has made many attempts to return to the glory days of Pokemon Go, and while NBA All-World likely won’t hit the same level of success, it’s probably the best game Niantic has released since Pokemon Go. The basketball theme, while slightly over-commercialized, results in an engaging location-based game that is even enjoyable for non-NBA fans.
In our hands-on of NBA All-World, we noted that the real-world integration was surprisingly effective. The title attempts to locate in-game items near real-world shops, and your local basketball courts are where you can compete with other players for the top spot. Overall, it’s an excellent effort from Niantic, but we expect that NBA fans will get the most value out of the experience.
10 Eversoul
Eversoul launched at the beginning of January with all its pre-registration goals met, meaning players earned a massive amount of rewards just from starting the game. This strong start wasn’t met with disappointment, as Eversoul is a beautiful title that is the perfect RPG to pick up for an hour or two a day. The gacha mechanics might not be for everyone, but those who can stomach the quasi-gambling will be rewarded with an addicting auto-battle collector’s game.
The developers of Eversoul are the same people behind Guardian Tales, one of the best gacha games on Android. But the best thing about Eversoul is that players can re-roll their first set of characters as often as they want. This friendly start, combined with the challenging battles, makes it easy for beginners to get started without growing frustrated or bored. Overall, if you’re going to try one new gacha game this year, make it Eversoul.
11 Flash Party
Flash Party is a platform fighter heavily inspired by Super Smash Bros. While we don’t expect it to reach the same level of popularity, despite its multi-platform availability, it’s still an excellent multiplayer brawler that scratches the same itch Super Smash Bros does.
In Flash Party, you’ll attempt to knock other characters off the stage by softening them up first. The more you hit them, the harder you’ll hit. It’s free to play, so characters are unlocked by playing games. Unfortunately, you can only play a set number of matches before you run out of energy and need to recharge. But despite the awkward monetization, Flash Party is perfect if you’re looking for an excellent multiplayer fighting game to scratch your Smash Bros itch.
12 Resonance of the Ocean
Resonance of the Ocean is the shortest game on this list; it’s the best example of quality over quantity. While we won’t spoil the mystery, we guarantee you’ll be thinking about the experience long after you’ve finished playing the game.
Resonance of the Ocean is a point-and-click adventure where you’ll solve audio puzzles to progress the story. We recommend picking up a pair of good headphones for this, as you’ll need to focus carefully on the sounds to avoid confusion. As we mentioned earlier, the experience is short, but we think this is good. If Resonance of the Ocean were longer, the puzzles would quickly become frustrating. If you want to try out a beautiful indie game with original puzzle mechanics, you can’t do much better.
January has set a high bar for 2023’s Android game releases
With a roster of games this strong, we are excited to see what other games come out this year. But one thing we know for sure is that it’s a great time to be a fan of ACA NeoGeo titles. Make sure to catch up on our roundup of the best Android games of 2022 to see what 2023 has to compete against, and if you missed last month’s new release roundup, you can find all the excellent releases from December right here.
