Best Games of the Pre-Crash and Crash Eras

Porky's.

always liked the XE versions the best

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Originally Posted by Hero

For me? I VAGUELY remember my parents owning some computer that had Goonies and an Incredible Hulk text adventure game. I liked those.

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Goonies was cool because it had co-op play (or character switching for one player) where you used multiple characters to puzzle solve.

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

I also played the hell out of Mean 18, Hardball, 4th and Inches, and Epyx Summer Games, but no one here wants to hear about old sports games.

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I do. I loved those sports games although I had Leaderboard instead of Mean 18 for my golf fix.


There are way too many classics to list or remember off hand but here are some greats from the early days up to around the time of NES' full launch. I won't bother listing the most popular arcade games everyone knows.

TRON: Deadly Discs (Intellivision)
I'm sure the picture won't wow anyone but this is quite addictive. It isn't quite the same through emulation but if you must play it that way, I recommend using a control pad in your left hand and the right side numbers on your keyboard. The 2600 and Aquarius ports don't compare either.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps2797a426.jpg

Way of the Exploding Fist series (8-bit computers)
Before Metroid and Zelda, Fist II was a groundbreaking non-linear action-adventure with an awesome soundtrack. Newcomers should be warned about the difficulty, though.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ntinues_06.gif

World Karate Championship (8-bit computers)
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...psf7f3f025.png

Infocom text adventures (8-bit computers)
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...the_galaxy.png

Archon series (8-bit computers)
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps11492c2f.png

Impossible Mission (8-bit computers)
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ece_solved.png

Spatter (Arcade)
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../spatter_2.png

Up'n Down (Arcade)
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps34a3ee89.png

I, Robot (Arcade)
So ahead of its time.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps6e1a2913.png

Pharaoh's Curse (8-bit computers)
Not quite as memorable as Montezuma's Revenge but it should appeal to the same crowd. The lack of console versions helps make this one less known.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps48b1ce75.gif

Zenji (8-bit computers and consoles)
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...nji_ingame.gif

Space Taxi (8-bit computers)
Ugly but still the best Lunar Lander-style game, IMO.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps8276ee07.jpg

AD&D: Treasure of Tarmin (Intellivision)
A lot of early RPGs are tough to go back to but this one holds up well probably in part to it being a one sitting game.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ter/tarmin.jpg

Sir Lancelot (8-bit computers)
Like most North Americans, I wasn't exposed to European computers until years later. Sir Lancelot became one of my favourite puzzle-y platformers. I prefer the Amstrad CPC version over the Speccy since you can choose the order of the levels.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps8df7ffb6.png

Mr. Do's Castle (Arcade and home ports)

Lazy Jones (8-bit computers)
Sort of the Wario Ware of 1984.

And speaking of lazy, I will just link to my opinions on various 2600, Odyssey2, and VIC-20 games -
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/thr...799-Atari-2600
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/threads/40089-Odyssey2
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/thr...mmodore-VIC-20

Also worth noting is that some arcade games we associate with NES/SMS versions were being played in Western arcades during the console crash era, like Space Harrier, Paperboy, Gauntlet, Punch Out, Karate Champ, Ghosts 'n Goblins, etc..

This...

http://youtu.be/_mDCN9Gddys

My first system was the 2600 and I played and loved all of the usual suspects. I got a ColecoVision and I picked up a few games with it. I really wanted Miner 2049er but they were sold out. After looking at the other games, Montezuma's Revenge looked the most like Miner 2049er so I settled for that.

Now I really loved playing video games up to that point but Montezuma's Revenge is the game that hooked me for life. That game is still great fun to play to this day. So many great memories just thinking about the way that all played out for me as a child. Great thread!

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Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater

Goonies was cool because it had co-op play (or character switching for one player) where you used multiple characters to puzzle solve.

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THAT'S THE ONE - what computer was that on? I can't remember for the life of me.

The first console my parents bought me was a Colecovision, and my brother and I played Venture so much we burned out the AC adapter.

Berzerk/Evil Otto. It felt rather clumsy when I went back to it a few years ago but I can't think of any non-turn-based games from that era which don't.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2pWsOqEzqI

Skip to about a minute in to pass over the lame attract (although it does show the exploit of there not being a hitbox between the head and body).

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Originally Posted by Hero

THAT'S THE ONE - what computer was that on? I can't remember for the life of me.

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Apple II, Atari 8-bit, and C64. And some European computers but I doubt you played those versions.

I always liked Frenzy better than Berzerk. I liked I, Robot at the time but the older I get the more amazing it becomes. For pure arcade happiness, though, my quarters will always go to Bosconian. I would love to see a Pac-Man CE-style update to that one. Got the high score on the PAX East machine when I played it on Saturday, too.

James