The most important arcade games of the 80s  

Click for Google +1 As gamers sit down to play Quake4, Doom 3 or even Angry Birds, there must be times when they wonder how did video games become so popular? While the 80’s were not responsible for the invention of video games, it can take credit for putting a video game in nearly every milkbar or laundromat across the developed world. With new games appearing every few months, it was a crazy time – and the fad culture of the 80’s lapped it up. To date, Pacman still remains the biggest selling arcade game of all time and in the US, the early 80’s saw a turnover that has never been matched. Sadly, an over-production of games that didn’t capture player’s imagination, plus the rise of home consoles and computers caused the wheels to fall by the mid-late 80s. The companies that developed many of the games were picked up for next to nothing a decade later. Atari was sold to Hasbros Interactive (1998) and then picked up by Infogrames (2003).Even the great pinball manfacturer, Williams, ceased production in 1999. The company was also responsible for the classic arcade games Defender and Joust, while inventing “multiball” with the groundbreaking Firepower. So what are the most significant games of the 80’s?

1: Space Invaders Most people would laugh at the graphics of Space Invaders – but over 30 years ago it was revolutionary. To demonstrate the impact of this game consider the fact that it also spawned a short-lived pop group Player One, with the album Game Over, and worldwide hit with the single Space Invaders. Until Space Invaders “landed” (one of the marketing terms of the time, the other being “Are Here”) arcade games only appeared at funparks and circuses. While most games gave you a time limit before stopping, Space Invaders could be played until your fingers blistered. Don’t be fooled by the green colour – the game is monochrome. It was very common in the 80’s to stick coloured plastic on the monitor to give the effect of colour. Some games had rows of different colours by the same technique. Later on Space Invaders II was released which had improved colour, graphics and gameplay. There is also huge list of clones and variations which all tried to cash in on Space Invaders’ popularity. Technically, Space Invaders was released in the late 70s, but eighty-eightynine considers that 79 is part of the 80’s.