Mobile spin-offs of popular triple-A titles conveniently bring some of your favorite series straight to your pockets. Sometimes your console can't come with you, and a free mobile version sounds like a much better deal than a pricey Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch. And that's probably why some are the most downloaded.
More and more triple-A studios are designing mobile game versions of their popular series. While some might be faithful adaptations that feel almost identical to their console counterparts, others take on a different vision and mechanics that offer a new experience still worth checking out. Here are some of the best examples.
10 Street Fighter: Duel
2023 marked Street Fighter's launch on mobile with a different twist to its formula. Street Fighter: Duel moves away from the traditional player-versus-opponent fighting style mechanics to real-time RPG combat with a party of four characters that feels a bit like Darkest Dungeon. You can recruit new fighters from the roster as you progress and still use some special moves like Ryu's Hadoken.
Each character has equipment slots and must be leveled up for you to be more successful in battle, and the character models are just as recognizable in mobile form. There's also a story mode, PVP battles, and Guilds.
9 Mortal Kombat And Injustice: Gods Among Us
NetherRealm brought its fighting game IPs to mobile with Mortal Kombat and Injustice: Gods Among Us, and both work nicely on the platform. Mortal Kombat, of course, brings on the fatalities and its roster of iconic main characters like Scorpion, Raiden, and Sub-Zero, while Injustice is all about DC characters fighting it out.
The mechanics and controls work quite the same across both mobile versions and probably will feel much easier than the button combos you need to memorize on console controllers. It's a lot of tapping and swiping, and you typically have three sets of characters to go up against. And if all three of your fighters are defeated, you lose the match.
8 Fallout Shelter
The Fallout games are always about the open-world first-person exploration of the wasteland and meeting new characters while battling mutated enemies transformed by the nuclear fallout. But Bethesda went a different route for the series' mobile game. Fallout Shelter is a 2D management sim and survival game where you're an Overseer in charge of expanding an underground Vault network.
The Vault Boy character serves as your tutorial guide, and all the characters you can populate your shelter with are designed similarly, who all need happiness and basic survival needs met. Your Vault can increase significantly with all the new establishments you construct and population-wise if you have enough babies.
7 South Park: Phone Destroyer
Not to diminish Tom Clancy's spy novel mastery, but one of the best Ubisoft licensed collaborations was probably the South Park RPGs, The Stick of Truth and The Fractured But Whole. South Park: Phone Destroyer builds off its predecessors, having you continue your adventures as the New Kid in a mobile free-to-play deck-building layout.
The graphics, cinematics, and humorous dialogue conversations are as you'd see in the console versions, and you can likewise customize your New Kid before heading into battles with your favorite characters as collectible cards. The clever fourth-wall-breaking moments, such as the interface seeming like your phone, are also well-incorporated into the gameplay.
6 Diablo Immortal
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Blizzard's Diablo Immortal is an infamous mobile game spin-off for two reasons: its harsh criticism upon announcement and being fined for not disclosing loot boxes. However, this one turned out to be pretty visually stunning in its new home on mobile devices, so don't let the microtransactions stop you from checking it out. They're the bane of all "free-to-play" games.
You start by choosing a character from a maximum of six classes, including Demon Hunter and Crusader, and can even fully customize their appearance. The gameplay and graphics are impressive and some of the best on mobile platforms, translating well from the original versions.
5 Octopath Traveler: Champions Of The Continent
The prequel to Square Enix's HD-2D fantasy epic came in mobile gacha form. Graphics and gameplay-wise, Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Content (or CotC for short) is hard to differentiate between the standard and mobile game. The continent of Orsterra looks every bit as captivating and intriguing, the same with the enemies and bosses within it.
You can now have eight members in your party to tag along in your adventure of defeating the themes of wealth, power, and fame that corrupt Orsterra. The combat stays faithful to turn-based strategy, the job system remains, and there are some side quests you may choose to complete.
4 Mario Kart Tour
2019 saw the launch of Mario Kart Tour, a mobile version perfect if you've always wanted to try Mario Kart but don't have a Nintendo Switch or older consoles like Wii or Wii U. It not only gives you an extensive list of classic maps to choose from and can even hang glide and race underwater in parts, but customizable carts and tons of new characters to play.
And on top of the traditional tracks, you're also taken around the world to cities like Paris, New York, London, Athens, and Los Angeles. The mystery boxes that bestow items you can use to your advantage and the stunts you can perform are back. The primary difference is the point-based system over placing first, second, and third.
3 Call Of Duty: Mobile
Call of Duty is one of the fastest-selling FPS series ever, so when it came to mobile, you bet it was just as big there. Although there's no solo campaign mode here, it's perfect when you're on the go or can't travel with your consoles but still want to experience its multiplayer matches, battle royale, and occasionally zombies.
You have a great selection of iconic multiplayer maps from past titles like Hijacked from Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Nuketown from Black Ops, along with Crossfire from COD 4: Modern Warfare, as well as notable characters like Captain Price, Alex Mason, and Ghost.
2 Mighty Doom
Bethesda did an exquisite job of bringing all the core mechanics and aesthetics of the chaotic FPS Doom games into their adaptation of a top-down bullet hell mobile game called Mighty Doom. From the music and character designs on enemies, the weapon variety, to the glory kills granting you health resources; it's everything you'd want to see. And the violence is toned down to being more cartoonish.
The Doom Slayer may be tiny, but he still shows plenty of might as you survive by moving through various stages in tight close-quarter environments with hordes of enemies, trying to gun them and dodge their projectiles. Your goal is simply moving the Slayer around, as the weapon firing is automatic, and even Night Sentinels can be encountered.
1 Very Little Nightmares
Very Little Nightmares is as thrilling and frightening on Apple Arcade or Android devices as the mainline Little Nightmares 1 and 2, and a fraction of the cost. And the best part is that the setting and story are completely different from the other two games, giving you a whole new experience with Six. Instead of a ship, you're inside a mansion sitting atop a cliff high above the sea called The Nest.
The platforming mechanics of pulling levers and climbing cabinets remain just as you'd expect, and outrunning the creepy enemies is just as suspenseful. Except, this time around, the monstrous figures are fewer but still come with menacing designs, like the long-limbed Craftsman in a wheelchair. And it wouldn't be Little Nightmares without the Nomes being present.