Fruit Ninja - Tumblr Posts

Halfbrick Lost Media: Fruit Ninja Flash Version

so after i made that post about some lost JavaScript games on HB's old website from 2001, i was thinkin' that i'm gonna make a sorta series of short posts about little bits of lost media i've discovered relating to Halfbrick to just bring a bit of attention to them and also document them here, cause i think they're super interesting!! i'll compile a little checklist here of some topics i might make little posts about and then i'll get onto it:

Fruit Ninja Flash

Fruit Ninja Tencent

Fruit Ninja Kakao

Fruit Ninja Frenzy

Monster Dash for Chrome

Lost Trailers for Old Games + Unconfirmed Jetpack Joyride Android Trailer

alright enough stalling, i'll get to the point now :P

The facts:

This is the icon listed on this page belonging to a game simply known as 'Fruit Ninja Original Flash', which, as you might've guessed, is a flash version of Fruit Ninja which is presumably very old, being created back in 2010 before the mobile version's release. This game was up on Halfbrick's website likely around Fruit Ninja's anniversary, but now leads to a 404 page when the link is clicked. The game has no footage available, nor any blog posts on Halfbrick's website relating to this version of the game I could find.

Trying To Find The Damn Thing:

While messing around with the Wayback Machine, I snagged an archive of the wiki page this game's listed on and clicked the link provided on that page, which lead me to this:

(apologies about the dodgy screenshot, i was on mobile at the time of taking it)

Not a good sign. This archive is from 2021, which is a little after Flash was discontinued at the end of 2020, which is... also not a good sign... Yikes :(

I didn't give up though, and I thought of taking a look into the website using Inspect Element and manually finding the .swf file just in case it wasn't loading correctly.

There definitely is something here, and this also confirms the game was made in 2010 by the filename there. It just doesn't load correctly on my browser, probably because Flash is blocked in some way (I use Brave). If only I could actually, y'know, download it....

Luckily though, I do have an extension called Ruffle on my Firefox browser. I thought I could at least try running it before downloading it, so I opened the page and clicked the big orange play button on the Flash embed, but...

... That's not good. That's not good at all. On Brave I tried having a look in the Network tab to find if any .swf files were being loaded in, but the only thing I found was an index and a JavaScript file. I went and tried to nab it from Firefox but I got a 404 when trying to load the .swf object directly. Seems like it's trying to access a file that doesn't exist anymore on the server because it wasn't archived and thus can't run 'cause of that. I also tried using Flashpoint's search too and the program, but they only turned up some HTML5 versions of the game and VR and whatnot. I did find the 8-bit version though, so, uh... yay...?

The Verdict:

Yeah, the game's lost. More lost than the 20¢ coins my dad dropped between the couch cushions. Halfbrick themselves might still have the game on them considering it's a super old version of their most popular game, and who knows! It might turn up again someday. But for now, you can't play it, unless someone has saved the .swf to their computer years ago and decides to upload it of course.

I did find something really interesting while trying to get this to work though, and it's this page by one of the devs who made Fruit Ninja named Aaron Green. It contains some pictures and information about developing the prototype of Fruit Ninja, including the low poly watermelon model seen in the Flash game's icon, meaning that this prototype is the Flash game I'm looking for, which is pretty cool! Interestingly the image with all the fruits and their gibs show a tomato model instead of the kiwi fruit one, and, well, tomatoes aren't in the final game. Thought that was pretty cool :D

I wouldn't recommend contacting Green about this, as this game was made years ago and I don't want anyone getting bothered and I don't even know if he's still at Halfbrick. It sucks that this game is lost but y'know....

thank you for reading all this way :) i hope this game will get found one day, i really wanna play it because it's a cute old flash game and i'm such a sucker for old flash stuff from decades ago :P

thinking about concept art for some unused Fruit Ninja characters that never made a single appearance in any official media and never got a chance to shine.....

oh Katini and Munch... maybe one day you will make your mark on the world......

(art by Shaun Campbell on his Behance page)

i was just looking through Fruit Ninja Frenzy's Facebook page (cause y'know, that game is lost media and it intrigued me), and i ended up finding this neat piece of Eggnog Day promo art featuring Sensei and Barry. i didn't even know that was a day that existed... also why's Barry just playing VR outside in the snow? you gotta connect your Oculus to Steam to play Fruit Ninja VR, right? somethin' isn't adding up here...

this is an archived anniversary page for Fruit Ninja from 2020, where it has a timeline of development, including a bit about the Flash prototype with a link.

unfortunately, as i said in an earlier post from this year, the game does not work anymore as it wasn't archived properly. i miss him every day.

i should not be giggling and smiling at this as much as i am

fruity old dude. gold.

i was archiving a bunch of stuff on ebay and found this Fruit Ninja handheld that's very Tiger Electronics-like and i thought it was interesting because i've never seen it before, so here's some images from the original listing (archive) (screenshot)

i might start a reblog thread with a bunch of obscure-ish Halfbrick products i find on ebay because the documentation of these old products is important to me and they're just really interesting.

old "Trust Me I'm A Ninja" shirt from 2011 (OG listing) (archive) (screenshot). this shirt is no longer for sale.

i was archiving a bunch of stuff on ebay and found this Fruit Ninja handheld that's very Tiger Electronics-like and i thought it was interesting because i've never seen it before, so here's some images from the original listing (archive) (screenshot)

i might start a reblog thread with a bunch of obscure-ish Halfbrick products i find on ebay because the documentation of these old products is important to me and they're just really interesting.

here are images from a listing of the Apptivity Sensei figurine from 2012, produced by Mattel. according to the back of the box found on this listing, this figure would interact with the HD version of the Fruit Ninja app, which, i believe, were exclusive to iPads at the time. there are also other figures that were made for iconic mobile games, such as Angry Birds and Cut The Rope.

(1st listing archive) (2nd listing archive) (2nd listing screenshot)

additionally, there is also a variant of this figure i found on a Verge article (archive) that shows Sensei with an angrier expression, and i believe that this variant is a prototype using an early design because of the different platform, the much shinier finish compared to the final product, the different (and sloppier) paint job, and the fact that i can only find this variant in the form of photos on display, which are always prototypes before the actual toy goes into production. there is also no indication that this is a separately sold variant of the smiling Sensei figure. this is definitely an early concept.

the interesting thing about prototypes is that they can eventually turn up in thrift stores if they are not thrown away or destroyed, so i wonder, where could this figure be now? i hope it still exists, it's a very interesting piece of Fruit Ninja history.

this is also similar to the Fruit Ninja FX figurines which would be sold later, which had a similar element of interactivity to them. the available characters were Sensei, Katsuro and Truffles. i found a listing for the Sensei figure on ebay as well (archive).

(they're kinda similar to Skylanders figures, aren't they?)

finally, i found a musky old photo of a couple of fruit figures from a Spanish website, but unfortunately the listing had already disappeared and wasn't archived. i'll talk more about these if i find another listing for them.

P.S. i realised i forgot to paste the link for the shirt archive in the last reblog lol. here it is.

i was archiving a bunch of stuff on ebay and found this Fruit Ninja handheld that's very Tiger Electronics-like and i thought it was interesting because i've never seen it before, so here's some images from the original listing (archive) (screenshot)

i might start a reblog thread with a bunch of obscure-ish Halfbrick products i find on ebay because the documentation of these old products is important to me and they're just really interesting.

continuing this thread on with some neat Halfbrick plushies i found listings for on ebay! let's start off with Fruit Ninja first, since that one has the most plushies made for it.

first off is this jumbo Strawberry plush i found on this listing (archive) (screenshot). unlike the older plushies that were made by Nanco in 2011, this one was made by Toyfoundry and was from 2012, according to the listing title. it has a considerably better quality than the older ones, and the Fruit Ninja logo on its headband appears to be printed on rather than embroidered like the old ones. it has the app icon on its side.

this listing has some photos of the original tag which i think are interesting. apparently there was a QR code you could scan. obviously this one had apparently already been scanned, so i'm not entirely sure what it's supposed to do. i think it's supposed to open the Fruit Ninja app and redeem something.

here are the cotton tags saying this plush was made by Toyfoundry.

these are photos from a listing of a 2011 Orange and Watermelon plush duo (archive). they appear to be made out of lesser materials, lack a strongly defined shape, they headbands look very shaggy and they all have different expressions in their eyes, which i think is very charming. the Fruit Ninja logo is embroidered on their headbands and they lack the app icon that the jumbo Strawberry has.

here are their tags.

i also have photos from a listing of the 2011 Watermelon by itself, though they are quite blurry. (archive)

next up is this Banana plush, whose listing has photos of the cardboard tag up close. i like how the tag includes a little fruit fact about bananas :) (archive)

there's this green Apple plush made by Jazwares that makes sounds. it has an open mouth, Kanji characters on the back of its headband and makes the sounds of fruit getting sliced from the game. the logo on the front is also different, oddly enough. (archive) (screenshot)

there's also a Strawberry one (archive) (screenshot).

(check notes for next reblog, ran out of images lol)

i was archiving a bunch of stuff on ebay and found this Fruit Ninja handheld that's very Tiger Electronics-like and i thought it was interesting because i've never seen it before, so here's some images from the original listing (archive) (screenshot)

i might start a reblog thread with a bunch of obscure-ish Halfbrick products i find on ebay because the documentation of these old products is important to me and they're just really interesting.

ok continuing on from the last reblog: i realised i forgot to show one of the Nanco plushies, and it's this red Apple one. nothin' special about it from the rest of the Nanco plushies, i just want to put it here to finish off my disorganised list of Fruit Ninja plushies.

there's a few more Jazwares Fruit Ninja plushies i want to show. first off, there's this Pineapple plush from this listing (archive) (screenshot).

jumpscare

i believe this is the last plush that makes sound, and it's this little bomb one. the listing says this specific plush doesn't work, unfortunately. (archive) (screenshot)

the next plushies are these little clip-on plushies Jazwares made that i can't really find many listings for. these two images are from an old Amazon listing and a Walmart listing that are both no longer available for purchase anymore.

(Amazon archive) (Walmart archive)

there is also a bomb one (archive) (screenshot).

finally (and i think this is the last Jazwares one), there's this Watermelon plush that has lights, sounds, presumably comes apart and comes with a plastic blade to smack the shit out of it with. very cool. (archive)

also, not sure where to put this one, but while looking for Jazwares plushies, i found this Worthpoint listing with some grainy photos of a Play By Play Watermelon plush, and it's very....... odd looking.

(archive)

if i made a tierlist on the best and worst Fruit Ninja plushies, the Play By Play ones would be in F tier. they look so janky and weird and funny and i kind of love them.

(to be continued in the next reblog)

i was archiving a bunch of stuff on ebay and found this Fruit Ninja handheld that's very Tiger Electronics-like and i thought it was interesting because i've never seen it before, so here's some images from the original listing (archive) (screenshot)

i might start a reblog thread with a bunch of obscure-ish Halfbrick products i find on ebay because the documentation of these old products is important to me and they're just really interesting.

ATTENTION HALFBRICK FANS!!!

the long-cancelled GBA prototype game developed by Halfbrick in 2003 called "Fuzz & Rocket" was released and put onto the Internet Archive recently!!!

Internet Archive

Fuzz Rocket (Jan 18, 2005) (Unreleased, GBA) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

A prototype of the unreleased Fuzz & Rocket for the GameBoy Advance developed by Halfbrick Studios, dated January 18, 2005. This prototy

(and here's the tweet that brought this to my attention!!)

according to this archive, it's a build from January of 2005, a few months before its very last appearance at E3 2005. the amount of cool lost media that's getting found recently is insane and Fuzz & Rocket getting found certainly wasn't on my bingo card for 2024! very cool!!

update to the lost Flash prototype version of Fruit Ninja

so a long time ago, i made a post talking about this version of Fruit Ninja i discovered and later found out to be lost media. it's the original prototype version of the game, and it was available to play on the old Fruit Ninja Anniversary website from 2017 onward. Luke Muscat talked about it in his video 'How I Designed Fruit Ninja', and he shows footage of it at 4:41 seconds. in the original post i made about the site, i found an archive from 2021, tried to fetch the file from the site, got hit with a CORS policy error and found out that the place the network was trying to fetch the file from was turning up with a 404. yesterday and today, i've been trying to work around the CORS policy error by disabling web security on my browser, but i've turned up with absolutely no luck.

for those unaware, a CORS policy (or Cross Origin Resource Sharing policy) is basically a something that allows or disallows a browser to access an asset from a domain that differs from the original domain. there's a website on Mozilla that explains this better than i could, but the way i understand it is that if your browser tries to make a request to fetch something that's hosted on a website but originates from another domain (say, a file sharing website), its regulated by the CORS policy to make sure the site you're fetching this information from is secure. if it's allowed, the content loads normally. if it isn't, the request to fetch that content is ignored (at least i think that's how it works). this, along with the 404, was what was stopping me from being able to fetch the swf from the site.

so, here's the main update: i can't find it. i've tried everything i know how to. disabling web security lead to the discovery that the swf itself was hosted on a separate URL from the main Fruit Ninja Anniversary website that apparently wasn't archived on the IA, and it was also being stopped by the CORS policy. punching that URL into the Wayback Machine turns up with a snapshot from 2022 that's just a 404, and since the Wayback Machine works by fetching every available snapshot of that URL it has in its library to load the content, it's always fetching that specific snapshot, and that's why it can't load the. no matter what archive of the Anniversary page i use, it's gone. it's lost-lost. i've even checked the self-hosted version of the Fruit Ninja Anniversary website on seanockert.com, but it's not there either. the only real options i have are scraping through every single Flash game archive i can find and hoping that someone saved it (which is a very low possibility), or to ask the original developer if they can send a copy my way (and even then, that option is an absolute last resort if nothing else works). i am pretty desperate at this point to find this thing and i'll look through everything i can to try to find it.

also, just to clear some extra stuff up: none of the Fruit Ninja games on Flashpoint are the prototype. none of them were made in Flash and they don't match up with the prototype. it was my first place to look and it unfortunately isn't there. additionally, the name of the swf file hosted on the Fruit Ninja Anniversary site is 'FruitNinjaHBF2010.swf'. searching this on the IA didn't bring up any results, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's not on there in some way. i'm really hoping this'll turn up again and that it's stashed away on the internet somewhere.

update 2: made a twitter thread! i hope this catches some more attention on there, i don't use twitter so this topic will be the only thing i post on that account.

fun fact: i recently discovered that this pin was sold/given out at PAX Prime 2012! Halfbrick has a video up on their channel documenting a bit of their time there, including a shot where this pin appears in a big container, along with some Fruit Ninja pins at 14 seconds!!

this video is generally just really cool because of how much rare merchandise is featured in this video that not a lot of people really talk about.

also, i found an image on Flickr of the other pins from this event. most of them are Raskulls pins, which i find interesting because Raskulls, despite not being as well known as Halfbrick's other games, actually has a fair bit of merchandise for it!! the photo is in low quality unfortunately because it doesn't load correctly on Flickr and no other archives seem to exist. i think this is the only image of all of these pins online, unless there are more that i just haven't found yet.

shoutout to this 2012 Jetpack Joyride promotional button i found on ebay

can't wait to stab randoms on the street with a sick ass Barry pin :3

i think Barry and Sensei should interact more tbh. i love whenever they're shown together in promo art and it seems like they'd have a really funny dynamic just from going off the Multiverse Madness events. like the eggnog day promo art with Barry playing VR and accidentally knocking over Sensei's eggnog tray everywhere is great i'd love to see more of that

wtf is he making for dinner that needs so much citrus

cooking dinner

Slicing fruits...

duality of man