The first mobile phone appearance of the game Snake was in 1997, including on the Nokia 6610. It was created by Taneli Armanto, a company designer that adapted the gameplay from Gremlin’s classic Blockade (1976) to use on the tiny monochrome screens of those little block phones. And now, nearly 20 years later, a small studio called Rumilus Design rescued Taneli himself to launch a revamped version of Snake for iOS and Android called Snake Rewind.
The game preserves the old gameplay of making your snake grow by collecting items around the setting while being careful not to bump up against your own tail, except in this case the progression of the game will happen in blocks or ‘missions’ sprinkled with extra items that give special powers. Although the game is completely free, it’s monetized by the freemium model, such that if you die you can rewind a few seconds of the scene by paying with lives that will recharge as you wait – or, obviously, pay money.
This Snake Rewind is certainly not the first time this subgenre has ventured onto smartphones, including similar apps like Snake 97, Hungry Snake, or Snake 3D Revenge.
