Games That Defined a Generation
The titles that turned a browser tab into a landmark — and the players who never logged off.
September 2026
Last week, we published an article as part of our 20th anniversary celebration highlighting the two people who started Kongregate, Jim and Emily Greer. While those siblings can be credited with the creation of the site, the truth is that the history of Kongregate has been built up by many brilliant individuals over the past twenty years. Flash games and the portals that supported them, such as Kongregate, were a starting point for many modern game dev success stories. This week, we’re exploring a small selection of some of the most famous examples.
Ninja Kiwi
New Zealand-based studio Ninja Kiwi released their first Bloons game on Kongregate in June of 2007. Later, in August of that same year, they released the first Bloons Tower Defense game with the tower defense mechanics that the series would become known for. Each new installment in the series was more popular than the last, and to date, Bloons TD 5 has been played over 35 million times on Kongregate alone. In 2014, Ninja Kiwi brought the Bloons TD series to Steam. The latest in the series, Bloons TD 6, was released to Steam in 2018, and eight years later, it continues to see over 10,000 players a day.
Jimp & Massive Monster
While you may not immediately recognize the connection between Cult of the Lamb creator Massive Monster, and the Flash gaming era, you’ll surely recognize the distinct art style of studio co-founder James Pearmain, better known as Jimp, if you’ve spent any time on Kongregate. Jimp worked as a freelance artist and often collaborated with well-known Flash developer jmtb02, otherwise known as John Cooney, on projects such as Elephant Quest, Curl Up and Fly, and Sandbox Hero. Most notably, he was the artist who created most of Kongregate’s lovable and collectible Kongpanions.
Edmund McMillen
Super Meat Boy, The Binding of Issac, and most recently Mewgenics, Edmund McMillen has been the creative force behind some of gaming history’s most infamously difficult and truly one-of-a-kind titles. But it all began with the original Meat Boy game, which was published to Kongregate in 2008. Edmund even designed the original Kongregate logo.
Our 20th anniversary celebration continues throughout October. Be on the lookout for more articles from us, and don’t forget to earn the special limited-time anniversary Kongpanion, Kongbot Prime, via the site’s Badge of the Day system while it’s still available!
