Now that Flappy Bird has faded away from our minds just as fast as its overnight success at the end of 2013, it's about time we rank in all of its spiritual successors and obvious copycats in order to show off the best of the best in terms of Flappy Bird clones. Given that Flappy Bird looks like it could be a clone of the flash game Piou Piou, which was ported over to smartphones long before Flappy Bird was ever conceived, we find it oddly appropriate that Flappy Bird has spawned so many clones of its own. In fact, many of the games featured on this collection of the Best Flappy Bird clones have spawned clones of their own (it's like 'Star Wars: Episode II' mixed with 'Inception').

Flappy Bird originally debuted on the smartphone market on May 24, 2013, but was met with tremendous success out of nowhere towards the end of the year, which made people believe that creator Dong Nguyen utilized bot programs to mass-download his game in order to raise its popularity on the marketplace for others to take notice of it. When you consider that Nguyen was living in a very poor area of Vietnam (still living with his parents at the age of 28 we might add) and was raking in roughly $50,000 a day at the height of his game's success, the game's disappearance seems even more mysterious. Regardless of its creator's claims of shattered privacy, $50,000 a day is a lot to just walk away from, especially in Nguyen's circumstances. Regardless of what happened, lets take a look at some of the Best Flappy Bird clones that have tried to take up the reins of Nguyen's infamous, frustrating hit.

  • 10

    Flappy Whale

    Shayort Games

    The first Flappy Bird clone we have on this list doesn't even feature any birds at all. Instead, Flappy Whale ingeniously takes Nguyen's concept and puts it into an aquatic setting. Gone are the retro, Super Mario Bros. 3-like graphics of Flappy Bird. Instead, we have a sleek, updated design and a premise much more believable than a fat bird randomly dodging huge, green pipes in the sky for no reason. Whale's controls are much tighter, accurate and responsive than Nguyen's title, which makes Flappy Whale an enjoyable followup in a post-Flappy Bird world.

    Shayort Games
    Shayort Games
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  • 9

    Super Ball Juggling

    GEARS Studios

    What else could possibly atone for Flappy Bird's absence besides another physics-based title from Dong Nguyen? That's right, Super Ball Juggling is done in Nguyen's trademark, simplistic-yet-frustrating style. Ball Juggling involves two people each simply juggling a soccer ball into the air. You must tap the player's side of the screen when it's his turn to kick the ball back into the air. Things get hectic with the inclusion of a second ball, resulting in you having to break your rhythm and tap the left and right sides of the screen for each player to knock his ball back into the air. Like Nguyen's hit app, Ball Juggling will inspire you to throw your phone at the nearest wall out of sheer anger, which sounds very Flappy Bird-like to us.

    .GEARS Studios
    .GEARS Studios
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  • 8

    FlapMMO

    FlapMMO.com

    Comparing your scores and best Flappy Bird runs to your friends' accomplishments was one of the things we saw appear on nearly every social networking site during the game's success this past December. For all of those people who wanted to play the original title with other people at the same time, or at least compete against ghost runs of some of their friends' playthroughs, FlapMMO allows you to do just that. Once you start playing FlapMMO online, you will notice faded images of multiple, other birds all doing their runs at the same time as you. That's right, you get to compare Flappy Bird runs with other players online in real time. Who knows, the second you break your screen in anger, someone else could be doing it at the same time as well.

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  • 7

    Flappy Turd

    Giraffe Attack

    Come on, you know this is how you truly feel about Flappy Bird. Playing as that rotund, annoying bird who would constantly die over and over with its broken controls just made you think of this the whole time -- that you are playing crap. Sure, it's addictive crap, but crap nonetheless. Flappy Turd substitutes Nguyen's cycloptic, flightless fowl and replaces it with a pile of doo-doo that has mysteriously spawned a pair of eyes. Surprisingly, Flappy Turd is even tougher than the original; its spaces are much narrower to get through. Luckily, its controls are actually a lot tighter than the original. So it's easier to force the... turd... nevermind.

    Giraffe Attack
    Giraffe Attack
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  • 6

    Flapthulu

    Madgarden

    Flapthulu looks magnificent, plays well and imaginatively builds on Flappy Bird's core designs. Paying obvious homage to H.P. Lovecraft, you play as everyone's favorite Old One as the tentacled god navigates the mythical skies of R'lyeh. We're not going to fully spoil it, but Cthulhu isn't the only cosmic entity of Lovecraftian mythos to appear in Flapthulu either. With tentacles, spikes, magical energy throughout the levels and an absolutely captivating and ever-changing background, Flapthulu shows just how creative a person can be in regards to reshaping a preexisting design.

    Madgarden
    Madgarden
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  • 5

    Floculus Rift

    Holden Link

    We're only halfway through the best Flappy Bird clones and we have already encountered Flappy Bird-inspired title that is absolutely brilliant in terms of how it was done. The only Flappy Bird clone to actually have Oculus Rift support, Floculus Rift is a sight to behold. Even if you were to completely ignore the Oculus VR connectivity, Floculus Rift's first-person design from the bird's perspective is absolutely clever. Factor in its graphics, which were obviously inspired by the original design but rendered in 3D from the ground-up, and Floculus Rift is that much more impressive. Be sure to check out creator Holden Link's website for those lucky enough to have a developer's kit version of the Oculus Rift headset. For those without the VR headset, can still play it at Holden Link's website with just a mouse and keyboard.

    Holden Link
    Holden Link
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  • 4

    Floppy Birds

    CrazyBreadMan Games

    Floppy Birds takes Flappy Bird and builds on two major aspects of its gameplay. First, Floppy Birds acknowledges Nguyen's inspiration from the Super Mario Bros. franchise in its graphical designs. Because of this, Floppy Birds includes some of Mario's most famous enemies to make your playthroughs even harder. Be on the lookout for Piranha Plants and flying, Bullet Bill-like enemies throughout Floppy's levels. What's even more hilarious is that if you keep dying, your bird will get bloodier and bloodier on its next playthrough. This builds upon the idea that we all know you're going to die numerous times playing this title. After multiple deaths, your bird will actually die and will you proceed to do your subsequent playthroughs as the actual ghost of the bird in the spirit world -- your ghost can even pass its corpse at the last pipe where it died.

    CrazyBreadMan Games
    CrazyBreadMan Games
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  • 3

    Flappy Wings

    Green Chili Games

    Out of all the Flappy Bird clones to stay true to Nguyen's source material, Flappy Wings is the best of the bunch. Wings revolves around the original premise of navigating a fat, gravity-afflicted bird through a variety of pipes, but features optimized graphics, varying sound effects, a catchier soundtrack, coins to collect and poop. That's right, your bird will randomly crap itself mid-flight, acknowledging the anxiety the game puts on the player. What makes Flappy Wings so good is that it pretty much plays as a perfected version of the original title. If you were to play Flappy Wings for fifteen minutes then go back to Flappy Bird, you'd immediately want to go back to Wings -- it's just that much more fun to play.

    Green Chili Games
    Green Chili Games
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  • 2

    Ironpants

    Eduardas Klenauskis

    Ironpants takes the overall mechanics of Flappy Bird but switches out its inadequate bird for a soaring superhero who is being weighed down by, you guessed it, iron pants. Ironpants flies much smoother, faster and controls much more efficiently than the varying bounces of the original bird. Ironpants sacrifices the original's frustration for the sake of fast-paced fun. It's much easier to play, but you will become much more involved with Ironpants because of how smooth its gameplay is. It has a bit of a learning curve to it because Ironpants soars like Superman rather than flaps his wings, resulting in much more chaotic, but controllable, playthroughs.

    Eduardas Klenauskis
    Eduardas Klenauskis
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  • 1

    Maverick Bird

    Terry Cavanagh

    Say hello to the best Flappy Bird clone on the market: Maverick Bird. Terry Cavanagh is an absolutely brilliant developer and has evolved the Flappy Bird style of gameplay into something that is far more fun than the original but is just as chaotic, difficult and addictive. Maverick Bird's soundtrack and color schemes morph as you continue to pass through each obstacles, which just makes everything feel organic -- like you just want to keep playing Maverick Bird just to see how much it would drastically change on your next run. It knows you will die, so these background and music changes continue after dying. What Maverick does differently is that its responsiveness is cranked up, so you can navigate between obstacles at a break-neck rate. Luckily, Maverick Bird also includes the unique ability to rapidly drop just as fast as you can ascend, allowing full, vertical control as you try to carefully and hectically navigate its levels. Its rate is much faster than Flappy Birds as well. Just within the first ten minutes of playing, we must have died dozens upon dozens of times, but Maverick Bird just kept us wanting to come back for more just to see what its levels would evolve into next.

    Terry Cavanagh
    Terry Cavanagh
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