Whether in your own time, with a friend, or whilst the teacher wasn’t looking during I.T. class, Flash games used to be almighty time-killers. There still is a charm to WASD-controlled platformers, basic yet addictive concepts, earworm soundtracks, and the likelihood of the game crashing somewhere around the fourth level.
Given total freedom as these games were essentially free-to-play passion projects, there was no overbearing forces preventing any creative direction. These humble beginnings can often lead to greater things, with these examples being a few blasts from the past that we’d love to see remade for current-gen consoles.
10 Happy Wheels
Inevitably, Happy Wheels must be on this list. The iconic genre-blender of survival, platforming, and racing, Happy Wheels put players behind the wheels of Segway’s, father-and-son pushbikes, ride-on lawnmowers, and more as they navigate cruelly designed, lethal projectile-launching obstacle courses.
But the beauty was in this cruelty, with chaos ensuing from unfairly positioned arrows, pits of impaling spikes, katanas, meat cleavers, and more. Given the capabilities of modern consoles, there’s so much more that the legendary Flash game could mash into the already-frenzied gameplay. Upholding its 2D style, an experiment into the realms of VR would certainly be something to pique the curiosity of many.
9 Ninja Rinseout
What with the tremendous popularity of sword-fighting games like Sekiro and Ghost of Tsushima, the demand for a new Ninja game is ever-increasing, and if Ninja Rinseout was anything to go by, it would be great. With dynamic platforming settings and an impressive array of satisfying moves to master like wall runs, sneaking, and wall-run-to-backflips, gameplay would have amazing possibilities for expansion on a console.
Not to mention the roster of enemies, The Last of Us-style stealth gameplay, and gorgeous lighting with sliding door vignettes and vast moonlit dusk fields as battlegrounds, a Ninja Rinseout expansion would be tasteful and oozing with satisfying parkour-stealth gameplay.
8 The Impossible Quiz
Trick questions, puns, counter-instinctual tasks, and overall ridiculousness, all under an impenetrable veil of sarcasm, The Impossible Quiz would still stand the test of time for its humor. With questions such as “What sound does a bell make”, and answers like “WHOOP”, “F’TAANG” and “FROON”, to what the square root of onion is (it’s shallots, for anyone wondering), the equally hilarious, addictive, and frustrating game had so much potential for a full-blown release.
With all its quirks and experimental fourth wall breaking - like the task that requires you to move your mouse outside the game window to reach the other side - we’d love to see what this game could do with VR and motion sensor options.
7 Save the Sheriff
Ah, Miniclip, the treasure trove of forgotten gems. This Super Mario Bros. 3-style platformer gave players the set-up in about ten seconds: robbers rob bank. For some reason, robbers also rob Sheriff. Pig must save Sheriff. Playing as the heroic farm animal, players had to traverse the dusty wild-western setting, filled with snakes, frogs, and the occasional sombrero-wearing troublemaker.
It wasn't the most advanced game, with boulder-pushing puzzles and a few technical platforming sequences being the most challenging elements, but the charm was irresistible. The wholesome, traditional arcade aesthetic paired with the efficient pace of the game was enough to make it a fitting project for expansion.
6 Ultimate Crab Battle
Helmed by cult classic developer, Felix Wiesner of Mausland Games, Ultimate Crab Battle was just as noisy, intense, sporadic, hilarious, and epic as his other games, including Castle Cat and Power Fox. Your battle as a shark-riding man armed with lasers and rockets pitted you against the King Crab antagonist whilst AT-AT’s, legions of swordfish, killer waves from a gramophone, electric cages, and more were stacked against you.
The stacks of pop-culture references mixed with genuinely challenging gameplay would undoubtedly be a hit with today's market of similar comedy action games.
5 Matrix Rampage
Even with a series as lore-extensive as The Matrix, less can still sometimes be more. Matrix Rampage was a ridiculously engaging platform-based, 2D fighter. Playing as Neo under attack from an endless barrage of Agent Smiths , survival was the goal, aided by your martial arts abilities.
Utilizing office equipment, furniture, potted plants, and more in a multi-storied office block with destructible flooring, each game soon became frantic and hectic. A console port of the game could elaborate on this by building tension with greater quantities of Smiths thrown at players with each round, and more lethal weapons at your disposal.
4 Bow Man
I don’t even want to know how many hours have been spent playing Bow Man. This PvP or PvE game gave gamers one objective: to impale the other with arrows. However, their opponents were off-screen, seen only in the occasional glimpse when your arrow brushed past them.
As both players learned of the whereabouts of one another at similar speeds, Bow Man was the ultimate trial-and-error puzzle shooter. Controlled simply by using the mouse, a console port would propose interesting developments given the possibility of arrow-launching in VR, 3D environments, FPS-style, and more.
3 The Last Dalek
Though this game wouldn't have aged tremendously well, the concept is still as strong as ever. Released in conjunction with the episode of the reprisal series of the seminal sci-fi, starring what claims to be the last Dalek in existence, players controlled Metaltron and were tasked with escaping the facility they were housed in to exterminate the Doctor.
The top-down game challenged players with an array of obstacles, puzzles, and challenges to prevent their escape, but regardless of their confinement, playing as a Dalek was too much fun. On a console, in a 3D environment, optional FPS mode, and a near unlimited supply of Doctor Who material to craft an original story, the true Whovian dream game could be legitimized.
2 Dirk Valentine
Nitrome is a criminally underrated game developer that many have never even heard of. Choosing only one game of its genre-spanning portfolio was difficult enough, given how each of its projects are crafted with enthusiasm and skill. One of its most original is Dirk Valentine, a 19th-century-set puzzle platformer.
Playing as the dashing Valentine, equipped with his chain gun, players had to run and gun their way to the end of each stage. The aforementioned chain gun also doubled up as a haphazard bridge builder, merging physics and strategy with platforming, which is in some ways Portal-like.
1 Dino Run
Though this side-scrolling survival scramble did get an extended version on Steam, Dino Run is still something consoles could do with seeing. The bittersweet and surprisingly atmospheric game saw players rush from extinction as a dinosaur, fleeing from the inevitable and appropriately named Doom Wall of hurtling debris and rock matter.
Snacking on smaller dinos for extra points and clambering over all manners of terrain, from rivers, boulders, and cave sequences, Dino Run was a truly moreish mini-adventure that relied on players to keep their wits about them in procedurally generated levels. A console version could include more levels, game modes, dinosaurs with unique abilities to play as, multiplayer, and more.