Think of a time when video games really were popular. The days of retro games and the war between Sega and Nintendo will spring into many people’s minds. In reality, video gaming goes back as far as the 1940s, but the first commercial gaming system for home use didn’t emerge until 1967, and it did so in the form of the “Brown Box,” the prototype of which was designed by Ralph Bauer and his team. It was possible to program the game to play ping pong, checkers, and sports games.
The Brown Box was licensed to Magnavox, which brought out the Magnavox Odyssey and triggered the birth of gaming. Sega would be one of the first companies, however, to truly capture the public’s interest in gaming, whereas it would be Atari that later set the standard for gaming. Gradually, the battle began to intensify between companies, and in the course of gaming history, Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft would all enter the fray. As a result, the gaming community has seen some amazing games, including the ones below, which you may well have forgotten.
John Madden 88
Now, you might be playing “Madden 23,” the latest in the Madden NFL franchise, and using it to help you determine better which Super Bowl odds 2023 are best, but “John Madden 88” is the game that started it all. The game started life on the Apple II console before moving across to Sega and Nintendo and later changed its name to “Madden NFL” following licensing from the NFL to release titles corresponding to the NFL seasons.
The game is the only one available with all the NFL players and its teams. In the original version, released in 1988, you could customize the team, weather, and the rules of the game. The late John Madden, who was behind the game, aimed for as much realism as possible, and the franchise has had a major impact on American football fandom and the NFL.
Street Fighter II
“Street Fighter II” launched itself onto Japanese arcades in 1991 and popularized the fighting game genre, especially the idea of 1-to-1 fighting games, and sparked a war between game makers in this genre. Some consider “Street Fighter II” the greatest game of all time, and it even broke through into popular culture with a movie starring Jean Claude Van Damme. But, unfortunately, the movie isn’t as memorable as the game.
The game had a massive impact not just on game makers but on the gaming community. Queues would form in arcades to play the game. Capcom, the makers, also played a master stroke by releasing different versions of the game, which helped to keep it fresh and popular. There also seemed to be no way to plateau as a player. It was just possible to improve, improve and improve.
Bomberman
“Bomberman” is a classic retro game and has been released in several versions since its original outing in 1983. The game was first developed by Hudson Soft as a demo and then by Famicom and features the eponymous character who has to find his way around a maze while avoiding enemies. Under rocks, there are doors leading to further rooms, and Bomberman must blow them up.
Originally, the character was a man in overalls, but the programmer behind the game wasn’t too thrilled with this choice and later changed it to a recolor of an enemy robot. Remakes of the game include “Bomber Boy” and “Bomberman Party Edition.” This latter version features a single-player game and a multiplayer one.
Track and Field
Sports games are popular now, but they were also popular back in the day, and “Track and Field” was one of the trendsetters. The game, from Konami, hit the arcades in 1983 and featured simple gameplay based on quick, repeated presses of buttons. It set the basis for sequels and similar games later.
Players could play lots of different track and field events, including the 100 meters, 110 meters hurdles, long jump, high jump, javelin, and hammer throw. Often, movement of the character was achieved by fast pressing on alternating buttons, plus a hit on the action button, or holding down the action button and then releasing it to execute key movements such as a jump or a throw.
To qualify for the next events, players would have to achieve a certain qualifying level or time. If not, they’d lose a life, so the game was highly challenging. In addition, the response of the game to rapid button pressing caused players to create different ways to press faster, which saw arcade owners experience considerable damage to their machines. Later versions incorporated modifications to prevent some of their methods and limit the damage.
The world of video gaming has seen some absolute classics in the past that fans have long forgotten about. Other games you might remember with a little nudge are “Pole Position,” “Battle City,” and “Duck Hunt.”