I love the Rolando series. Like a deep, passionate and, in recent years, sadly unrequited love. The first entry in the series from the magicians at ngmoco and HandCircus, which launched all the way back in 2008, was the showcase title that sold so many gamers and casual device users alike of the potential of the App Store. With perfect use of the iPhone’s then-revolutionary touch screen and pyrometer, combined with an incredibly clean LocoRoco-esque graphical style and superb level design, Rolando was a glowing example of how iOS gaming should have been the future. The key word, sadly, being should. Despite at excellent sequel being released in 2009, that was the last we ever heard of the series, as the original titles sadly vanished with the ’32-bit Appocalypse’. However, the official HandCircus twitter account has today teased an image of the Rolando king, and has promised news on the series ‘in the coming days’. Ten years of impatient anticipation may be soon coming to an end!
I’ve tried to mention the Rolando series at almost every opportunity in the past, whether in relation to titles that have clearly taken influence on it, or the impact it had on me personally and how it started my long-term infatuation with mobile gaming. For example, I wrote a particularly long and drawn-out essay/rant about the state of the App Store back in 2017, and a large part of that was devoted to how Rolando serves as a huge nostalgic monument to m...