Released in November 1979, Atari‘s Asteroids was an instant hit with gamers.
It featured a vector graphic-based, black and white display, with a player-controlled triangular ship, moving in space and firing at moving rocks.
Tag Archives: early
Star Fire, Arcade
Exidy‘s Star Fire is one of the earliest colour video games ever made. It was first released into arcades in 1979, when most arcade games of the time used black and white displays.
Track & Field, Arcade
Konami‘s 1983 arcade hit Track & Field broke new ground with its button-bashing gameplay.
It also broke a fair few cabinets along the way, with arcade machine operators having to repair the buttons on machines quite often, to keep them operative (and therefore earning money). A broken Track & Field machine was no good to anyone, and people tend to get carried away and hit too hard when playing this game.
Nemesis/Gradius, Arcade
Known as Gradius in Japan – but Nemesis everywhere else – Konami‘s classic 1985 shoot ’em up is one of the earliest progressive weapons blasters, with distinct levels and boss battles.
The game is somewhat reminiscent of the classic side-scrolling Scramble (also by Konami), but in Nemesis you fly a ship called the “Vic Viper”, and which has a variety of different weapons which can be powered-up by collecting capsules left by destroyed enemies.
Lock ‘n’ Chase, Arcade
Yes, Data East‘s classic 1981 arcade game does feature a policeman called “Stiffy”. The other three are called “Scaredy”, “Smarty” and “Silly”. And together the four of them chase you – a thief – whose mission it is to collect the coins in the maze, and any other treasure that appears, before escaping.
Scramble, Arcade
Scramble was the first ever side-scrolling shoot ’em up, coming out in arcades in 1981.
It was certainly one of the earliest colour video games, and was a big hit for developer Konami and distributor Stern Electronics.
Mad Planets, Arcade
Developer Gottlieb released Mad Planets into video game arcades in 1982.
Match Point, ZX Spectrum
Way back to 1984 and tennis on the ZX Spectrum.
Match Point, by Psion, was about as good as computer tennis got in the early Eighties.
Tranz Am, ZX Spectrum
Set in a post-apocalypse USA (in the year 3472, no less), Tranz Am is an overhead racing game where the aim is to collect eight cups (The Great Cups of Ultimate), which have been randomly dispersed around the continent.
Pssst, ZX Spectrum
Featuring a cute robot (called Robbie) whose job it is to keep the insects away from the plants.
The King of Grabs 