Skip to main content

Old web games can still be played in 2024!

     I recently rediscovered a program I used to use a couple of years back when I was still in high school. We used to want to play games on our computers but of course, games would get removed from sites after a while or my school would find out about a site we played on cause one of our "less popular" classmates would narc on us and we'd lose our free time activities. That all changed when I found Flashpoint Infinity, probably the funnest and most precious program I will always need on my computer. 

One of the great thing about this program is just how massive it's library actually is. Currently Flashpoint has archived and hosts 193,529 games in it's library, and that number keeps growing with every update. When you first get the program you have two options of download, you can download Flashpoint Infinity (like I did) which let's you choose and download games as you play them or if you're especially adventurous, you can download Flashpoint Ultimate which saves all 1.38 terabytes of games in the library to your computer for offline use. If you're someone who loves to archive and catalogue things, Flashpoint Ultimate is the obvious choice, but for most of us average chooms Flashpoint Infinity is the way to go.

When I booted up the program, I started to browse around its library a little bit, just to get familiar with what they had. Their library includes learning, kid-friendly and casual games right off the bat, but it does also offer "adult-oriented" game titles (the NSFW option for games is disabled by default, so you will have to go into the config settings to enable them). Overall it's a very fun experience to dive deep into the library and unlock core memories of games you used to play. One of the first games I tried was a game I played in middle school called Parking Fury (not a very stimulating title these days) which is a top-down view parking game that has you park in strange places, sometimes requiring you to use the utmost care when moving. It's fun for me but if it's not your cup of tea, you will most likely find it on Flashpoint. 

Over all these old web games and many other retro games like those on legacy consoles and 90's handhelds just help give that nostalgic feeling you don't often find anymore in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Open source groups like Flashpoint or even Ruffle are both prime examples that these types of games matter just as much as the next Final Fantasy or Call of Duty games do, but these games are, or at least used to be the first exposure to games kid's could get without a console and they should be treasured and remembered for as long as possible. Flashpoint can be downloaded here for free and if you'd even like to support their team and help them continue to archive games from across the web, the link for their donation page will be right here. Happy Holidays everyone!


  

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What could the future of gaming look like?

    What does gaming mean to us today? What will gaming mean to us in 10 years? Will gaming still be around in 100 years or will we all have found a new form of entertainment? These are all questions that some gamers and developers (like myself), think about from time to time. Like all forms of art and media, things change and adapt in ways that generally affect them positively. For gaming, I imagine that as computer graphics, technology, and changing demands from gamers start to change, gaming will become more complex and more enjoyable as time passes.      As gaming begins to venture into new mediums and technological marvels, one that stands out as being both realistic and feasible is virtual reality (VR for short). VR gaming started making major strides during the 1990s and has since grown into one of the most profitable and most technologically advanced ways to game currently, with HTC , Meta (previously Oculus ) and PlayStation VR being the most com...

The Impossible Missions of Impossible Mission.

      Impossible Mission is the type of game that requires amazing puzzle-solving skills, fast hand-eye coordination and just a great understanding of what the heck you're supposed to do in this game. In my time playing, I played through the game 4 times each time getting further and further before ultimately losing. At the start of the game, there is a robotic voice giving one of those classic "you're doomed" kinds of messages and then nothing. Just complete silence, there's no kind of 8-bit music playing, or any sort of instruction as to how to play. They basically just throw in with nothing.      Now the actual gameplay mechanics are quite interesting, you have one speed of running, which makes sense for the era of the game, you also have a very nicely animated front flip that acts as our jump and that's pretty much it. It's nothing too fancy but it works really well for the game itself.  The one thing that got me utterly confused was the puzz...