Flashpoint Is Saving 36,000 Flash Games From Going Into The Night

Flash has become the bad boy of the Internet and few will argue that it needs to go. But while its retirement solves a lot of security problems on the Web, it also creates a mass grave for interactive experiences that, at one point in the past, entertained hundreds of users. Yes, these are the Flash games that represent an important chunk of gaming history. Fortunately, a group of enthusiasts has come together to preserve all of that via the Flashpoint launcher.

A clever play on a big (for DC fans) comic book event, Flashpoint is just one of the most recent attempts at saving what may be considered as the Web's teenage years from vanishing without a trace at the end of this year. That's when Adobe and web browsers will be fully removing Flash support from the Web.

What makes Flashpoint slightly different from other attempts like the Internet Archive's is that it's actually more Steam-like in how it works. You download a launcher that gives you access to these games, either all of them or as you play. Almost like a modern gaming platform.

At the moment, 36,000 Flash games and videos have been included in the catalog, some of them probably copyrighted. BlueMaxima, the folks behind Flashpoint, do state that games might be removed if their owners request it. Hopefully, they won't and consider these artifacts as their contribution to gaming history and culture.

Since it's something you have to download, Flashpoint launcher doesn't support anything but Windows just yet. There are two download options available, too, with Flashpoint Ultimate downloading everything and requiring 286GB of space on top of the 241GB download. Flashpoint Infinity downloads titles as you play them but not everything is available just yet.