Hey Poptropicans, it’s time for another check-in on the post-Flash future.
The Creators’ Blog came out with a (cleverly titled) “State of the Game” address, confirming many of the things we covered in our own similar post last month on “Preserving Poptropica post-Flash”: mainly, that the Creators are working hard to keep Poptropica alive after Flash technology is gone.
Here’s a snippet from the “State of the Game” post (our emphasis added):
As many of our older fans know, there were two different Flash engines that previously ran Poptropica. In technical terms, they are called AS2 and AS3. Some members of the community might know them better as Old School and Sound Updated islands. Our main task right now is converting every AS3 island.
We want to emphasize that the Old School islands are still on the table! But the code that built them is so old that they would need to be remade from the ground up if we were to re-insert them into the live game. We’ve seen this rumor quite a bit, so we’d like to put it to bed: They will definitely not be playable when the JavaScript build launches.
Poptropica Creators’ Blog, “State of the Game: Converting from Flash”
Sound updated islands (SUIs / AS3 islands) include Virus Hunter and every island that has followed its release in 2013. You can still play all of them on the current Poptropica. But the Creators still have work to do to make sure they’re all ready for the next iteration of Poptropica, which is being built on JavaScript.
Old school islands (AS2 islands) are every island that preceded Virus Hunter and that did not get an SUI upgrade in subsequent years. As of July 2019, these 30-some islands—which include classics like Astro-Knights and Skullduggery, as the Creators’ Blog laments—are no longer on the map. (For now, though, you can still play them using idk’s Old Island Directory!)
And now, a moment of silence for the fallen:
Early Poptropica
Shark Tooth
Super Power
Spy
Nabooti
Big Nate
Astro-Knights
Counterfeit
Reality TV
Skullduggery
Steamworks
Great Pumpkin
Cryptids
Wild West
Wimpy Wonderland
Red Dragon
Mystery Train
Game Show
Ghost Story
S.O.S.
Vampire’s Curse
Twisted Thicket
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Wimpy Boardwalk
Lunar Colony
Super Villain
Zomberry
Night Watch
Back Lot
Legendary Swords
🙏
Based on the post, it looks like it’s going to be a while before we see those classic islands officially resurface. However, it’s reassuring to hear that they’re still being considered for a return, some distant day… though not when the JavaScript build comes out.
This bit of news about the old school islands may be a downer, but as the Creators remind us, it’s still pretty incredible that Poptropica gets to remain playable even after Flash is no longer supported, especially in a time when “so many browser games from the 2000’s and 2010’s are disappearing.” So thanks back at you, Poptropica Creators, for doing what you gotta do—even when it may not be as exciting as creating new islands.
Plus, the Creators say they’ll be letting players in on open beta testing for the upcoming JavaScript build, which is coming with special rewards for those who try it out. Now that’s something to look forward to!
Keep on popping, Poptropicans. ✌️
🏝 Poptropica Help Blog 🗺 
I seriously miss those islands, not gonna lie.
Man I really liked zomberry island quests now I gotta wait until it resurface though I’m glad I still have 25 carrot island one ☝️
R.I.P. Everyone’s childhoods
I am super sad about all those classic islands going away D:
Been playing since 2009 so those old islands are special to me,
I really liked Ghost Story and Cryptids.
But the gif at the end made me laugh so that’s nice.
I know right. I’ve been playing this since the beginning and remember when the map was only one page. Its sad to see all those great islands gone.
welp i’m never gonna forget those islands
Legendary Swords…that one hit me hard.
Now we’ll never get the Battle Arena…
#ripchildhood
Wow. I’m speechless. This is so sad. So many awesome and fantastic islands right down the tubes. I haven’t played Poptropica in years but I was pretty sad to hear this. Night Watch Island? Skullduggery? Spy? Mystery Train? Shrink Ray? And so many more? Aw man. It’s awesome that Poptropica is able to keep going though and isn’t shutting down. And we still have some epic islands like Monster Carnival and Virus Hunter.
I cant believe the got rid of skulduggery, astro-knights and counterfeit island. those were and still are my absolute Favourites!
we’ll I wanted some episodic adventures back and remove fairy tale goofball and jade scarab I don’t need them but I want a sixth row of the map to put time tangled mythology and 24 carrot and place pelican rock and timmy failure with home island and turn home island new with A house store amilea next to the house and make the house A 4 floor apartment and make so many different houses for other poptropica families and a family for you and cars a play ground and work for adults and a school for you in case you need to learn how to play some islands and for your younger siblings to but you also meet your friends not in your request but your neighboor That’s how I want home island to be when it’s new so make it new right now and make every singal island and store item free