Why We Picked Going up
Going up is a match rather than a season, which is the right size for a browser tab. The match turns on clearing the target pieces off the board, and the handling decides whether that feels fair or arbitrary. The sport supplies the tension; the port only has to stay out of its way. Short matches make it easy to leave, which is the honest test of a browser game. On the record: 3,443 plays, 4.1 out of 5 from 62 ratings, and 275 of 500 on the arcade shelf.
How to Play
What you actually do, in order:
- Tap the thing you want to move and the game handles the rest.
- Clear the marked pieces off the board, and use the space that clearing opens up.
- Hold your position at the back for a beat longer, since chasing the ball pulls the shape apart.
Editor’s Note
The difficulty settings change the opposition, not the physics, which is the honest way to do it. The genre's real limitation is repetition: the same pitch, the same rules, and a fresh opponent as the only variable.
Written by the UGFJD editorial team for this page. The publisher’s own description follows below, unedited.
Publisher Description
Supplied by the game’s publisher; reproduced as-is.
A tiny bird, a nest somewhere high above, and an endless column of obstacles in between: Going up takes the one-button flying formula and points it straight at the sky. Your only job is to help a lonely little bird climb home, and it is much harder than it sounds.
The controls could not be simpler. Touch the screen or left click and the bird flaps upward; stop pressing and gravity takes over and pulls it down. That is the entire input scheme, and everything else is timing. As you climb, obstacles appear in your path that must be threaded, dodged, or waited out, and a single collision ends the flight. Along the way you collect coins scattered through the level, which serve as both a score and a currency.
Those coins matter because they unlock new skins for your bird, giving you a reason to take slightly riskier routes instead of always playing it safe. The climb gets progressively busier the higher you go, with tighter gaps and trickier obstacle patterns, so each run naturally pushes your skill a little further. The loop of fly, crash, unlock, and try again is quick enough that one more attempt is always tempting.
Technique beats tapping speed every time. Short, controlled presses keep the bird stable, while long holds send it rocketing into the ceiling of a gap. Try to keep the bird near the middle of the screen so you have room to react in both directions, and only detour for coins when the path back is clearly open. A fancy skin is not worth a crashed run.
Going up is perfect for players who enjoy minimalist arcade games where the rulebook fits in one sentence but mastery takes real practice. It is the kind of game you open for two minutes and close twenty runs later, still convinced the nest is reachable on the very next try.
