Here are all the games from 1985. There are plenty of interesting games here; just not many good ones.
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Tag Archives: 1980s
Runners-Up of 1985
1985 was a really boring year in video games. That can be attributed to the video game crash, which didn’t really end until 1986. For the same reason, most of the games mentioned here are computer games. As is always the case, there are a few gems to be found among the riff-raff.
Hang-On (HONORABLE MENTION)
Original version: Hang-On, released in 1985 for arcade
Following in the footsteps of Pole Position, Sega’s racing game Hang-On gave the player a high-speed over-the-shoulder (or more accurately, behind-the-car) racing game with sharp turns and endless AI opponents. Hang-On added something new to the mix, though. The player sat on a motorcycle-shaped seat that they had to tilt to the left or right in order to steer in-game.
Super Mario Bros.
Original version: Super Mario Bros., released on 1985/09/13 for Nintendo Famicom
Recommended version: Super Mario Bros., released on 1986/02/21 for Nintendo Famicom Disk System
I’m pretty sure you already heard that music in your head before playing the audio file. It is burned into all our brains! The impact that Super Mario Bros. has had on modern culture is astounding. And why shouldn’t it be? SMB defined the platformer genre and inspired generations of games. Although not the first platformer, it stands in history as the iconic grandfather of modern platformers and is the earliest memory I have from my childhood. Before I could even speak full sentences I was already defeating Bowser.
1984 Video Game Notes
Here are the reference notes I made for the games released in 1984.
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Runners-up of 1984
Even in the middle of the video game crash, there were still some pretty cool games that came out.
Marble Madness
Original version: Marble Madness, released in 1984 for arcade
Did you ever play with marbles as a child? I did, but one day I lost all my marbles. Anyway, I’m going to show you Marble Madness today, as you no doubt surmised by the title of this article. Atari had a really good year in 1984, pumping out tons of innovative and interesting titles such as Paper Boy; I, Robot; and many others. If only such innovation had come in 1982 or ’83….
Tetris
Original version: Тетрис, made in 1984 on the Elektronika 60
Recommended version: Tetris, released in 1989 for the Game Boy
I don’t know what I could possibly say about Tetris that hasn’t already been said many times. It’s considered the quintessential puzzle game and is incidentally one of the best-selling games of all time. It so profoundly affects players that many of them hallucinate in everyday life, seeing blocks falling in front of them. What’s more, Tetris is a perfect game (mirror).
1983 Video Game Notes
There’s not much to say about these games. Most of them were either low-quality or unsuccessful because of the crash.
Runners-Up of 1983
1983 may have been the year of the second video game crash, but as we saw from the Appreciation articles, there was still quite a bit of innovation left in the industry. 1983 was, after all, the year of the Challenger space shuttle, Microsoft Word, and phones with touchscreens. Let’s take a look at the titles that brought a lot to the table, but fell just short of earning their own appreciation article.
Cake's Corner 