The History of Flash Games

[@SaveDataTeam]

What were some of your favorite flash games? Any ones we didn't reference in the video? Tell us down below! Check us out on all these platforms: Discord: discord.gg/kt9AJtp Patreon: Patreon.com/savedatateam Twitch: Twitch.tv/savedatateam Instagram: Instagram.com/savedatateam Twitter: Twitter.com/savedatateam Facebook: Facebook.com/savedatateam

[@rustyshacky6795]

This video is one of the best I've watched all year. Off the top of my head you missed these classics: Punk-O-Matic and Halo Warthog Jump.

[@SaveDataTeam]

Rusty M.A.V. HD DAMN WARTHOG JUMP WAS SO GOOD 😂

[@Critters]

Thanks for making this, was a great trip down memory lane. I made the first Tower Defense in Flash, which would also make it the first standalone TD game (Flash Element TD) and it was popular enough to quit my day job and become a full time game dev. Still making games today. Flash was a superb prototyping tool, the speed at which you could get a game's core mechanic up and running and in the hands of players is still unmatched today.

[@VamPDX]

I really loved the yeti sports series. It was quite popular in Germany but I don't have the slightest idea if they were relevant elsewhere.

[@SaveDataTeam]

@@VamPDX Oh yeahhhhhh I had to look up a picture, but I’ve definitely played a couple of these before!

[@gumball135]

Oh man. I was a kid growing up in the 2000s, and I played most of those games. It never occurred to me to try to create one myself.

[@SaveDataTeam]

Same, I almost tried to do a short animation, but I was too intimidated by how good some of the stuff was. I feel like if I had downloaded the free version, I might be on a totally different path in life! 😅

[@Bibontastic]

I was playing them because of i had potato laptop. And they were actually good...

[@The-Opium-Den]

I think another reason for the popularity of Flash games was that a lot of people who played them couldn't afford video games. My family was in the working class in the early 2000s and we couldn't afford to buy an Xbox or the Playstation 2! In the present, we now own a Nintendo Switch. These days me and my siblings play big games by major developers, but we'll never forget the fun times Flash games gave us. I just don't want them to die and become nothing more but a bygone memory when I'm old.

[@SaveDataTeam]

It’s been a bit since I wrote this, so maybe I didn’t mention it, but yeah, flash games being free was incredible, and absolutely helped their spread amongst people. Their affordability and accessibility was unmatched, and they will always have a place in gaming history!

[@BeanSandwiches]

​@SaveDataTeam for sure And as so.eone who played tons of flashgames and played roblox growing up, From what I've seen now there are massive games made for younger people using the free to play model glass games aren't seen as cool. Let alone the fact many younger people now don't know/ use PCs

[@FoxerTails]

When I was a kid, I had so many mental notes of Flash game websites to go to. Some even being hosted by huge companies. Hot Wheels, Lego, Candystand, and even Nabisco had a stellar collection of games to play.

[@SaveDataTeam]

Candystand was a great one I forgot to mention!

[@CyberRager]

9:09 I loved that game so damn much that when i heard that the series got a release on steam i immediately bought it, 8,19€ well spent

[@emmanuelbrooks4311]

Fancy pants, raft wars, & super smash flash were my go-to games! Huge part of my childhood

[@orionthekat]

the nostalgia... I used to play flash games for hours when I was a kid :')

[@SaveDataTeam]

Same! It was an important part of my life. 😅

[@TheAmericanPrometheus]

0:07 Nostalgia just hit me lick a brick. I forgot that game even existed

[@SaveDataTeam]

It’s an absolute classic!

[@TheAmericanPrometheus]

@@SaveDataTeam Definitely, in many ways I feel a special connection to it as I had played this even before I got hooked on the Miniclip flash games of the mid/late 00's.

[@SaveDataTeam]

Miniclip was 🙌

[@rustyshacky6795]

Watched this video and played Halo Warthog Launch for over an hour and closed the window accidentally and lost all of my progress. 10/10 nostalgia trip.

[@DragonActual]

Shockwave, Miniclip, Yahoo Taiwan Flash games, Nitrome, HP Games and Arcadetown were flash game sites of my childhood

[@SaveDataTeam]

I hadn’t heard of Yahoo Taiwan or HP Games, but I also didn’t include Crazy Monkey, which is also a major contender. So many good sites!

[@OGRScintilla]

Bubble Tank was genuinely a great game, not just “for a flash game”. I remember not believing it was free haha

[@boa_firebrand]

bubble defense was also a great one.

[@lukesfridge]

Such a good video, this channel needs more recognition

[@SaveDataTeam]

We appreciate it!! Feel free to share! That helps us the most! 😅

[@hibachimk240]

Nice video. BTW, Bloons is on Steam, it's not just mobile games. As for the missing games, I can name two series: There's the whole Epic Battle Fantasy series (and their spin-off Bullet Heaven) by Matt Roszak . The last two eventually came to Steam, the earlier three are coming sometime. And there's the Negociator / Ambition series, of Retsupurae's fame.

[@SaveDataTeam]

Snap I didn’t know Bloons was on steam! Also damn, you’re totally right, I forgot about Epic Battle Fantasy. Those games were so good!

[@lelmorelel8972]

Henery Stickmin, the best classics, Sort the court, Y/N game, Riddle School, average puzzle game BTD, Classic TD I saw you standing there, Stories

[@SaveDataTeam]

I saw you standing there and Riddle School are solid picks!

[@Mokey]

Rasterwerks Phosphor was my JAM. Thank you so much for showing of Flashpoint. Rasterwekrs is on there. Will deffinetly give it a go, for nostalgia reason. Your videos are so well produced. Thank you for what you are doing.

[@SaveDataTeam]

Thank you very much! This was a fun project to do, so I hope it gains traction!

[@arthurdurham]

Great video. Stumbled across this when looking for this exact topic and this was perfect. Subbed

[@SaveDataTeam]

Thank you very much! Glad we had exactly what you were looking for! 😁

[@spicynoodles1260]

Raze was the first game to get me into shooter games and the music was so amazing

[@uros.u.novakovic]

Been active on Kongregate for almost a decade. Made an account on January 2011 but I've been playing stuff there long before I had an account. I still play games there to this very day but the whole no more new game and badges really murdered the site and that whole era of gaming for me as a whole. One big chapter in my life has ended with that announcement on Kong. A website that was a permanently open tab in my browser for 9 long years.

[@SaveDataTeam]

The achievements on Kongregate were a whole other level. I loved those. Made it more addicting to keep coming back. Especially with some games built around the achievements.

[@heyitshhousefly]

FLASH GAMES MATTER. All my folks raised in the 2000s, your childhood mattered.

[@michael-johnbrown2881]

I never really got into flash games as a kid but i knew of them and now with the independent video game market booming i got to thank flash games for that. Because alot of my favourite 2d games or android mobile phone games are from independent publishers i wish i knew more about flash back then so that i could have made some games myself but i guess there is no need to beat myself up over it.

[@TheSm1thers]

I remember the days of playing on Kongregate, Newgrounds and Armor Games. Endless amounts great games for free like Sonny, Sinjid, Mastermind, Chaos Faction, Achilles, Territory War, Bowmaster Prelude, Rebuild, Stick War, etc. I could go on forever but these games made my childhood.

[@smallpoly10]

12:40: "Invention of Tower Defense Genre" - You also saw these in the Starcraft custom maps via the editor using systems already built in a new way, so those may be the actual origin of tower defense games. Warcraft 3 expanded on the ideas and allowed for a lot of additional variation.

[@SaveDataTeam]

You know what, fair point! I wasn’t big into the Starcraft mod scene, so they might have originated the idea there.

[@smallpoly10]

@@SaveDataTeam Game mods are a great rabbit hole to jump down as as well, for video topics. Even just in blizzards stuff you also get the spawn of the Dota genre.

[@SaveDataTeam]

@@smallpoly10 Yeah, I've considered doing a video on the history of MOBAs, but I feel like so many people have done that topic. But maybe there are even more concepts that got left behind.

[@smallpoly10]

@@SaveDataTeam there's a ton of weird ones in warcraft and starcraft that never went anywhere, including implementations of chess and monopoly. It's been years since I thought about it but that would be a neat topic. Maybe you'll find some hidden gems.

[@SaveDataTeam]

@@smallpoly10 I'll look into it. Any good resources you can think of off the top of your head?

[@modeljetjuggernaut4864]

Excellent documentary!!

[@coffeegod2236]

11:00 oh shit i didn't knew there was more people do this shit, i have now collected over 60 nostalgic games for fuck sake its warm my heart

[@IrrationalGamer]

Clear was amazing.

[@ellerybyrd1360]

RIP flash games :(

[@KoshYTGC]

I never played flash games sadly, but this would totally be a game you would play after school.

[@Eric-----]

I really wish I got to animate with the older Adobe Flash programs. The Adobe Flash player that was built into those animations programs had some features that nothing else has, such as playback quality and zooming in and out. I'm jealous of those people who got to experience those.

[@RERGamingorTecdreaminshort]

8:13 I PlAYED THIS One at 9 years I completely forgot about it

[@zombiem3mes441]

Some creators are trying to make remastered versions of there old flash games which is amazing

[@SaveDataTeam]

I know some of the projects that people have started, mostly using HTML 5 compatible stuff, which is awesome. It’s great to see so many efforts to keep these games alive.

[@magicmanhs7718]

Anyone know the name of that one kongregate game where you are a grey (i think female) knight with a red scarf? U had to kill some green or idk which color soldiers in a snow base.was pretty short or i gave up too early

[@snoozy04]

Brilliant documentary

[@malintended]

Oh man, I used to love Uphill Rush, and Sprinter, although i could never beat it.

[@jamesmcdermott8947]

This is so freaking well done man. 😘🤌

[@yuyoshi1602]

when i was a kid, there was a game i played alot called Console Wars!!!, it was this weird rts game where it was new age versus retro. i finally found it years ago, but now whenever i try to play it, it gets stuck on the loading screen. to this day i still have not been able to find a working version

[@godkiller4804]

I always loved playing Flipline games like Papa's Burgeria and cant forget about CoolMathGames lol.

[@MassiveMarioLuigi700MassiveKun]

I was a big platform fighter guy so chaos faction and smash flash 1 & 2 where my go to games

[@DanGamingTV]

Not many people make me want to subscribe within the first 30 seconds... but you're an exception.

[@SaveDataTeam]

High praise! Thank you very much!

[@greedyturtle5025]

Calling all gamers,there was a cool flash game like super smash bros that had levels and you had to fight characters,sometimes you would get a partner and then get their accesorries like hair,there was also items like guns teleporters that were in boxes that appeared on the map,it was cool and if anybody knows the game please tell me

[@SaveDataTeam]

Hmmm, I can see it in my mind, but I can’t think of the name! 🤔

[@greedyturtle5025]

@@SaveDataTeam all of the characters only had fists,heads and shoes and you could get skins from other games like alien hominid,i played that game 24/7 when i was a kid

[@stormy286]

I used to love "Mutilate a doll 2", man that game was fun.

[@SaveDataTeam]

I haven’t played it, but I’ll check it out!

[@stormy286]

@@SaveDataTeam 2013 game, kinda like kick the buddy... But better, in my opinion.

[@bungle6334]

TDs were first made as starcraft custom maps on battlenet in the late 90s.

[@RickySama240]

Ahhh i played a ton of flash games back in the day on my first pc since i couldn't buy retail games because my parents wanted me to focus on school.. 😅

[@harrypreston226]

Sonnny was a great RPG

[@Reldonator]

Yo Armor Games! I forgot about that one! I Think thats where I played Swords and Sandals all the time

[@ProximaNT]

You never forget about BerserkStudio *Mechanical Commando* *Mechanical Commando 2: Invasion* *Mechanical Commando 2: Burning Skies*

[@Arionid]

Crow in Hell 3 Dune Buggy Being One (series) Visitor (series) William and Sly 2 How to Raise a Dragon Me Bill (animation) Duck Life (only the 1st) Death Worm type games Feed'n'Frenzy Blue Custom Spank the Monkey Ghostscape and some old Trials game I've never been able to rediscover

[@SaveDataTeam]

Dune buggy is a jam. I actually captured footage of Spank the Monkey, but it got corrupted 😰

[@raf9x908]

I played pico school when I was like 6. Highlight of that year was anything new grounds

[@cwlkm]

Back in 2007 me and a friend made a jump and run game called tribe world, I only made the art and animation. Armour Games offered us 400$ for the rights but I was so attached to the characters that I refused. After we published it on some sites, we found copies of the game on other countless flash gaming sites, some of them even claiming they made the game. I guess we should have taken the money

[@SaveDataTeam]

That is brutal. I would say that this was due to the internet still being like the Wild West at the time, but I feel like people constantly steal art today too. 😬

[@nashizumrud2090]

I remember enjoying all 4 games of Isoball on a Not Doppler website when I was a kid.

[@SaveDataTeam]

I forgot about not Doppler!! So much nostalgia!

[@jacksonshelby2460]

Castaway, kids vs Santa, earn to die...some of the classics on that site for me

[@Garrickk100]

Only 9/10 didn’t include “Jack smith” in the montage. Best flash game

[@Stoneman256]

9:40 Henry stikmin games. Or are those games too important to be on the list

[@bogdanmamaischi9583]

The most iconic one is age of war you can't disagree

[@justsomeguywithagasmask8203]

Why no one ever mentions "Road of the dead" or "Hippolyta" on their list? Those game where amazing, why no one seems to remeber them in this youtube videos?

[@VampireFlutist]

the Run series was flash, right?

[@ConradProteus]

I also made a flash game called awalen front line

[@kendallbacon2871]

stickdeath was the birth of chaos in my little 10 year old brain lmao

[@_GhostMiner]

It's a shame we couldn't save a lot of multiplayer games because some games couldn't just be downloaded like you do with every other game. ☹️

[@neros1277]

I start playing flash when I was in 2007, I didn't want any consoles and I didn't have steam so I was stuck with flash for quite some time, I stopped playing them in 2012, now I can't get over the fact that it's gone

[@pavleperisic9678]

How do you mean you didnt want console did you mean your parents didnt want to buy it

[@neros1277]

@@pavleperisic9678 my gaming life began with flash games and after some time I switched to steam, I never felt a need to have a console, I never felt like I want one

[@Probux]

where is fancy pants adventures in the montage?! it should’ve been in

[@EddyGameVlogBoy]

Tom single-handedly shaped the internet as we know it

[@siracs7372]

favourite Flash game... Zombie Trailer Park

[@SaveDataTeam]

I had to look it up, but I do remember playing this as well! I liked a lot of these "Age of War" type games.

[@TimPwndMe]

fantastic

[@SaveDataTeam]

Thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed!

[@absolembum6399]

there was this one game with absolute banger music that I couldn't remember the name if anyone know about it, please help me, it's a two player game with blocky characters customizable with ton of outfits, who are trying to destroy each other's castle by bouncing bombs with their head

[@LexarXaryonx]

You forgot about Raze and Raze 2.

[@ahmedosiu]

Whats the name from the horse on the thumbnail?

[@SaveDataTeam]

That’s the robot unicorn attack unicorn

[@idk______________]

I need a help i'm trying to find a game about a purple fish that you move with the mouse i loved it so much but i can't find it :(

[@Saadmetalfab]

Alien hominid was a banger

[@LogicFox]

can't believe you didn't put SFH in the video.

[@SaveDataTeam]

It's a classic, to be sure! I could have made the montage section like 20x longer, but I felt like the video was already starting to run long.

[@LogicFox]

@@SaveDataTeam Oh nice to know thanks for the reply.

[@Blueskies2513]

I still animate in flash 8

[@lilisaseve5172]

I just loved "Primary" and "Xenos"

[@lilisaseve5172]

Great video though!

[@SaveDataTeam]

Primary was a classic! It keeps surprising me how many games I have completely forgotten until I see the name and it all comes flooding back! 😅

[@GreyWolfLeaderTW]

LOL There are a whole lot of notable Flash games that you couldn't have included in your list because we'd be here till the end of time covering them all. Big noticeable one missing is Henry Stickmin.

[@fancyshoes002]

Can flashpoint run games on deviantart?

[@brettleftwich3908]

what do you mean by this?

[@fancyshoes002]

@@brettleftwich3908 Since Flash is dead there is no way to play them.

[@EMvolts154]

I Missed the Stick war PC version but now its on Android

[@McKcakeisme]

My mom back in the day be playing sims 2

[@modeljetjuggernaut4864]

You missed Johnny Rocketfingers

[@HeIsTheBluesCat]

Flash Games All-Stars!

[@Luka1180]

I thought you would touch on specific games as well :(

[@SaveDataTeam]

I hear you. I do have the montage section, but I think there is simply too many “essential” flash games that I couldn’t do a description for each of them without the video becoming 2 hours long 😅

[@feeneytodd3777]

I had a huge Spaced Penguin phase. Also doesn’t DC kind of have a hold on Flashpoint??

[@SaveDataTeam]

Suprisingly DC doesn't? It does make for a very confusing google search though, lol.

[@succ3904]

Theres this game on flash that i forgot the name but i remember it as a pretty fuckin cool game Itsa a paper airplane that you need to fly across Italy and its been on my mind lately

[@SaveDataTeam]

I don’t think I know it. Is it a “upgrade” game?

[@rstuio]

it's called "Flight"!! It was a cool game!!!

[@_GhostMiner]

*The history of* -flash games- *your childhood.*

[@dollaz4647]

Lol when I used to find new websites I would always write them down

[@stephenrazo4967]

You missed the Sonny series and Happy Wheels.

[@narz1836]

RIP Flash games

[@muathmatthews5136]

I always used to play burrito bison

[@SaveDataTeam]

It's really good!

[@muathmatthews5136]

@@SaveDataTeam also eletricman

[@tristontherailfan]

Can’t forget coolmathgames

[@SaveDataTeam]

oh heck yeah!

[@spe02001]

Action script can still work without much scripting knowledge. There were I learn scripting.

[@stephenhajosy6763]

From my experience it was playing custom games on StarCraft and Warcraft 3 where I first played Tower Defense TD games. I think it is a bit much to say that flash "single handedly invented the genre". Also, the cooperative aspect of the games on the Blizzard servers made this a superior experience IMO. Would be great to read a comment from someone who knows more about the history of TD games.

[@Veteransolo]

I miss those days I was playing punk o matic 2 Crazy wheels Uphill rush Last stand Lots of newgrounds and addicted games Now I'm 24 Growing up sucks.

[@SaveDataTeam]

Ooh I forgot about uphill rush! (And growing up gets better 😅)

[@Veteransolo]

@@SaveDataTeam does it? Why? 😂

[@SaveDataTeam]

Obviously it differs for everyone, but I’d say you become a more fully realized person, you know what you want more, and perhaps more importantly, you know what you don’t want 😅. I’m about to enter my 30’s in the next month and despite this year being crappy for reasons outside my control, the things I have had control over have been pretty great!

[@Veteransolo]

@@SaveDataTeam I'm glad for you then. 😂

[@SaveDataTeam]

It might take a while, but you’ve got time. And you stop caring as much about what other people think, which is hugely helpful 😅

[@aixelsyd867]

Buddies would come over for hours and we would either play flash games on NG or XGen, or we would watch stuff like Retarded animal babies and an oldie on NG called Eddie. Also does anyone remember the game 'Playing with fire'? Classic

[@WaterMusic34]

What, no Slush Invaders? Lol

[@rometoplayz9265]

Wat bout Cool Math Games

[@Zero-pe3iq]

I notice a trend they are like all 2D games. Meanwhile by in large I prefer 3D games. 3D not AAA games were very much a thing in 2008-09 like on modern consoles at that time PS3/Xbox 360. Not hating btw I played a lot of flash games too, but its not like even at the time I didn't see a lot of that as the junk food of games. Something the clearly wasn't so buggy that it was unplayable, but nothing special either most of the time. Sometimes you get real gems like Fancy Pants, but other times no so much.

[@SaveDataTeam]

Totally, there is a ton of “bloat-ware” in flash games. But they get a certain edge in their accessibility, being runnable on almost every PC, and perhaps more importantly, being free. I think nobody would argue a AAA masterpiece like Bioshock wasn’t overall a better game, but flash games were important to so many people for a variety of reasons.

[@Tdugg]

Radt wars 😔

[@teamsnowrabbit6386]

Thing thing

[@mrstik101]

NOOOOOOOOOO you missed henry stickmin. HOW COULD YOU~

[@mihajlomilivojevic2486]

Best flash game of all time was road of the dead

[@stickguyanimatior818]

Don’t you mean the flash

[@VinnieHome]

Sift heads: ……..

[@HighZery]

Fireboy and Watergirl

[@SaveDataTeam]

Oh yeahhh! I remember this one! Good stuff!

[@joeyalbertine]

Ah, you missed N Game!

[@SaveDataTeam]

Oh snap! That is a good pull! I totally forgot about that game. It was wild gathering footage for this video seeing what I did and didn't remember.