Flash evolved from there, gaining support for scripting, video, 3D, and other features, absorbing more and more of Shockwave’s features and leaving it behind. While Shockwave was about heavier multimedia experiences, Flash was all about basic vector graphics and animations-remember Homestar Runner? That was Flash. Habbo started out using Shockwave and later switched from Shockwave to Flash as the web moved on.įlash started as a vector-based animation tool named SmartSketch, which become FutureSplash. Habbo Hotel was an online social community/virtual world aimed at teenagers. The web was full of experiences like this-most of which have now been lost to time. Yes, Nintendo created browser games in partnership with Life Savers candy.

The above YouTube video shows an officially licensed Donkey Kong Country game released in 2003. For example, was owned by Nabisco, the company behind Life Savers, and featured a variety of browser games that used Shockwave.

Macromedia introduced features targeted at the video game industry in 2001, and there’s a good chance you played a Shockwave game in your browser in the years after that. The Shockwave Player plugin was released in 1995 to bring those features to the burgeoning web. CD-ROMs featuring point-and-click adventures and educational experiences created with Shockwave were popular in the early 90s and were created by Macromedia Director. Shockwave’s pedigree goes back further, all the way to VideoWorks for the original Apple Macintosh. But the two products have different histories. Shockwave has become largely irrelevant as Flash gained more and more of its abilities over the years. Shockwave content is played by the “Shockwave Player” plugin, while Flash content is played by the “Flash Player” plugin. Each is a multimedia software platform with a web browser plugin. Adobe Flashīoth Shockwave and Flash were developed by Macromedia, a company Adobe acquired back in 2005. Adobe plans to discontinue Flash by the end of 2020.

Adobe shockwave not working