We can’t talk about gaming without mentioning the legendary Atari. It wasn’t the first game system on the market, but it was undoubtedly the first big success and opened up a new market that was only known to a few. Of course, one of the biggest successes was the legendary Pac-Man!
Even though there were some complaints about the bad graphics, the game sold more than 7 million copies and became the company’s biggest hit. The purpose of the game is to move the joystick fast enough in order to eat all the brown dots, before the ghosts get you. If you manage to eat the bigger dots, the ghosts change colors, roles are reversed, and you get to chase the ghosts down and chomp ’em. Here’s a fun fact, did you know the ghosts’ names are Blinky (red), Inky (cyan), Pinky (pink) and Clyde (orange)?
What about Space Invaders? Ever give this one a go?
The game was launched by Taito in 1978, and even though it was available on other video game systems and in arcade versions, it was still a huge success on the Atari. It was one of the first games with two-directional action. The player could determine the direction of the laser cannon and the moment to fire, while the aliens move sideways and down towards you. The idea of shooting aliens with a laser cannon was inspired by Star Wars and H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds.
We can’t talk about the classics without mentioning Nintendo, can we?
Started in 1889 as a playing card company, in the 1970’s it started a video game division which launched the Nintendo Entertainment System (or NES) in 1983. To many people, Nintendo became a synonym for playing video games. The company changed the game market and brought many beloved and known characters to life. Donkey Kong and Mario were in the first arcade game released by the company, so let’s introduce the main characters!
Mario and the Princess from the arcade game Donkey Kong
This is one of the most famous video game series ever. It was supposed to be a game based on Popeye, but ended up with a gorilla playing the bad guy with a sole mission: trying to stop the Jump Man from saving the Princess. Several versions were launched after the game’s huge success, where the stories and character roles changed. Donkey Kong even became a beloved hero with his very own sidekick, Diddy Kong. Graphics improved and in the next console evolution, the Super Nintendo (SNES), images looked like this:
Looks a lot better, right?!
From this first amazing game, a second video game star was born… Mario. Did you know Mario appears in the first Donkey Kong game? Yes! They were never the very best of friends, probably because Donkey Kong kidnapped the Princess Pauline and Mario had to save her. Donkey Kong’s role was later taken over by the monster Bowser, in the Mario game series.
The next-gen consoles of the day immerged in the form of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) with 16-Bit technology. This meant better graphics, more power for bigger games, better colors and new possibilities. With this last step we can say that classic games are here to stay!
Have you played these games? What’s your favorite? ;-)
