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Retro Games of the Decade: 1980's Edition

1. Nobunaga's Ambition ; (NES) The first game I ever purchased on the NES and it became my most played. Hundreds of hours with friends, I usually chose Miyoshi (the trader was always available to him), what an addictive, sublime game this turned out to be.

2. Gauntlet ; (Arcade) It was all about the multiplayer, and how long I could survive on just a handful of quarters, trying to out do myself each and every time. Awesome sound effects.

3. Wonderboy in Monsterland ; (Arcade) The first Wonderboy game was a lot of fun, but this was the game that I could conquer on a quarter, some of the time. ;) Loved the upgrade system, the proper waggle of the joystick for 60's in coins, the maze-like ending that I knew like the back of my hand. So.much.fun.

4. Super Mario Bros. 2 ; (NES) Holds a lot of special memories to me as I played a lot of co-op with my kid sister back in the day. What a quirky game with quirky enemies and characters. My favorite 80's Mario game.

5. Phantasy Star ; (SMS) This game blew me away when I first rented it on my cousins SMS. I was heavily into DnD back in the 80's so having a visual representation of my imagination displayed onto the screen was a Wow like moment for me. Ended up renting the game for an entire summer, building up my group and getting them hopelessly lost in a difficult dungeon that I (un)luckily stumbled upon.

6. Ivan 'Ironman' Stewart's Super Off Road ; (Arcade) A quarter munching, nitro laded, multiplaying game that I played for years. Loved the upgrade system, and the sometimes unpredictability the game provided in it's track layout and where it splashed $ on the course.

7. Black Tiger ; (Arcade) This game oozed cool. From the art, the soundtrack, the upgrade system, secrets, all tied together with tight gameplay. However, there is a platform jump that is needed to proceed to an end boss of a level that can be a fucking pain in the ass if not timed properly, and if you mess up to often the timer will run out. God that pissed me off lol

8. R-Type ; (Arcade) Wasn't very good at it, but the game always drew me in somehow. The concept of upgrading your ship and the manner it presented itself to you, how you used that concept to progress, was awesome. Loved the art style and presentation.

9. Bubble Bobble ; (Arcade) Cool concept, wicked fun, and lots of replay value with friends. That is all.

10. Outrun ; (Arcade) The first racing game that drew me in. Tremendous sprite work, gorgeous game tied together with groovy tunes. Sega owned me in the 80's.

There are literally dozens, probably 50 games I could have listed that left an impact on me. Honorable mention goes to Van Halen and the many times I heard that band play on my local jukebox lol.
 
1. super mario bros. ; this was my first video game, and it's the one i've returned most to. i loved it for the way it thinks outside the box, and for being endlessly replayable as a platformer. i don't think it'll be too big a shock to anyone should it top the best games of the decade.
2. tetris
3. mega man ii ; i think i first beat this in 2007. man, what a ride. this is something that's clearly a labor of love, and it shows. great level design, good music, and that kickass feeling of growing more powerful.
4. the legend of zelda
6. pitfall
7. adventure ; before zelda, there was adventure. i remember being a kid and chased by dragons when all i wanted to do was find keys and unlocked doors. scared the hell out of me, but i loved it.
8. pac-man
9. frogger
10. donkey kong

totally forgot about this, or else i would have expounded on/thought about my choices more.
 
1. Super Mario Bros. ; Ground-breaking, genre-smashing, life-changing stuff. This game irreversibly left single-screen gameplay behind in favor of endlessly expanding worlds. It showed the world what games could really be and brought the entire market back from the brink. Not to be missed.
2. The Legend of Zelda ; The gold cartridge promised something special, and this game totally delivered. From the opening theme song to the final showdown with Ganon, getting lost on an adventure had never been so fun. Getting hints from friends and magazines to puzzle together Hyrule's secrets was central to gameplay -- you literally had to think outside the package's cardboard box. Who needs helper characters when you can draw your own map?
3. Super Mario Bros. 2 ; Different in a good way that expands gameplay possibilities with selectable characters and their new and varying mechanics. This is also the first game I ever cleared, endlessly running back and forth to avoid Wart's bubbles.
4. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link ; Criminally-underrated swashbuckling adventure.
5. Mega Man 2 ; While it wan't my first Mega Man game (3), it was the first to achieve the balanced mix of running, jumping, and shooting characteristic of the series.
6. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! ; This game was so hard that I didn't manage to KO Mike for nearly 20 years.
7. Excitebike ; Basically impossible to clear, but was a rip-roaring ride anyway.
8. Metroid ; Required a lot of patience refilling energy and finding the right way forward through bombing walls and floors, but the payoff of finishing Mother Brain was well worth it.
9. Ninja Gaiden ; Still unbeaten, but great masochistic fun.
10. Donkey Kong ; Jump, Jumpman!
x. Frogger
x. Outrun
x. Burger Time
x. Castlevania
 
AniHawk said:
1. super mario bros. ; this was my first video game, and it's the one i've returned most to. i loved it for the way it thinks outside the box, and for being endlessly replayable as a platformer. i don't think it'll be too big a shock to anyone should it top the best games of the decade.
2. tetris
3. mega man ii ; i think i first beat this in 2007. man, what a ride. this is something that's clearly a labor of love, and it shows. great level design, good music, and that kickass feeling of growing more powerful.
4. the legend of zelda
6. pitfall
7. adventure ; before zelda, there was adventure. i remember being a kid and chased by dragons when all i wanted to do was find keys and unlocked doors. scared the hell out of me, but i loved it.
8. pac-man
9. frogger
10. donkey kong

totally forgot about this, or else i would have expounded on/thought about my choices more.
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Adventure was 1978.

Updated my picks with descriptions, btw.
 
I can't imagine what it must be like to be a gamer, lived in the 80s, and not have experienced the Commodore 64. Even Jeff Gerstmann called the C64 the best gaming system of all time on the last Bombcast, and that's coming from an American!
 
Mar said:
I can't imagine what it must be like to be a gamer, lived in the 80s, and not have experienced the Commodore 64. Even Jeff Gerstmann called the C64 the best gaming system of all time on the last Bombcast, and that's coming from an American!
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I can imagine it pretty well, given my list. Of course, I didn't play my first video game (SMB) until 1987, so there's that.
 
Will be there a separate thread with the results?
If that's the case remember to post a link in here too. If any of my comments gets re-posted feel free to clean it up a bit of eventual typos or grammatical errors ;)
 
Dash Kappei said:
Will be there a separate thread with the results?
If that's the case remember to post a link in here too. If any of my comments gets re-posted feel free to clean it up a bit of eventual typos or grammatical errors ;)
Click to expand...

It hasn't been decided yet, but judging by the size of the thread, I'd probably just as soon post results in the same one.
 
Ahhh I had this typed out and submitted when I shut my computer but it didn't go through. Oh well I'll post anyway if it's not counted, sorry.

1. Ms. Pac-Man (Arcade)

MsPacManLogo.jpg


I didn't grow up in the 80's, but the one appeal I have of the games designed back then was the endless gameplay, where games didn't really have an ending. Ms. Pac-Man I feel like is the perfect example of this kind of gameplay. The level variety makes going back to the original Pac-Man impossible, and the "fast" hack in the arcades has yet to be brought over to any other version of Ms. Pac-Man port, making the arcade version still the best version of the game.

2. Super Mario Bros. (NES)

super_mario_bros_logo-13068.jpg


There's not much else I can say that hasn't already been said. This still holds as one of most played games on my 3DS, and it never gets old. While the game has an ending/story/level structure, the game was perfect in the ability to pick up and play model. The creativity must have been so mind blowing for consumers back then, and it really did a great job at setting a standard for the series. Still think the Game Boy Color remake was the ultimate version, but the original is still amazing.

3. Marble Madness (Arcade)

Marble_madness_logo.png


I think there's a reason that track ball gaming died off, but if there was any reason at all as to why it was invented Marble Madness would be it. If you haven't played the arcade version than you really haven't experienced the game, as it works so well with its alternative control method. It was pretty ahead of its time in terms of audio/visuals too, and the game holds up both graphically and with that soundtrack. It's a shame you don't see more of these arcades today, but definitely a classic.

4. Tetris (Game Boy)

tetrispic-300x201.png


When I think about today and how people complain about Nintendo's shift to casual gaming, I like to point out that Nintendo has been catering to that crowd since the 80's, and if there's one game that displays that the most it's Tetris for Game Boy. Talk about a system seller. The concept of Tetris wasn't new when it launched but it definitely was in portable form. What's funny about the game too is that there really hasn't been many Tetris versions since that have replicated its "pure" and basic form (Tetris DX and Tetris DS are probably the closest). Amazingly addictive.

5. Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)

SuperMbros2.png


Honestly I didn't really learn to appreciate this game as much until the remake launched on Game Boy Advance. Yes the gameplay was different and radically different than the original but it still had all kinds of creativity in it and opened up a new universe for the characters. I think one of the best features about the game is the sheer number of hidden secrets within the levels that I think a lot of gamers don't really know about. The ability to choose four different characters was also a great way of changing the difficulty of the game. It gets a lot of shit for what it is, but it most certainly does not deserve it. High quality Nintendo title throughout.

6. Rampage (Arcade)

xbla1-20081106-165040.jpg


Growing up I remember the best part of running into a Rampage arcade in the wild was the multiplayer aspect. Console games were always traditionally 2 players, and with two older brothers that typically meant them playing the system while I watched. With Rampage we were all able to play together and it was in the amazingly addictive Rampage setting. Difficult game to master alone, but a great co-op (or three-op) team could make your quarters last. Really set a precedent for what multiplayer games needed to become.

7. Legend of Zelda (NES)

Legend%20of%20Zelda%20logo.jpg


While I certainly think the NES Legend of Zelda titles are some of the worst in the franchise, that's not really saying much considering the quality the series has maintained from the beginning. The original Zelda is what defined an action-adventure game. Today Zelda's love to hold your hand for the first couple hours of gameplay, but the original was completely different from what gamers are accustomed to today. As a gamer you are given no direction and it's one of the first experiences I had where I had absolutely no idea or what to do in the game and the only way to find out was to go explore. And there sure was a hell of a lot to explore.

8. Dig Dug (Arcade)

images


Another highly addictive arcade game. Unlike some of the bigger arcade games though, Dig Dug has sort of died off through the 90's and the 2000's, which is disappointing, but the original title was the best the series had to offer. The art style and design was very colorful and creative compared to some of the other top arcade games at the time. I really wish Namco would give the series a modern day remake like Pac-Man CE and Galaga Dimensions.

9. Paperboy (Arcade)

paperboy-logo.jpg


I miss the days of when almost any game concept became a reality. I could never imagine a game today being based around a Paperboy's daily route, but that was the beauty of the 80's. The obstacles and difficulty would be all over the map on each level and it was hard to predict what was going to pop up in the neighborhood but that's what made you keep playing the game. The variety in ways to get obtain points and maximize your score made Paperboy a bit less predictable then other high score arcade games of the 80's, and was the main reason why I would keep pumping quarters into the machine.

10. Mario Bros. (Arcade)

MarioBrosLogo2.gif


Again, probably didn't learn to appreciate these until the GBA Super Mario Advance series forced them upon me. But awesome game, really difficult, great controls, a very basic but pure platforming at heart. Still can play this game all the time and not get bored.


Again, sorry if not counted, but thought I'd post anyway.
 
1. Sim City (C64)
2. The Legend of Zelda (NES)
3. Stunt Car Racer (Amiga)
4. Prince of Persia (Apple II)
5. Ironman's Super Off Road (Arcade)
6. Bubble Bobble (Arcade)
7. Galaga (Arcade)
8. Space Quest 2: Vohaul's Revenge (PC)
9. Duck Tales (Amiga)
10. Xenon 2 Megablast (Amiga)
 
olimpia84 said:
When will the results be posted? A shame not a whole lot of people payed attention to this thread.
Click to expand...

I imagine it has more to do with people not being born in the 80s than anything else. That and/or they don't want to write a description.
 
Cheesemeister said:
It hasn't been decided yet, but judging by the size of the thread, I'd probably just as soon post results in the same one.
Click to expand...

Well, be sure to have a mod update the thread's title in that case, looking forward to the results and discussion.
Also, I'm angry at anyone who voted for Pac-Man instead of Ms. Pac-Man which is undeniably the better game :P
 
Popstar said:
There is a recent remake. It's on PSP and iOS. Dig Dug Arrangement. Even has boss fights.

As far as the 80s go, I think Mr. Do is a better game. The pinball machine like extra life mechanic adds a bit of strategy that raises it up over Dig Dug.
Click to expand...

Yeah Mr. Do was one of the deepest arcade games around this time, and took Dig Dug to a whole new level. As well as the EXTRA monster, also being able to move the apples so you could set up traps, and the bouncing ball was a nice mechanic as well.

Collecting sets of cherries in a chain for score bonus too, it had loads of things to it. One of my favourite arcade games ever, wish there was a contemporary version of it on something.
 
speedpop said:
I imagine it has more to do with people not being born in the 80s than anything else. That and/or they don't want to write a description.
Click to expand...

Well. I was born in the (late) 80's, but I wasn't playing video games till the 90's started. And though I went back and played older games once I got older, not much that I'd played from that decade really struck me as something I felt I had to vote for. Plus looking at other people's lists, it seems like there's a lot of classics from that decade I've never played, which made me feel like my list would be pretty uneducated. I'll definitely be voting from the 1990 thread forward, so I hope Cheese and timetokill don't assume a lack of interest in these threads in general.
 
speedpop said:
I imagine it has more to do with people not being born in the 80s than anything else. That and/or they don't want to write a description.
Click to expand...

Because of a small description? Nah, it's because the vast majority of Gaming GAF wasn't born/gaming at the time. It'll be a lot different for '90s threads (ie probably comparable to this one but restricted by each year of the decade).
 
Thores said:
Well. I was born in the (late) 80's, but I wasn't playing video games till the 90's started. And though I went back and played older games once I got older, not much that I'd played from that decade really struck me as something I felt I had to vote for. Plus looking at other people's lists, it seems like there's a lot of classics from that decade I've never played, which made me feel like my list would be pretty uneducated. I'll definitely be voting from the 1990 thread forward, so I hope Cheese and timetokill don't assume a lack of interest in these threads in general.
Click to expand...

Bubble Bobble, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Super Mario Bros, Mega-Man 2, Tetris and many more: These are special games that retain the same value today that they had at the time and are better than 95% of the game coming out in modern gaming, like *put your current-gen fav game here* is better than 99% of the games of the '80s. I don't see how you can be a gamer and not feel compelled enough to vote for some of the classics posted here unless you haven't played them at all (which of course would excuse you).
What I mean is that I'm a gamer, it would be unreasonable of me to think fellow gamers playing Shadow of the Colossus, Bayonetta, Mario Galaxy, Journey, Battlefield, MGS, Resident Evil 4, Uncharted or whatever to love 'em all to death, but to not find any of these whorty of being labelled as classics? Not much of a gamer I would think (this is NOT reffered to you, it's just an example). Also the 2D gfx help a lot since that gets you past the "doesn't hold up visually anymore so I can't get into it 'cause of that" that many gamers think of most early 3D games, and if the looks are charming all that is left to find a game compelling are the mechanics, which is exactly where many classics still shine.

Hope you can see where I'm coming from, it's not an attack to you, far from that.
 
Don't worry, the amount of feedback for this thread has been fine. The reason we went with a 80's decade thread in the first place was acknowledging the demographics of the forum. Lots o' Playstation kiddies around here!

We'll definitely get the thread title changed if we end up posting the results in here, otherwise there will be a new thread as usual.

Thanks to everyone for voting! A more diverse list than I was expecting.
 
1. Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap; (Master System) The scope of this game really blew me away in 1989. An epic adventure. Played it on Master System first, then replayed it on GameGear via the Master System cart adapter.
2. Tetris; Of course.
3. Super Mario Bros; A true masterpiece that is every bit as playable today as it was then.
4. H.E.R.O.; (2600)I was going to go with Pitfall!, but this was better.
5. Choplifter; The original Apple II version was so good.
6. Karateka; Much preferred this over Prince of Persia.
7. Moon Patrol; Simple, but great. That music.
8. Zaxxon; Isometric 3D! I said wow.
9. Pac-man; Classic.
10. Donkey Kong; Mario's dark past.
 
Too late? Eh, whatever, I'll make a list anyway. Or at least try to -- a decade's way too hard to actually make a good list, that's a huge amount of ground to cover... I can't cover it all, haven't played most of the pre-NES consoles enough to list enough from those.

1. Super Mario Bros. (NES) - I can think of nothing better to put in #1 than this game.
2. The Legend of Zelda (NES) - the beginning of my favorite console game series
3. Hero Quest: So You Want To Be A Hero (PC) (renamed to Quest for Glory in 1990) - I like the VGA remake even more, but the original is still a great classic. This is the closest thing to an RPG you'll find on my list, too... I never was into '80s dungeon crawlers.
4. Zork I (PC) - I don't usually like text adventures, but Zork is an exception.
5. Gradius (Arcade/NES) - Still one of the best Gradius games.
6. SimCity (PC) - The beginning of one of the PC's best series, and a great game too!
7. Mega Man 2 (NES) - Mega Man 4 is my favorite of the NES games, but that's from the '90s.
8. Blazing Lazers (TurboGrafx-16) - spectacular Compile shmup!
9. TMNT (The Arcade Game) (Arcade) - in the late '80s I'd probably have said that this was my favorite arcade game. The NES version's not as good, though the later ('90s) TMNT III for NES is great.
10. Golden Axe (Arcade/Genesis) - one of my favorite '80s arcade games and still great.


Other good '80s games I want to mention (there are quite a few): Tetris (PC, Game Boy) (#11), R-Type (Arcade/TG16) (this would be #12, the rest of this list is in no order), "Ironman" Ivan Stewart's Super Off-Road (Arcade/NES, one of the '80s best racing games!), Victory Run (TG16), Choplifter (Apple II and Sega Master System versions), The Guardian Legend (NES), Power Strike (SMS (Aleste)), Zaxxon (Arcade), Zaxxon 3-D (SMS), The Ninja (SMS), Ninja Princess/Sega Ninja (Arcade), Space Harrier (Arcade), Hang-On (Arcade, SMS), Bionic Commando (NES), Ys: The Vanished Omens (SMS), Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES), Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES), Pac-Man (Arcade/etc.), Silpheed (PC/Apple IIGS), Megamania (2600/5200), Pole Position (Arcade/etc.), Arkanoid (Arcade, loved this game in the arcades), Super Mario Land (GB), Missile Defense 3-D (SMS), Castle Adventure (PC - a great adventure-action game!), King's Quest (PC), Empire: Wargame of the Century (computers), Outrun (Arcade, SMS vers.), Mega Man (NES), Mr. Do! (Arcade/etc.), River City Ransom (NES), Gauntlet (Arcade and NES vers.), Rolling Thunder (Arcade/NES), SpyHunter (Arcade/NES), After Burner (Arcade), Image Fight (Arcade), Excitebike (NES), Moon Patrol (Arcade/etc.), Arcade Volleyball (PC freeware), Faxanadu (NES), Guerilla War (Arcade/NES), Ikari Warriors (Arcade/NES; NES ver. is a classic, but not as good in retrospect as it seemed when I first played it...), Ninja Gaiden (NES), The Adventures of Lolo (NES), Legendary Axe (TG16), Bubble Bobble (Arcade/NES), Life Force (Arcade/NES), Oregon Trail (Apple II), Donkey Kong Jr. (Arcade/NES - I like this more than the first DK.), Jumpman (computers)...

And more I'm sure.
 
Cheesemeister said:
There were a ton of games on Commodore 64 and such for which it's taking a long time to verify the platforms and years of release. I only have a bit of free time each day. timetokill is helping with that data.
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Awesome! I was afraid I had missed the new thread or whatever.
(Obviously) take as much time as you need, really appreciate you guys' work :)
 
Totally missed this thread, but gonna "vote" now anyway. In my small town, I didn't have access to much: a few arcade games, and my 2600 and NES. So:

1. The Legend of Zelda - still one of my favorite games of all time. I was so invested in this game, I made a huge, hand-drawn map of the entire overworld, using a full sheet of paper for each screen.
2. Super Mario Bros - huge no-brainer
3. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link - Almost as good as the first, with the most awesome combat of the 8-bit era.
4. Tetris - another huge no-brainer
5. Space Invaders - 2600 version released in 1980, when I got it. This was the killer app for my first game system
6. Ms. Pac-Man - Screw Pac-Man, this is the real game for the ages
7. Ghosts 'N Goblins - this game turned me into a criminal when I discovered that 'slugs' from my dad's contruction site would work in the cabinet
8. Castlevania - great beginning to a great series
9. Mr. Do - My father was totally addicted to this arcade game, and frustratingly, better at it than I was
10. Gauntlet - I didn't care for the game until years later, when I could play without dropping quarters into their cheap timer system, but it released 'way back then, so...
 
Cheesemeister said:
Just in case anyone is wondering, SMB3 was only released in Japan in 1988. It didn't make it to the west until 1990, so don't vote for it unless you actually had the Famicom import back in the day, which is very unlikely.

Happy voting!
Click to expand...

Objection! The game was developed in the 80's and so is an 80's game. Just because people had to wait 2 years to play it in the west does not make it a 90's game.

That's like saying if you didn't play any of these games in the 80's your opinion on the best of the 80's does not count.
 
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