Christmas is a time for sliding the lids off gleaming white iPad boxes and reverently peeling protective films from pristine screens.

But it's also a time for less fortunate souls to inherit scratched, battered, overstuffed old iOS devices from higher status family members.

For those poor weaklings, we've compiled a handy list of great games that came out during or before 2012, and therefore will run on Apple devices that are sliding into obsolescence.

Merry Christmas!

Angry Birds Star Wars - Rovio - 79p
Star Wars-themed take on the epochal casual game.
Anomaly Korea - 11bit - 79p
Technically impressive tower defence in reverse.
Async Corp. - Powerhead Games - 79p
Utterly addictive, original, and loveable puzzler.
Bad Piggies - Rovio - 79p
Angry Birds from the pigs' point of view. Sort of.
Bastion - Warner Bros. - 79p
Top notch touchscreen port of the acclaimed RPG.
Broken Sword: Director's Cut - Revolution - £3.99
One of the best point and click adventures ever made.
Call of Duty: Zombies - Activision - £3.99
Surprisingly good multiplayer shooter for touchscreens.
Candy Crush Saga - King - Free
Notorious free-to-play monster, but surprisingly good.
Carcassonne - TheCodingMonkeys - £7.99
Excellent empire-building boardgame on iPad.
Catcha Catcha Aliens! - Hotsauce - Free
Ace casual game from the mind of Jonathan Ross.
Chrono Trigger - Square Enix - £3.99
Indifferent port of a bonafide classic J-RPG.
Clash of Clans - Supercell - Free
The pre-eminent free-to-play social multiplayer game.
Cut the Rope - ZeptoLab - £1.49
Adorable puzzler about feeding sweets to a monster.
DrawRace 2 - Redlynx - £2.29
Innovative touchscreen-friendly take on racing.
Edge Extended - Mobigame - £2.29
Formerly beleaguered isometric action puzzler.
Fieldrunners 2 - Subatomic Studios - £2.29
Charming and accessible tower defence classic.
Blood of the Zombies - Tin Man Games - £1.49
Marvellous facelift for choose-your-own-adventures
Final Fantasy IV - Square Enix - £5.99
See "Chrono Trigger"
Final Freeway 2R - Newtype - 79p
Slick and faithful modern take on OutRun.
Flick Kick Football - Sidhe Interactive - £1.49
 Clever, tactile casual game that popularised flicking.
Flight Control HD - EA - £3.99
This ingenious line-drawing classic works best on iPad.
Forget-Me-Not - Nyarlu Labs - £1.49
Ingenious, stylish, and artsy take on Pac-Man.
Galaxy on Fire 2 - Fishlabs - Free
Ambitious and epic space trading game.
Game Dev Story - Kairosoft - £3.99
The original and best wacky Kairosoft strategy gem.
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective - Capcom - Free
Excellent port of a Phoenix Wright-esque cult classic.
GTA: Chinatown Wars - Rockstar - £3.99
Top-down GTA with an ace drug-dealing meta-game.
GTA: Vice City - Rockstar - £3.99
Indisputably the best of the noughties 3D GTA games.
Groove Coaster - Taito - 79p
Sexy minimalist rhythm-action game.
Hypership Out of Control - Fun Infused - 79p
Classic arcade action done by clever indie developers
I Dig It Expeditions - InMotion - £2.29
Addictive spiritual ancestor to Steamworld Dig.
iBlast Moki 2 - Godzilab - £2.29
Mostly immaculate bomb-themed puzzler.
Incoboto - Fluttermind - £2.99
Beautiful and charming heliocentric puzzler.
Infinity Blade - Chair Entertainment - 79p
Visually splendid gesture-based fighting game.
Jetpack Joyride - Halfbrick - 79p
Frenetic and addictive casual action game.
Kingdom Rush - Ironhide - Free
Conventional but immaculate tower defence game.
Knights of Pen & Paper - Paradox North - £3.99
 Charming take on pen and paper tabletop gaming.
Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 - Warner - £1.49
Just another lovely TT Lego game, but on mobile.
LostWinds 2 - Frontier - £2.99
 Polished puzzle-platformer from the creator of Elite
Machinarium - Amanita Design - £3.99
Utterly adorable hand-drawn point-and-click adventure.
Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint - Zee 3 - Free
Clever and fiendishly addictive puzzler.
McPixel - Sos - £2.29
Like WarioWare if WarioWare was a puzzle game.
Micro Miners - BonusLevel.org - £1.49
Unique mix of Lemmings and Where's My Water?
Need for Speed: Most Wanted - EA - £3.99
Polished high octane racing on your mobile.
New Star Soccer - New Star Games - Free
Super smart and addictive free-to-play football game.
Organ Trail: Director's Cut - The Men... - £2.29
Amusing zombie-themed retro take on Oregon Trail.
Peggle Classic - PopCap - 79p
Hugely popular videogame pachinko.
Pizza Vs. Skeletons - Riverman Media - £3.99
 Zany action game with a huge variety of stages.
Plague Inc. - Ndemic Creations - 79p
 Strategy game about trying to kill everybody.
Plants vs Zombies - PopCap - 79p
 Excellent lane-based casual defence game.
Pocket Planes - NimbleBit - Free
Charming ultra casual free-to-play game.
Prince of Persia Classic - Ubisoft - £1.49
Well-judged update to the classic platformer.
Punch Quest - Rocketcat - Free
Ill-fated but brilliant casual arcade game.
Puzzle Quest 2 - Bandai Namco - £2.29
Influential mash-up of puzzle game and RPG.
Random Heroes - Ravenous Games - Free
Impressive and slick pixel-art platform-shooter.
Rayman Jungle Run - Ubisoft - Free
Super-smart mobile version of Ubisoft's classic series.
Real Racing 2 - EA - £3.99
Visually splendid and playable arcade racer.
Reckless Racing 2 - Pixelbite - £1.49
Pretty and fun top-down racer with drifting.
Retro Racing - Mr Qwak Limited - £1.49
Simplistic but mechanically perfect racer.
Robot Unicorn Attack - Adult Swim - 79p
 Exuberant high score chaser complete with Erasure.
Saturday Morning RPG - Joystick Labs - Free
Solid RPG stuffed with knowing '80s references.
Score! World Goals - First Touch Games - Free
Relive a number of glorious moments in football.
Sentinel 3: Homeworld - Origin8 - 79p
 High quality early tower defence game.
Shantae: Risky's Revenge - WayForward - Free
Well-made port of a well-made DS platformer.
Sid Meier’s Pirates! - 2K - £2.29
Top quality port of a vast and innovative classic.
Sky Gamblers: Storm Raiders - Atypical - £3.99
 Accessible and technically impressive WWII flight sim
Skylanders Lost Islands - Activision - Free
 Loveable and astute free-to-play game based on toys.
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing - Sega - £2.99
Flawless port of Sega's triumphal kart racer.
Sonic CD - Sega - £2.29
Faultless port of arguably the best Sonic platformer.
Space Invaders Infinity Gene - Taito - £1.49
Super-slick and stylish update of Space Invaders.
Space Miner - Venan Entertainment - £2.99
Mine stuff in space, upgrade your gear, do it again.
SpellTower - Zach Gage - £1.49
Tasteful letter puzzle from an acclaimed developer.
Spider: Secret of Bryce Manor - Tiger Style - 79p
 Creepy action game with an intriguing story.
Splice: Tree of Life - Cipher Prime - £2.99
Stylish puzzler based on manipulating genes.
Street Fighter IV - Capcom - £3.99
The '90s arcade cabinet crammed into your phone.
Street Fighter X Tekken Mobile - Capcom - £2.29
 Capcom's best brawler adapted perfectly to mobile.
Super Crate Box - Vlambeer - £1.49
Frenetic, difficult, and oft-copied arcade masterpiece.
Super Monsters Ate My Condo! - Adultswim - Free
 Surreal, funny, and polished casual puzzler
Sword & Sworcery - Capybara Games - £3.99
Beautiful, mercurial pixel-art adventure.
Temple Run: Brave - Disney - £1.49
Polished 3D endless runner with a Brave theme.
The Big Big Castle! - Beep Games - 79p
Frustrating but compelling casual architecture sim.
The Journey Down - SkyGoblin - £3.99
Well-written and tightly constructed adventure game.
The King of Fighters-i 2012 - SNK - £2.29
Generous mobile brawler for genre enthusiasts.
The Lords of Midnight - Chilli Hugger - £2.99
Well-considered iOS port of an ages-old classic.
The Room - Fireproof Games - Free
One of the biggest and best puzzle games on mobile.
The Sims 3 - EA - £4.99
Live vicariously though small people on your phone.
The Walking Dead: The Game - Telltale - £14.99
 Utterly devastating adventure game about zombies.
The World Ends with You - Square Enix - £13.49
Reassuringly expensive port of the acclaimed JRPG.
Ticket to Ride - Days of Wonder - £2.29
Brilliant mobile version of a brilliant boardgame.
Tiny Wings - Andreas Illiger - 79p
Inventive and hugely successful casual game.
Tongue Tied! - Mojo Bones - 79p
Very strange but undeniably polished platformer.
Total War Battles: Shogun - Sega - £1.49
Stripped down version of the respected franchise.
Trainyard - Matt Rix - 79p
Ingenious train-based puzzler from a celebrated dev.
Triple Town - Spry Fox - Free
A cute match-three puzzler with a killer hook.
True Skate - True Axis - £1.49
Polished and playable sim made for touchscreens.
Virtua Tennis Challenge - Sega - £3.99
The gold standard tennis sim, but on a mobile.
Waking Mars - Tiger Style - 79p
Explore Mars in this unbelievably likeable game.
Where's My Water? - Disney - £1.49
Surprisingly inventive, unsurprisingly polished.
World of Goo - 2D BOY - £3.99
Making bridges with goo is as fun as it sounds.
Worms Crazy Golf - Team17 - £1.49
An obvious and perfect use of the Worms licence.
Zen Bound 2 - Secret Exit - £2.29
Meditative and beautiful proto-touchscreen puzzler.