Comparison

Side Scroller Game vs Canopy Run

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side โ€” with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Side Scroller Game

Embark on a retro adventure in this pixel art platformer. Run, jump, and shoot through desert levels filled with monsters and traps. Upgrade weapons and abilities to conquer challenges and find buried treasure.

Highlights
  • Retro pixel art graphics
  • Ten desert levels
  • Five upgradable weapons
  • Character upgrades
  • Explorable world map
  • Touch controls for landscape play
Features
Read full description

Barney is a retro side scroller in the spirit of the 16-bit era: run, jump and shoot your way through ten hand-built desert levels full of traps, monsters and buried treasure. Five weapons, each with its own feel: * Slime Gun * Rail Gun * Rocket Gun * Auto Rocket Gun * Grenade Gun Collect coins and XP, then spend them in Barney's shop to upgrade your jump, your attack and your defence, or to unlock faster reloads and extra bombs. FEATURES * Ten levels laid out on an explorable world map * Five upgradable weapons * Hand-drawn pixel art, animated frame by frame * Coins, XP points and a full upgrade shop * Checkpoints, so one mistake never costs you the level * Touch controls designed for landscape play * Universal: iPhone, iPad and Mac No timers, no waiting, no interruptions. Just a platformer that plays like the ones you grew up with.

About

Canopy Run

Features
Read full description

Zip, walk and glide through a wild world. Canopy Run is a free 3D adventure across forests, waterfalls, torchlit caves, a palm-lined ocean bay, a lava tube and a prehistoric valley. Time your swings and brief leg tucks, choose branching routes and avoid wildlife, boats, dinosaurs and pickaxe-carrying mole people. Cross a swaying rope bridge with broken boards, then take off in a hang glider. Steer past pursuing eagles and bees, find the distant landing tower and return to the zip line. Swing into health packs and yellow speed boosts. At full health, health packs become boosts. The first boost doubles your speed; collect another before it expires to reach 4x speed. Each pickup adds three seconds. Orange mystery boxes may give you three automatic loops, an eight-second protective back shield, or Katnip with six small, meowing kittens on the ground. Build clean-pass streaks, earn close-call bonuses and beat your distance record as the course loops and speeds up. Choose Easy, Medium or Hard, a boy or girl rider, and imperial or metric units. Game Center is optional, with separate distance leaderboards for each difficulty. Play offline without an account. No ads or in-app purchases.

Screenshots

Side Scroller Game4 screens
Canopy Run4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Canopy Run at none against Side Scroller Game's shown. Side Scroller Game's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly) and iOS requirement (15 vs 17.0). On price, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Side Scroller Game ships an update weekly, Canopy Run fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences ยท 5 level
Side Scroller Game versus Canopy Run: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSide Scroller GameCanopy Run
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews50.0% of reviewsโ€”
Update frequencyWeekly โ€” betterFortnightly
AdsYesNo โ€” better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supportedโ€”
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV
Requires iOS15 โ€” better17.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size37 MB16 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperJulien meyerDavid Jones

In-app purchases

None

Side Scroller Game

No in-app purchases

None

Canopy Run

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Side Scroller Game free?
Side Scroller Game is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Canopy Run free?
Canopy Run is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Side Scroller Game or Canopy Run have ads?
Side Scroller Game shows ads; Canopy Run does not.
Which is updated more often, Side Scroller Game or Canopy Run?
Side Scroller Game ships an update weekly, and Canopy Run fortnightly. Most recently, Side Scroller Game was updated on November 2, 2026 and Canopy Run on October 31, 2026.

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