To me, there is something deeply satisfying about powering on an iPhone 2G in 2026 and finding that it still works.I keep my original iPhone on a display shelf, still connected to power, keeping the battery charged. It actually still has its original battery, though it doesn’t run the phone for very long anymore.

But the iPhone still functions beautifully. The only real cosmetic flaw is a single crack across the front display glass, which somehow makes it feel even more authentic. It is not a museum piece, but it is still hanging on, still carrying little pieces of 2008 and 2009 around inside it like a pocket-sized time capsule.

I still have three old games on that phone that I loaded onto it when it was new: Assassin’s Creed: Altaïr’s Chronicles version 1.0.1, Adventure, and Cube. Altaïr’s Chronicles reached iPhone in 2009 as the mobile version of the 2008 prequel, and it was later removed from the App Store, which makes having an old installed copy feel even more special now.

What strikes me most is how experimental early iPhone gaming felt. Nobody really knew yet what counted as ‘real’ gaming on a phone. Developers were testing ideas like iBeer, which made the screen look like a glass of bubbly beer that would pour out when you tilted the phone. Tilt controls like that with touch icons were stripped-down console ambitions, retro recreations, and strange little ports. It was all new. It was all a bit rough around the edges. And that is exactly why I enjoyed it so much.

Assassin’s Creed: Altaïr’s Chronicles

Of the three, the one I played the most was Assassin’s Creed: Altaïr’s Chronicles.

Apple iPhone 2G playing Assassin’s Creed

This game is fascinating because it feels like a genuine attempt to imagine what Assassin’s Creed could be on a first-generation touchscreen phone, before developers had really established the modern rules of mobile games. It is not just some lazy tie-in with the franchise name slapped onto it. It actually tries. And in many ways, it succeeds.
The version I have is 1.0.1 from 2009, and even now it is impressive in context.

The game lets you move Altaïr with a virtual thumbstick, which sounds awkward on paper but feels surprisingly natural once you settle into it. You jump by tapping the jump icon on the screen. The movement is smooth, and that smoothness is what still stands out to me. On an original iPhone 2G, no less, it feels ambitious.

Apple iPhone 2G playing Assassin’s Creed

Visually, it looks like a lost portable cousin of the PlayStation era. The graphics remind me of a PS1 or early PS2 game, with a little bit of that Tomb Raider antialiasing from the same general era. The environments are simplified, of course, and nobody is going to mistake it for a modern Assassin’s Creed title, but that is not the point.

The point is that it captures the spirit of the series surprisingly well. There is a real sense of traversal, of moving through a stylized world, of platforming and action compressed to fit a device that was never originally built for console-style experiences.

Apple iPhone 2G playing Assassin’s Creed

To me, it represents a moment when mobile developers were taking big swings. They were not yet trapped in the formulas that would later dominate mobile platforms. This was a premium mobile game trying to be a “real game,” and you can feel that effort in every part of it.

Adventure

Then there is Adventure, which might be the purest nostalgia hit on the phone.

This one is a true recreation of Atari 2600 Adventure, right down to the feel of the original sounds. The simplicity of the presentation is part of the magic. You tilt the phone to control movement, and suddenly, one of the foundational adventure games of home console history is living inside an iPhone. It is absurd and wonderful at the same time.

Apple iPhone 2G playing Adventure

I honestly do not remember exactly how I got it on the phone. It was probably on the App Store for a while, though it certainly is not there now. My guess, and it is only a guess, is that it likely disappeared because of intellectual property issues. Either way, the fact that it survives on this phone makes it feel like a digital fossil from the earliest App Store years.

What I love about Adventure on the iPhone is that it does not try to modernize too much. It does not overcomplicate the concept. It simply brings that old Atari experience into a new form factor, and it trusts the strength of the original design. That says a lot.

Apple iPhone 2G playing Adventure

A great game concept can survive radical changes in hardware. A medieval assassin and a square hero carrying a chalice across a minimalist fantasy kingdom should not have much in common, but both games prove that strong ideas endure.

Cube

The third title, Cube, is the mystery item in the group. I do not remember as much about it, but from looking at it now, it feels like a Doom or Quake-style experience. It appears to be a port of Cube Engine, the open-source first-person shooter engine and game that was known for its fast 3D action and in-engine editing tools.

Apple iPhone 2G showing the game Cube

On the iPhone, that kind of game feels especially wild. Early mobile hardware was still proving what it could do, and here was a game that clearly wanted to push toward a proper 3D shooter feel.

Even without knowing all of its history, Cube says something important about the era. The early iPhone was not just home to puzzle games and novelty apps. People were already trying to squeeze first-person shooters, retro recreations, and franchise action games onto a device that had only just introduced the world to multi-touch.
That is why revisiting these games matters.

When It All Felt New

They are old, yes. Sixteen or seventeen years old now. But they do more than show us what people played on phones in 2008 and 2009. They show us a strange, hopeful moment when mobile gaming still felt like the Wild West. Developers were experimenting. Players were discovering what a phone could be.

Some of us were tilting an original iPhone 2G, cracked glass and all, guiding Altaïr across rooftops or steering a tiny square through the kingdom of Adventure, not realizing we were living through the earliest chapter of a gaming revolution.

Today, this old phone can’t connect to a cellular network any longer, but it still plays a few games. And for a few minutes, so does a very specific gaming feeling from that era.

William W. Winter is the creator of Apple II Adventure Studio, where you can try your hand at making text adventures with a modern web-based design tool. You can try it out and make your own text adventures at: https://textadventurestudio.com
Old School Gamer Magazine readers can sign up for a free account.

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Think Quick Events Escape Room was opened in Downers Grove, IL in February 2018, started by experienced escape room players looking to build on their passion and deliver their flavor of games. Decidedly taking a step away form the horror-based approach that many escape rooms specialize in, Fuzzy Logic aims to be a family-friendly and highly accessible experience for everyone to enjoy. As a result, Think Quick Events is a great destination from those new to escape rooms all the way to experienced players.

There are 5 different rooms to choose from so you can experience different puzzles and rooms each time you visit. There is the Super Heroes room, this room has you respond to an urgent distress signal for the city of Megatropolis. The Villains room, allows players to stroke their evil sides in a playful adrenaline-filled adventure. Temple raiders places you as archaeologists are determined to find a relic artifact of immense value. Then there is a Vet Office, Animals have gone missing, and all signs point to an estranged veterinarian! Finally, the Playground room, search high and low to find the hidden toys and solve the puzzles before everyone goes home!

Weekday Reservations: Normal operating hours for standard reservations are Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. They can service games Monday through Thursday by appointment only. Additional fees for staffing may apply. Please contact us at FuzzyLogicEscapeRoom@gmail.com so we can work out the details for a special event for you!

Tickets are $35 per person. All games are private games for no additional fee.

Location: 130 Ogden Ave Downers Grove, IL 60515

For the safety of our customers and our staff, we require that all players wear masks while in our facility, including during the escape room game. Where possible, we politely ask that groups consist of people from the same household / bubble. If you wish to add additional party members after your reservation is complete, you must contact us prior to your game.  Please read more about their COVID-19 practices. 

If you want to be safe from the pandemic and keep your distance or just you are not able to be in Illinois, you can play online with the Online Escape Room Adventures. Your team can play from the comfort of your home, no matter where you are.

Here is a sample online Zoom Escape Room – Click here

Games are $99.99 for the first 5 connections, and then every additional connection is half price ($10) up to a maximum of 15 connections or $199.99.

Gift cards are also available online to purchase a a gift for your loved one or friends who want to start a team up.

Why choose Think Quick Events Escape Room? “We know that you have many choices for an entertaining activity… Not just the many other escape rooms nearby, but also other fun alternatives for you and your family, friends, or co-workers. Here are a few reasons how Fuzzy Logic strives to be the best value for your money and why you’ll want to choose us for your next destination for entertainment.”

To contact Fuzzy Logic and visit their sites, click the links below

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I’ve mostly applauded these efforts, since any chance to increase people’s awareness of this deserving and original game is welcome. Unfortunately, Ristar’s long arms miss the brass ring with this release because of the problems inherent with its control scheme. The buttons work fine, but it’s that darn digital D-pad that makes things almost unplayable.

The trouble lies with how Ristar controls as a character in this version. He moves left and right fine with the digital pad, but much of the precise platforming, as well as Ristar’s grab ability, depend on the player being able to move his arms in eight directions. Stretching up or down without your thumb sliding off the pad is difficult, and stretching diagonally is a challenge, to say the least. Precision movements, such as hopping from one tree trunk to another, can be a frustrating exercise.

Ristar also seems to suffer from slowdown during gameplay in many areas that I don’t recall experiencing in the console original. This issue hasn’t been a problem in slower-paced Sega Forever releases, like Phantasy Star II and Streets of Rage, but platformers are a much different animal. Slowdown, combined with the aforementioned control issues, can be a death knell for this type of game, which requires quick and precise movement. For one as dear to me as Ristar, it makes this release all the more disappointing. I’ve heard that Sega’s choice of Unity as its emulator for Sega Forever titles is the cause, but I have no evidence to that effect. Whatever the case may be, it actually hinders the gameplay here.

I have high hopes for the Sega Forever line, but the fears my experience with The Revenge of Shinobi and its problematic gameplay seem to be proven a genuine problem with Ristar. Platformers are not digital pad-friendly, and one as robust in gameplay as Ristar suffers more so than others. I don’t know what Sega could do to remedy this without offering some sort of external add-on alternative (Sega would EVER do that sort of thing!). In the meantime, Ristar is a platformer that requires lots of patience, just for all the wrong reasons.

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I was thus quite excited to see the first Streets of Rage get a release as part of the Sega Forever lineup. As wonderful as it is on console, the game also performs admirably as portable fun that one can simply boot up at any time. It looks and sounds great, though it’s almost a shame to play it using earphones. I have often found myself making extensive use of my car radio’s Bluetooth function to blast the soundtrack while driving. Yuzo Koshiro simply outdid himself here, and being able to play his amazing tracks wherever and whenever I want is something that was simply inconceivable back in 1991. The Sega Forever game is perfect for enjoying its music this way. I haven’t had any issues with the sound quality with this version, and the audio sounds crisp and clean overall.

Streets of Rage’s gameplay is just as good, working well with the digital D-pad. As with just about all Sega Forever releases, there’s the option to use an external controller, but I didn’t feel it was necessary. The beat-‘em-up action is slow-paced, so the D-pad doesn’t get a chance to work against you as it might in a quick twitch game. The controls are customizable too, for those who have a different preference than the default setup.

Overall, I would recommend a download to anyone wanting to play some classic Sega brawling action on the go. Streets of Rage is the kind of game that needn’t be played in a single setting, thanks to the built-in save feature. A single level can be enjoyed at a time, making this release a worthy one.

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The first title I downloaded was Phantasy Star II, my favorite Genesis RPG and one of my favorite games of all time. I love its atmosphere and music, and the thought of playing this classic while in a waiting room or on a plane was too good to pass up. Its length makes it the ideal travel RPG for me. Phantasy Star II isn’t the kind you just play for a while and then forget. Even with its massive hint book, it will take at least 30 hours or so to complete.

The presentation has been translated intact. The visuals are clean on my Samsung Galaxy S7, and the action is easy to see. Text boxes are large and clear, which is paramount in an RPG, particularly in combat. The music sounds great too, which is a big relief for me. The audio on many emulated games can be distorted or just “off,” and thankfully, Phantasy Star II doesn’t suffer from this common and frustrating issue.

To be honest, my biggest concern with playing classic games on my phone is the gameplay. The digital touchpad can be a major issue because it either takes up too much of the screen or simply isn’t responsive enough for certain games, like platformers or shooters. While the interface still has problems with a few other games (the double jump in Revenge of Shinobi, for example), it doesn’t affect menu-driven, turn-based gameplay. Both movement and combat seem at first less intuitive than on a standard controller, but they only take some getting used to. Granted, that’s owed more to the style of gameplay than the control interface itself. Truthfully, I would still rather play with an external controller (the option to do so is included) or something other than that digital pad, but it works well enough here.

My only other major concern was the save feature. I played for two hours and lost my save because I was saving it in-game only. Using the cloud save (the little disc in the upper-right corner), you can back up all your saves. Just sign into Google Play and you’re good to go.

If you’re a fan of Phantasy Star II and are looking for a great, challenging RPG on the go, then this is a release you should consider downloading. It looks and plays well and offers hours of classic enjoyment that fans can take with them anywhere. Now Sega, please give me the others in the series!

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The game looks and sounds great on my Samsung S7. The visuals are crisp, and I was pleased that everything translated so well to the portable screen. I had no issues with the audio either, and while I’m not enough of an audiophile to know whether things are 100% identical to the cartridge original, I can honestly say that I didn’t detect any problems with Sega’s emulation in this regard. It’s certainly true that ESWAT’s soundtrack wasn’t exactly riveting back in 1990, but the compositions were clean and still had that distinct “launch window” sound. Thankfully, that has made the transition intact.

Where the chinks begin to show in ESWAT’s cyber armor is in the gameplay. The touch screen controls can be problematic, particularly when ducking or trying to shoot up. The digital D-pad just doesn’t respond well enough to allow you to alter your shot when enemies attack from multiple directions at once. After repeated play, I was able to accustom myself to the digital pad enough to be competent, but I noticed that stages were much more challenging that they were on the Genesis. Thankfully, there is an option to use an external controller, but that kind of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it? I’m considering buying a small Bluetooth control pad and leaving it in my car. That way, I’ll have one on hand for trips to the doctor’s office or other such situations. In all fairness, digital control pads have always been a problem on just about any phone or tablet I’ve played, so it’s not exclusive to ESWAT. The interface isn’t too intrusive, and the buttons works fine. It’s the D-pad that’s a problem.

I do like the leaderboards and the fact that the game is linked to a broader service. The problems with the digital gamepad is something that’s plaguing a lot of mobile games, and hopefully a viable alternative will appear soon. It’s still early in Sega Forever’s lifespan, and if Sega can figure out how to address the D-pad issue, then there’s great promise for accurate and portable versions of its platformers and shooters.

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