The Back of this Gaming Phone Turns Into a Mini-LED Retro Arcade

The just-revealed Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro includes a fun perk not found on many phones: The ability to play four retro-style arcade games using the mini-LED display on the back of the phone.

The Pro version of the Asus ROG line has included a second screen of sorts for several years, displaying contextual information and limited notifications. But the new gaming phone’s display includes more LED dots than the prior Phone 8 Pro, allowing for playable games.  

Getting to the games is quite simple; they’re located in a section labeled AniMe Play. You’ll either tap the AniMe Play app in the app drawer, or you can find AniMe Play among other gaming settings by opening the Armoury Crate app, tapping Console along the bottom of the display, scrolling down to the AniMe Vision section and tapping AniMe Play within it.

Whichever way you open AniMe Play, you’ll then get access to the four games. These include Speedy Runner, Snake Venture, Aero Invaders and Brick Smasher. Once you tap a game, the phone will instruct you to rotate the screen so that you’re facing the mini LED display. Each game is controlled solely by pressing the left and right “AirTriggers” — sensors that act like shoulder buttons on each corner of the phone.

Speedy Runner features a dinosaur that can jump over obstacles every time you press an AirTrigger. Snake Venture plays identically to the classic Snake game seen on Nokia phones, in which you’ll use the buttons to pilot a snake toward LED dots. Aero Invaders will have you controlling a spaceship from left to right, which will automatically fire at incoming space debris. Brick Smasher also lets you control a platform from left to right, with the goal being to continually bounce a ball to clear all of the bricks on screen.

While each game plays differently, the objective across all of them is to remain playing for as long as possible, with red LED dots tallying up your score.

What I particularly appreciated about playing games on the LED dot display, especially when I toyed around with them in the evening, was the reduced eyestrain since I wasn’t looking at a large OLED display. And while the LED display itself shouldn’t be the reason for buying this phone — mobile gaming using the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor remains the main draw — it’s nice to see a phone include a little bit more personality.