''The Flash'' is a 1993

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

video game based on ''The Flash'' TV series on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

. It was developed and manufactured by

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

and

Probe Entertainment Acclaim Entertainment was an American video game publisher from Long Island, active from 1987 until filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on September 1, 2004. Through a series of acquisitions between 1990 and 2002, Acclaim built itself a large portfol ...

for the

Master System The is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series of consoles, which was released in Japan in 1985 and ...

Gameplay

The game is played from the typical platform style of the scrolling side on, 2D, 3rd person viewpoint. The player controls Flash though the levels in which they must achieve 2 primary goals. *A) Find the switch which opens the level exit and then: *B) make it to the exit within the time limit. There is also a secondary goal of collecting the gems that were stolen which increases the players score. If the player fails to make it to the exit within the time limit the FED tracks Flash down and kills him upon contact. While the player can run from the FED (giving them a last gasp effort to make it to the end of the level) due to the FED's ability to move over the screen regardless of the physical restraints that the player must encounter (e.g. walls) the player is eventually doomed to losing a life. The FED acts as a more realistic method for imposing a time limit rather than the player just suddenly dying like in many platform games of this era. The levels in the game are given the title "Episode." Each Episode is split into two zones. At the beginning of zone 1, Tina from

S.T.A.R. Labs Scientific and Technological Advanced Research Laboratories (S.T.A.R. Labs) is a fictional scientific research facility and organization appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. It first appeared in ''Superman'' #246 (December 1 ...

will report to Flash on the whereabouts and activities of the Trickster giving the player an intro to the Episode and to help advance the storyline. At the end of the second zone in each Episode, Flash must face Trickster in his Trickstermobile. While the boss in the "boss stage" remains the same throughout the game, the Trickstermobile increases in difficulty with additional weapons and speed as the game progresses.

Unrelated Game Boy version

A different ''Flash'' game was released for

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...

in 1991 by

THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initial ...

. The Game Boy version was also based on ''The Flash'' TV series, and had a password system. Unlike the Master System release, it was released in the United States.

Reception

Critical reception to ''The Flash'' was mixed. Some found the fast pace of the game too difficult to control while others appreciated the depth in graphics, level design, and the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

. However, by 1993, the

Sega Master System The is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series of consoles, which was released in Japan in 1985 and ...

was no longer supported in the Japanese and United States markets. Thus, the game's existence in the world's two biggest video game countries went relatively unnoticed and remains an obscure European release to this day. However, it is highly valued by some retro game collectors for this very reason.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Flash, The Master System games 1991 video games 1993 video games Action video games Game Boy games Video games based on DC Comics Video games scored by Jeroen Tel Video games developed in the United Kingdom Superhero video games Flash (comics) in other media Video games set in the United States