🕹️21 Games Every 80s Kid Played
In the 1980s, games came from three places: an arcade, a cartridge, or a cassette that took four minutes to load. The list below is the shared memory of that decade rather than a critical ranking.
Most of these are legally playable today through collections and subscriptions, which makes revisiting them much easier than it used to be.
Arcade cabinets everyone fed quarters into
Pac-Man (1980)
- Arcade
- Switch
- PS4
- Xbox
- Mobile
Pattern learning disguised as a maze chase, and the first game with a mass audience beyond teenagers.
Donkey Kong (1981)
- Arcade
- Switch (NSO)
Four screens, one jump button, and the debut of both Mario and narrative in arcade games.
Galaga (1981)
- Arcade
- Switch
- PS4
- Xbox
Let your ship get captured, get it back, and shoot with double firepower. The best risk-reward hook of the era.
Ms. Pac-Man (1982)
- Arcade
- Collections
Four mazes and unpredictable ghosts made it deeper than the original. Widely considered the better game.
Street Fighter (arcade era) (1987)
- Arcade
The pressure-sensitive-pad original that set up everything Street Fighter II would perfect.
Double Dragon (1987)
- Arcade
- NES
- Collections
Two-player brawling that ended in a fight between the two players. The template for the whole beat 'em up genre.
Out Run (1986)
- Arcade
- Collections
Branching routes, a radio you chose your music from, and a hydraulic cabinet if you were lucky. Pure escapism.
NES cartridges in every household
Super Mario Bros. (1985)
- NES
- Switch (NSO)
The pack-in that rebuilt the industry after the 1983 crash. Half an hour long once you know the warp zones.
The Legend of Zelda (1986)
- NES
- Switch (NSO)
A gold cartridge with a save battery and no map markers. It expected you to draw your own maps, and people did.
Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988)
- NES
- Switch (NSO)
Suits, a world map and warp whistles — the peak of NES design and the one everyone rented twice.
Contra (1988)
- NES
- Collections
Two-player run-and-gun and the most memorised cheat code in history. Thirty minutes if you are excellent.
Mega Man 2 (1988)
- NES
- Collections
Boss weapons, stage select and a soundtrack people still cover. The most approachable Mega Man.
Duck Hunt (1984)
- NES
The Zapper game bundled with Super Mario Bros., and the dog everyone wanted to shoot. Needs a CRT to work.
Punch-Out!! (1987)
- NES
- Switch (NSO)
Two-minute bouts built on reading tells. One of the few NES games that is genuinely fair.
Atari and home computer classics
Pitfall! (1982)
- Atari 2600
- Collections
255 screens of jungle on a 4KB cartridge. The first platformer with a real sense of place.
River Raid (1982)
- Atari 2600
- Collections
Fuel management as tension, with a procedurally generated river. Astonishing for the hardware.
Adventure (1980)
- Atari 2600
- Collections
The first action-adventure and the first Easter egg. A dragon that looks like a duck is part of gaming history.
Elite (1984)
- BBC Micro
- PC ports
An entire trading galaxy in 22KB. Everything from Freelancer to Elite Dangerous starts here.
The Oregon Trail (1985)
- Apple II
- Mobile
- PC
The school computer game, and the source of a permanent joke about dysentery. Genuinely a good resource-management sim.
Prince of Persia (1989)
- Apple II
- DOS
- Collections
Rotoscoped animation and a one-hour timer across the whole game. Precise, tense platforming.
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