The genre exploded on mobile platforms following the success of Doodle Jump, Canabalt, and Temple Run[2] being other popular examples.
[4] Endless runners can be side-scrolling, as in the genre's early titles, top-down, or 3D, but the player is placed in a neverending level in which the character automatically moves forward.
[5] Some form of points, currency, or other rewards are gained over time by maneuvering in the level or simply staying alive longer.
The idea of being chased relentlessly by an indestructible obstacle, monster, or boss to enforce forward progression was greatly influenced by the boulder scene from the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark.
[6] The player skis down an endless slope with procedurally generated obstacles, pursued by large indestructible yetis.
The 3D platform game Crash Bandicoot (1996) focuses on forward movement within corridors primarily in third person perspective, including obstacles and hazards that prevent backward motion, very similar to the modern Temple Run clone.
The emergence of the touchscreen on smart phones and tablets paved the way for the type of simplistic game controls which gave birth to the modern genre.
Doodle Jump (April 2009), a vertical scroller, was one of the first mobile titles to be endless, with game only ending when falling to the bottom of the screen or hitting an obstacle.
[9] The prototypical endless runner, building on Doodle Jump's success, was Canabalt (August 2009),[10] an indie game developed by Adam Saltsman in which the player flees from a city being destroyed by giant robots that is procedurally generated and infinite.
[11] Adult Swim Games soon asked Saltsman for permission to adapt Canabalt's design into their own title, and released Robot Unicorn Attack (2010).
Some of the more popular 2D mobile titles included Tiny Wings (February 2011), Jetpack Joyride (September 2011), Punch Quest (2012) and Flappy Bird (2013).
[16] Google's Dinosaur Game (2014) was released at the height of the endless running craze with developers in September 2018 revealling that it had been played approximately 270 million times monthly.