Remembering Great Flash Games

When you had some time to kill in the early 2000s, Flash games were a great source of entertainment. Back before everyone had a smartphone in their pocket with powerful mobile apps, we had these web browser based games.

Recently, Adobe and most popular web browsers like Google Chrome have simultaneously dropped their support for Flash programs entirely, meaning that many nostalgic games and websites will now be going by the wayside. There will be some sources that keep these games stored and documented, but overall, the heyday of Flash is long gone. So with this in mind, we decided to take look at some of the Flash games we all remember so very well.

Line Rider

Line Rider is one of the most classic Flash games of all time and likely one that almost everyone has seen at some point. The strength of this game was in the simplicity. Essentially, this is a sandbox-style course creator where you develop slopes for a small character on a sled to race down. You can build any type of course you want, with as many jumps and hazards as you desire.

There is a satisfying feeling of accomplishment when you can keep your racer going through a series of gravity-defying leaps. Somehow even 15 years later, people still remember and come back to this enjoyable game.

Ultimate Football Management

The Ultimate Football Management series puts you in the position of a Premier League team manager. To compete for the championship, you will have to spend your funds to sign players and set up the perfect team. You will recognize all the famous clubs and players in the league as these are very well fleshed out simulation games.

This series and games of this type were essentially the precursors to fantasy sports as we know it now. These Flash games were very popular before the days where fantasy sports platforms like DraftKings and FanDuel took off. Platforms like these offer a more in-depth experience, tied in with enticing New Jersey free bets and other bonuses depending on your state or country. As you can imagine, sports fans naturally moved on to these more fully-featured platforms, but in the glory days of Flash games, Ultimate Football Management provided the best virtual experience for those football fans that couldn’t get enough.

Alien Hominid

The popular website Newgrounds.com was the center for exciting Flash games in the early and mid 2000s. One of the stars of the website was the simple and addictive shooter Alien Hominid. This Flash game was a refreshing take on the cliched side-scrolling shooter genre and is reminiscent of the Metal Slug series.

Playing as a little yellow alien, you must traverse a series of levels, using your advanced technology to blast through government agents and other enemies. The game was re-released in several variations, most notably a full-scale game on the PS2, and it’s developer studio eventually went on to develop Castle Crashers and other hit games.

The Impossible Quiz

It’s amazing the impact that this simple Flash game had on pop culture. The Impossible Quiz was a meme before memes really existed, and it’s something that you gleefully showed off to your friends and laughed as they became increasingly frustrated and bewildered. Much like the name implies, The Impossible Quiz was designed to be both intentionally misleading and hard to complete, though it is possible.

As the player you are tasked with making it through a series of questions with oftentimes confusing phrasing and unreasonable answers. Making it all the way to the end is a feat no one completes on their first playthrough, or their tenth. As challenging as it is, The Impossible Quiz is also very entertaining and hilarious.

The Boxhead Series

The Boxhead series is one of the best top-down shooters around and has been for some time. You control a very blocky character who is trying to fight off a horde of equally blocky zombies and devils with a large arsenal of weaponry. Wave after wave of these enemies come at you with increasing intensity, and you must maneuver, shoot, and set up barricades if you want to survive.

What keeps this series feeling so fresh is the vast amount of spinoffs and levels that you can enjoy. From Boxhead the Rooms, to Boxhead the Christmas Nightmare and more, you have enough content in these games to keep you entertained for days at a time.

Cartoon Network Flash Games

There are too many fantastic games to pick just one, but a special mention has to go out to the amazing Flash games that were available on Cartoon Network’s website. With seemingly hundreds of different games, you could be sure that all of your favorite cartoon characters made an appearance in at least a few of them. Many hours were spent playing memorable games like Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: Grim Ball, The Power Puff Girls Pillow Fight, and Cartoon Cartoons: Summer Resort. These games may look dated now, but many are just as fun today and can be found through one of the many community archiving projects.

Raze

Raze is one of the newer games on this list, but it’s still more than a decade old. In this fast paced 3D platform shooter, you play as either a human or an alien, and go through a series of missions. As you run through the levels doing aerial stunts and shooting enemies, you acquire many unique weapons like a rail gun, plasma cannon, and minigun. There is even an adrenaline-fueled freeplay mode that pits you against a team of computer controlled opponents as you compete to get the most points. Overall, this is just a well-made and enjoyable game, and the sequel, Raze 2, was another step up.

The Last Stand

The Last Stand is another flash game series that saw many installments over the years. The original premiered around 2007, and was instantly a favorite of many gamers. You play as a survivor in a zombie apocalypse that must shoot down hordes of these enemies before they can break through your barricade. It was simple, had a variety of weapons, and kept you entertained. Later installments saw more varied gameplay, like traveling through a city collecting supplies before you reach a safe colony of survivors. This was a great series and one that most gamers of the time remember fondly.