I've had an Android phone for 3 years now and at first I was very anxious to see what games would become available for the powerful platform. After hearing hundreds of iPhone users boast about how great a gaming device it really is, I was eager to see the Android market evolve as well.

And then I discovered that the so called "great games" are mostly shallow arcade games, cash traps (so called "free" games) and cheap and/or badly done derivatives of real classics. Turns out iPhone users had been grossly exaggerating (what's new, eh?) and even their "trump card" named Angry Birds turned out to be a very shallow, largely-based-on-luck game that gets old real tired.

So why on earth don't devs make use of this market that's eager for great games? I bought Broken Sword on Android yesterday and discovered it's vastly better than just about anything else I've played so far so why can't we have more of this? The idea of having a game like Rollercoaster Tycoon or Fragile Allegiance for my Android phone or tablet is making me foam at the mouth yet what we get are games that might as well be free Flash games.

And the well-known classics that ARE available (like Worms and Settlers) are either incompatible with newer devices or are horribly bugged. They smell of a cheap and quick cash-in as well because none of these are made with care.

So really, what's stopping them?

This was my point: Some are, some aren't. Some aren't for for no particularly good reason.

Final Fantasy III, Metal Slug, Sonic CD, and Sonic Episode 4 are all in my opinion completely brilliant, and have few if any noticeable changes from their originals, apart from a few minor interface optimizations due to the nature of the devices they are being played on. Those are just a few examples, you'd do well to spend a decent amount of time checking, as sadly Google Play does a lousy job of helping you find what you're after.

As recently discussed in other threads, there are also good Android DOSbox tools as well, so you can play some of your GOGs too :)

You haven't said what device you're trying this on, but the examples you gave both work fine on my Galaxy Note. They are, the examples I gave are all official ports.

Beneath a Steel Sky
Broken Sword
Broken Sword II
King of Dragon Pass
The Secret of Monkey Island
Monkey Island 2
Wolfenstein 3D
Doom
Duke Nukem 3D
Commodore 64 (Emulator)
Sword of Fargoal
Spectaculator (ZX Spectrum Emulator)
Frotz (Interactive Fiction Interpreter)
Grand Theft Auto 3
Defender of the Crown
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic CD
Ecco the Dolphin
The 7th Guest
Dragon's Lair
Space Ace
Road Blaster
Ms. Pac-Man
Rogue
TurboGrafx 16 (Emulator)
Intellivision (Emulator)
Guru Meditation
Myst
Riven
Mystery House
Akalabeth
Mega Man II
Mega Man X
Street Fighter II
Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy II
Best of FTA (Apple IIgs Emulator)

To name just a few. You're welcome.

You can run the old LucasArts adventures on Android with no issues as there is a version of ScummVM on the market, this also runs other point click style games like Discworld 1 & 2, works really well, used it myself for Monkey Island :

https://sites.google.com/site/scummvmandroid/

Dosbox for Android (Requires WXGA screen and 2.2 software though) :

http://androiddosbox.appspot.com/

My favourite by far though is GemRB :

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.sourceforge.gemrb&hl=en

This one allows you to run the Infinity Engine games on your device, so if you have Planescape Torment, Icewind Dale 1 & 2 and Baldurs Gate 1 & 2 here at GOG you use the files and Gem will run them on your phone. Works really well and I have the first Icewind Dale game running on my Desire HD with this.

Then you have WinUAE (Commodore Amiga Emulator), Vice & Frodo (Commodore 64 Emulator, Vice works best). When using an older device, if it is not multi touch these allow you to set one of your physical keys like camera button or volume control for a fire button and DPad onscreen for movement. Spent ages when been on a bus playing the old Amiga & C64 games, just plain fun and a mobile phone is an ideal platform for them.

The problem may be that people are probably looking for more shallow, easier and quicker games on smartphones/tablets, than for e.g. PCs. I eagerly got e.g. Avadon The Black Fortress for Android tablet, but now I feel it may actually be too deep a RPG that I'd want to play it on the tablet. I feel that in the end I may play the PC version instead.

Then again, I don't see much point in playing Bejeweled or Zuma's Revenge on PC. But on a smartphone while trying to kill some excessive time, why not?

Your mileage may vary.

Yeah, thats where mobile games started out, just a quick time waster while on the move and they havn't really moved on from that. Essentially its Popcap type games where you don't have to think to much on them to get a few minutes enjoyment.

I think a lot of it comes down now to the success of Zynga and Facebook with their games. Other developers on mobile only platforms are seeing the success and trying to mimic it so arcade style games get churned out. Look at how many free running games there are (Temple Run as example) and side scrolling free runners like Ninjump. Take an idea, reskin it and put it out there free with adverts. Then they put the ads on some of them in crafty places where you end up accidentally clicking them so they get clicks and get money that way.

I can understand why Avadon would be a bit deep on a tablet or smart phone, works much better with mouse and being able to sit back and enjoy the experience. The Infinity Engine games suit really well, they have plenty depth and the interface is really easy to get to grips with.

Exactly, you arn't going to get a masterpiece of gaming and depth for a few quid!

The more people buy them the more they will be created essentially

Final Fantasy 3, has so far sold 100,000 to 500,000 copies at almost $20 each. That's not bad going.

DOSBox works on Android but DOS games make big use of the keyboard - for the huge majority of games, it's just not practical sadly enough. Even for those games that do work, configuring them is a pain in the ass and having to drag your finger for moving the mouse cursor quickly sucks the fun out of it. I meant classic DOS or PC games - not the typical console ports that get ported to just about every platform. On top of that, these games are not a lot of fun without a bluetooth gamepad - I know because I own half of them and the touch screen controls are just fiddly. Avadon is easier to use with a mouse - you have to constantly click and click and click and it gets tedious when a mouse is much easier. Still, why so few strategy games (where less clicking is needed) are ported is beyond me.

Again, it might be due to the device you're using, most of them don't see at all "fiddly" to me, especially the examples I listed. Though I guess if you're using some tiny device that would explain it...

I have three Android devices (2 phones and a tablet) and all three feel fiddly due to lack of physical buttons - quick action games just don't lend themselves well to non-tactile controls, let's face it. Hammering a flat surface while covering part of the screen is hardly ideal - I'd much prefer games that made proper use of the touch screen instead of some bastard mess of a control system.

Try Battleheart. If you can ignore it's claim to be an RPG (which it isn't) and the fact that the dev is an ass (which he is), it's a great game that works well with the mobile interface.

As for the others, different strokes for different folks I guess. Sure I prefer playing games on a proper computer, but that isn't always practical, and I find many mobile games (or GOGs running on DOSbox Turbo) to be highly playable.