The Best Free Online (in-browser or downloadable) Games

Haven't tried any Hard ones yet -- do enemies give out even less money than on intermediate?

I think it's close to the same amount, but the maps don't double back much (if at all), so if you don't get them with your first or second group of towers, you're fucked. It's pretty hard to even get through the first five waves.

http://www.nekogames.jp/mt/2008/01/cursor10.html

just spent an hour playing the enjoyably goofy ROM CHECK FAIL
www.farbs.org

NetHack is still my fave free game.

Tried playing the hell out of a load of abandonware games this weekend, but lots didn't work due to that old fast memory error from days of old or they were just too darn fast (magic carpet woah).

psycho pinball was there but it ran too slow, so i'd gotten the taste for it and immediately had to get hold of genesis emu and rom. Such a great pinball game

and now remember how fucking annoying driving in the first gta game was.

okay in psycho pinball what the heck am i supposed to be doing in the whale mouth game? i can grab crabs, but is there a point?

I've heard of getting a virus from software, but crabs?

i can grab crabs, but is there a point?

My life summed up.

http://www.bobblebrook.com/games/coign-of-vantage

These Kenta Cho games don't seem to have been mentioned...
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~cs8k-cyu/index_e.html

My favorites so far are PARSEC47, rRootage, Titanion, Noiz2sa

oh man rRootage was my life for a while.

Yeah, love those.

150 Best Online Flash Games

OK, this one is a bit different than most:
http://www.foddy.net/Athletics.html

At first it's hilariously bad. Then if you stick with it for a few minutes, you can figure out how to go forward a few meters. One time, everything clicked and I was running like Carl Lewis. Then I was immediately shifted back to running like Corky.

16.4m

Best way to get started that I've figured out:

hold O until both feet are lined up, then hold W get moving forward.

http://playauditorium.com/

cannot get the hang of qwop athletics AT ALL.

wasted an hour on this last night: http://www.homestarrunner.com/dangeresque.html

xpost

yeah, even after spending a loooooooong time with it, I still fall down right at the starting line every so often. This must have been some computer science major's final project.

I would pay for a full length auditorium.

I got stuck on Auditorium pretty early on. :/

i've spent my whole evening on most of this threads offerings :)

Holy shit, check out the awesome creature race from 4:10 on!

"After laughing and teasing her friend Rueben about believing in the Noah's Ark story, then Hannah the librarian has a dream about it. In her dream, her friends are re-shaped into animals and she herself changes into a racehorse and participates in the race "Games of Celebration" after the world flood. Watch how Hannah's friends are reshaped into animals and then have the funniest and most thrilling times of their lives."

www.zoorace.com

I love that video.

could only get 4.5m on that QWOP.

spent waay too much time last night on the sand falling toy YET AGAIN

This probably belongs here (and not in that other thread - oops). My top 10 free games of 2008:

1. Dolphin Olympics 2:
You're a dolphin, you do tricks for points. If you're good enough, you get a Scott Adam's reference. It's cool.

2. Kongai
Kongregate's card game. The game (which isn't bad) isn't actually as cool as the challenges. Every week Konrgegate.org has a few challenges in a random flash game. Accomplish task X and you win a free card for Kongai. It has really exposed me to a slew of amazing free games.

3. Pack Rat
Only facebook game I've ever enjoyed. It's actually less of a game and more of a card collecting thing. Recent changes have made it a little less compelling for me, but I really loved playing it over the summer.

4. Forumwarz
If WoW met Encyclopedia Dramatica?

5. Mirror's Edge 2D
Ok, maybe not that great. But pretty music and a good 2D adaptation.

6. www.eyezmaze.com
Really all his stuff. I'm not even sure it qualifies as games - but more like Japanese pop game art. Faux-simulations and really cool stuff. Best is his Grow series.

7. Violet
Winner of IFComp and also speaks very directly to me (comic book loving protagonist tries to write academia while avoiding distractions). Also, narrator has an amazing voice. Love it.

8. SeppuKuties
Save a bunch of cute animals -- generally by killing them in horrific ways.

9. Pandemic 2
RPG. You are a virus. Earn points by infecting countries. Spend those points on mutations. Kill the entire world.

10. Ayiti: Cost of Life
Take a Haitian family and help them thrive (or, more likely, fail horribly about twenty times before you hit on a winning strategy. Btw: Winning strategy means = you don't die every game). -- This actually came out in 2006, but I didn't play it until 2008. So I'm including it. But just in case it doesn't count, here is my bonus answer (ie, this list goes to 11):

11. ESPN Fantasy Football
Ok, it's not technically an independent game. Nor is it unique to 2008. But I spent SOO much time playing it. It must be included.

I really enjoyed forumwarz, though I haven't gone back since before they released the second chapter. Pandemic is pretty cool. Definitely agreed on the eyezmaze stuff, especially considering it's non-game status, but it's still really cool.

Kongregate is a great site.

Mastermind: World Conqueror was a real stand out for me this year. Evil Genius in half an hour, Tower Defence elements. Very good.

Wow, Mastermind is great!

Loving http://www.foddy.net/Cricket.html by the guy who did QWOP.

Cricket is awesome!

Just played the Dangeresque adventure linked above. Not too much to it but what a beautiful period piece! Spot on across the board, I love the crappy recorded speech, everything.

Doom 1 in flash!

Mario 63

achievement unlocked

that was kinda fun!

did you input the konami code? : D

http://www.kongregate.com/games/EvilDog/z-rox is great

stuck on 31...

seems to be a triangle on an inverted trapezoid. or a house where the walls slope outwards.

i think it might curve in at the bottom.

╱╲
╮╭

I was stuck on 31 for ages - eventually I got a friend to play it and he saw it right away.

"a triangle on an inverted trapezoid" is a 100% accurate description

(drawing it on paper kinda helps, especially on later ones)

gaaaaaaahhh i got it.

9. Pandemic 2
MADAGASCAR.

Last Chance to Nominate: Best Video Games of 2008

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3165201 - 101 Free Games 2008

Aw no Ben There, Dan That! mention.

Enjoyable little browser game...
http://www.foddy.net/Evacuation.html