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Games of the generation (8 bit)


Hendo
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I've been thinking about this for a while for the current generation, to do a good solid round-up of perhaps the best 10 games of the generation, in podcast form. But first, I'd like to see of we can get something going from the beginning.

 

So which games (running from the very beginning of video games being invented, to the end of the NES, Master System, 8 bit computers, etc) are the very best to you?

No limit on how many, but some comments would be good, rather than just lists.

 

I'll start with Wizball, which even to this day is a difficult one to pin down as to what it is.

It's a shooter with odd mechanics, and, to begin with, controls terribly until you gain more abilities. You start off only able to bounce left or right, then you can change direction in mid air, then you have full freedom of movement.

I'm still not sure what the point of the game is, but it involves obtaining paint. It's a very surreal and original game that I would love to see an official update. There is a fan made remake out there though.

 

 

 

Here's the remake:

 

 

 

And finding those videos also led me to this, which is a fantastic live looping cover of the music.

 

 

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*Cracks fingers* OK, here we go.

 

Pacman, or one of its variations. This game is timeless, still plays as good as it did back then, it's easy to understand and hard to master. I think the esoteric take of just eating everything apart from the ghost apart from when you've had a power pill is easy to grasp just by looking at the demo screens, and because of the simple premise the updates that came out even up to the present day still have that feel, they might be a bit faster and more neony, but at the core they're the same games as what got released back in 1980.

 

 

Paradroid. When I was a kid I had no idea what the fuck Paradroid was about. I played it loads but I had no idea what I was doing because nothing was explained to me, and back then if you  couldn't explain the game in demo screens then you had a fight on your hands getting people to understand how to play. Fast forwards to the 00's and I decided to get an emulator to play all those C64 games that will no longer load. This was a game I visited and this time I actually learned what the point of the game was. For all its impenetrability to me as a kid, it totally made sense this time. It takes a while to understand the hacking minigame, but once you've got your head around that it's fun to see how far you can go.

 

 

Tetris. I don't need to tell you about this. As perfect as games can get this is. Easy to learn, impossible to master unless you're one of those Asian savants that do nothing but play the same game for 20 years straight. Killer soundtrack as well, properly iconic.

 

 

IK+ is the best fighting game ever. Stick your Street Fighters and Mortal Kombats, this is the king of all of them. Also it's not often I get to say this, but look at the smoothness of those balls.

 

 

Bit of a cheat this one, since it was arcade and ported to 8bit and 16bit. I'm claiming it though, since it was the C64 version I played the hell out of. I adore the concept of this, it's just so cutesy that it's really hard to dislike. That music as well, probably one of the best bits of game music ever to be created.

 

 

Head Over Heels. Like many games from back then I never finished this, but I didn't know one person that didn't love it. It's a real tour de force of using the power the C64 had.

 

 

Elite. As a kid it blew my mind how this fit on a disc. Another one where I didn't really know what I was doing, but then again you could say that about the sequels it spawned, these are deep deep games where only your imagination limits how you can play.

 

 

Creatures 2 was the last game I really played on C64. It was also one of the few games I managed to beat despite punishing difficulty. I had extra lives on which is possibly the most inventive way of inputting a cheat code ever. You had to wet your finger and rub the ports of one of the computers joystick inputs. I've never seen anything like that before or since. This was also a massively gory game. For the time it was quite shocking even though it followed the vein of cartoon violence. The chip tunes were excellent too.

 

 

Defender. This game was hard as fuck. This was the 80's it was to be expected. But it really was hard as fuck. Whenever you ask people to describe Defender they will instantly go to the hard as fuck. Seriously, this game is harder than illdog when he's near a school. It's so good though. 

 

 

Tempest. Just look at this. Look at it! I know it's simple but look at how smooth and sharp everything is. This shit was the future back then.

 

 

Pokemon Gold and Silver. Yeah, you didn't expect to see this here, did you? But it counts as it's running on the 8bit Gameboy. This is another case of "How the fuck did they get all this onto one cartridge?" deal, because it's huge for a game, never mind a Gameboy game. Possibly the highlight of the Pokemon series for me, it was big enough but didn't feel bloated with uninspired Pokemon taking slots up in the roster. 

 

 

There's many more others will cite. And I'll probably agree with them, because the 8bit era was full of phenomenally good games.

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i struggle to remember/know what would count for this. some good ones above like defender and tetris - tetris is still one of the best puzzle games. so i guess if gameboy counts - definitely links awakening - my first zelda, and still one of the best imo, love the crazyness of it, apparently partialy inspired by twin peaks. having the chain chomp as a pet was really cool too, there are some more obscure solutions to puzzles which would probably annoy me these days mind. i guess bomb jack would count too - a great arcade game where you flew around the screen collecting bombs as they were about to explode, very simple but great fun - i think this was on gameboy too, but i played it on an atari ste which im pretty sure isn't 8-bit. and donkey kong on the gameboy, which was a great puzzle/platformer. i really liked micro machines which i played on the master system, well played it for years on a friends megadrive while waiting for the much delayed master system version which i did eventually play.

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1 hour ago, spatular said:

i struggle to remember/know what would count for this. 

For the purposes of this, I'm following the same lists as in Wikipedia. But also adding in home computers and handhelds. 

So this thread is more about the first, second and third generations. Maybe Gameboy, Lynx and Game Gear would count as the generation after?

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good info! so most of the stuff i mentioned wouldn't count. we had a 2600 but not sure any of the games we had were that good other than defender. asteroids, that tank game, and missile command were ok. yeah i had master system/gameboy around the same time so i remember them close together but looking at release dates gameboy does fit closer with megadrive etc.

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I'm not sure how much from the 8 bit gen I think has aged all that well. There's stuff I've fond memories of, but most of it isn't something I'd want to play now.

 

That said, I think Space Invaders and a few of its clones still play well, we used to have a version built in to the forum that I'd play in work, it's a good game. Punch Out I think it probably still fun, and I like Master System Sonic (although I mainly played that on the Game Gear), Triple Trouble was good. 

 

on the home computers... Operation Wolf was good. I really liked the isometric Batman game (it was basically Head Over Heels), Hong Kong Phooey, Harrier Attack, Gauntlet (better in the arcades obviously), I want to mention a Dizzy game but I can't remember which ones I played and if they were actually any good. Paperboy was great at the time though, until it started cheating.

 

I'm not sure if arcades count, but Pang is one of my favourite games, Bubble Bobble, that WWF game, Rainbow Island was great. Pole Position was good at the time, absolute shit now lol. There was an isometric racer, the kind of thing Rock and Roll Racing copied, might have been called Off-Road? Anyway, that was good

 

Oh, Double Dragon, that was amazing at the time

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I know it's the obvious choice, but @Sly Reflex already mentioned Head Over Heels so I'm dropping The Legend of Zelda into the pot. 

 

Although not the first adventure game of its ilk on a console, Dragon Slayer and Hydlide can claim that prize,  TLoZ is the one that people love and remember as it all but perfected the formula.

 

It kick started one of the best series in gaming, was a fully open world on an 8bit console, and was the first cartridge to include a battery that allowed games to be saved. 

 

In my opinion there is no better or inspirational Action RPG on an 8bit system.*

 

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*Although Ys Books 1 & 2 come close.

 

 

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