How A Viral Game Vanished Overnight | Flappy Bird

[@nationsquid]

Buy a DNA kit here: bit.ly/NationSquid. Use the coupon code 'NationSquid' for free shipping. As an added bonus, you can start a 30-day free trial of MyHeritage's best subscription for family history research.

[@eastymii]

🗿

[@TheRedstoneGamer-e5b]

Cool Video, NationSquid!

[@Miri_the_1st]

🐀

[@JonnelTheGreatest]

@@Beanzopshave a good funeral 🥰

[@AiLoveAidoru]

In June 2018, it was announced that MyHeritage experienced a security breach that leaked the data of over 92 million users. 🤨 Including DNA profiles that were later found being sold on the dark web.

[@jojomations2596]

Flappy Bird lasted only 2 weeks?! It felt much longer back in high school

[@cosmicparsec9463]

A variety of fake copies of the game appeared, which helped give the impression that the game was still alive, when in fact within two weeks the developer pulled the game from stores.

[@VietnameseCosmonaut]

about 11-12(ish)months

[@BlueSparxLPs]

Also have to keep in mind that because it stayed on your phone if you already downloaded it, many people were still playing the game for months after it was taken down. I don't think I even knew it was nuked until I'd been playing it far past the point of availability.

[@ZeroDividedByZero]

@@BlueSparxLPs If the game would've come out nowadays, I wouldn't have deleted it. One of my many regrets in life lmao.

[@Pikachu2Ash]

@@BlueSparxLPs Ya I was gonna say even if the game was even removed in a day there would obviously still be people playing it who haven't deleted it yet.

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

_"Flappy Bird -- a game I used to own, but then I lost my temper and now, I need a new phone."_ The Flappy Bird rap that came out on Vine will always be in my memory.

[@suspicioustoaster3766]

*"Frig... Frig... Frig... 5C :D"*

[@kootunesscrewy]

I really wish there was a rewritten version of the game like they did with Club Penguin.

[@coolness1768]

Be careful what you wish for

[@Rand0mHero713]

Flappy Bird, Temple Run, OG Angry Birds, and Fruit Ninja. The four pillars of mobile games to get through study hall when I was in highschool

[@k1773ns]

I miss that era. Mario run was cool too

[@CalebRazzleberry]

Papi Jump 😎

[@ChocoRainbowCorn]

@@k1773nsYou can still download the original APKs if you know some good sources that aren't sketchy and just waiting to give you a virus and if you happen to be lucky, those games might still work on Android 15. Personally just downloaded original Flappy Bird in version 1.3 and even though I do use very outdated phone (Android 10, Huawei P30 Pro) because of very little cash for an upgrade to something more modern, the game still works.

[@haroldmc23]

Subway Sufers?

[@wilhelmbittrich88]

Candy Crush?

[@JamesR624]

11:09 Hey Apple, Google, Mobile Game Devs, Mobile App Devs. THIS. THIS is how you do ads. THIS is what "ads" should be in the digital world. Minimal; enough to maybe get your attention for a moment, but NOT interrupt anything. It works into the subconscious instead of actively demanding your attention and pissing people off.

[@This_Drummer]

Real talk. 💯

[@alecrutz956]

intrusive ads only serve to guarantee I won't buy your product

[@zephyr3693]

This! I was really drawn to the simplicity and convenience of mobile gaming in 2012/13, at the time it felt like the beginning of the next big phase for gaming. Around that time i felt like there was a lot of potential for mobile gaming. I haven't been a mobile phone gamer since 2017/18 bc after that all these app companies got too greedy and sadly most of them have ruined their own products with ads and even worse, shameless begging and pushing for people to buy "subscriptions" to them. Up until a year or two ago, there were still a small handful of mobile games i enjoyed and played, but the list kept getting smaller and smaller as they all cranked up the number of ads, length of ads, and frequency of ads in their games. As those factors went up, my tolerance for ads went down and i deleted them one by one until today, when i only have a couple versions of solitaire left on my phone and ipad and have mostly abandoned phone games. It's a shame, because the only games left on the app store that are worth playing are the $15 mobile versions of pre existing steam/computer games, like stardew valley, minecraft, ect. And i'd rather play such games on bigger screens, they weren't meant for smartphones and while they are perfectly playable, it feels crammed to me and i don't enjoy playing "big" games on a small device. On the bright side, i use my Nintendo switch a lot more these days.

[@jam6079]

@@alecrutz956agree I refuse to give anything a chance that aggressively advertises

[@thuyluong5925]

Intrusive ads really expect us to get their product after they friggin ruined out gaming/bingeing experience. Nah, not gonna happen.

[@LendriMujina]

It's kind of hilarious that Nintendo has such a (well-earned) reputation for being heartless copyright predators that they often have to go "Hey, we _swear_ this one wasn't us this time!"

[@k1773ns]

I miss the era when apps were a novelty. Apps and mobile games were so new and “there’s an app for that” was the culture lol. Now apps are second nature. I can’t even remember the last time I opened the App Store to just download games

[@m.donez8]

tbf we aren’t kids anymore who have a bunch of free time to download and play games :,) but true

[@vizthex]

same. i recently downloaded a ton of nostalgic android games i played as a kid, but haven't really touched any of them.

[@kailomonkey]

You forgot to mention one important thing about Flappy Bird's gameplay, or the world has forgotten. The bird had a horrible hitbox making it harder and more frustrating than it appeared it should be. I seriously think this is a major contributing factor to the game's viral success.

[@jasonblalock4429]

Yeah, and the bird's movement was just wonky, especially the way it would nosedive once it lost momentum. There was something subtly enraging about all of Flappy Bird's mechanics, which counterintuitively somehow added to its addictiveness. Arguably it's a rare case of kusoge going mainstream.

[@codes5_real]

⁠@@jasonblalock4429That’s a bit of a harsh take don’t you think? I mean you’re entitled for your own opinions but Flappy Bird was intended to be a more casual experience then your average mobile game that people took too seriously, it’s not a masterpiece but it is a fun past time game when you’re on the go and shouldn’t be treated as anything but, it’s just a small indie game that was made for enjoyment and hating on it just seems a bit negative.

[@MaskNinjaSquared]

Was quite easy for me, spend an hour and get like 50.

[@bengoble8168]

@@codes5_realcry

[@shreya...007]

12:39 "I cannot take this anymore." Damn, that was harsh. Poor guy.

[@BischyTube]

I still have this game, on my most recent phone. Which was released years after it vanished from the Google play store. If you've downloaded it before, you can find the game on your apps list. It's very nostalgic. This game will stay with me forever.

[@KetsubanSolo]

It's also on a bunch of APK mirror sites

[@creepergold-b9l]

Can you send a mobile game app through phones so other phones can have it? Like airdrop or sending it?

[@henryfleischer404]

"your iphone is more powerful than the computers that put us on the moon in 1969" So is my dad's old Apple //C. I'd be shocked if the Atari 2600 wasn't more powerful than the Apollo guidance computer.

[@TheStarshipGarage]

loser modern computer: *has 1 terabyte of storage, still crashes* chad Apollo Guidance Computer: *has 2 kilobytes of storage, is able to guide lander to the moon, only having one hiccup that the astronauts were able to ignore*

[@RainyCobra]

The Gameboy is lol

[@timseguine2]

AFAIK anything that has any form of modern microcontroller(no matter how low spec) in it is more powerful than the AGC.

[@humanthetooth]

Including the app store's old interface and iphones of the time period was a nice touch. i appreciate you taking the time to do so

[@StelBoy2008]

The case of Flappy Bird is just another reason for me to hate video game journalists. They scolded the guy for making the game, & then they did it again when he took it down because god forbid someone puts their own mental health over a game.

[@candberrykorn]

I thought bro was going back to the 1700's to explain flappy bird

[@hustla818]

Me too 😂

[@thecozyintrovert]

lol same, I was like wow this game has more history than I thought.

[@kellan.turley]

Me too

[@abishek786]

Missed opportunity to call the video "How A Viral Game Flapped Away From Existance"

[@epicCoolgiytryhsrfsea]

how a hotdog sanviched away from existance

[@Soup69God]

That's dumb

[@AFoolWhoPlaysItCool]

​@@Soup69Godgotta respect the hate man

[@Fig_Bender]

If viral things in general where known for flapping then, or ifnitbwas a term for deleting/removing something, it might be a little clever

[@hammerrox]

There wasn't a single person in my high school that wasn't playing this game during its peak in January 2014. EVERYONE was obsessed in trying to beat not only their own high scores, but the high scores of everyone else. Even though Apple stopped supporting 32-bit apps in 2017, Flappy Bird lasted on my iPhone until 2021 when I finally decided to delete it. What a wild ride it was - thanks for the memories!

[@snowpeck]

I still have it on my phone. The official, original Android version, not a remake or some sideloaded thing. I downloaded it when it was out and never uninstalled it. Every time I get a new phone, I always back up my apps and so I keep taking it from phone to phone. It just kind of hangs out there on my apps menu like a relic of the past. I recently tried it and it does still work somehow.

[@snowpeck]

@CoolGuy78250 Probably. You'd just have to be careful that it's the real thing and not a virus.

[@ThunderSims]

Nice

[@PhantomHouseplant2018]

Iconic time. I was in the 6th grade and I also remember everyone talking about the game, crowding around the tables at lunch and screaming about everyones high score. I remember when this one kid named Chase had the highest score in the whole school

[@Someguyhere111]

I really think it was largely the joke of "This game is so frustrating you'll throw your phone" that helped it get as popular as it did. People hear about a simple arcade game that enduces that much rage, they gotta check it out, and even if it doesn't make them THAT angry, it's fun to overreact whenever you lose and playact rage quitting.

[@minhhoangvo4759]

That why it get remove....

[@gabe_s_videos]

I don't think it's nostalgia or a feeling that it was "gone too soon" that give people happy memories of Flappy Bird. I think it's just the connection of a shared experience. "You too? I though I was the only one!"

[@code_circuit]

Dude, You are SO underrated! Your documentaries are so high quality and help me understand so many things!

[@aryaa9900]

To anyone interested, Dong Nguyen has this other game called "Swing Copters 2" which is still available on the app stores. In my opinion it is just a better version of Flappy Bird, yet is very underrated.

[@BubblyBlackbird]

I still have flappy bird on my phone. I didn't expect it to transfer over when getting new phones, twice at that, but it did and I'm not about to delete it. lmao.

[@unexplained_entity7514]

I’m curious, are you on an android? Have seen several cases myself when switching to a new iPhone where apps haven’t transferred and I can’t download them anymore

[@frtzkng]

I had it on my old iPhone SE, the first generation, it stopped running on iOS 10 a long time ago but I just kept it. I do still have that phone and it works but I finally retired it last June after it was starting to fall apart. Yes the SE was released in 2016, 2 years after Flappy Bird was pulled from the App Store, but you can still install all apps you ever downloaded on any compatible device and I had it way back in 2013 on an iPhone 4S before briefly switching to an Android phone.

[@BubblyBlackbird]

@@unexplained_entity7514 yes, I'm on Android.

[@duckdeity9450]

Just in time for Flappy Bird to be announced that it will return

[@JamesR624]

"I just kept-" *Spontaneous Ice Attack!*

[@idkhonestly9985]

ice jumpscare

[@Warp2090]

what

[@the_Lime]

I hated this game so much because it always seemed like you didn't hit anything but died anyways

[@dimb9]

“We need historical context” Damn, have I got that old that my adolescence now requires historical context?

[@chickennoodlesoup2794]

Always a treat to watch nationsquid!

[@myhandleiswhat]

I never saw anyone playing this offline. I just remember scrolling online during that time and thinking "wait what?"

[@BlueSparxLPs]

I was in high school when the game blew up, and in that setting it was everywhere. It was hard to find a student who *wasn't* playing it at some point during their day. Lots of them would get their phones taken in class for playing it as well.

[@myhandleiswhat]

@Azurethewolf168 I was in Uni at the time, I didn't see anyone there playing it.

[@Choochinc]

The Flappy Bird craze in my high school was insane. Kids didn't like the game, they despised it to a completely irrational degree. For the time that it was out, kids were getting bulled for playing it at best, to getting beat up and/or their phones destroyed at worst. It wasn't about high scores to them, it was simply playing the game.

[@jab69420]

I downloaded flappy bird way back then. And I have a couple old iPhone 4 and 4s that I was somehow still able to get my Apple ID on so I downloaded flappy bird on 2 iPhone 4’s and last year I brought them both to school to have “flappy bird battles” and the amount of people that wanted to play flappy bird still is amazing. I had so many people and their friends try to beat each others scores which is amazing since many of them haven’t played the game since 2014. The simplicity get cultural impact the game had on our society will never be replicated again

[@unexplained_entity7514]

Man this feels like it was yesterday, how is it 10 years ago already

[@swandive46]

Man, back in those days, I really loved Tap Tap Revenge and Bejeweled. It was a shame that they discontinued Tap Tap, as it was so addicting in school

[@macksnotcool]

I think what is really interesting is many listicles still (incorrectly) claim a Mario boss fight is at a score of 999. This comes from an obviously fake youtube video where that happens.

[@izzatsufian2796]

Flappy Bird is the game not only ruined the game but the person who created the game

[@m9ddie]

bro english?

[@This_Drummer]

I remember all of this like it was yesterday. It’s a shame that people got out of hand with that game to the point of getting it removed. I miss it so much 10 (long) years later.

[@OliviaPhelps0]

Oh those were the good old days! I remember playing flappy bird as a little kid.

[@Everything.Windows]

i remember one time back in early 2014 that i play the game from my cousin's tablet. and now, i play it on my actual phone using the original APK file for Android haha. too sad it was gone too fast

[@shayneoneill1506]

I was a mobile app developer right at the start. It was a bit like the old Commodore 64 days, where a single guy in his bedroom could write a smash hit game and get rich 99c at a time (well 66c, apple kept 1/3rd). Then it all started going wrong first when EA got involved , and then the marketing people started getting involved and suddenly you where up against super slick professional games that where free and loaded up to the eyeballs with microtransactions and nonsense. You couldnt get a genuine honest game marketed without them trying to stuff it full of shovelware and ads, and so indepent gaming died on the iphone. And its a shame. There where some great games back then. Now its just gambling slot machines for children.

[@shaikabdulrazaq8024]

Guess who's flying back.....

[@Sepu_001]

"Flappy bird 2: the NFT scam"

[@rzzcp]

can’t wait for the nft scam 😀😀

[@rangeetganguly6010]

Google was kind enough to bring this game as an Easter Egg on Android 5 and 6 after its official disappearance. Good old days

[@pizza2437]

Anyone else play that helicopter online game that was basically just Flappy Bird before Flappy Bird?

[@slimuslinus]

Yes I was about to say! Helicopter was the OG

[@Fig_Bender]

Absolutely, I spent way to much time on addictinggames in Jr high

[@bluebvur91]

Unrelated but my Scottishness came right out when Sir James Watt was mentioned. I am from a town called Greenock in Scotland where James was born and bred. Makes me so proud!

[@DannySB991]

My main memory of this game was playing it while on coach journeys I used to take cross country back in 2014.

[@xeroxtra]

This is such a "die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become a villain" moment

[@ArthurTRead]

flappy bird was so prominent in the early to mid 2010's, I remember reading this weird as hell fanfiction about the hetalia crew ganging up to attack and bully the vietnamese character because of flappy bird the 2010s fandom culture was fucking wild, and so was flappy bird's popularity

[@colbyforbesadventures]

I remember when I was little and I downloaded flappy bird and I loved that game oh my gosh, there is no way it only lasted for two weeks since I vividly remember playing that periodically on my old iPad for at least two years or so.

[@LandonEmma]

I honestly doubt it was up for 2 weeks. It feels like maybe a year.

[@Artandmore2012]

When they were selling “flappy bird” on eBay they were also selling flappy bird AND a iPad/phone

[@dyslexsticks3381]

I'd only begun to hear about this when I was in further education when it was beginning to die off. I must've been nearing 20 at the time. I don't remember ever downloading it because I was still using an older generation phone (no android or ios) but I do remember one of the cooler guys that let me try it. Once was enough.

[@ExploringNew1]

I remember only scoring like 4 because the fps was so low on my dad's old phone which he got for free from a friend.

[@ALTEMERI]

i remember back in elementary school, i stayed inside for recess to play flappy bird on the computers. what a crazy time

[@GirtheAlienGoldfish]

I never played this game, but I remember it being huge with my friends and then there was absolutely not a peep about it after a little while. It was weird.

[@ade5324]

of course there is a lawsuit from nintendo when isn't there a lawsuit from nintendo

[@imjustsomeguy]

Damn, 10 years already. I remember this blowing up in high school. I was bad and still suck at the game. I randomly play it on my Android phone because you can sideload apps

[@Coyotefrommars]

2:05 magic timestamp lol Genuinely are you okay tho? Ice HURTSS

[@riahlexington]

I miss the day when ads were little banners and not 30 second full screen ads every minute of gameplay

[@xaviere1644]

I swear you're the only youtuber that's so naturally charismatic that I always watch your ads and personal plugs without feeling any type of way. This fella just has a way about him.

[@wilhelmbittrich88]

Funny this video came out. On my Facebook memories the other day was a post I made 10 years ago about finally achieving a score of 15 on Flappy Bird and then deciding to delete the game.

[@crewrangergaming9582]

Back in 2014 when smartphones were still not as common, I remember seeing people on buses play Flappy Bird.. It was a shame how the developer was forced to take his game down, the big nintendo left no stone unturned to see to that, all for what, green sewer pipes?

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

"The James Dean effect" Ah yes, famous President of the united States James Dean.

[@britishchick09]

I remember playing Flappy Bird in 5th grade! (as an Hour of Code game) My friend liked to say, "Go fly in a hole!" when the bird fell ;D

[@speedwagoncito]

Blaming the creator of the game for their addiction and even sending death threats to him is so wild and so weird and just... dumb af? If you notice yourself developing an addiction to anything (game or even substances), you need to work on the underlying causes and problem within yourself, not try to shut things down. Bc, okay, Flappy Bird or any other game gets shut down, but who's to say you won't get addicted to a different game or thing next?

[@carolinesim7482]

At my school there was a rumor that it was taken down because someone took their own life after losing 😭 I was in third grade

[@Sachin-ei8qw]

I played this clone called Flappy Bee, just an hour ago & KZbin recommend me this.. 😳

[@deepspace5511]

can you share link?

[@QuincyO5b]

14:55 not to mention, he was the best president! he cured deafness, turned off all of those sirens, and cleansed the ADA members! boy, would i love a president like that again :D

[@PTO_Finesse]

Haven’t been this early since I was born premature 😂😭

[@ihaveagoddamnplanarthur]

Relatable

[@PyroPry11]

I pay for YT premium for no ads. So as soon as I see an ad in the video I immediately leave.

[@janettelee5958]

Lol u can never escape them

[@tutacat]

The addicting thing is the extremely high skill ceiling and low skill floor.

[@CyrusHusky04]

i remember paying a kid in school tickets when i was in 4th grade to play flappy bird on his ipad back in april of 2014.

[@Wahooski]

Holy shit! How did I just learn that I share a birthday with flappy bird!

[@CZghost]

Fun fact: Flappy Bird has an end. Believe it or not, after you reach level 999, the bird stops, and Mario emerges from the last pipe and jumps on the bird, killing it. So the highest score you can reach is 999. That might be the reason why people say that it's violating digital rights of Nintendo, because it literally has a character of Mario, which is copyrighted by Nintendo. And Nintendo is known for pretty aggressive lawsuits towards those who copy their assets. Not to mention that the pipes really look awfully similar to the pipes from Super Mario Bros. I wouldn't say that it was ridiculous of people to think that Nintendo was after him.

[@BOTHaven]

That's faked unfortunately. The reason why it had copyright issues was because of the pipes being ripped off from Mario 1.

[@windums560]

I wish the original dev come back and continue to have what he deserves not the copycats

[@morsecodereviews1553]

Can we all just flap once in rememberence of the great Flappy Bird.

[@mywinona6821]

I remember all the parodies of Flappy Bird. Especially the one released officially by Fall Out Boy.

[@RockProductionsYT]

4:47 original Angry Birds does NOT still exist. Rovio killed it in 2019, brought it back, then killed it again because people bought IT instead of inapp purchases in other rovio games.

[@thatgamerkid1755]

The way he accidentally dropped the cup made me chuckle

[@riahlexington]

Flying Cyrus wrecking ball…yep definitely 2014. Also that flappy fish game looks like it just stole a Mario cheep cheep asset lol.

[@yousefslimani99]

Also wow I didn’t quite imagine lots of people having skill issues with this game, I didn’t play this game that much as a kid but thankfully I didn’t rage quit, so I played this game pretty normally

[@RuruFIN]

I didn't even have a supported phone when this was the thing, I was still running a Symbian phone. :D

[@ChawkletStudios]

I still have the app downloaded on my phone, became unplayable around 2017

[@JoBot__]

NationSquid DNA reveal? :O Great video though. :D

[@CatsOverBrats]

I completely forgot about this game. Probably because I didn't find it fun. I downloaded it, tried it, and deleted it again within an hour.

[@foxracing8973]

I got so excited when you mentioned TWAU 😁 Still waiting for season 2 Telltale...😩

[@milkshakeman1528]

I'm pretty sure my old iPad still has flappy bird downloaded on it. All my friends loved that gam. God, I hated that gam. I only got to like 15 before I Rage Quit. But once it was taken off the App Store, I never brought myself to delete it

[@herminy1324]

My local dominoes has a flappy bird arcade machine? Just a big tablet in an arcade case with a button to hit.

[@burgerbattle]

You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain.

[@screenteasing]

No one talks about the helicopter-flashgame that made this app-trashcopycat famous.

[@Mykasan]

it's been ten years?!

[@ciach0_]

Does anyone remember Google making Flappy Android for Lollipop and Marshmallow?

[@Initialized_Editz15]

If you didn't know, I'm a saviour of flappy bird! After around 10 years, I finally found out on how to download flappy bird (on android unfortunately).

[@number1ishimaru]

OMG NATIONSQUID POSTED🔥🔥

[@Soemguywhoask]

Nationsquid for president | When is the next stream?

[@freshgino]

There was a game called Ribbon on Samsung back in the day… same idea

[@frtzkng]

Flappy Bird is also the reason why the UFO mode in Geometry Dash exists

[@prartmusic]

"No, No idea why my phone is broken"

[@devingrubbs]

I remember a helicopter game on flash that came out years before flappy bird, might have been on Addicting Games? Basically same mechanic just different look. That was my jam back in the day.

[@Dento64GD]

This didn't age well...

[@alejandroheeler]

I remember flappy bird Since 2013

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

And then there's a realization that 2013 was 11 years ago. Jeez Louise, my hair turned white and the clock grew wings.

[@JunkieRemix]

What were the death threats for? I’d assume they did it because he was getting so much attention from creating something so simple that it bothered some of the most miserable people to where they felt the need to bring it down

[@dyslexsticks3381]

I'm glad I found this comment because I was about to mention these too. I thought that the sudden negative press and death threats sounded suspicious, especially right when the game was largely overshadowing the other apps at the time. I don't necessarily think it could've only been due to just misery but rather a way to pressure the author to stop "hogging the profits" or something.