8 Unforgettable Flash Games From Back In The Day

If there’s one thing that’s unfortunate about gaming today, it’s that kids growing up now have completely missed out on the heyday of browser based Flash games from the early 2000s. While it’s still possible to play many of these old games even after the discontinuation of Flash, it’s not like any new games are being made, and the idea of continuing to play these games after all these years has all but left the collective gaming consciousness for the most part.

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Fortunately, there are plenty of people around who still remember this golden era of easily accessible, simple and free computer games. With this in mind, here is a list of some of the best old school Flash games from back in the day.

8

Territory War (2007)

Territory War is kind of like a much more simplistic version of the Worms games. It’s a turn based PVE game where the player and the CPU play as stick figures in a small arena. There are really only four maneuvers the player can make during their turn: move, kick, shoot or throw a grenade.

Impressively, however, there is an online version where players can battle against other players if they wish. In fact, for many kids growing up around this time, Territory War may have been their first taste of online multiplayer back in the day.

7

Interactive Buddy (2004)

What person over the age of 25 doesn’t remember playing Interactive Buddy? This is a game where the only thing the player has to do is simply “interact” with the character on the screen, a little guy made of orbs. He can be blown up, shot at, tossed around, and he will ragdoll across the screen in a humorous fashion. He will also react to the players actions in various ways.

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There are even skins for Buddy and all of them are hilarious. He can be made to look like George W. Bush, a Teletubby or even Napoleon Dynamite (among others).

6

Whack Your Boss (2004)

Flash games from this era often had a dark sense of humor. Considering the state of the internet at the time this isn’t all that surprising. Whack Your Boss is an excellent example of this because it is simply a game where the player has to choose from a number of different ways to brutally murder their (admittedly rather rude) boss.

The game is a point and click affair, with the player merely clicking on an object in their office and watching a cutscene play of the boss character being killed with that object. Once that’s all done a shadowy man will come and clean up the mess. Rinse and repeat until they find every method with which to whack their boss.

5

Line Rider (2006)

Though it went on to become a huge hit, Line Rider started as perhaps one of the simplest games in the world. All the player has to do is draw a line on the screen and watch as the rider traverses it. The game has some physics, so the track has to be drawn in such a way to account for this. Coupled with a practically limitless drawing capacity, this led to utterly insane course designs for the Rider to ride over the years.

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He could be gliding through a forest, plunging into the jaws of a giant monster or getting thrown around some ridiculously complicated Rube Goldberg-esque track. Any one of these would be a common sight during this era.

4

Raft Wars (2007)

If there’s any Flash game that is perfect for siblings to play together, it would be Raft Wars. It’s a simple turn based game where the player has to battle various enemies such as pirates, Vikings and even the nextdoor neighbors in raft on raft combat.

The default weapon is a tennis ball launcher, however, the player can obtain grenades and rockets and even upgrade their raft, which increases their team from two to three members. There’s also a par score for each level that rewards good players with extra money, so be on the lookout!

3

The Fancy Pants Adventures (2006)

When it first came out in 2006, Fancy Pants was fun and unique twist on the side scrolling 2D platformer. Since then, it has evolved into a franchise of its own and has even been ported to several other platforms over the years. The bread and butter of this series has always been its extremely fluid movement and how it’s been integrated with the traditional simplicity of something like Super Mario Bros.

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Fancy Pants can run along and jump between walls at high speeds, slide under barriers, fling himself great distances and much more. It’s a game series that primarily stresses speed and timing. It’s also got a cute art design and silly sense of humor that ought to please most fans of the Flash game genre.

2

Thing Thing (2005)

The Thing Thing series is a fun side scrolling action-shooter series with an emphasis on big-honkin weaponry. The formula is simple and drenched in violence, as the player takes control of Gamma-Class Bio-Weapon Project #154 on his quest for revenge.

Yes unlike many Flash games, Thing Thing featured a loose story that progressed with each new mainline installment (excluding the Arena releases). The player would progress through each level, violently killing every enemy they can find and adding new weapons to their collection as they go. The series arguably improves significantly with each release, with the highlight being Thing Thing 4, the edgiest and most gory game in the series.

1

The Last Stand (2007)

Zombies were getting to be hugely popular again by the mid 2000s. The Last Stand was kind of like a teaser of what was to come since it was actually what inspired Treyarch to include Nazi Zombies in Call of Duty: World at War. This is rather impressive considering how simple the first two installments are.

The third game, The Last Stand: Union City is more or less a side scrolling open world game that features scavenging, trading and more than a few RPG elements that make it a kind of homage to Fallout 3. It also was one of the few flash games at the time to features save states, so the player need not start a new game every time they played. The Last Stand series is currently available or purchase on Steam.

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