Combat was designed by Atari, Inc. and first released for the Atari 2600 in 1977 and was the pack-in game for the system until 1982 (meaning: you got a Combat cartridge with the console, upon purchase).
It was one of the first home video games I ever played (probably the same for millions of others) and it enthralled me. Yes, Combat is very simple by today’s standards, but in 1977 it was a revelation and was much cloned by other developers.
David Crane‘s Pitfall! is a pioneering old game, from way back in 1982.
You control Pitfall Harry and must find 32 treasures in 20 minutes. You run and jump from screen to screen, swinging on ropes, jumping on crocodile heads, and avoiding quicksand. Not to mention: creatures that will kill you if you touch them.
Still considered to be one of the best Star Wars games of all time, X-Wing is a serious, high-tech, fantasy combat sim – in space obviously – with all the different ships from the famous films in there somewhere, modelled in low-res 3D.
A colourful, isometric arcade game from 1986 – 720 Degrees (aka 720°) is a skateboarding action game where you control a kid on a board, trying to complete tricks and courses in his local neighbourhood, before moving on to compete in a proper skate park.
Ray Tobey‘s exciting first-person air combat game, Sky Fox, was first released on the Apple II in 1984, then converted to other systems by Electronic Arts in 1985.
Adventure – designed and programmed by Warren Robinett and released for the Atari 2600 in 1979 – broke new ground at the time, on a number of different levels.
A 1993 potboiler hit, Dune: The Battle For Arrakis is a real-time strategy game based on the famous Frank Herbert novel, and one of a number of successful games based on that famous book, and developed by Las Vegas-based Westwood Studios.
Continue reading Dune: The Battle For Arrakis, Megadrive/Genesis
The Amiga version of Westwood Studios‘ classic Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game, Dune II, came out in 1993 – not long after the MS-DOS version.
Dragon’s Lair is one of those old arcade games that has developed a legendary status, even though there isn’t actually much of a game there. And what there is is incredibly difficult.
The film may have been poor, but the game itself is fantastic… Star Wars Episode I: Racer on the Nintendo 64 is a super-fast, third-person, fantasy racing game, based on the famous scene in the infamous film, but (thankfully) without the terrible acting from the kid…
The King of Grabs 