Ultimate 80s Retro Gaming Collection

If you’re of a certain age then the Eighties was the most exciting time to be into videogames. New home computers and games consoles appeared to be coming out every other month and, as the medium itself was still in its infancy, we were being treated to all sorts of fascinating new game ideas and concepts. Numerous genres, from scrolling fighters to graphic adventures and platformers, were born and came of age during this decade, while earlier genres like shoot-’em-ups and beat-’em-ups continued their evolution. It was a time of creativity and experimentation, a time when many developers and publishers were still willing to throw caution to the wind and eager to try innovative new things. For several years, videogames unfortunately buckled under the weight of expectation and poor management…

ZX SPECTRUM YEAR RELEASED: 1982 Created by the late Rick Dickinson, the original Speccy (as it was affectionately known) included a rubber keyboard and the option of 16 or 48KB of RAM. It became a huge success for Sinclair and many games companies flocked to the machine, making it a haven for gamers in the process. COMM ODORE 64 YEAR RELEASED: 1982 Commodore’s successor to the VIC-20 was released the same year as the Spectrum and they became huge rivals. Commodore’s 8-bit system eventually proved victorious thanks to its superior SID sound chip and the fact that it had a far stronger presence in the US. It became the dominant system for much of the Eighties. NES YEAR RELEASED: 1983 Originally released in 1983 as the Famicom, the NES became…

PAC-MAN YEAR RELEASED: 1980 Originally known as Puck Man in Japan, Toru Iwatani’s game was a huge success for Namco and proved popular with gamers of all ages and genders. Set in a single screen, it requires you to eat all the pellets in a maze, while avoiding the four deadly ghosts that dwell there. DONKEY KONG YEAR RELEASED: 1981 1981 was a golden age in general for many arcade games but it was an important one for Nintendo as it established two key characters for the company: Mario and Donkey Kong. Both characters went on to become huge successes for Nintendo, with Mario becoming the company’s most bankable star. POLE POSITION YEAR RELEASED: 1982 Racing games have always been a good way to show off cutting-edge technology and Namco’s…

In early 1981, Atari assigned a brilliant, formerly homeless, high school dropout to one of its most important games ever – the home version of its mega-hit Pac-Man. Pac-Man’s pop culture invasion began a year earlier, when an army of little yellow dot-munchers stormed the arcades, pool halls and convenience stores of America. The wildly-popular arcade game smashed demographic barriers around the world with its approachable, non-violent game design. Players of all ages and walks of life were drawn to one of the first character-based videogames. Pac-Man was a genuine phenomenon, selling an estimated 400,000 cabinets worldwide. The game also spawned a merchandising bonanza, with the character’s image emblazoned on bedsheets, drinking glasses, T-shirts, stickers, cereal, a Saturday-morning cartoon, and even a pop single. Atari was betting gamers would play…

SPACE INVADERS ■ This translation of the monumentally popular arcade game was instrumental in resuscitating the struggling Atari 2600 in 1980, turning this timely port into the industry’s very first killer app. Space Invaders at home was a strong port of the original that made Atari’s first home console a huge success. DEFENDER ■ While this port has been maligned in some circles for its simplified game design, programmer Bob Polaro did a yeoman’s work in reinterpreting the complex arcade controls for the Atari 2600’s single-button joystick. While it’s not as difficult as its arcade predecessor, it captures the original’s essence well. MISSILE COMMAND ■ Atari’s apocalyptic arcade game was translated beautifully for the Atari 2600, despite cutting some of its bells and whistles. It removes the final, haunting mushroom…

MAZE AND DOTS The 2600’s graphics limited the number of dots on screen, and increased their minimum size. Atari compensated by calling them“video wafers” in the game manual. The vertical maze orientation had to change to fill the more horizontal 4:3 ratio of vintage televisions. CHARACTER ANIMATIONS To conserve memory, Tod simplified animations, removing details like Pac-Man’s vertical rotation, and the more complicated ghost animation, which had to be condensed into two-frame animations for the 2600. FLICKER Tod utilised a flicker technique that strobed the ghost character graphics so that all four appeared on-screen at once – something that had never been done on the 2600 before. He also justified this approach, noting that the ghosts were ephemeral spirits. Though the method was successful, players complained about the constant flicker.…