Occasionally I check my Requests page which displays what keywords people where searching for when they came to my pages. It turns out that unknowingly Quasimondo has become #1 result for matrix effect swf. I don't know how that evolved, but on the other hand I don't want to disappoint those who came here in search of enlightenment. So as it's a slow day anyway I did a little research what free tutorials and .fla files there are that give you the needed effect. It looks like lots of them are pretty old and from the first Matrix Movie, but I think the 3D stuff which was applied to the type cascades in Reloaded are too overwhelming for Flash anyway.

In order to compare the results with the original effect you could have a look at the Matrix Website. Or check out this poster that features the type effect very prominent. You can also see that it's made out of reversed numbers and japanese katakana chars. You can see that the lines get brighter and hav more glow towards the bottom. The original effect was created by Animal Logic and they explain some details about it one their site. I've also found a very detailed tutorial on how to build the effect in Adobe AfterEffects - perhaps that helps you if you want to bulild it yourself.

So here's what you can expect:

• SitePoint offers a tutorial, but I would see that only as a starting point, as the effect is not 100% convincing. I don't remember 0s and 1s in the movie. Rating: 4/10

• Frank Baumgartner has a ZIP file containing a Flash 5 .fla for download. He also just does zeros and ones instead of reversed Katakana, but the lighting and motion are going in the right direction. Bonus points for the slight glow. The amount of cascades is a bit thin, but I think that's a decision for performance. The colors are too blue for my taste. Rating: 6/10

• On Kirupa you'll find a .fla by Ilyas Usal. No Katakana but random letters. The layering and fading are going in the right direction - no glow here which could improve the appearance. The colorscheme seems quite right. Rating: 6/10

• FlashAdvisor - BTW a site I've never hear of before - has a download by Martin Selva. Again it's just 0s and 1s, no fading, no glow and the dribbling it's too fast in my eyes. Rating: 3/10

• Of course FlashKit has a whole bunch of "Matrix" movies ready for download:
  
  
  
  • David Sandell's is okay, but I miss the layering and the gradients are not the real thing, but hey, it's Flash 4. Rating: 5/10
    
  • Den Ivanov disappoints me here. That's not really Matrix, that's more a slotmachine. Rating: 2/10
    
  • Damaso Navarro - well, only numbers, and if you remove their logo, the amount of streams is a bit low. Rating: 5/10
    
  • In Jiminy Boy's version you see what happens if you use a lot of streams simultaneosly: it gets slow. That first lit letter is fine, but I miss the fading here. Rating 6/10
    
  • Gregory Hoddy claims he's got the real Matrix screen, but I say: spacing's too wide, there's no fading and it's getting too slow. Rating 4/10
    
  • Jorge Ledezma - I like the different speeds, but I do not like the grid-like positioning of the letters. Rating: 5/10
    
  • ~Steve-o - no,no,no. That's not it. Rating: 2/10
    
  • Brian Nail does it the grid way so there's no layering. The glow on the first letter is a bit too much, but I think this one could be worked on. Rating 6/10
    
  • Matthias Kannengiesser's version almost brings my computer to a halt. We get just 1s and 0s and no glow. Rating 5/10
    
  • The Tanjian calls hist creation "Binary Waterfall" which is a nice title. Unfortunately the programming is not. Rating 3/10
    
  • Devon Lawler makes a quite good impresssion. Speed seems okay, there is layering and the lettering and coloring are also closer to the original than others. Rating 8/10
    
  • But also Scott Rauscher does a good job. Rating 8/10
    
  • Now is that Katakana I see here? Etienne Semon seems to be the only one who
    s got that detail correct. And the gradient is also well chosen. No bad I say. Rating 8/10
    
  • The loop is too obvious on Mario Mata's version. Rating 4/10
    

Did I miss your version? Well, just add it to the comments.