Jan "Jenkings" Škoda - blog

This Redmi is the last piece of functional hardware I received in the phone's box. It is a fairly modern device and reminds me of my beloved Redmi 5, which I lent to a family member to replace their other broken phone, and which they subsequently destroyed. Yes, I would have expected that, and I would never lend him anything.

But let's get back to the topic. The phone runs on Android 7, and I was surprised to find that I can still run the Play Store and install all supported apps. This is really interesting, as I thought that Android 8 was no longer supported. So that's fine.

I also recently read an article saying that Sega is making some of their ported console games available for Android for free. This includes three Golden Axe games, Sonic CD and more.

I have therefore decided to dedicate this phone mainly to old-school games.

So I would start with these SEGA games. I have installed Sonic CD Classic and Sonic Episode 4. To be honest, Episode 4 is a bit too modern and 3D for my liking, but Sonic CD is great. I'm a bit confused by the concept of travelling to the past and future, so I'll play through the game without worrying about it at first, and then maybe again with a tutorial or walkthrough. I'll see.



Another SEGA game I have tried is Crazy Taxi. I read a lot about this game when I was younger and always wanted to play it because the graphics were awesome and the reviews were very positive. Actually, I don't think I ever played it. I think I might have installed it a few years ago and tried it, but I'm not sure. Either way, I have never played it. So now is my chance to finally give it a serious try. It still looks good to me, despite its age, so I'm looking forward to it.



The last game I have chosen for Sega is Virtua Tennis Challenge. It's not really an old-school port, but it was discontinued in 2012 according to data from Wikipedia, so I consider it retro enough. It's a fairly modern 3D tennis game. I would never have imagined that I would play tennis, but when it was released for free and was about to be removed from the Play Store, I decided it was worth adding to my phone and my Google account so that I could access it even after it was officially removed from the store.



In addition to these, SEGA has released many other games, including the aforementioned Golden Axe and Streets of Rage series, as well as Super Monkey Ball. I have just added these to my library, but I haven't installed them on this phone as I'm not really interested in them. However, who knows — maybe I'll try them later.

So, I also want to add some other old-school ports. To start with, I discovered that there is an official Android port of Bubble Bobble, which I immediately installed. It looks really nice and has an old-school vibe, bringing back lots of memories of playing Bubble Bobble on my Windows 98 machine more than twenty years ago.





I need to do more research and find more ports. I especially want to find DOOM. I also think there would be a Duke3D variant, as there is an eDuke project. But I will, of course, consider as many games as possible. Re-Volt would definitely suit, and I already have experience installing it on Android.



Last but not least, during the installation, I also remembered my son. I discovered a game that would be awesome for him. It's a really simple game with quite good graphics and style. It's controlled by just one button: Thomas the Tank Engine races his friends. The idea of the game is really simple. There are two rails and the aim is to be the first to reach the finish line. You control your speed by quickly pressing the button, and you can perform stunts in mid-air by pressing the button. The rails are twisted into crazy shapes, so it's sometimes funny to watch your journey. It sometimes reminds me of the crazy mine shaft rollercoaster in virtual reality. I hope my son will enjoy it!