I have to admit that this matter worried me more than it should, but having spent so many great moments with Adobe Flash games and animations, the news of its possible extinction wounded the deepest part of my soul. What a cruel fate obsolescence and subsequent oblivion would be for those works that gave us so much joy! And they are also so intrinsically tied to the very cultural history of the web. Fortunately, I no longer worry, as various preservation projects have kept all those wonders safe, and brought them to the public in various (and very accessible) ways.
Flashpoint Project, the 'Steam' of Flash games
On one hand, there is the Flashpoint Project, about which I wrote more than a year ago. It is like a "Steam" of Flash games, with an interface that strongly evokes that of MAME. It works through a main client from which you can manage all your games or download those you don't have and want.
The platform boasts 38,000 games and 2,400 animations and is capable of running not only Adobe Flash but also 12 other different platforms (such as the obsoleted PopCap Plugin from the eponymous company).
Its download comes in two flavors: Flashpoint Ultimate is the complete package (with all games and animations) and weighs a whopping 241GB. Flashpoint Infinity only downloads the client and is offered for a convenient 296MB. With this last option, you can add games as you wish.
On the other hand, BlueMaxima (the people behind the project) manages a gigantic archive on Archive.org where you can download game packs grouped by developer. That is, a true beauty. They are very large packs, but they bring entire collections.
Newgrounds, the Netflix of Flash games
However, nothing excited me as much as finding the Newgrounds Player, an extension that redirects every Flash game or animation of the venerable portal to an external and independent player that opens with just a mouse click. This small addition, which may seem like a small thing, turns Newgrounds' immense archive into something totally accessible, in a kind of Netflix for games.
I have been testing it for a few months now and I am thrilled. It has a fullscreen option, works independently of the browser, saves games locally, and has nothing hidden. Also, since Flash games aren't usually heavy, loading is almost automatic. Like Netflix, you know.
Newgrounds' player works wonders in conjunction with the site's historical archive, which sorts all games uploaded since the beginning of time by rating, from best to worst. Thousands of pages with hundreds and hundreds of classics of all kinds and for all tastes, things like the Epic Fantasy Battle saga (from which the fifth part recently came out), Burrito Bison, Toss The Turtle, Abobo's Big Adventure, Mastermind: World Conqueror, Road of the Dead II, Cursed Treasure, and Infectonator 2, among MANY others.
That said, there are caveats: the newest games, which run on HTML5 or Unity, load on the page itself, since the player only works with Flash files. Oh, and be very careful, because if you don't have the filters configured, you'll see many XXX games in the mix.
In short, my worries were completely unfounded. The legacy of Flash technology is totally safe. And I, who feared losing all the gems with which I saw the cultural history of the web grow, instead received a better and more convenient way to consume them. I should have thought of it before: on the web, nothing is lost, everything is transformed.
