Defender
April 3, 2008
Just a great game - I remember it being in the corner shop back in 83.
I always asked the kids playing to use their ’smart bombs’ which blew up all the aliens.
Frogger!
January 11, 2008
I remember this game from back in the early 80s - I was 7 and mesmorised by Frogger in our local store.
Navigate your way across the lanes to get to the other side without being squashed.
A great game - brings back childhood memories - play it online here
Rick Dangerous for Atari ST
December 16, 2007
Rick Dangerous for the Atari ST was one of the slickest games every written. It proved you could do true hardware scrolling without the hardware. And it still plays as an excellent, if not difficult platform game.
By and large it was a scrolling Indiana-Jones type affair, avoiding the natives in the caverns to get to the treasure. Very cool, graphically excellent for it’s time and extremely smooth to play.
Paperboy : released 1984
October 22, 2007
Paperboy was nothing short of an excellent arcade game - it included brake levels and handlebars with BMX grips fitted.
The graphics look very dated now, but back in 1985 when I first played it, it was excellent. I always remember it being 30p and more expensive than the other games so I didn’t play it that much.
Simplistic but fun, that’s what makes a retro game.
Gauntlet
July 13, 2007
This is my favourite memories of the arcade. 10p a go and you got to interact with other players who played alongside you..up to 4 in fact, a groundbreaking phenomena.
Fight your way through many levels with classic movie-type voice overs from California LA.
A great game and I still play sometimes on MAME with my PC.
Manic Miner
June 27, 2007
I can remember this as THE reason to buy a ZX Spectrum back in 1982/1983.
Manic Miner was THE game to have….I recall getting to level 16 and having to abandon because my dinner was ready!!! No pause button..pah!
9/10 for pure playability.
Can you remember Outrun from SEGA?
June 6, 2007
I can remember this game with it’s hydraulic left/right movement in the arcade.
I didn’t play it much because it cost 30p or 40p if I remember rightly.
Today the graphics look diabolical…but in the arcade you always had an audience if you played it. And the car moved really good hydraulically.
Something that I will remember forever, the Outrun years!
Streetfighter
May 25, 2007
How could I forget, Streetfighter I. In the arcade, it was the most expensive game…at 40p a go. Most other stuff was 20p back in 1988. Large rubber pads were in place of buttons which you had to physically hit. Wether it made a difference the harder you hit, I don’t know but I saw many a player hitting the pad with his sleeve wrapped around his fist for protection. I think someone cut themselves they played it that much!
Streetfighter II was obviously miles ahead of the first version but we’ll talk about that later…
Gryzor…childhood memories
May 15, 2007
I remember playing Gryzor around 1988 in the arcade at home. It was just awesome, very difficult so I didn’t play it too often with my precious pocket money. It was also known as ‘Contra’ in the USA.
Essentially a platform shooting game, it had great physics model for the time and playability is good. You can shoot upwards, downwards etc. which was revolutionary at the time - also you could move into the screen rather than horizontal scrolling only…
In 1991 I attained Contra for my SNES - and played it to death. It’s an excellent game all round.
Currently in 2007 I’m still playing Gryzor on Konami Arcade classics on my Nintendo DS. That just proves what an excellent game it is - and it’s still got a good level of difficulty!
Supersprint
April 5, 2007
Aaah, what a game.
Played it when I was 12 in the arcade. Had it on my Atari ST by the time I was 15.
The game still rocks today and I have it installed on my laptop PC on MAME.
Battle your way through various tracks which get progressively harder as your opposition speeds up.
Next best thing to Scaletrix, just get it installed on your PC (it’s free).
