Newshot Article title: RetroSweeper Go: A Minesweeper Game with a Retro Look and Better Feel
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I really love playing Minesweeper, so much so that I've come to treat it as a daily "meditation" tool. Open it up and play for a while, put your attention on the board and the numbers, and you can calm yourself down.
When it comes to playing Minesweeper on a computer, whether it's the classic Minesweeper on Windows or the replica versions on macOS, there are plenty of good options. But I've never been able to find a suitable app on my phone: on one hand, none of the looks particularly appealed to me, and on the other hand, I wasn't used to the controls. I always felt that poking at the screen with a finger just doesn't feel as good as clicking with a mouse.
But connecting a mouse to a phone just to play really isn't convenient either, so I thought, why not add a virtual gamepad: use the D-pad to move, then press the A/B buttons to reveal tiles and place flags. Isn't that how people played on the Game Boy back in the day? I looked around and couldn't find anything similar, so I made one myself, called RetroSweeper Go.
The rules are still the familiar Minesweeper: reveal tiles, read the numbers, mark mines, and slowly work out the safe areas. I gave it a retro console-style interface and gamepad, hoping it might bring back some memories for you.
Three console styles
Currently the game has three themes: Famicom, Game Boy, and PlayStation. The color schemes are inspired by design elements such as the bodies, screens, and buttons of the original consoles. (By the way, although the A/B buttons in the Famicom and Game Boy images look quite similar, they are actually different shades of red!)
- Famicom: Drawn from the classic maroon and warm white of the Famicom, with the number colors taking inspiration from characters like Mario, Link, and Kirby. This is also the game's default theme.
- Game Boy: The board background color comes from the green dot-matrix LCD screen of the early Game Boy, paired with a light green background and purplish-red buttons.
- PlayStation: Inspired by the gray body of the original PlayStation and the gray-blue tones of the Memory Card, with the virtual gamepad buttons accented with a touch of PlayStation's signature colors.
I'd actually like to make some other themes too, but I'm not very good at design. Even these 3 took a long time of tweaking with AI's help before I was satisfied. I'll keep improving them gradually going forward.
Tap directly, or use the virtual gamepad
When playing Minesweeper on a phone, the most direct way is of course the touchscreen: tap to reveal, long-press to place a flag. When all the surrounding mines have been marked, you can also double-tap a number tile to use Chord and quickly clear the surrounding unmarked tiles.
To prevent accidental touches, I've set a long-press threshold here; if you keep accidentally hitting mines, you can adjust the long-press detection time in the settings. With the virtual gamepad, you use the D-pad to move the selected tile, then press the A/B buttons to reveal or place a flag, so your finger doesn't have to keep moving around the board. Having the left and right hands handle different actions also makes accidental touches less likely.
Of course, in gamepad mode you don't have to rely solely on the D-pad to move tile by tile: you can tap the board directly to quickly position the cursor on the tile you want. If, after moving the board, the cursor falls outside the currently visible area, directional arrows appear at the edge of the board to help you locate it; the up/down positions of the A/B buttons can also be adjusted to your preference.
Since I made the virtual gamepad specifically, I of course prefer this way myself. Tapping away, deducing tile by tile, it's easy to enter a flow state. The feel of the two control methods is quite different, so you can try both.
Still the familiar 3 difficulties
The game offers three difficulties: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert, with standard board sizes and mine counts. (There's no custom board yet, because I haven't figured out how to do it.)
The board supports zooming and panning. In touchscreen mode, there's also a Minimap below the board, making it easy to see overall progress and the area you're currently in.
My habit is: when using touchscreen controls, zoom the board in a bit so the tiles are bigger and easier to operate with a finger; when using the virtual gamepad, zoom the board out a bit so moving around is quicker.
When you're stuck, borrow a little help from items
If you're new to Minesweeper and not yet good at judging the relationships between numbers, and can't find the next move, you can use Hint: the game will help reveal a safe tile or mark a mine that can be deduced, and will prioritize tiles near your current position rather than casually opening up a tile miles away.
Of course, hitting a mine is part of Minesweeper too. After failing, you can see where the mines were actually distributed, or use a Rewind card to go back a step and keep playing.
After clearing the game, you can check your time, and Game Center global leaderboards are also supported. However, results after using items go into "Assisted Mode," separate from regular results.
Oh, and if you've never played Minesweeper before, the game also has an interactive tutorial where you can learn the basics on an actual board.
Play for free, or upgrade with a one-time purchase
RetroSweeper Go can be downloaded for free, supports offline play, and gives you a daily quota of basic Hint and Rewind items. If you already know how to play, you can skip items entirely and deduce and clear at your own pace.
The PRO version is a one-time purchase with no subscription, and includes these features:
- Remove ads: The free version only plays rewarded videos when you actively choose to, to earn some items; ads never pop up automatically during play. PRO requires no ad watching.
- Unlock all themes, plus unlimited use of Hint and Rewind. Results after using items go into the Assisted Mode leaderboard, separate from the regular leaderboard, so there's no need to worry about items affecting leaderboard fairness.
- No-Guess Mode: Tries to generate boards that can be solved through logical deduction, reducing situations where you're forced into a final 50/50 "guess." It's still a Beta feature and can't guarantee every game is completely guess-free; the algorithm will continue to be optimized.
Actual pricing is subject to what the App Store shows in your region.
If you also like Minesweeper, or like the retro console style, give this little project a try. I hope it can accompany you through some idle time, and feel free to leave me a message on the App Store or in the comments. You can click here to download it, or search "RetroSweeper Go" in the App Store. It's not currently available in the China region, but can be downloaded in other regions.
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