Critics Club IV: Greatest Game of 1983 - 1985

[Neon Ignition]

Seocn round of the 1980's releases as wel push through the great industry crash in search of Bordersdown's:

Greatest Game of All Time

In this next round of voting and discussion we look at the key releases from:

The Greatest Game of 1983 through 1985

Grouped together thanks to small output the 80's endured as gaming found itself birthed into consumer minds.

Which titles are your fondest remembered, which are the milestones and which is the very best?

[CMcK]

There’s some great games in that list but Tetris is by far the best. It’s appeal was almost universal and was probably what sold the Gameboy to a lot of people. And it has endured with many games and spin offs but retained that solid core gameplay.
And how many other games could you play while waiting for a disk to format:

[QualityChimp]

Oh my! A lot of lovely arcades there! Lots of happy memories of going on holiday to Rhyl as a kid.

Star Wars - that cab! Those Sound samples!
Dragon's Lair - Totally wowed at the "graphics" when I first saw it in The Palace arcade.
Spy Hunter - The art on the full sit-down cab, the music and driving into the lorry for pickups. <3
Punch Out!! - Didn't play it much, but the 2-screen cab was amazing.
Pac-Land - MASSIVE fan! The music and sprites are adorable. Always wanted a Pac-Land plush.
Kung-Fu Master - Spartan X in Japan, which is the Japanese name for Wheels on Meals with Jackie Chan, but this is clearly Bruce Lee in Game of Death, climbing the pagoda. Good tune too.
Marble Madness - Got kicked out of Tandy for playing this.
Tetris - Got a GB in launch year for Christmas. Played until I saw bricks falling when I closed my eyes at bedtime.
Yie Ar Kung Fu - TOUGH, but brilliant. Love the idea of confronting different weapon masters.
Paperboy - That cab with the handlebars was genius.
Gradius - Brilliant origin title.
Hang-On - How many kids got on the bike and leaned over, unable to push back up with their small legs?!
Ghosts n Goblins - Love this. Cute sprites hide the horrors within both enemies and difficulty!
Space Harrier - "WELCOME TO THE FANTASY ZONE! GET READY!" memorably screamed the game-changing hydraulic cab.
Gauntlet - Co-op joy.
Super Mario Bros. - The platformer that started it all.

[Hirst]

On a technical level, it's definitely Hang-On with the super-smooth movement, scaling sprites and superb audio - but it's probably a bit unfair as it's one of the newest games on here. But it plays great as well, so I'm going with that.

[MartyG]

Tetris deserves to walk this if purely on how enduring it is, still able to spark interest today.

[Atticus]

This reminds me of my ice hockey days at the Billingham Forum They had Star Wars, GnG and Spy Hunter in the foyer and Marble Madness and SMB in the rink cafe. Loved the arcade games of this era.

[Digfox]

Tetris deserves to walk this if purely on how enduring it is, still able to spark interest today.

The 1989 version, maybe. But of the games it's Super Mario Bros. - obviously!



Actually there were a couple of games I love in that list, but I think Nintendo seminal platformer takes it.

[Anpanman]

I voted Impossible Mission and PaperBoy, PaperBoy was great in the arcade with the handlebars but didn't translate all that well to the C64.

Impossible Mission was one of my favourite games, the sprite animation for the main character seemed photo realistic at the time and along with the overall presentation of the game (including the sampled speech) it looked leagues ahead of everything else.

The Epyx games came in a cardboard box rather than a cassette case which also made them stand out from all the others.

[cutmymilk]

Why oh why has all this been replaced with ticket machines? And when they have a few token machines, they are 2 quid a go!

[Neon Ignition]

It's always a painful experience entering any arcade these days, the tiny corner back end of Namco with Mario Kart Arcade GPDX is all that keeps me going and that's assuming the virus hasn't closed that down for good now.

[DeathAdder]

Best game is probably Tetris, although Super Mario Bros is maybe the most influential.

That said, I love Kung Fu Master, and enjoy a quick play on that more than any other game on the list.

Love Hang On and Gradius too.

[Finsbury Girl]

For arcade hands down for me 2 laser disc games:

Dragon's Lair
Badlands

Mainly due to the fact I could beat them and would normally get a massive crowd in the arcade.

Badlands was particularly brutal there was only 1 other dude who could beat it in my local arcade. I once made it through the scenarios 3 times. /end flex

On PC Ultima 4 was one of the first PC RPGs I ever played and I absolutely loved it. When I became the avatar of virtue after about 3 or 4 months of playing it was bloody awesome. Hooked me on RPGs that's for sure. Thank you Lord British!

[Atticus]

Star Wars repro avail later this year

https://www.smythstoys.com/uk/en-gb/video-games-and-tablets/retro-gaming/arcade1up-limited-edition-star-wars-seated-cabinet/p/191617