Video Games in the 1980s

Video games had started to become very popular in the early 1980s when gaming had started shifting from being in arcades to gaming consoles at home. Games such as Pacman, King Kong, and Super Marion Bros. had taken a huge toll on the gaming industry when they were released on gaming consoles. People started to invest more in consoles so they did not have to go out and spend even more money at arcades.

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Pacman

Pacman was one of the most popular games in the '80s attracting a lot of young attention early on

Tetris

Tetris is a "brain working" game made in 1984 for the purpose of getting people to work on problem solving and finding the best way to prevent the blocks from stacking to the top of the screen

Donkey Kong

This game was created in 1981 by Nintendo, designed for Mario to rescue his princess from the large gorilla known as Donkey Kong.

Star Wars

Created in 1983 by Atari, inc., using 3D colors graphics to stimulate the assault on the Death Star from the 1977 film Star Wars.

Super Mario Bros. 3

Iconic game developed by Nintendo in 1988 and published by Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released for home consoles in Japan on October 23, 1988

Tron

Coin-operated arcade video game manufactured and distributed by Bally Midway in 1982. The game consists of four subgames inspired by the events of the Walt Disney Productions motion picture Tron released earlier in the summer.

Boulder Dash

2D maze-puzzle video game released in 1984 by First Star Software for Atari 8-bit computers. It was created by Canadian developers Peter Liepa and Chris Gray.

SimCity

City-building simulation video game developed by Will Wright, and released for several platforms from 1989 to 1991. SimCity features two-dimensional graphics and an overhead perspective

Robotron: 2084

Multidirectional shooter developed by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar of Vid Kidz and released in arcades by Williams Electronics in 1982. The game is set in the year 2084 in a fictional world where robots have turned against humans in a cybernetic revolt.

Dig Dug

A maze arcade video game developed by Namco in 1981 and released in 1982, distributed in North America by Atari, Inc. The player controls Dig Dug to defeat all enemies per stage, by either inflating them to bursting or crushing them underneath rocks.

Bubble Bobble

A 1986 platform game developed and published by Taito for arcades. It was distributed in the United States by Romstar, and in Europe by Electrocoin. Players control Bub and Bob, two dragons that set out to save their girlfriends from a world known as the Cave of Monsters

Super Mario Bros.

A platform game developed and published in 1985 by Nintendo for the Famicom in Japan and for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America. It is the successor to the 1983 arcade game Mario Bros. and the first game in the Super Mario series

Galaga

A 1981 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco. In North America, it was released by Midway Manufacturing. It is the sequel to Galaxian, Namco's first major video game hit in arcades

Q*bert

An arcade video game developed and published for the North American market by Gottlieb in 1982. It is a 2D action game with puzzle elements that uses isometric graphics to create a pseudo-3D effect.

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