The Elephant Collection compiles some legendary Flash games

An elephant never forgets

Armor Games Studios has announced that they’re bringing a collection of John Cooney’s Flash games back in The Elephant Collection.

Do you remember Flash games? I don’t, but a lifetime of self-inflicted concussions will do that to you. For those like myself who only house a big blank space, Flash was an animation platform that some internet denizens would twist to make games. It was ahead of its time, putting powerful (but flawed) tools in the hands of everyone.

Hold on. A number of repressed memories are returning to haunt me….

Newgrounds was the nexus for these experiments, and The Elephant Collection compiles a number of high-profile games from those days. Each of these games stars a blue elephant, and many of them are a subtle (or not-so-subtle) commentary on the games industry at the time. These include the mind-bending This is the Only Level and the more on-the-nose Achievement Unlocked.

With Flash getting sucked down the Adobe tube and replaced with a disparate selection of other platforms that don’t have quite the same security issues, a lot of people have been left trying to preserve what is at risk of being lost. In that regard, The Elephant Collection is an important glimpse of a part of the past that could otherwise be forgotten.

To be clear, Newgrounds does still exist, and these games can still be run using the Newgrounds Player. That would be the site’s own (effective) attempt at preserving its content. The collection, however, will upgrade the quality of these games, rather than just present them as-is. I’d just warn caution in re-visiting Newgrounds, as its reminder of better days may suck you down memory lane. I’m seriously getting kind of misty-eyed here.

The Elephant Collection is coming to PC sometime in 2023.