Software:Crossy Road

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Short description: 2014 video game
Crossy Road
App icon
Developer(s)Hipster Whale
yodo1
Publisher(s)Hipster Whale
yodo1 (pre June 2017)
EngineUnity
Platform(s)iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, Microsoft Windows Android, Android TV, Windows Phone, Series 30+, Sky Q, KaiOS
ReleaseiOS
  • WW: 20 November 2014
Android
  • WW: 23 December 2014
Windows Phone
  • WW: 1 May 2015
tvOS
  • WW: 30 October 2015
Nokia 105 (2017)[1] KaiOS[2]
  • WW: 2019
Genre(s)Endless runner
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer (tvOS)

Crossy Road is an action game released on 20 November 2014. It was developed and published on iOS by Australian video game developer Hipster Whale and originally yodo1 on Android. The name and concept of the game play on the riddle joke "Why did the chicken cross the road?"[3] It has been described as endless runner version of the 1981 video game Frogger.[4][5][6] After June 2017, the publisher for the Android version of Crossy Road was changed from yodo1 to Hipster Whale.[7]

Gameplay and objectives

File:CrossyRoadObstacles.jpg
A screenshot of the game containing the three main obstacles - roads, train tracks, and rivers.

The objective of Crossy Road is to move a character through an endless path of static and moving obstacles as far as possible without hitting any hazards. By default, the character is a chicken that must cross a series of busy roads, rivers and active train tracks, but there are hundreds of other characters, and depending on the character the environment around also changes, with the obstacles varying. For example, when playing as the Astronaut, the environment is space and obstacles include asteroids.

In the original mobile version, the player must hop to go forward or swipe the screen in the appropriate direction to move the character horizontally or backwards. Some characters can only be unlocked with cash or in-game currency.

There are a number of special characters in addition to regular characters. For example, the Android version includes Android Robot, based on the operating system's Android logo. Other characters include Doge, Archie, Dark Lord, the mascot of Hipster Whale and #thedress, a female character wearing the dress of the same name. Various popular culture references and games are also included, such as Forget-Me-Not and "Emo Goose" voiced by Phil Lester.

The player is able to collect coins; an in-game currency, characterised by its golden-yellowish color, squarish shape and red C in its middle. These are obtained in-game by collection during gameplay, watching advertisements, completing tasks, collecting a free gift given every few real-time hours, and using legal currency to buy them in various amounts. Coins are counted the top right corner of the screen. One hundred coins can be used for a chance at a new character from a lottery machine.[8] If the player owns the Piggy Bank mascot, red coins worth five coins each are added to the game, and coins received from free gifts or watching ads are doubled.

Hipster Whale founders and game developers Matt Hall and Andy Sum at Game Developers Conference

Development

Initially the developers planned to spend only six weeks developing the game, but afterwards realized the game's potential and dedicated another six weeks to completing it.[9] The game's free-to-play model was based on the one for Dota 2.[10]

A big influence on the team was the success of the game Flappy Bird. Developer Matt Hall noted that "That was when people really wanted to play high-score chasing games, and they were telling people about it, and there was this cool opportunity."[11] Eventually Hall hit upon combining such a game with Frogger.[11] Other influences included Temple Run, Subway Surfers, Disco Zoo, Skylanders, Tiny Wings and Fez.[12] The game's art style was created by Ben Weatherall.[13]

Reception

The game received generally positive reviews with Metacritic giving the game a score of 88,[14] TouchArcade giving the game 5/5 stars,[8] BigBoomBoom.com giving the game 5/5 stars,[15] Gamezebo Gaming giving the game 4.5/5 stars,[16] and Apple N' Apps giving the game a 4/5 overall score.[17] Polygon dubbed the game "brilliant" and compared it as an updated take on Frogger,[4] while Time called the game a mix of Frogger and Flappy Bird.[18]

Crossy Road was a finalist for the Game of the Year Award at the Australian Game Developer Awards 2014.[19] At the 2015 Apple WWDC developer's conference, it was one of the winners of the Apple Design Awards.[20] In 2025, it was nominated for Excellence in Ongoing at the Australian Game Developer Awards.[21]

Three months after its initial release, the game earned over $10 million and had over 50 million downloads.[22]

Flat Eric, best known for his appearances in Levi's commercials in 1999, as well as the music video for Flat Beat is an unlockable character.[23]

Spin-offs

Disney Crossy Road

In 2016, Hipster Whale and Disney Interactive Studios launched a spin-off video game called Disney Crossy Road on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Windows 8.1,[lower-alpha 1] and Windows 10[lower-alpha 1] devices. It features Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, as well as some characters from numerous Disney franchises such as Zootopia, Big Hero 6, The Lion King, Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, Moana, Pixar's Toy Story, Cars, The Incredibles and Inside Out. At launch, the game features over 100 characters.[25]

Disney Crossy Road was shut down on iOS, Google, and Amazon on 12 March 2020.[26]

Crossy Road Castle

Crossy Road Castle is an endless co-op platformer that acts as a sequel to Crossy Road, initially available only on Apple Arcade from 2020,[27] but ported to other consoles in 2024.[28] It supports up to four players and can be played with either touch controls or a controller.[29] Players are placed in a procedurally generated tower spanning multiple levels and must work together to get a high score.

CroZXy Road

With the permission of Hipster Whale, Bob Smith re-wrote Crossy Road for the ZX81, an 8-bit computer from the 1980s.[30] In Smith's words, one of the motivations for porting the game "is to prove that there are some great modern game ideas which don't rely on amazing graphics or great processing power, and could work just as well on much older machines."[31] The ZX81 version was released in 2015.[citation needed]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Windows version was discontinued after version 2.8.[24]

References

  1. ↑ HMD Global (17 July 2017). "The new Nokia 105 and Nokia 130 delivers even better value with great quality designs". https://www.hmdglobal.com/press/2017-07-17-the-new-nokia-105-and-nokia-130/. 
  2. ↑ Ambre M (27 December 2023). "10 All-time classic games on your KaiOS phone". https://www.kaiostech.com/10-all-time-classic-games-on-your-kaios-phone/. 
  3. ↑ Barker, Garry (11 March 2015). "More than fun and games with local developers Rylandia". Fairfax Media. http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/macman/more-than-fun-and-games-with-local-developers-20150311-13usxe.html. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Kuchera, Ben (21 November 2014). "Crossy Road has invented the 'endless Frogger,' and it's brilliant". Polygon. http://www.polygon.com/2014/11/21/7260459/crossy-road-frogger. 
  5. ↑ Hayward, Andrew (26 December 2014). "You Should Play: Crossy Road is basically endless Frogger, and that's a very good thing". http://www.macworld.com/article/2863065/you-should-play-crossy-road-is-basically-endless-frogger-and-thats-a-very-good-thing.html. 
  6. ↑ Rosenberg, Adam (9 September 2015). "'Crossy Road' brings a new take on its 'endless Frogger' to Apple TV". http://mashable.com/2015/09/09/crossy-road-apple-tv-exclusive/#cuk6W5rjnEqs. 
  7. ↑ "Crossy Road - Android Apps on Google Play". 2017-06-09. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yodo1.crossyroad. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Dotson, Carter (21 November 2014). "Crossy Road" Review - Watch Out for That Train!". TouchArcade. http://toucharcade.com/2014/11/21/crossy-road-review/. 
  9. ↑ Kidman, Angus (18 December 2014). "Why Crossy Road's Developers Launched On Android Through Amazon". http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2014/12/why-crossy-roads-developers-launched-on-android-through-amazon/. 
  10. ↑ Te, Zorine (24 December 2014). "Crossy Road's Surprising Success, Future Secrets, Dota 2 Connection". http://www.gamespot.com/articles/crossy-road-s-surprising-success-future-secrets-do/1100-6424376/. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Partridge, Jon (28 July 2016). "Crossy Road: Making the next Flappy Bird". https://www.redbull.com/us-en/crossy-road-hipster-whale-interview. 
  12. ↑ "Matt Hall (@KlickTock) on Twitter". Twitter. 28 November 2014. https://twitter.com/KlickTock/status/538471575838674945. 
  13. ↑ "Ben Weatherall (@sunraheadgear) on Twitter". Twitter. 8 Aug 2014. https://twitter.com/SunraHeadgear/status/497691549145120770. 
  14. ↑ "Crossy Road - Endless Arcade Hopper iOS". Metacritic. https://www.metacritic.com/game/crossy-road-endless-arcade-hopper/critic-reviews/?platform=ios-iphoneipad. 
  15. ↑ "Crossy Road iPhone and Android Game Review". 20 January 2015. http://www.bigboomboom.com/reviews/crossy-road-iphone-android-game-review. 
  16. ↑ Cymet, Eli (20 November 2014). "Crossy Road Review: Traffic's a Zoo". Gamezebo Gaming. http://www.gamezebo.com/2014/11/20/crossy-road-review/. 
  17. ↑ Sheridan, Trevor (20 November 2014). "Crossy Road – Enjoying Crossing To The Other Side". Apple N' Apps. http://applenapps.com/review/crossy-roads-enjoying-crossing-side#.VHHV34vF8kw. 
  18. ↑ Fitzpatrick, Alex (24 November 2014). "Crossy Road Is Your New iPhone Game Addiction". Time. https://time.com/3602328/crossy-road-iphone/. Retrieved 25 November 2014. 
  19. ↑ "Australian Game Developer Awards Finalists Announced". GCAP. 15 October 2014. http://gcap.com.au/australian-game-developer-awards-finalists-announced/. 
  20. ↑ Starr, Michelle (9 June 2015). "Crossy Road, Vainglory take Apple Design Awards". CNET. http://www.cnet.com/au/news/crossy-road-vainglory-take-apple-design-awards/. 
  21. ↑ Tran, Edmond (8 October 2025). "The Drifter Wins Game of the Year at Australian Game Developer Awards 2025" (in en-US). https://thisweekinvideogames.com/news/australian-game-developer-awards-2025-agdas-all-winners-finalists/. 
  22. ↑ Tach, Dave (3 March 2015). "They wanted to make a video game phenomenon. They made $10 million. The story of Crossy Road.". Polygon. Vox Media. http://www.polygon.com/2015/3/3/8142247/crossy-road-earnings-10-million-gdc-2015. 
  23. ↑ "'Crossy Road' Dinosaur Update: Unlock New Secret Characters in the Latest Game Update". 13 September 2016. https://www.player.one/crossy-road-dinosaur-update-unlock-new-secret-characters-latest-game-update-555934. 
  24. ↑ "Disney Crossy Road version 2.8 will be the final Windows update.". Disney Interactive Studios. 29 May 2017. https://crossy-road.com/. 
  25. ↑ Farokhmanesh, Megan (7 April 2016). "Disney Crossy Road launches today for mobile devices". http://www.polygon.com/2016/4/7/11380924/disney-crossy-release-date-mobile. 
  26. ↑ "Disney Crossy Road is being retired on iOS, Google and Amazon". https://appsupport.disney.com/hc/en-us/articles/360039621231. 
  27. ↑ "Apple Arcade's latest exclusive is a new Crossy Road spinoff". 27 February 2020. https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/27/21156740/crossy-road-castle-apple-arcade-exclusive-launch-game-release. 
  28. ↑ "Crossy Road Castle". https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Crossy-Road-Castle-2636636.html. 
  29. ↑ "Hipster Whale's Crossy Road Castle brings goofy laughs to Apple Arcade". March 2020. https://venturebeat.com/2020/03/01/hipster-whales-crossy-road-castle-brings-goofy-laughs-to-apple-arcade/. 
  30. ↑ Smith, Bob (2016). "CroZXy Road - Bob's Stuff" (in en). https://bobs-stuff.itch.io/crozxy-road. 
  31. ↑ Smith, Bob (2016-01-23). "CroZXy Road - New 16K ZX81 game - Sinclair ZX80 / ZX81 / Z88 Forums". https://www.sinclairzxworld.com/viewtopic.php?p=18847&sid=1b5939b426d496aafd9a91c70b1bdc0f#p18847. 



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