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We enter the middle portion of our rundown of 2012's best games, covering numbers 20-11 of our favorite games. Have an opinion of your own? Let us know in the comments!

20. Girls Like Robots: Based on quality, Adult Swim Games probably had the best 2012 of any mobile publisher, with a succession of high-quality games with absurd premises. The silliness made it a great fit on a surface level for the publisher. The high quality of the game, which transcends its silly people-organization concept by just continuously iterating and evolving on it throughout the game, made it something special.

19. Polara: This endless runner mixes in the color-switching of classic shmup Ikaruga with endless runner gameplay. But it shines because it is never content to keep throwing the same tricks at players, as Eli Cymet explains: "Polara boasts tight and varied gameplay, and consummately constructed stages. Rather than rest on the laurels of novelty and squander the core mechanic, developer Hope This Works Games offers a new way to think about color matching in almost every level."

18. Polymer: Play the "One Polymer" mode in this unique sliding puzzle game from indie-musician-turned-developer Whitaker Trebella to see its genius: it encourages long-term strategizing and planning to make a high-scoring match, not just quick reactions like in other puzzle games. Sure, there's modes that require quick thinking as well that are plenty of fun, but the premise of One Polymer is what kept me coming back.

17. Pocket Planes: Nimblebit hates our free time. Last year's Tiny Tower was addictive. So was Pocket Planes, thanks in no small part to the fact that there was more surface strategy to employ, and the ability for players to have a say in their fate as they expand their airline's reach into a globe-traversing empire. Plus, what other game has people in frog suits flying planes? It's the only game on this list, for sure...

16. Need For Speed Most Wanted: If one game was to define how far iOS gaming came this year, EA and Criterion's racer, adapted to iOS by Firemonkeys, might be it. From being packed full of features, and looking absolutely amazing to boot, it's showing that the difference between consoles and mobile, at least on a technical level, is a rapidly-shrinking gulf. Yet despite the good looks, it is definitely a keeper for its gameplay according to Blake Grundman: "Even with the most critical of eyes, Need for Speed: Most Wanted is still easily one of the best racers on the platform to date. You would have to be crazy not to take this hot rod out for a nice long joy ride."

15. Organ Trail: Director's Cut: Often times, pixel art is used just as an art style, and not to convey an actual retro feel. Not so here. By combining the look and feel of an 80's PC Oregon Trail game, and combining its mechanics with a modern-day zombie apocalypse, the elements brilliantly wind up informing each other and forming a sublime take on a classic. Rob Rich feels the same way: "Virtually every aspect of Organ Trail: Director’s Cut oozes style and cleverness. Also pus. It’s a game that’s likely to please zombie fans as well as anyone who remembers the one without the green-skinned shamblers fondly. And it’s with no hesitation or trepidation that I suggest that everyone reading this should buy it. If they haven’t already, of course."

14. Ski Safari: There are endless runners, and then there's Ski Safari. I'll let Rob Rich explain why it made our list: "Penguins, snowmobiles, eagles, and yeti can all be used to put some real distance between the accident prone man and the avalanche. Not only are they useful, they’re also pretty funny. Watching the yeti run wildly or slide along on its stomach never gets old. The same can be said for seeing a penguin ride along on the fuzzy mythological beast." If a man and a penguin riding a yeti while outrunning an avalanche ever gets old, I will weep bitterly. An easy choice for this list.

13. Super Crate Box: It would be easy to forget that this was actually a 2012 title, since it came out in the first week of January. I don't forget sitting for hours on end, either on touchscreen or at my iCade, trying to last just a little bit longer, cursing out that disc gun, the giant walking green skulls, or the stupid fire pit at the bottom. Yet, after those countless hours, no game revealed itself to give the players the control over their fate, to be about pure skill far more than randomness, quite like this one did.

12. Fieldrunners 2: Remember 2008? That's when the first Fieldrunners came out. 2012 is like an eternity since then, but Fieldrunners is still a ton of fun. As Rob LeFebvre writes: "Fieldrunners 2 HD is a brilliant combination of action and strategy with a depth of gameplay that’s hard to ignore. I find myself thinking of solutions to particularly difficult maps while I’m driving, or showering, or making dinner for the kids." Just don't burn the food while protecting your base.

11. Mikey Shorts: The laser precision of the controls is a significant part of what made this so good: trying to shave fractions of seconds off one's time in order to beat a friend on the leaderboards could be nigh-impossible with virtual controls, nay it should be. But instead, it's about as perfect as it could be. Not bad for a first-time effort, and challenging friends to try and one up their times added a ton of value to this one. Plus, there's silly hats.

The Vectrex home console came out in 1982, and was the first console to use vector instead of raster graphics. It also didn't connect to the TV, but to its own monitor. Shocking! You can grab it today for your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch and play Minestorm, the game that came with the original console as well.

Features:

• Original Vectrex unit, authentic sounds, game box art and history of the Vectrex
• iCade compatible
• Game Center support, with leaderboards, achievements and challenges!
• Use additional iPhone/iPad as a controller over WiFi

Ways to play:

• Play Minestorm and selected indie games for FREE
• Buy the 'Mega Pack' to unlock all the original games, iCade and WiFi controller for just $6.99
• Buy 'paid' indie games - priced individually

Sure we've seen other good controllers for iOS like the iCade. But the Duo Gamer is the first controller approved and supported by Apple. Let that sink in. The first controller officially approved and supported by Apple.

It's the first game controller that doesn't need to pretend like it's a keyboard; it can be a controller. Core gamer nirvana? Slow down those dual analog stick loving thumbs for a second and take a look at this beast.

It's true, it's a real controller for iOS, but there are some downsides. Well, one really big one. You see, to meet Apple's guidelines for a fully supported external device, the device can only work with a single developer's apps. In this case, that means that this controller will only fully work with Gameloft games. It is not, and can never be (under current rules) a universal controller. It is yet to be seen if other developers may be able to unofficially support it. But even if so, without rule changes by Apple, it will only be supported by Gameloft games.

But back to the good stuff. This is a dual analog controller, and it is for Gameloft, the presumed leader in first person shooters on iOS. And if any genre needs strong controller support, it's FPS.

To use the controller, it first needs to be connected to your device. To do so, you connect the controller via Bluetooth. A simple and quick connection. It works with any iOS device that supports Bluetooth. A recent iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad should work fine.

Once the Duo Gamer is conected, if you don't have any supported games installed, a dialog pops up and takes you to the App Store with a list of supported games. That's what official Apple support gives you. A special window on the App Store just for your device. Huge.

I put the controller through it's paces. And while it may not be the most comfortable controller to hold, a little thick, heavy, and blocky for long sessions, it is the best I've tried for iOS. Perhaps the official support makes it a bit more responsive than others, not sure. I'm not completely sure of the technology being used, and the companies involved have been expectedly quiet on it.

The Duo Gamer has dual analog joysticks, a 4-way gamepad, and six buttons (ABXY on the front and two shoulder buttons). That makes it fairly functional for the games we tried. And with the greater hardware support--meaning it doesn't have to play tricks and act like a keyboard--it functions much more smoothly. With other controllers we would occasionally lose a button click or joystick movement--likely a key press event being missed. This hasn't happened with the Duo Gamer controller. Impressive.

After spending a lot of time in NOVA 3, one of the three games currently supported (of a promised six or more), seemed like a dream compared to the touch system, which was already one of the best for a first person shooter on iOS. It's how a game like this was meant to be played. Targetting was a breeze. Movement seemed much more natural. I flew through the already familiar levels, the dual analog sticks giving me new found precise control. It's like a breath of fresh air. Though the button mapping could be better, it is hopefully fixable in an update to NOVA 3.

Asphalt 7 was likewise a great treat. Really being able to use fine control, the car steering alone is almost worth the $80 cost of the controller. Order and Chaos benefits as well, but perhaps the least of the three.

The Duo Gamer controller will be available in a couple days via the Apple online store and Amazon. The downside is it will set you back $80. Perhaps a bit steep when you consider that's more than the cost of all of the games it supports combined. But, if you are a core gamer, looking for an experience on iOS like you are used to on consoles, it's easier to justify.

We can only hope that this controller will be a huge success and we see Apple loosen the rules around external devices a bit. A universal controller would really be a huge boost to the core gaming segment on iOS. But for now, we at least have this controller for the developer making some of the best FPS games on the App Store. It's a step in the right direction.

Why hello there, octopus.

On This Episode:

Carter talks to kode80’s Ben Hopkins about the new game Oh Hi! Octopi!, its influences, and whether people are truly understanding how the game is meant to be played. As well, discussion of his new iCade simulation tool Simul80 is discussed.

No Can Win’s Jared Bailey comes on to discuss how Hawaii has influenced the new game Infinite Surf.

Episode Cast:

Host: Carter Dotson

Guest: Ben Hopkins, kode80

Guest: Jared Bailey, No Can Win

Music:

• "Beatnes7 (Theme to The Portable Podcast)" by The Eternal - Download on iTunes here:

  



• "Nanocarp" by The Eternal

How to Listen:

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Apps Mentioned in this Episode:

The developer behind 1-bit Ninja, Ben Hopkins, has released a new game, called Oh Hi! Octopi. To celebrate, he's also released an OS X app called Simul80 that emulates a bluetooth keyboard, allowing you to use your OS X Mac's keyboard to play his new game, or any iCade compatible game. Check it out in the video below.

Halfbot's The Blocks Cometh has been given one big final update making it universal, adding iCade support, and 5 new characters from all across the world of iOS gaming.

Yes, iPad support has finally come to this game. The game also supports the Retina Display, so while there may not be added definition to those pixels, they will look crisp without the scaling interpolation that iOS usually adds to non-Retina games. The iCade support even makes the game feel exactly like the old-school arcade game it was destined to be. Don't worry, iCade Mobile users, as there's support for that too.

Velocispider's eponymous araknasaur is a playable character, climbing blocks with the ability to shoot ones directly above it, though blocks to the side can't be shot! 1-bit Ninja's ninja makes an appearance, though it can thankfully move both left and right. Even the editors of Touch Arcade make appearances in the game, because when the sky is falling, there's no one you want on your side more than a bunch of app bloggers!

As someone who’s played lots of iOS games and by extension sampled lots of virtual control schemes, external control attachments such as the iCade intrigue me. Tapping the screen is fine and all, but sometimes having physical buttons to press can make a world of difference. Lots of other people seem to think so, too, which aeis why these kinds of peripherals have a place in the market. It’s all well and good for portable play, but what about when I’m at home? Sure AirPlay allows users to game on their TV, but the iOS device is still the primary control. Which is exactly why we have brilliant entrepreneurs like the folks at Cascadia Games (the creators of Cavorite) creating stuff like the GameDock.

The GameDock will essentially be an iOS console, with all the awesomeness that implies. Users simply have to plug their iPhone or iPad into the dock, which is in-turn connected to the TV via an HDMI cable, and start playing any iCade supported titles on the big small screen. The handy dashboard app allows users to select their desired game via the connected controller, so they don’t even have to get off the couch. And just in case anyone wants to use the GameDock but doesn’t have a TV (or at least one with HDMI inputs), everything can be played right on the connected iOS device.

Cascadia Games’ Kickstarter for this most glorious of add-ons is just past the halfway mark for its $50,000 goal. With 35 days to go, there’s plenty of room for more backers. Come on, you know this is an awesome idea.