A strange little side quest
The mechanics around Animal Merge: Escape from the Farm have roots that stretch far beyond modern browsers. SimCity grew out of Will Wright's enjoyment of the map editor he had built for an earlier game; the act of shaping a city became the game itself. A second detail makes the picture even better: Nintendo's Donkey Kong arrived in 1981 and introduced the character first known as Jumpman, who later became Mario. The screen is modern; the urge to test skill, pattern and timing definitely is not.
