Angry Birds (game)

Angry Birds (also known as Angry Birds Classic or simply AB Classic) is a puzzle slingshot game released in December 2009 on iOS and Maemo, later being released on Android in October 2010. The game was developed by Rovio Entertainment Corporation and published with the help of Clickgamer. Angry Birds was supposed to be Rovio's last game, but the game's success not only saved the company from bankruptcy, but started the entire Angry Birds media franchise.
In the game, the player launches the Angry Birds from a slingshot at pig fortresses containing the Bad Piggies who stole their eggs. Seven flock members debut in this game (Red, The Blues, Chuck, Bomb, Matilda, Hal and Terence), while two others (Bubbles and Stella) migrated from the indirect sequel, Angry Birds Seasons. Six types of pigs also appear, including three sizes of Minion Pigs, along with the Corporal, Foreman and King Pigs. There are over 700 levels in the game, spanning over 17 episodes, along with the Golden Eggs scattered across the game that the player can find.
== History ==
=== Development ===
Undergoing a financial crisis, Rovio Entertainment Corporation got its workforce reduced from 50 to 12 employees, and the staff started looking for proposals to overcome this.
One proposal made by Jaakko Iisalo in a simulated screenshot, where round birds were launching themselves into squares, drew attention to them by wondering what was happening in such image and approved it. The developers then started to further develop it.
As the picture gave no clue of what was being played, they started to wonder how the gameplay could be. As cannon games were famous back in the day, the developers used a similar concept.
They also noticed the birds had no enemy. Jaakko Iisalo liked to draw animal characters and pigs were something natural that came in his sketches. He never saw them as malicious, for him, the birds are the aggressive side while the pigs are just mischievous. The Swine Flu outbreak had a bit of influence when designing them, but wasn't a direct influence.
The game initially had some role-playing elements where the player could modify the flock of birds.
The estimated initial price to develop Angry Birds was to exceed €100,000 ($113,869.30).
Angry Birds was made by a team of four people and took at least eight months to finish.
Rovio partnered with distributor Clickgamer to publish the game to the app store. Chillingo has claimed to have participated in the game's development, as they were said to be responsible for adding trajectory lines, pig grunts, zoom option and birds' athletic jumps before going to the slingshot and waiting.
Since then, Rovio has self-published almost all of the later ports of the game, except for the PSP version, which was produced under license by Abstraction Games.
On December 11, 2009, the game was released for iOS and Nokia devices. The game was initially paid and didn't sell many copies.
After Angry Birds was made a featured app in February 2010 on the United Kingdom, it reached the 1st position in a small period of time, and then reached the 1st position on the paid apps chart in the United States App Store in the middle of 2010 and stayed there for 275 days.
On April 1, 2010, Angry Birds HD was released, featuring a retina display and HD graphics.
Knowing this, the developers started to develop an Android version of the game. They observed that Android had much different configurations; The combinations numbers of software versions, processing speed, even the user interfaces were significantly larger than the iOS version. The team then settled on a minimum set of requirements, even though that left nearly 30 types of Android phones unable to run the game, including some newly released devices.
On October 15, 2010, the game was launched for Android devices, and the developers then started porting the games to other devices. The game's beta for Android hit more than one million downloads in three weeks.
In April 2019, the game was unlisted in the app stores but came back and received a new update. Afterwards, it was then unlisted again in July 2019. Rovio Entertainment Corporation stated that they had removed the games for testing purposes, but never explained what the test was. Later, the statement was changed to say that the game was removed because Rovio did not want to keep updating the game.
In June 2021, it was announced by Rovio on Twitter that efforts were going to be made to bring some of the original Angry Birds games back to online stores sometime in the future. Later in November, Rovio announced that work had already begun for a recreation of the game using Unity instead of their own game engine. It features the same style as the original version, with small improvements on gameplay, and incorporating cloud-saving. The recreation was slated for an early 2022 release and, unlike the original version, is a premium title, thus having no ads. The remake was later announced to be called Rovio Classics: Angry Birds and released on March 31, 2022.
=== Updates ===
Originally, when the game was first launched, it had only one episode: Poached Eggs and only 5 characters: Red, the Red Bird, The Blues, the Blue Birds, Chuck, the Yellow Bird, Matilda, the White Bird and Bomb, the Black Bird. But on February 12, 2010, Mighty Hoax was released, adding more 42 levels to the game and on April 2, 2010, they released the Golden Eggs. Every other new episode afterwards is released in parts. On April 23, 2010, they released Danger Above, with 45 levels, with 3 Golden Eggs, and adds the Green Bird Hal to the game.
On July 16, 2010, The Big Setup, which adds 45 levels, 3 Golden Eggs and the new Big Red Bird Terence, was released. On December 23, 2010, Ham 'Em High was released, with 45 levels, 3 extra ones, 3 Golden Eggs, and the new Power-Up bird Mighty Eagle, that costs $1.00 to buy permanently. Afterwards, on June 16, 2011, the episode Mine and Dine was released, with 45 levels and 3 Golden Eggs. On December 11, 2011, the Birdday Party episode was released to commemorate the game's second anniversary, with 15 levels, one Golden Egg and Bubbles, the Orange Bird from Angry Birds Seasons.
On March 20, 2012, the episode Surf and Turf from Angry Birds Friends was added to the game. On December 11, 2012, 15 new levels for Birdday Party were released, with one Golden Egg and Stella, the Pink Bird from Angry Birds Seasons.
On October 9, 2012, the episode Bad Piggies, with 45 levels and was released to commemorate the Bad Piggies game's release. On August 2, 2012, Power-Ups were added to the game.
On July 3, 2013, the episode Red's Mighty Feathers was released, containing 30 levels, the first being normal levels and the second being the new Egg Defender levels, with 2 Golden Eggs, and featuring Red's new ability, Mighty Feathers. In the IOS version, a RED event was happening, where players could buy the Red's Mighty Feathers Power-Up, and a unique Golden Egg was featured, that was later made obtainable in all versions.
On November 26, 2013, the Short Fuse episode was released, featuring 45 levels, 1 Golden Egg, and Bomb's new Shockwave ability, and its Power-Up. On December 11, 2013, 15 more levels were released to Birdday Party.
On July 22, 2014, the episode Flock Favorites was released with 15 levels, of which are set in the previous episodes but in new levels. In December 2014, Birdday 5 was released with 30 fan levels and the new Rhinoceros. On June 23, 2015, 15 additional levels were released to Flock Favorites. Another 15 levels were released to Birdday Party in December 11 of the same year.
On July 18, 2016, the new feature called The Mighty League was released with 8 leagues that originally had 3 levels for each day. In October 13 of the same year, the Sticker Book was released for it. In November of the same year, Bird Island was released with 21 levels, new stickers and a Golden Egg for the Mighty League, but the players had to wait until November 17 to play the 21 levels.
In December 11 of the same year, 15 more levels were released to Birdday Party, with more Mighty League stickers and a Golden Egg.
On February 27, 2017, the episode Piggy Farm was released, with 15 levels. Then in March 30, more levels and a new Mighty League Golden Egg in the Medal section. In May 17, the last 15 levels of the episode were released, along with Coins, Gems, and The Mighty League being changed to have 6 levels each day. In June 19, the Tutorial episode was added, with 15 levels.
In August 23 of the same year, the Jurassic Pork episode was added. In September 14, 15 extra levels were added to the episode and in November 21, the final 15 levels were added. In December 14 of the same year, the Star requirement for unlocking episodes was added to the game.
In August 2018, the episodes could now be unlocked by watching advertisements. In January 2019, The Daily Challenge feature was added to the game.
== Plot ==
The game takes place in the isolated Piggy Island. A flock of rare multi-colored birds, led by Red and containing the Blues (Jay, Jake and Jim), Chuck, Bomb and Matilda, guarded a nest containing three eggs. However, from the distance watched the Bad Piggies, led by the greedy King Pig Smooth Cheeks. These pigs have been relegated to eat grass, and King Pig, who, unlike his ancestors, has never eaten eggs and needs to keep that fact a secret, has had enough. Meanwhile, Red witnessed a mosquito touch one of the eggs. Furious, Red tried to fight the mosquito, but it got away (though in the cinematic trailer, he managed to defeat it). King Pig saw his chance, and, along with other high-ranking pigs Corporal Pig and Foreman Pig, stole the eggs while Red wasn't looking. Red and his comrades spotted the empty nest, and screamed in shock. Red, along with Bomb and Matilda, mourned the loss of the eggs, while the Blues spotted footprints leading to the pigs, whom Chuck had spotted. Using a slingshot, the birds slung themselves towards structures made by Foreman Pig, and managed to defeat all three elites and get their eggs back.
Afterward, the multiple episodes show the pigs trying new ways to get the eggs. The birds meet more members of their species along the way (Hal and Terence), and the battle continues to places such as a forest, a desert, a mine, a beach, a laboratory, and more. After the birds take out King Pig in a laboratory, his comrade, Foreman Pig, starts to get more control over the plans. He steals the eggs while the birds are visiting a farm, and after the birds defeat him there, he enters a time machine and goes back to the Triassic period of the world. The birds destroy many structures based on prehistoric animals before the pigs are defeated for what was seemingly the last time. The birds celebrate their victory while the pigs ride dinosaurs.
== Gameplay ==
In Angry Birds, to play the game, the player needs to press the Episodes button, that will show the episodes. The player starts with the Poached Eggs episode.
Each episode has its set of levels, which each time unlocked, has only one level available. When the player clicks the level button, the game will open the level. In the level, the player starts with a pre-determined set of birds, and a determined structure with pigs.
In order to beat the level, the player has to defeat all of the pigs in the level. In order to defeat pigs, the player needs to hit them with birds, which can be done by using the slingshot.
The player can sling a bird by pressing the slingshot and holding while dragging the rubber. The longer the rubber is dragged, the farther the bird will fly. The rubber can be dragged to all sides, except in the middle. Leaving the bird in the middle will cancel the launch.
After a bird is launched, it will fly until its momentum ends. While the bird is in the air, it can activate its own ability.
If the bird hits a block, they will stop flying immediately, will be injured and won't activate its ability. After a pig is hit, they will be popped, or if they are strong, they will only be injured. Birds give 10000 points if not used after completing the level. Each pig has three stages of injury, but birds defeat them instantly according to strength. The pigs are the following:
All pigs give 5000 points when hit. After all the pigs are defeated, the player will win the level. Otherwise, they will fail. These are the materials appear in the levels:
After each hit, a material give random points that are multiple of 10. The points are awarded in the score, that determines how many stars the player wins:
* 1 Star: Lowest score;
* 2 Stars: Average scores;
* 3 Stars: Highest scores.
After the player wins the level, the score will be saved, and the stars will appear on the screen. The player can go them to the next level if they have the required number of stars. When the player fails, the score won't be saved and no stars will be awarded, the player also won't unlock the next level, but can go to it if it's already unlocked.
Golden Eggs () can be found across the levels, they can be instantly obtained and will unlock special levels in the episode. The list of them can be seen in the link.
In the episodes, after completing all levels, the player gets an Special Object that will fly in the screen. When the player gets 3 stars in all levels, the object is changed to have a star on it and the player gets a Golden Egg in some episodes.
Also, in some episodes, before starting the first level and completing a final one, the player can see a scrolling cutscene, that will show what happened in the story.
The game has 16 episodes.
=== Power-Ups ===
The player can use Power-Ups in levels of the game. Power-Ups can help the player improve their scores in levels and help them get more stars. There are 4 Power-Ups, and they can use 2 per level. Here are the 5 Power-Ups:
* Power Potion / Super Seeds: They can turn any bird on the slingshot bigger.
* King Sling: Upgrades the player's slingshot so that when flung, birds can go faster and farther than before.
* Sling Scope: Allows the player to see where the bird is going to crash/land go before the player flings them, they can activate this Power-Up for 5 minutes in the shop.
* Birdquake: Rumbles the ground in a level and can make pig's structures fall.
* Shockwave: Bomb with the Shockwave ability to demolish the blockers and pigs.
* Red's Mighty Feathers: iOS exclusive, Gives a Red Bird that can fly into a targeted area, buy and use it at any level. Only available for purchase during the (RED) update.
* TNT Shield: Used in the Mighty League, it prevents the player to go back to a lower league if they couldn't enter a high leaderboard on the daily levels.
Power-Ups are limited, and if the player runs out, they must purchase more with coins to have more with these exceptions.
* Watching an Ad: It's a free way to earn a power-up by watching an ad, it gives the player only 1 determined power-up and it's automatically used in the level.
=== Objects ===
* Glass: Weakest block.
** Can be destroyed easily by the following birds:
*** The Blues
*** Bomb
*** Terence
*** Mighty Eagle
* Wood: Stronger than glass
** Can be destroyed easily by the following birds:
*** Chuck
*** Hal
*** Terence
*** Mighty Eagle
* Stone: Hardest block
** Can be destroyed easily by the following birds:
*** Bomb
*** Terence
*** Mighty Eagle
And they come in the following shapes:
* Plank
* Square Frame
* Triangle Frame
* 45° Triangle Flame
* Ball
* Cube
== Characters ==
=== Birds ===
Birds are the protagonists of the game. They are trying to get their eggs back.
* Red: Shouts a battle cry when tapped.
** Cannot destroy materials well.
** Unlocked in Level 1 of Poached Eggs.
*** Mighty Red: Attacks the location tapped.
**** Cannot destroy materials well.
**** Unlocked in Level 1 of Red's Mighty Feathers.
* The Blues: They split into 3 when tapped, having more birds to destroy objects.
** Destroys Glass exceptionally well.
** Unlocked in Level 10 of Poached Eggs.
* Chuck: Speeds up when tapped, gaining more momentum and strength.
** Destroys wood exceptionally well.
** Unlocked in Level 16 of Poached Eggs.
* Bomb: Explodes instantly when tapped or after some time upon impact with something.
** Can destroy stone really well. His explosion destroys a lot of objects on range.
** Unlocked in Level 5 of the second part of Poached Eggs.
*** Shockwave Bomb: Sends a shockwave that electrifies pigs when tapped or after some time upon impact with something.
**** Can destroy stone really well. His shockwave pushes objects with ease.
**** Unlocked in Level 1 of Short Fuse.
* Matilda: Lays an explosive egg when tapped, exploding once it lands on something while she launches herself up.
** Can destroy materials well, but not stone. The egg destroys a lot of materials on range.
** Unlocked in Level 14 of the second part of Poached Eggs.
* Hal: Spins when launched and goes to the opposite direction when tapped.
** He can destroy wood really well, when he activates his ability he can destroy more.
** Unlocked in Level 5 of Danger Above.
* Terence: Has no ability.
** However, he can destroy materials really well.
** Unlocked in Level 1 of The Big Setup.
* Bubbles: Inflates when tapped or after some time and flies away after some time.
** He can destroy wood really well, and when he activates he destroys any material on range.
** Unlocked in Level 1 of the Second Cake of Birdday Party.
* Stella: Once Stella uses her ability, she lifts herself and surrounding objects in bubbles which float in the air for a few seconds. Afterwards, the bubbles pop and the objects trapped fall down.
** Cannot destroy materials well.
** Unlocked in Level 1 of the Third Cake of Birdday Party.
* Mighty Eagle - The player first launches a can of sardines and when it hits the ground, the Mighty Eagle will come down, destroying everything in its path and causing an earthquake, popping all pigs he missed and shoots back up into the sky, while also destroying anything else in his path. He must be purchased for $5 to be used, and has unlimited usage.
=== Pigs ===
The pigs are the enemies of the birds, they hunt down the eggs in order to cook it to King Pig.
* Minion Pigs: Same as Small Pig, Medium Pig and Large Pig
* Small Pig: The weakest of all pigs, being defeated instantly by any bird or material.
** First found in Poached Eggs 1-1.
* Medium Pig: Stronger than small pigs, but can also be defeated easily by any bird.
** First found in Poached Eggs 1-14.
* Large Pig: Stronger than medium pigs, cannot be defeated by some birds instantly.
** First found in Poached Eggs 1-5.
* Corporal Pig: Stronger than large pigs because of his helmet, cannot be defeated by most of the birds in a hit, but stronger birds will.
** First found in Poached Eggs 1-21.
* Foreman Pig: Stronger than Corporal Pig, he cannot be defeated by birds in a hit, but stronger birds will defeat him that way.
** First found in Poached Eggs 2-21.
* King Pig: Stronger than any pig, he cannot be defeated by any birds in a hit, except for explosions and Terence.
** First found in Poached Eggs 3-21.
* Leonard: He is just like his son, King Pig.
** Only appears in Bird Island 31-21.
== Episodes ==
There are a total of over 700 levels in Angry Birds, including Golden Eggs. These levels are grouped into episodes. In different episodes, the pigs try to find new ways to escape with the eggs.
* Tutorial: A warm-up episode where the player is introduced to the birds and the power-ups, which are unlimited for use. It contains 15 levels.
* Poached Eggs, The birds find that the eggs are missing, and later they discover that the pigs have stolen the eggs and now the pigs attempt to escape. It contains 63 levels, which must be conquered before any of the other episodes may be played.
* Mighty Hoax, The pigs steal the eggs again and use a cut-out of the King to distract the birds while they escape. It contains 42 levels.
* Danger Above, The pigs steal the eggs and escape on board using several makeshift aircraft. It contains 45 levels.
* The Big Setup, The pigs imprison the birds in a cage to prevent their defeat after stealing the eggs. However, Terence is still loose and frees Hal, and they both fight back. It contains 45 levels.
* Ham 'Em High, The pigs, armed with a rope, lasso the eggs out of the bird's nest and take them to the wild west. It contains 45 levels and 3 Facebook levels.
* Mine and Dine, The pigs steal the eggs and attempt to hide underground, taking them to the underground mines. It contains 45 levels.
* Birdday Party, The birds find that the pigs have taken their eggs for once again, and this time, along with a piece of their cake. It contains 105 levels (including BirdDay 5 which is merged with this episode).
* Bad Piggies, taking place in levels with the same background as in the game with the same name, the birds discovered their eggs are missing when suddenly Chuck noticed that the Bad Piggies (now including Ross and Mechanic Pig in this episode) have taken the eggs, and this time, in a built wooden cart, courtesy of the Mechanic Pig. The birds then give a chase. It contains 45 levels.
* Red's Mighty Feathers, consisting two parts. The first part, play with the classic rule of Angry Birds with Red's new ability. The second part, Egg Defender, uses only Red with his new ability. It has 30 levels, 15 classic and 15 Egg Defender.
* Short Fuse, Bomb has a new ability called Shockwave. Use him to defeat the pigs faster. This episode also has potions, Inflate, Split and Balloon. Set in the piggies' lab inside a tree. It has 45 levels.
* Flock Favorites, a special episode, the levels are based on the themes of the previous episodes (Poached Eggs, Danger Above, Mine and Dine, Bad Piggies, Red's Mighty Feathers, Short Fuse and Surf and Turf). Contains 30 levels.
* BirdDay 5, a special episode, brings new levels designed by fans. They are based in partners including CERN, Google Play, LucasFilm, National Geographic, NHL, Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Twitter, UNICEF, WWF, and NASA. It contains 30 levels (NOTE: This episode has been merged with Birdday Party as of the Piggy Farm update).
* Surf and Turf, an episode originally released on Angry Birds Friends; a few small pigs with balloons steal the eggs while King Pig and Foreman Pig look on. It contains 45 levels.
* Bird Island, an episode based on The Angry Birds Movie. Home of the Angry Birds. It contains 21 levels.
* Piggy Farm, an episode in which Foreman Pig and minion pigs wearing a cow costume steal the eggs and escape to a farm, contains 45 levels.
* Jurassic Pork, an episode in which Foreman Pig continues his escape by entering a Time Machine that travels to 65 Million years and ends up in the Cretaceous period, being the king of Prehistoric Pigs, along with fierce dinosaurs. It contains 46 levels.
* Golden Eggs, 35 scattered throughout the game, which unlocks hidden levels when collected. There is also the bonus King Pig level that contains 4 mini-games.
== Reception ==
=== Milestones ===
Nokia used the game to break a world record in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to promote an attempt to set a world record for the largest number of people playing a single mobile game (1,080).
Since it was released in 2009, the game has been downloaded more than 3.9 billion times across all versions and platforms of mobile devices. Earth has 7.53 billion people. It has been estimated that people all over the world spend 200 million hours a day playing Angry Birds.
=== Awards ===
In February 2010, Angry Birds was nominated in the "Best Casual Game" category for the 6th annual International Mobile Gaming Awards set in Barcelona, Spain. In September 2010, IGN named Angry Birds as the fourth best iPhone game of all time. On April 11, 2011, Angry Birds was the winner of both "Best Game App" and "App of the Year" awards at the UK Appy Awards. Angry Birds was awarded "Best Game for Handheld Devices" at Webby Awards.
== Trivia ==
* American television hosts Conan O'Brien, Jon Stewart, and Daniel Tosh have referenced the game in comedy sketches on their respective series, Conan, The Daily Show, and Tosh.0.
* Some celebrities to have admitted a penchant for the game include TV host Conan O’Brien, actress Angelina Jolie, singer Kylie Minogue, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2010-2016) David Cameron, actor John Hamm, singer Justin Bieber, singer Pete Wentz, and actress and singer Anna Kendrick.
* Nokia used the game to break a world record in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to promote an attempt to set a world record for the largest number of people playing a single mobile game (1,080).
* It has been estimated that at one point, people all over the world spend 200 million hours a day playing Angry Birds.
* In the Android version of Angry Birds, it is possible to disable the backgrounds, replacing it with a single-color backdrop, likely to help the game run smoother on older hardware. This option is not available in the iOS version of the game.
* In December 2011, it was discovered that a hacked Motoactv acts like a small Android tablet, which can run Angry Birds.
* The Nabi 2 tablet came pre-loaded with Angry Birds.
* On March 16, 2021, Angry Birds was officially inducted into the Pocket Gamer Hall of Fame.
* Likely due to the 2022 re-release of the game, all versions of the original Angry Birds after 7.5.0 oddly became unplayable with an internet connection on Android devices as of January 22, 2022.
* However, these versions of the game are still playable without an internet connection, and version 7.5.0 and older still work. Version 7.6.1 and later also still work on iOS.
* In North Korea, there is a phone called the "touch phone" that released in 2018 that runs a custom build of Android and has 5 preinstalled Angry Birds games in it, including the original Angry Birds.
* In the in-game trailer, the birds have ability icons. Red has a note, Chuck has a silhouette of himself accelerating, The blues has a silhouette of 3 birds, Matilda has a falling egg, and Bomb has an explosion.
* In October of 2023, Angry Birds was officially delisted from the Zimbabwe App Store, with it no longer being an option for players to download the game since the delisting began in December 2019.
== Gallery ==
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