Henry Stickmin began as a series of Flash choice games by Puffballs United, first released on Newgrounds in 2008 with Breaking the Bank and followed by episodes about escaping prison, stealing a diamond and infiltrating an airship. The remastered Henry Stickmin Collection arrived on Steam in 2020 and introduced the branching slapstick adventures to a much wider audience. Short combat effects from the games were clipped and shared on soundboards, where the punch became a handy shorthand for stickman fights and cartoon violence in edits.