Jetpack Joyride, one of my favorite iOS games of all time, is getting a sequel that will be available exclusively on Apple Arcade. You’ll be able to play Jet Pack Joyride 2 on Apple’s $4.99-per-month games subscription service beginning August 19th.
Jet Pack Joyride 2 looks like it will carry over a lot of what you might know from the first; it’s a side-scrolling shooter where the goal is to dodge obstacles, survive as long as you can, and get a lot of coins. But Jet Pack Joyride 2 will also be a “story-driven experience” with new mechanics, according to an Apple press email — which is honestly enough for me to want to play it immediately.
If you want to get an idea of what you can expect, Apple has a trailer and some screenshots on the Jet Pack Joyride 2 App Store page. And if you want to brush up on your jetpacking skills before the sequel is released, check out the Arcade-exclusive Jetpack Joyride Pluswhich has no ads or in-app purchases, or the original Jetpack Joyride.
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If you feel like you’ve heard of Jet Pack Joyride 2 before, you’re not wrong. Developer Halfbrick soft-launched the game in select regions on iOS and Android in March 2021, according to Touch Arcade. Halfbrick pulled it from Google Play and the App Store on February 28ththough, saying it had “entered a new closed phase of development for an indefinite period.”
Apple is adding a few other games to Arcade in August as well, including Amazing Bomberman and Apple Arcade versions of My Talking Tom and Love You to Bits. But Apple announced in July that 15 games would be leaving the service, and as MacRumors observed, they’re now gone.