The Flash studios that made the jump to mobile gaming
- From 8 Ball Pool to Bloons, you'd be surprised how many top series started in Flash
- And here're some of the studios and developers that got their start on the platform!
- Find some well-known titans of the industry, and some surprising entrants
Having inspired so many indie developers, Adobe Flash was a multimedia platform with a huge mark left on gaming. But, with Flash having been sunset all the way back in 2020, where does that leave all the developers that worked on these homegrown hits? Well, a surprising number made their way to the world of mobile.
This is part of an ongoing series of articles exploring the intersection of Flash’s history of indie development and the explosive growth of gaming on mobile. So, for more context take a gander at my comparison of two pioneers of the endless runner genre, Canabalt and OvenBreak!
But before that, let’s take a look at some of the big names on mobile you may be surprised to learn got their start in the world of Flash gaming.
Miniclip
Perhaps the most recognisable name on this list thanks to the smash hit 8 Ball Pool, Miniclip wasn’t actually a developer but did run one of the many hosting sites that collated Flash games in a single place. Alongside contemporaries such as Armor Games they made Flash easily accessible.
Miniclip was always my second favourite, if only because they also had high standards for games and (if memory serves) frequently hosted less of the bloodier and more violent fare you’d find on sites like Newgrounds. But it also frequently played host to Nitrome, whose fantastic pixel art games will pop up later in this list!
Nowadays, Miniclip has ownership of such massive names as Sybo (the developer behind Subway Surfers), which arguably makes them a heavyweight in the gaming industry as a whole, let alone just mobile. Not bad for starting off with a single site.
Armor Games
Another hosting site for Flash Games, Armor Games are most famous for publishing the original Kingdom Rush, a series so popular we've ranked every entry. Unfortunately, they haven’t met with quite the same success as Miniclip did, with layoffs affecting it in 2024. They’ve thus far pivoted back to the world of consoles, but I’ll always remember them for being my favourite hosting site.Nitrome
There’s not much to say about Nitrome that isn’t self-evident from their back catalogue. Nitrome produced a whopping number of hits throughout the lifetime of Flash, such as Feed Me, Ice Breaker and the recently revived Twin Shot, which just returned to mobile as Twin Shot Deluxe.
Perhaps Nitrome’s most defining feature was the almost premium quality of their games. They reproduced the then-popular pixel art style with vibrant colours and surprising detail, as well as engaging gameplay. Nitrome are still going with mainly mobile releases, although it’s dipped its toes into consoles such as the Nintendo Switch.
Ninja Kiwi
Yes! Believe it or not, the folks behind smash-hit tower defence Bloons actually started off making it as a Flash title. And believe me when I say a glance at the original Bloons is a look into a very primitive time for gaming. But it’s also a reminder of just how fast so many of these companies can grow and how popular their games can become, such as their most recent entry in Bloons TD 6.Brad Borne
Brad Borne will be most familiar to readers for their re-releases of the Fancy Pants series on mobile. Fancy Pants was a fast-paced platformer that took a lot of inspiration from classics such as Sonic the Hedgehog, but with a hand-drawn aesthetic that really stood out from the crowd.
While he doesn’t seem to have his own dedicated studio, Brad Borne is still in the development scene. Super Fancy Pants Adventure was the most recent mobile release back in 2017, with the Fancy Pants Adventure Classic Pack having only been made available on PC thus far.
Sarah Northway
It’s hard to think of something as quintessentially early 2000s and Flash-centric as zombies. An easy enemy to create and animate that could be as gruesome as an artist could manage, they featured in every kind of shooter, platformer and strategy imaginable. But it was perhaps Sarah Northway’s Rebuild series that was the most ‘zoomed out’ and thoughtful of these zombie titles, focusing instead on the rebuilding of society.While not as massive as Miniclip (but then, what is?) Sarah and her husband, Colin, have continued under the name of Northway Games, with their most recent release being Rebuild 3: Gangs of Deadsville. And while other studios have offered zombie strategy spins, few have matched the same depth and style this series still offers.
Make no mistake, this is only a brief snapshot, and there are plenty of anonymous developers who've gone on to the wider world of mobile game development. But this gives you just a brief idea of what kind of seismic impact Flash and its development environment had on mobile!
Speaking of which, are you curious to find out what other exciting games are making a mark on mobile? Well, check out our list of the best mobile games of 2026 (so far) for some of our favourite picks!
