An elephant never forgets

Armor Games Studios has announced that they are bringing back a collection of John Cooney’s flash games 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 me who only harbor one big blank, Flash was an animation platform that some netizens twisted to create games. It was ahead of its time and put powerful (but flawed) tools in the hands of everyone.

Hold onto. A series of repressed memories return to haunt me…

Newgrounds was the nexus for these experiments and The Elephant Collection compiles a series of high quality 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 gaming industry of the time. This includes mind bending This is the only level and the more on the nose Achievement unlocked.

As Flash is sucked into the Adobe tube and replaced by an unequal assortment of other platforms that don’t share quite the same security issues, many people are left trying to preserve what could be lost. In that regardThe Elephant Collection is an important insight into a part of the past that might otherwise be forgotten.

To be clear, Newgrounds still exists, and these games can still be played using the Newgrounds Player. That would be the site’s own (effective) attempt to preserve its content. However, the collection will improve the quality of these games instead of just presenting them as they are. I only caution against revisiting Newgrounds as the memory of better days will make you reminisce. I’m getting seriously foggy-eyed here.

The Elephant Collection coming to PC sometime in 2023.