The Flash might be the Fastest Man Alive, but he's rarely utilized his incredible speed in the video game medium. He has had appearances in a few different platformers and DC fighting games like Injustice and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, but a solo title of his own is the one thing that consistently outraces him. That briefly changed in the early 1990s, however, though few gamers got to experience the title.
A 1993 Sega Master System game brought The Flash to the world of 8-bit gaming. In doing so, it actually tried to replicate his amazing speed in the best way that the console could, ironically eschewing a rather obvious influence: Sonic the Hedgehog. The result was a game that's now lost to the ages, making Sega's The Flash the holy grail of superhero video games.
Sega's The Flash Somehow Wasn't a Sonic the Hedgehog Ripoff
Though exactly emulating the speedy gameplay of Sega's mascot Sonic would've been obvious, the 1993 game The Flash goes in a bit of a different direction. While still a side-scrolling game with some platforming elements, the gameplay was ultimately much different than Sonic's. It's more of a precise puzzle game of sorts, with The Flash roaming about to find the switch needed to open the exit in a level. From there, players speed him along to get to the exit before the time goes out, keeping the FED from killing the Scarlet Speedster.
Enemies can be defeated using The Flash's speed-based offensive techniques such as his spinning body and cyclone arms, with collectible gems also adding to the player's score. Levels are titled "Episodes," which are split into two zones each. After beating these, players come up against the criminal Trickster in his Trickstermobile. This boss fight is used for each section of the game, though it gets increasingly difficult as players progress. For the longest while, this would be one of the few adaptations of The Flash outside the comics, though it wouldn't get much recognition due to a rather obscure release.
The Death of the Sega Master System Doomed The Flash's First Video Game
The Flash released for the Sega Master System, with the game being based on the short-lived live-action series based on the character. While the show wasn't a huge hit, it was the introduction of the character Barry Allen for most mainstream audiences, especially since the comics themselves had killed him off years before. Unfortunately, the Master System itself was dying, which kept The Flash from becoming a successful release. The console had never been a huge hit in America and largely existed in the shadow of the Nintendo Entertainment System. Thus, the latter-day release of The Flash occurred only in Europe, though an unrelated Game Boy adaptation of the show did make it to America.
Many critics and gamers noted the game's difficulty due to The Flash's blistering speed -- an element that the game captured better than the 8-bit Sonic games. Those titles were closer to Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. in their being more focused on platforming, with the 8-bit technology not being able to handle Sonic's speed in the same way that the 16-bit Sega Genesis could. Despite being arguably limited by the hardware, The Flash actually received good reviews, with many being fans of the music and level design. Sadly, it's never been re-released or ported to other consoles, making it incredibly rare and highly sought after. Perhaps with his modern TV show ending and his long-delayed theatrical film finally releasing, there's a good chance another game based on The Flash could be made that similarly captures his lightning-fast essence.