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.
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.
- Retro pixel art graphics
- Ten desert levels
- Five upgradable weapons
- Character upgrades
- Explorable world map
- Touch controls for landscape play
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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.
Canopy Run
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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
Verdict
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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Side Scroller Game ships an update weekly, Canopy Run fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Side Scroller Game | Canopy Run |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | โ |
| Update frequency | Weekly โ better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | Yes | No โ better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | โ |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV |
| Requires iOS | 15 โ better | 17.0 |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 37 MB | 16 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Julien meyer | David Jones |
In-app purchases
Side Scroller Game
No in-app purchases
Canopy Run
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Side Scroller Game free?
Is Canopy Run free?
Do Side Scroller Game or Canopy Run have ads?
Which is updated more often, Side Scroller Game or Canopy Run?
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