Battle Angel

Battle Angel was one of those games you'd find buried in the Flash portals of the early 2000s. It fit right in with the era's simple, direct browser games, where you clicked to play and didn't need a manual. The premise was straightforward: you prepared a character for a fight.

You control a winged warrior, customizing her appearance before each mission. The moment-to-moment play involves moving through side-scrolling stages, using a sword to slash at enemies that fly and crawl toward you. Your main objective is to clear each level of these foes. You can jump and use a basic ranged attack, managing your position to avoid getting surrounded. The pacing is quick, and the difficulty comes from the increasing number of adversaries in later stages. It feels like a brisk, uncomplicated skirmish where your attention stays on the immediate action in front of you.