Those who are already addicted to mobile gaming need no urging to try all the great games available on their smartphone or tablet. Those of us who find it physically awkward, or who don’t like the format, might need a little encouragement. But games of every type, from casual card or arcade games to story-rich adventures and RPGs, are all available on mobile. And mobile gaming can be adjusted to your comfort, too. Did you know that mobile controllers exist?

Mobile gaming, YOUR way

You can make any mobile device feel like a dedicated gaming device. There are many different controllers designed to fit to your mobile device (phone or tablet), giving it a comfortable grip and buttons and control sticks to take charge of the action. Have you tried a mobile controller like this?

Most Popular Mobile Games

As for games, the selection is nearly endless. There are so many farming games available on mobile that it’s hard to sort through them all. FarmVille, Family Farm, Hay Day, oh my. But to start you off with a familiar face, don’t forget that Stardew Valley is available on mobile!

You can even get a farming or gardening theme in game genres you might not expect. Gardenscapes is a surprisingly tricky and addictive match-3 game. It allows you to repair and rebuild a mansion’s beautiful garden in whichever style you choose. You can even go back later and change the fountains, paving, shrubs, flowerbeds…anything in any area you have unlocked.

If you like to build and have even more control over design, Minecraft is also very popular on mobile! You can get the Pocket Edition on both iOS and Android.

More interested in games that feel a little more social? Why not try the mobile game that took the world by storm in 2016? Pokemon Go is still popular and still alive with players and content.

If Pokemon is not your thing, then how about Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp? New features are always being added to the mobile extension of our beloved Animal Crossing. The animals are still all their lovable (or annoying!) selves, whether you meet them on your 3DS, your Switch, or your smartphone.

RPGs and Adventure

If there’s anyone left still sitting there, looking bored…how about some RPGs? Mobile gaming has those, too! There’s Nintendo’s own Dragalia Lost. It’s set in a world where the royal family has the ability to transform into dragons, if they have a pact with them. You begin the story as the seventh prince, who has yet to make a pact with any dragon, but must set out to do so immediately when the protection around his city begins to fail.

Another Eden: The Cat Beyond Time and Space is also a popular, large-scale RPG available on mobile. The story was written by Masato Kato (who also wrote Xenogears and Chrono Trigger). If that’s not enough, the game’s beautiful soundtrack is by Yasunori Mitsuda, who also worked on Xenogears and Chrono Trigger. That’s some good stuff! Another Eden has 26 main story chapters focusing on the protagonist, Aldo, and his sister, Fienne, and involves time-travelling through both the past and the future, as well as dealing with the present.

If you want something cute, colourful, and inspired by a classic, how about Egglia: Legend of the Redcap? Strongly influenced by Legend of Mana, you must revive your world by finding precious eggs. Each has had a part of the world sealed into it, and can be restored by hatching it on the map. Explore and gather resources with movement based on a roll of the dice, like a cross between a board game and a strategy RPG.

Story-driven games

But maybe what you like are story-driven games, which the mobile platform is often criticized for not having. But the market is growing all the time, and if you have a look, you’ll find some very special story-driven games waiting for you on your phone and tablet. Like the beautiful GRIS, which will be coming to iOS this month! A game about dealing with grief using light platforming and puzzles, it’s hard to know if this is a game, a storybook or a piece of art.

Forgotton Anne is also an iOS exclusive, and takes place in a world of “Forgotlings”. Personified socks and toys and scraps of paper…items that have been lost or forgotten in our own world. With hand-painted backgrounds, Forgotton Anne has a charm reminiscent of a Ghibli movie. It’s a game by Square Enix. We had to look it up to make sure Miyazaki really had nothing to do with it!

And lastly…only because soon this list will be too long…is To the Moon. An emotional tale of an old man’s dying wish to go to the moon. This is another game that, like Gris, feels like it may be as much ‘artistic expression’ as ‘game’. It was born of Canadian game-designer Kan Gao’s response to his grandfather’s struggle with his failing health. You must explore old Johnny’s memories to understand his life’s dream, and help him see it come true.

Still not convinced to make mobile gaming your own? As always, we want you to enjoy games in your own way. Especially if you are here for farming games in particular, please check out our list of farming games on console.