LIST OF BEST CLASSIC VIDEO GAMES.

I still have faint memories of my first encounter with the virtual world. It was one fine morning of 1997; I was excited because I was due to visit my nephew’s house to see his new console. Back then, I had no idea about console gaming; however, I had seen people, especially my brother, playing 2d games on our PC. We had a Pentium 1 machine- a total crap box- and for me it was quite scary to operate, because it used to hang a lot. So only my brother played on it with me standing beside him and seeing him do various things with animated characters. The graphics wasn’t great at that time, but was manageable enough to understand games. The hardware needs were very basic and we didn’t have to worry about expensive graphics adapters, unlike now days.

So coming back to that fateful day of 1997, when I got the chance to experience something new in my life and, believe me, it changed my view about gaming completely. That day I woke up early & did those morning chores like eating, bathing, etc., and after the morning hustle& bustle I finally took off with my brother to my nephew’s house. The first thing I did on reaching there was to run off quickly to my nephew’s room to get a glimpse of the machine. “Ohh my god”, were the words that came out of my month on seeing the device ; smaller than a average VCR player- back then we had no DVDs- it weighted about few grams. First time I saw joy pads that day, which were part of its accessories. Most exciting thing was the gun that still puzzles me now. As I was young, I didn’t care about the brand and model of the console. I was egger, or rather I say desperate, to switch that baby on. I still remember the first game that we played: Duck hunt. Though it was a 2d game, but the shooting with the gun was awesome. On returning home, I begged to my father to get one of those things and after a month he did. From that day on, when I got by console, I became a hardcore gaming fan and still I am and will be for the rest of my life. My video game console was from a company called Samurai, which doesn’t exist now. The system was quite similar to early gaming system from Nintendo and there were cassette like things that had to be bought separately, which contained different games. In this hub, I have compiled a list of classic games that I feel should belong among the best games ever made.

A SIMILAR CONSOLE:

I have no photos of my actual gaming console, neither Google’s image showing anything. So I have dedicated few lines to the old Nintendo famicom gaming system that released in the year 1983, Japan; however, release in America was delayed due to the North American video game crash of 1983, and it finally got released in the year 1986. There were different arcade versions of this gaming system that had classic games like Super Mario, etc. Gaming experience was basic but it was capable enough to deliver a good 2d experience. Though compared to today’s consoles it might be Stone Age, but in those days it was a hot seller, mainly among kids and teenagers. Back then console games weren’t costly and they came in cartridges that looked fancy, classy in the eyes of the youth. People played for the sake of playing, unlike now. Words like physix, HD, 3d, motion gaming, etc. were mambo jumbo or crazy talk. But still I enjoyed every bit of joy it gave to me and to people who witnessed the birth of the console era.

LIST OF MY FAVOURUTE CLASSIC GAMES:

1) CONTRA: Originally designed for arcade gaming by Konami, as a coin operated game. It was released under different names in Europe and pal regions. The home version for the Nintendo famicom was first released in 1988. The game has several sequels released after the first one and it was one the most loved arcade games back in the 80’s. The main plot of the game revolves around two guys named bill & lance; they are sent to an island to combat a terrorist organization called “the Red falcon organization”, which is planning to take over the world. The main characters are equipped with automatic guns having unlimited ammo. Players are required to go through various maze like stages. Enemies come from various directions and the players use their guns to kill them, while jumping and ducking simultaneously. Every level has a boss, who is strong, difficult to slay. The players have to kill the boss at every level to move on to the next level. Both players have to coordinate their moves and play with both on the screen simultaneously. If a player lags behind, the screen will not scroll back from the player in the front. The game can also be played in single player mode, which is difficult compared to double player. In the single player mode, only bill takes part and does all the action.

2) SUPER MARIO BROS: super Mario bros was first released in 1985 by Nintendo, as the sequel to Mario bros, 1983. Later on several games were released under the brand name super Mario. Super Mario brand games were & still are among the best seller games of Nintendo. The game may not have HD quality graphic, or FPS capabilities, but the idea & the innovations behind the game made it a super hit for more than 20 years. It was revolutionary even when it first came out. Mario is the main character in the game along with his brother Luigi. Maximum two players can play the game; the first player controls Mario and the second controls Luigi. The objective of the game is to save princess Toadstool from the antagonist Bowser. Best part of the game is the innovative obstacles that the players face at each level and hidden treasures. There is a 3D version of the game that you can still enjoy on Wii, Nintendo’s latest console.

3) PACMAN: pacman first came out as an arcade game developed by Namco. Released in the year 1980 in Japan, pac-man is one the earliest arcade games ever released and for millions of gamers it’s synonymous to arcade action. The game was an icon back in the 80’s, and inspired an entire generation. Some people still believe that pac-man gave the birth to arcade gaming. The graphics of pac-man is simple, but was radical back in the 80’s. The game starts with pac-man (a fairly large yellow dot) in the centre of maize with small dots in between spaces. The main objective of pac-man is to eat all the dots to proceed to the next stage. At every stage he is prevented to accomplish his objective by his four enemies: shadow, speedy, bashful & pokey. There are special orbs in the maize that pac-man has to eat to become strong enough to eat his enemies. When an enemy gets eaten the eyes remain intact and they come back to the centre, where the enemy regenerates.

4) STREET FIGHTER: a classic Mano-a-mano game inspired by martial art films in the 80’s. Originally developed & published by capcom, it made its first debut in the year 1987 as an arcade game. The game has a series of versions under the street-fighter brand. The central character of the game is Ryu, who competes in a world wide martial arts tournament. The tournament spans over five countries and ten opponents. Ryu has to beat the crap out of all to win the tournament and the game.

5) BOMBERMAN: Originally released in 1983 by Hudson Soft. The game is a strategic maize based game. Based on the basic game play, it has many installations released after the original release. The main character of the game is a robot, who wants to be free from a bomb factory. The game is played in different mazes filled with enemies, who want to destroy bomberman. The only weapon bomber has are bombs that he can plant any where in the maize, and they are capable of incinerating anything in close proximity of the bomb. Bomberman can also use his bombs to break down walls, and there are special powers hidden in the wall that bomberman can collect to enhance the effectiveness of his bombs. Bomberman has to destroy all his enemies to proceed to next level. All total there are 50 levels in the game; each level has unique, unidentical maize.

(DATA COLLECTED FROM WIKIPEDIA)