Simogo Legacy Collection Offers an Innovative Solution for Mobile Game Preservation

Before creating the acclaimed Sayonara Wild Hearts and Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, the Swedish studio Simogo established itself as a powerhouse of creativity in the mobile gaming scene. From 2010 to 2015, they launched seven titles for iPhone and iPad, all of which are noteworthy, with at least two—Beat Sneak Bandit and Year Walk—earning classic status.

However, despite being relatively recent, these games faced the risk of fading into obscurity. The preservation of mobile games is even more precarious than that of other formats, which are already struggling. Frequent system and hardware updates put smartphone games in jeopardy of becoming obsolete unless developers invest significant effort into maintaining their older titles.

In response, Simogo has introduced the Simogo Legacy Collection, a compilation that brings all their mobile games to Switch, Switch 2, and Windows PC. Yet, porting mobile games to different platforms raises questions about preservation and authenticity. If the games are heavily modified to function on new hardware, can they still be considered true to their original form?

This concern is particularly relevant for Simogo’s titles, which heavily rely on innovative touch controls, motion inputs, and screen orientation to enhance gameplay. For instance, their debut game, Kosmo Spin, utilizes a swiping motion to manipulate a cosmos around a small planetoid. Device 6 plays with narrative and architectural space, requiring players to rotate their devices to navigate a spiraling story. Year Walk, a chilling mystery, incorporates multi-touch mechanics to solve puzzles.

Simogo reflects on this challenge, stating, “Over the years we had talked about ‘remaking’ every game, designing new controls and custom solutions for every little design quirk each game had, but we quickly came to the conclusion that this approach would not only be very time-consuming — it wouldn’t serve the actual purpose, which was to preserve our games.”

The Simogo Legacy Collection makes impressive strides in maintaining the mobile gaming experience. It shines on the Switch consoles, which feature multi-touch screens and motion sensors, allowing for both portrait and landscape orientations. This setup closely mimics the experience of playing on a tablet or phone.

For those who prefer playing docked, Simogo has a solution. The entire collection operates on a virtual tablet; Joy-Cons serve as dual pointers for clicking and dragging, while holding a trigger and flicking left or right tilts or rotates the virtual tablet, enabling motion control and orientation adjustments. In landscape mode, it utilizes a 16:9 aspect ratio to fill the screen, while portrait mode seamlessly switches to a 4:3 tablet view for a more comfortable experience. The studio has even included Joy-Con mouse controls for the Switch 2.

I haven’t tried the Simogo Legacy Collection on Windows PC, but it features the same virtual tablet interface with mouse support. The only potential drawback is the simulation of multi-touch, which requires using WASD for the second pointer: “an acceptable compromise, as the second cursor is so rarely used,” according to Simogo.

The collection’s presentation is as stylish as you’d expect from the Swedish developers. The iOS-style menu is accompanied by a soothing custom dynamic soundtrack featuring cool jazz renditions of the games’ music. Each game includes mini-achievements and a wealth of extras, such as prototypes, music and art collections, a Year Walk children’s book, and a narrative podcast linked to The Sailor’s Dream.

Most importantly, the games themselves serve as a captivating and entertaining testament to a visionary developer exploring the potential of a relatively new platform within just five years.

Kosmo Spin is a delightful arcade gem. Bumpy Road offers a whimsical platforming experience where players propel a car by manipulating the road beneath it. Beat Sneak Bandit cleverly combines puzzle, platforming, and rhythm elements, crafting intricate stealth challenges around a simple one-tap control scheme—imagine if Donkey Kong ’94 and Rhythm Heaven had a stealthy offspring.

Year Walk delivers an unforgettable experience steeped in snowbound folk horror, drawing from dark Nordic folklore. Device 6 stands out as the most meta game in the collection, foreshadowing the cleverness of Lorelei. The Sailor’s Dream presents a low-stakes, free-form take on Year Walk’s interactive storytelling; while atmospheric, it’s the least engaging of the bunch. Lastly, SPL-T is a minimalist puzzle game focused on dividing squares into smaller squares, which I found utterly addictive.

As a preservation effort, the Simogo Legacy Collection is thoughtful, principled, and meticulously curated. It’s unfortunate that there are no physical editions for the Switch and Switch 2 versions. As a celebration of a remarkable studio, it’s joyful and well-deserved. The necessity of its existence subtly critiques Apple’s compatibility policies, but in this case, the App Store’s loss is certainly our gain.

The Simogo Legacy Collection is now available on Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and Windows PC.