The Sane Psycho
Banned
Flash games. Perhaps the ultimate distraction. We play them when we're bored at work. We play them when we're bored at school. We play them when we're bored at home. And that's all they are, right? Just fun little time wasters that are designed to draw our attention from the mundane reality of our existence? Nope. That is a very wrong assumption.
Flash games really started in the mid '90s, and Newgrounds could be credited for their rise in popularity. And if you think about it, flash games could be seen as a precursor to the explosion of indie games we see today. True, indie gaming has been around since at least the '80s with shareware and bedroom programmers developing for home computers, but flash games made it mainstream. Millions upon millions of people have played these humble browser based games, even people who traditionally aren't gamers. So really, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that the roots of the current mobile landscape had its roots here (yeah yeah Minesweeper, Solitaire, Elf Bowling blah blah blah).
Young, hungry developers had a platform to share their vision with the world, and create games that were a little different from what the AAA industry was pumping out. 2D platformers and beat 'em ups with unique visuals, retro inspired modern games, the weird arty stuff, and even immature, simplistic games where you killed pop culture figures like Eminem and Steve Burns. Many of those types of games became staples in the current indie scene. And you could argue that sites like Newgrounds and Kongregate led to services like Steam and Xbox Live Arcade. One of the earliest games in the current indie scene?
Yep, the very first game from The Behemoth, the studio founded by Tom Fulp, the creator of Newgrounds. And it started out as a Newgrounds title. Important to note is that The Behemoth developed titles like Castle Crashers, which is now an iconic indie game, and Battleblock Theater. Other famous indie games that started as browser based games: Machinarium, N+, Fancy Pants Adventure, Trials, Fl0w, etc.
So that is why I feel browser based games deserve more respect than they generally get. Sure, they're often seen as fun, addicting diversions, but aren't usually held in higher regard than that. And it's a shame, because they were highly influential and could be considered the grandfather to today's indie/mobile landscape.
Some of my favs:
Super Mario 63 (This is legitimately good enough to be on the same level as a real Mario game. If I were to rank every Mario platformer from worst to best, I would actually include this as an honorable mention due to how fantastic it is.)
Pandemic 2
Mardek series
Exmortis
Dad 'n Me
Fancy Pants Adventure series
Super Smash Flash series
Art Of War series
Tiny Dangerous Dungeons/Super Dangerous Dungeons
Bartender
Bloons Tower Defense
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