LoC 50 - Top Video Games of the '80s (And before!) - Today's High Scores

[Asbestos Bill]

18   Smash TV (Arcade)

There was an arcade version I could have put on there?? Dammit!


I played Ultima V, but I got stuck in the underworld. That blue door is so tempting... And I've read great things about Ultima IV, but unfortunately they applied only to the PC version, so I couldn't play it on an NES emulator.


And this may have been post-80s, but did anybody have an Amiga and happen to play Extreme Violence? That was an awesome game.

[MontyServo]

1 - Space Invaders - Atari 2600
2 - Galaga - Arcade
3 - Super Mario Brothers - NES
4 - Pitfall - Atari 2600
5 - Pong
6 - Adventure - Atari 2600
7 - Star Wars - Arcade
8 - Tron - Arcade
9 - Dragon's Lair - Arcade
10 - Breakout - Atari 2600
11 - 1942 - Arcade
12 - Arkanoid - Arcade
13 - Battlezone - Arcade
14 - Defender - Arcade
15 - Return Of The Jedi - Arcade
16 - Major Havoc - Arcade
17 - Bubble Bobble - Arcade
18 - Choplifter - C64
19 - Duck Hunt - NES
20 - Pole Position - Arcade
21 - Zork - C64
22 - Shinobi - Arcade
23 - Time Pilot - Arcade
24 - Bubbles - Arcade
25 - Burgertime - Arcade

Adventure FTW!

[Russell]

I heard Crazy Balloon was pretty awesome too.

[Doctor Who?]

Pretty good list.

Here is what I voted for.

1)Tetris
2)Super Mario Brothers(NES)
3)Super Mario Bros. 3
4)Star Trek the Motion Picture The Game(Vectrex)
5)Galaga
6)Ms.Pac Man
7)Scramble(arcade)
8)Duck Hunt(NES)
9)Pong
10)Pole Pesition 2
11)Robotron 2084
12)Asteroids
13)Missile command
14)Centapede
15)Super Mario Brothers 2
16)Bomberman
17)Phantasy Star
18)Star Wars(arcade)
19)Donkey Kong
20)MegaMan
21)Froger
22)Combat(atari 2600)
23)Battlezone(arcade)
24)Space Invaders
25)Root Beer Tapper(arcade)

[Rattrap007]

18   Smash TV (Arcade)

There was an arcade version I could have put on there?? Dammit!

Whoops. looks like it may have been 1990 as the release..

[Russell]

4)Star Trek the Motion Picture The Game(Vectrex)

A.... A VECTREX game?! Oh come on, the 80's did so much better. , I saw the AVGN
play that game and it looked terrible, sounded terrible and the game play didn't strike me as the
least bit fun. Give me Tempest anytime.

Gah, I just did another double take... Duck hunt? Really?

[Doctor Who?]

4)Star Trek the Motion Picture The Game(Vectrex)

A.... A VECTREX game?! Oh come on, the 80's did so much better. , I saw the AVGN
play that game and it looked terrible, sounded terrible and the game play didn't strike me as the
least bit fun. Give me Tempest anytime.

Hey that was my first gaming system and it was great.  I could play it while my parents were watching Tv and The Star Trek game was a really good space shooter.  It was closer to wing commander then Tempest.

[Russell]

Hey that was my first gaming system and it was great.  I could play it while my parents were watching Tv and The Star Trek game was a really good space shooter.  It was closer to wing commander then Tempest.

I suppose it might have been wonderful back then, but when i made my list, I could only
conceive of composing it with 20/20 hindsight. What I mean is I couldn't judge games by
how I looked at them when I was a kid, but how I see them all now. I mean if I viewed games
how you do, then I would have loved that portable Galaxian arcade thing I had when I was a kid,
unfortunately it was terrible. There was another mock arcade cabinet miniature I had when I was
a kid called Cosmic Clash, and looking back then, it was pretty awesome and it's still fun to play
to this day, but it's still nothing, absolutely nothing compared to a lot of the NES titles of the 80's in terms
of music, game play, and immersion.

[Doctor Who?]

Hey that was my first gaming system and it was great.  I could play it while my parents were watching Tv and The Star Trek game was a really good space shooter.  It was closer to wing commander then Tempest.

I suppose it might have been wonderful back then, but when i made my list, I could only
conceive of composing it with 20/20 hindsight. What I mean is I couldn't judge games by
how I looked at them when I was a kid, but how I see them all now. I mean if I viewed games
how you do, then I would have loved that portable Galaxian arcade thing I had when I was a kid,
unfortunately it was terrible. There was another mock arcade cabinet miniature I had when I was
a kid called Cosmic Clash, and looking back then, it was pretty awesome and it's still fun to play
to this day, but it's still nothing, absolutely nothing compared to the NES titles of the 80's in terms
of music, game play, and immersion.

Well the fact is the star trek game was very ahead of it's time.  You could fly anywhere,go to warp to reach new areas,and you had to earn points to refuel your ship.  Alot of things that turned up in the game play of 90s flight games were in that game.

[Russell]

Hey that was my first gaming system and it was great.  I could play it while my parents were watching Tv and The Star Trek game was a really good space shooter.  It was closer to wing commander then Tempest.

I suppose it might have been wonderful back then, but when i made my list, I could only
conceive of composing it with 20/20 hindsight. What I mean is I couldn't judge games by
how I looked at them when I was a kid, but how I see them all now. I mean if I viewed games
how you do, then I would have loved that portable Galaxian arcade thing I had when I was a kid,
unfortunately it was terrible. There was another mock arcade cabinet miniature I had when I was
a kid called Cosmic Clash, and looking back then, it was pretty awesome and it's still fun to play
to this day, but it's still nothing, absolutely nothing compared to some of the NES titles of the 80's in terms
of music, game play, and immersion.

Well the fact is the star trek game was very ahead of it's time.  You could fly anywhere,go to warp to reach new areas,and you had to earn points to refuel your ship.  Alot of things that turned up in the game play of 90s flight games were in that game.

I suppose so. Still though, when I think about what makes games like Wing Commander and the
follow up Starlancer so fun, I think about shooting down my wingman without consequences(except
of course in Starlancer you'd instantly face a scolding and a firing squad) and having my butt kissed
for shooting down so many kilrathi while my (dead) wingman scored zero.

[Pak-Man]

It's hard to describe, but there's a charm to the nuts and bolts games that the '80s produced. There weren't any huge video game production companies trying to get everyone to repeat themselves. It was all about cobbling together a game and putting it out there. Long load-times, clunky sprites. They all encouraged creativity. Some weren't up to the challenge, but a lot of great stuff emerged from that situation.

I saw a Vectrex in action for the first time at the Classic Gaming Expo last year. Now I want one bad. :^)

[Russell]

It's hard to describe, but there's a charm to the nuts and bolts games that the '80s produced. There weren't any huge video game production companies trying to get everyone to repeat themselves. It was all about cobbling together a game and putting it out there. Long load-times, clunky sprites. They all encouraged creativity. Some weren't up to the challenge, but a lot of great stuff emerged from that situation.

I saw a Vectrex in action for the first time at the Classic Gaming Expo last year. Now I want one bad. :^)

Yannow Pak... a Neo Geo would be such a better investment a pricey one to be sure, but a good
investment.

[Johnny Unusual]

I'm glad I'm not the only one to put in Hitchhiker's Guide.  Man, the first part of the game is frustrating enough.

[Russell]

I'm glad I'm not the only one to put in Hitchhiker's Guide.  Man, the first part of the game is frustrating enough.

Here's the thing, when I think frustrating, I think that should be a word not at all associated with video games.
That's why I frickin' HATE BATTLETOADS!!!! I mean DAMN! Even the version on the Genesis was a horrible
Bitch Goddess.

[Invader_quirk]

1) Kirby's Adventure [Not from the 80's, so everything below it was bumped up one]
[bold]2) Super Mario Bros 3
3) Mega Man 2
4) Punch-Out!!! (NES)
5) Psychic 5 (Arcade)
6) Super Mario Bros
7) Super Mario Bros 2
8 ) Metroid
9) Star Wars (vector arcade game)[/bold]
10) River City Ransom (NES)
[bold]11) Bad Dudes (NES)
12) The Legend of Zelda [/bold]
13) Qix (Arcade)
[bold]14) Donkey Kong (Arcade)
15) Joust (Arcade)[/bold]
16) Flicky (Arcade)
[bold]17) Duck Hunt
18) Dig Dug[/bold]
19) Mr Do
20) Mr Do's Wild Ride
21) Lode Runner (Arcade)
22) Tennis for Two
[bold]23) Gauntlet (Arcade)[/bold]
24) Donkey Kong Jr. (Arcade)
25) 005