A ton of things came out of the 80's that will go down in history...rockers wearing spandex pants and big hair, Wham! and of course Michael Jackson when he was still black. Over at UK MSN, they've compiled their very own list of what consider the greatest games of the 80's. Interesting what they've chosen, do people agree or disagree??
20. Double Dragon (1987)
This early beat-em-up included two-player gameplay and the then-revolutionary concept of being able to pick up the weapons of defeated baddies.
19. Kings Quest (1984)
Adventure games were big news in the 80s, but most were completely text-based. This was among the first to enable players to explore an animated world.
18. Defender (1980)
An unfeasibly hard shoot-em-up, this was the first to introduce sideways scrolling - rather than a static screen.
17. Bubble Bobble (1986)
Japanese cutesiness at its finest. Bub and Bob take on the world armed only with the bubbles they can blow from their mouths.
16. Football Manager (1982)
The first football management game ever. No complicated training schedules or tactical setups here, just pick a team, press Enter and watch the 'action' unfold.
15. The Sentinel (1986)
A ground-breaking title that defies explanation. It featured 10,000 levels and solid 3D landscapes, where the aim was to sneak up on the Sentinel without it spotting you.
14. Paperboy (1984)
Newspaper delivery simulator anyone? A classic example of a game that just wouldn’t get made today. The arcade version even had its own handlebar controller.
13. Out Run (1986)
Fast-paced driving simulator notable for the alternate routes you could take through the game and the way the Ferrari badge on the back of your motor switched direction when you turned corners.
12. R-Type (1987)
Another classic sideways scrolling shoot-em-up, R-Type took the genre to a new level with its mix of ultra-tough gameplay and multiple weapons.
11. Donkey Kong (1981)
One of the first platform games and the beginning of an iconic Nintendo character.
10. Kick Off (1989)
Though it was surpassed by its sequel just one year later, the original Kick Off just squeaks into the 80s decade and was a massive hit.
For the first time, football on screen played like real football. Players kicked the ball in front of them when dribbling, rather than having it stick to their feet and it was possible to score spectacular, curling goals.
The strictness of the referees was legendary. Play a match with S. Screech in the middle and you were guaranteed to have at least one player sent off.
9. Manic Miner (1983)
This Spectrum platformer saw the introduction of Miner Willy (later to star in Jet Set Willy), along with a surreal cast of baddies including evil toilets and possessed telephones.
The aim was to battle through all 20 levels, collecting keys as you went along. As with most games of the time, if you lost your three lives you had to start right back at the beginning...
8. Prince of Persia (1989)
This makes it into our 80s list by virtue of its release on the Apple II in 1989.
By this time, the platform game had evolved considerably. Prince of Persia had many points to make it stand out – notably the game's 60 minute time limit that ticked down in real time.
The graphics were a revelation, with the characters modelled on real human movements of running, jumping and hanging onto ledges just above nasty, pointy spikes.
7. Track & Field (1983)
Sold under the less-catchy moniker of Hyper Olympic outside America, Track & Field's release marked the beginning of the ‘button-mashing’ titles.
Winning the hundred-metre sprint became a simple matter of hammering away on buttons as fast as you possibly could, an action that was almost as tiring as running the race itself.
The game's release on home computers signaled the death of many a joystick.
6. Pac-Man (1980)
What more can be said about this iconic game? Along with Space Invaders, this was one of the first titles to take videogaming to the mass market.
Despite the limited graphical capabilities at the time, Pacman and the four ghosts had genuine character and personality.
Pac-Man's nemeses even had names; Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde. Blinky (the red ghost) gets faster after a level-specific number of dots are eaten by Pac-Man.
5. Gauntlet (1985)
When Gauntlet was released in the arcades, it was utterly unique since it enabled four players to play at the same time.
Players picked from warrior, wizard, valkyrie or archer characters and had to battle through hordes of ghosts, demons and trolls.
Memorable moments included being chased around levels by Death and the basic voice synthesis ('Warrior needs food, badly...).
4. Tetris (1985)
Tetris came out in 1985, but it was the 1989 release for Nintendo's new Game Boy handheld that really saw it fly off the shelves.
The purity of this release has arguably never been beaten. Graphics were two-tone, the music was hypnotically repetitive and the only reward for completing a level was a quick scene of some Russian chaps dancing to violin music. But the gameplay was immense.
3. Super Mario Bros (1985)
The game that made Mario and ensured the success of the Nintendo Entertainment System.
It didn't come out in the UK until 1987, but was still way ahead of its time in terms of graphics, features and gameplay.
Super Mario Bros quickly became the platform game against which all others are judged.
2. Sim City (1989)
It was impossible to play Sim City without devoting hours of your life to it each time.
This city building game was among the first fully-realised god games, with Populous another notable release around the same time.
The beauty of the game came in not having to play by the rules. If you wanted to be a benevolent ruler, you could; if you wanted to be an evil tyrant, you could do that instead.
Just look out for the alien invasion...
1. Elite (1984)
Iain Lee recently pronounced Elite the best game ever, and while we don't want to turn the site into a love-in for the space exploration epic, who are we to argue?
The achievement of creating Elite is incredible. It was a game that could be played on a computer with just 48k of memory (the picture above takes up almost half that space), yet it enabled people to explore an entire universe.
Buying and selling goods was enormous fun, since it gave you the chance to trade up to a better ship and improved weapons (and buy that all important docking computer).
A stone cold classic.