Favourite 80s Home Computer Games?

[paranoid marvin]

In the 1980s, you were lucky to find games that had an ending. Many just looped backed round to the beginning or had a simple 'you completed your mission, well done' message. Others that should have had endings didn't due to time constraints, and so they just became progressively harder to the point of making them impossible to get any further.

The most important thing back in the day was to make the game relatively easy to understand and to get into. If you were lucky, you might get to play the game in a computer shop before you bought it, and so the first couple of levels were the most important. Also absolutely vital back then was to get a good review in a computer mag such as Crash! , Zzap! YS or C+VG. With sometimes dozens (and in the case of multi-format mags several versions of the same game) review time would be limited.

Tbh I do think that generally most games gave the player enough play for their cash, even if they were unfairly balanced or cheated. When you had waited 5 minutes (or in the case of the Atari up to 30 minutes!) for your game to load, you were going to persevere and make the best of it - especially when pocket money constraints meant that it could be another 2-4 weeks before you could afford another.

But I think that the ultimate design in gaming came with the 16 bit SNES machine and the wonderful programmers at Nintendo. Games were so well designed and balanced that as the player was gradually opened up to new levels weapons/abilities/areas etc. their skills meant that they were equipped for the newer challenges. And before you knew it , you were adept at a game that you had only been a novice at really.

Games like Link to the Past, Super Marioworld, Pilot Wings etc. really were the pinnacle of gaming.

having said that, my favourite era will always be the Speccy and C64 and many of the games already listed on this thread. They may not have been the best for graphics, gameplay and sound, but their limitations stirred the imagination in ways that more modern games could never hope to achieve.

 

[hitmouse]

Ah yes. A game for those lucky buggers who could afford a 16k RAM pack.

 

[Deke]

Biomenace. It was a sidescroller that I played as a young young kid in the early nineties, but I’m fairly certain it was originally made in the 80s. Better storyline than most modern RPGs lol.

 

[AlexH]

In the 1980s, you were lucky to find games that had an ending. Many just looped backed round to the beginning or had a simple 'you completed your mission, well done' message. Others that should have had endings didn't due to time constraints, and so they just became progressively harder to the point of making them impossible to get any further.

The most important thing back in the day was to make the game relatively easy to understand and to get into. If you were lucky, you might get to play the game in a computer shop before you bought it, and so the first couple of levels were the most important. Also absolutely vital back then was to get a good review in a computer mag such as Crash! , Zzap! YS or C+VG. With sometimes dozens (and in the case of multi-format mags several versions of the same game) review time would be limited.

Tbh I do think that generally most games gave the player enough play for their cash, even if they were unfairly balanced or cheated. When you had waited 5 minutes (or in the case of the Atari up to 30 minutes!) for your game to load, you were going to persevere and make the best of it - especially when pocket money constraints meant that it could be another 2-4 weeks before you could afford another.

But I think that the ultimate design in gaming came with the 16 bit SNES machine and the wonderful programmers at Nintendo. Games were so well designed and balanced that as the player was gradually opened up to new levels weapons/abilities/areas etc. their skills meant that they were equipped for the newer challenges. And before you knew it , you were adept at a game that you had only been a novice at really.

Games like Link to the Past, Super Marioworld, Pilot Wings etc. really were the pinnacle of gaming.

having said that, my favourite era will always be the Speccy and C64 and many of the games already listed on this thread. They may not have been the best for graphics, gameplay and sound, but their limitations stirred the imagination in ways that more modern games could never hope to achieve.

I don't remember being disappointed by a simple ending screen or loop to the beginning back then either. It felt like an achievement, whereas these days it'd probably annoy me. I want gratification!

The Super Nintendo era is my favourite and it's largely due to the pickup and play nature PLUS challenge of so many of the games. Easy to pick up but often difficult to master. I think that kind of game has made a comeback, even in some AAA games like Breath of the Wild. I hate the tutorials in modern games that make you feel like you're playing a game, the stop-start nature of many games because of that, or obtuse things you need to know but you're not really told about. I do miss physical game manuals. But how Breath of the Wild eased me into its world felt seamless.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I don't remember being disappointed by a simple ending screen or loop to the beginning back then either. It felt like an achievement, whereas these days it'd probably annoy me. I want gratification!

The Super Nintendo era is my favourite and it's largely due to the pickup and play nature PLUS challenge of so many of the games. Easy to pick up but often difficult to master. I think that kind of game has made a comeback, even in some AAA games like Breath of the Wild. I hate the tutorials in modern games that make you feel like you're playing a game, the stop-start nature of many games because of that, or obtuse things you need to know but you're not really told about. I do miss physical game manuals. But how Breath of the Wild eased me into its world felt seamless.

Yes physical manuals were great, and could be both informative and entertaining. I remember the Microprose guides being as thick as some reference books but with only the interesting things left in.

Paying £30 for a big box game with a decent manual, cover artwork and sometimes even free bonus gifts to get you in the mood for the game are a world away from what we get these days. I suppose it's like the difference between an LP and an MP3.

 

[Rodders]

You still get those things, Marvin. You just have to pay an inflated price for them.

 

[paranoid marvin]

You still get those things, Marvin. You just have to pay an inflated price for them.

Back in the day we were told that the high cost of games was partly down to the cost of cartridges/discs/tapes, cost of packaging , delivery and the cut taken by the retailer.

Strangely now all those things have been taken out of the equation, downloaded games cost just as much, if not more.

 

[Vladd67]

Back in the day we were told that the high cost of games was partly down to the cost of cartridges/discs/tapes, cost of packaging , delivery and the cut taken by the retailer.

Strangely now all those things have been taken out of the equation, downloaded games cost just as much, if not more.

Back in the 90s I remember reading an interview with a game publisher who admitted the only reason they charged so much for games was because they could

 

[paranoid marvin]

Back in the 90s I remember reading an interview with a game publisher who admitted the only reason they charged so much for games was because they could

Which I suppose is the truth of all commerce; goods are worth what people will pay for them. And at least now the vast majority of the money goes to the person who made it, which has allowed the indie scene to really thrive through sites like Steam and GoG. I wonder what cut those hosting sites take from the smaller programmers whose games they sell?

 

[AlexH]

Accounting for inflation, games are much cheaper than they were in the 16-bit era and the biggest titles cost much more money to develop these days.

@paranoid marvin The cut taken by Steam is 30%, which reduces in increments based on game sales e.g. after about £7million, the cut reduces to 25%. 30% sounds a lot but is the industry standard.

 

[Anthony Grate]

There was a game we owned for our IBM PC that had you competing in various events, ranging from cliff diving to caber tossing. For the life of me I can't remember the name of it.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Ah, that would likely be World Games by US Gold/Epyx. My favourite from the series was Winter Games on C64.

 

[Anthony Grate]

Ah, that would likely be World Games by US Gold/Epyx. My favourite from the series was Winter Games on C64.

Yep! That’s it! Thanks for that. I saw some of the events I’d forgotten — weightlifting, bull riding, and a few others.