Nintendo‘s classic 1981 release, Donkey Kong, was the first appearance of Mario (and his missus, Pauline – whatever happened to her?) and was also the first ever video game to feature jumping. Yes: jumping.
Tag Archives: Retro Gaming History
Smash TV, Arcade
Williams‘ brilliant 1990 arcade hit, Smash TV, is an insane overhead shooter with a wicked sense of humour.
You play a contestant in a futuristic game show – one in which you must kill to survive. And you have to kill a lot of people, robots, monsters, and snakes, to make it to the end.
Joust, Arcade
Williams Electronics‘ 1982 arcade classic Joust sees you atop a flying bird, trying to knock other riders off their flying birds.
Paperboy, Arcade
Atari‘s 1985 arcade hit Paperboy features an isometric road to cycle down and houses to throw newspapers at. It’s an attractive proposition for an arcade game. Especially when the game has real bike handlebars for steering, which the original arcade cabinets did.
Rainbow Islands, Arcade
Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2 is possibly Japanese game developer Taito‘s finest hour. On any system.
Arcade Special, February 2018
After the success of our recent Commodore 64 Celebration, I’ve decided to do another ‘special’ – this time about old, classic arcade games.
This week (from 14th Feb 2018 onward) I will be posting entries about some of my favourite arcade games. The kind of games that were released into video game arcades, in the form of cabinets, and you had to put money into them to play them.
Yes: believe it or not, that’s what people used to do back in the olden days.
Thankfully, though, you can still enjoy many of these games thanks to the wonders of emulation (and official re-releases). So, if you’ve never heard of these games: go and check them out. MAME, or MESS, or CoinOps. They’ll do the trick.
Anyway: enjoy this week’s Arcade Special!
Here’s what was published this week:
Rainbow Islands,
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs,
Space Harrier,
Defender,
Paperboy,
The Outfoxies,
Joust,
Xybots,
Star Wars,
Operation Wolf,
Alien Syndrome,
Smash TV,
Donkey Kong,
Donkey Kong Jr.,
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior,
Atomic Runner Chelnov,
Ghosts ‘N Goblins,
Ghouls ‘N Ghosts,
Commando,
After Burner,
Bionic Commando,
Total Carnage
The King of Grabs
Ballblazer, Commodore 64
Lucasfilm Games released Ballblazer upon unsuspecting audiences back in March 1984 (actually, on Atari 8-bit systems first).
The game is a futuristic one-on-one sports game, with two players battling it out, from inside the confines of a small, floating vehicle, called a Rotofoil.
Half-Life 2, PC
Half-Life 2 was first released by Valve Corporation in 2004. It was such a giant leap forward for games in general – not just first-person shooters – that its reverberations are still being felt today.
Half-Life (one) is a brilliant game, but Half-Life 2 completely blows it out of the water.
Jet Set Willy, ZX Spectrum
Here are all the screens from Matthew Smith‘s original classic ZX Spectrum platform game (and sequel to Manic Miner), Jet Set Willy. All 61 of them. Plus the ending after completing the game.
I, Robot, Arcade
Atari’s 1984 arcade hit I, Robot was the ever first video game to use 3D polygonal graphics in its presentation.
The King of Grabs 