A Simple Guide to Downloading Flash Games in 2024
Yes, you heard me right. It's actually possible to still download and play flash games in 2024. I already downloaded four myself and I plan to grab more once I find old games i used to play years ago (or discover new ones). Lots of flash games are perserved to this day by archives like Flashpoint or emulators like Ruffle. This will make our job easier but, as you will soon find out, it's not even necessary in all cases. Anyway, let's get to the tutorial.
1. Downloading the .swf file.
Go to the website hosting the game you want. There's two ways of snatching the .swf file.
Method #1: Right click on the game and select "copy debug info". Paste it somewhere, for example in the notepad. Find a url ending with .swf and copypaste it into your browser to download the file.
Method #2: In some cases you won't get the "copy debug info" option. Sometimes the game might even no longer be playable on the site, like in the example below. Don't worry about that as this method should work regardless.
Press ctrl+u. In the new tab that opens now press ctrl+f and search for ".swf". You might have to try out a few links before you get to the right one so keep that in mind.
Last resort method #3: In some cases the .swf url might be broken. You might have to resort to searching for "[game title] swf download" or something in a similar vein.
To stay extra safe, upload the file to virus total before doing anything else with it. It scans it through a fuckton of different antiviruses - your own antivirus might either miss something or, especially if it's windows defender, flag a safe file as malicious. One or two antiviruses flagging it is usually a false positive so as long as most of them say it's safe you will be alright. Probably.
2. Converting to .exe.
So now you have your .swf but you have no idea what the fuck to do with it cause you can't even open it... You'll have to convert it to a .exe file using a converter site, for example this one. It will save as a .zip folder but that's alright, just extract it and the .exe file of your game should be inside!
3. Making windows defender shut up.
This step is mostly just for unfortunate windows 10/11 users (I'm suspecting this happens on windows 8 too but let's be honest, who the fuck uses windows 8?), since windows defender decides to treat you like a toddler and marks the file as unsafe just cause the publisher is unknown. Great job, microsoft.
If you get this popup all you need to do is click on "More info" and then on "Run anyway". After that the file won't get flagged anymore.
4. If your device doesn't have flash, download it.
You might be surprised to find your computer already having preinstalled flash. I sure was when I saw adobe flash 11 on this windows 10 laptop. However, if there's no flash on your computer you're gonna have to go download it yourself. Adobe built a kill switch into flash from version 32.0.0.38 and forward so get version 32.0.0.371 or older.
Now get the hell out of here and enjoy your games, dipshits.
Posted on 17/10/24 at 18:39
