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Hawkwing74
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Favorite computer games of the 1980's

Thu Jul 05, 2012 2:12 pm

This thread
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=82542
made me nostalgic, so I thought I would post my favorite video games from childhood on my Commodore 64. I wanted to make it more general since some of these games were on all 3 systems, the Commodore, PC, and Apple.

1. Wasteland
Pretty much still number 1 or 2 for my favorite game of all time. I loved how your actions had consequences on the game world. So many great memories of this game. One summer I played it through from start to finish in one evening.

2. Airborne Ranger
This game had its hard moments, and was hardcore (your character died, start over). I got one guy up to Colonel but on his last mission he was killed.

3. Castle Wolfenstein
Never forget the gards calling me a schweinhund.

4. Into the Eagle's Nest
I remember being impressed by the graphics at the time. What a puppet show it was compared to today! This was a gauntlet-style game where you had to kill many guards by yourself.

5. Summer Games
I remember enjoying the diving event the most. I liked that the game saved your "world records"

Edit:
How did I forget Sid Meier's Pirates! That game was awesome too.
 
Skullzer
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Re: Favorite computer games of the 1980's

Thu Jul 05, 2012 2:36 pm

Well, I was born in 1981 but that's when my gaming started. I was lucky enough to have an uncle that worked for IBM so he had a computer that we gamed on. I have fond memories of playing games such as ....

Kings quest - I don't remember which one for sure, but I remember finding an area tht had the seven dwarves and I remember seeing a unicorn that would run away haha

Hugo's house of horrors - that game was awesome!

Mechwarrior

Leisure suit Larry - although I was probably too young for it, it was still fun!

Mule - I think that was the name of it.

We also had a Atari 2600, pretty much every game was fun..although pole position and pitfall were my favorites.
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Voldenuit
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Re: Favorite computer games of the 1980's

Thu Jul 05, 2012 2:44 pm

1. The Magic Candle
One of the best party-based fantasy RPGs ever.

2. Sim City

3. Populous
The original god game.

4. Thexder 2

5. Golden Axe
Wind, Sand and Stars.
 
Hawkwing74
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Re: Favorite computer games of the 1980's

Thu Jul 05, 2012 2:47 pm

List making is too much fun. I have to revise my list since Skullzer mentioned the Atari 2600

1. Wasteland
2. Sid Meier's Pirates!
3. Airborne Ranger
4. River Raid - Atari 2600
5. Pitfall 2 - Atari 2600
 
Scrotos
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Re: Favorite computer games of the 1980's

Thu Jul 05, 2012 2:53 pm

I'm trying to stick with games released on a personal computer, mostly x86. Is this supposed to be top 5?

1. Mechwarrior
2. Starflight
3. Bard's Tale 2
4. BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception
5. Silpheed

Captain Comic (side-scroller)
Budokan (realistic-ish fighting game)
Space Quest I, II, III
SpaceWar (a free variant of some type)
Fire Power (tank game, why did I like this? I could never find enemies!)
Populous
Obliterator (side-scroller)
Dark Castle
Beyond Dark Castle
Sopwith/Sopwith 2
Mario Brothers (Atari ST)
Pitfall/Pitfall 2 (Atari ST)
Some CP/M-based games that I don't recall the names off offhand.


Games I like but didn't meet the 80's cutoff:

Star Control (1990)
Star Control 2 (1992)
Wolf3D (1992)
Doom (1993)
Wing Commander (1990)
Spaceward Ho! (1990)
NHL '96, '98
Mechwarrior 2 (1995)
Laser Squad (1992 for PC, 88/89 for C64/Amiga)
Trog! (1991)
Armor Alley (1990)
Rise of the Robots (1994)
Carmageddon II (1998)
BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Revenge (1990)
Golden Axe (1990 for PC port)
Earthworm Jim (1994)
Commander Keen (1990)
Captain Comic II: Fractured Reality (1990)
Die by the Sword (1998)
Star Wars: X-Wing (1993)
The Immortal (1990)

Those are just the ones I remember off the top o' my head. Probably more if I really think about it for a bit. I thought about Thexder but I liked the concept of it far more than I liked playing it.
Last edited by Scrotos on Fri Jul 06, 2012 9:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
 
BerserkBen
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Re: Favorite computer games of the 1980's

Thu Jul 05, 2012 5:17 pm

How is everyone skipping the Ultima games!!! I didn't game on computers until the 90's but I was a retro gamer from the start, playing mainly rpg's and strategy.

1. Ultima III (and the others)
2. Wizardry
3. Romance of the Three Kingdoms
4. Dragon Wars
5. Might and Magic
 
Scrotos
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Re: Favorite computer games of the 1980's

Fri Jul 06, 2012 9:07 am

I thought about Ultima, but I never played any and never got into 'em. I really liked the intro to one of them but after that I just didn't play the game! Ultima 6, maybe? Can't recall.
 
Darkmage
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Re: Favorite computer games of the 1980's

Fri Jul 06, 2012 9:13 am

I remember the days when Sierra Online ruled the roost. Space Quest, Police Quest, King's Quest and the continuing adventures of Leisure Suit Larry. Adventure games were king, unless you could find ports of actual arcade games. Dig Dug, Crystal Castles, Defender, Stargate, etc.

I remember playing Tutankhamen a scary amount.
BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception
The Ancient Art of War at Sea
F-15 Strike Eagle
Thexder
Spy Hunter
Tapper
Choplifter
Infiltrator

and I remember some adventure game that had a real Blade Runner feel. You'd fly around in your car to different rooms and click on things to investigate them. I remember a simple side-scrolling gun battle that would occur infrequently. [clicky clicky clicky] Mean Streets! Wow, that took a lot of searching...
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clone
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Re: Favorite computer games of the 1980's

Fri Jul 06, 2012 9:49 am

.
Last edited by clone on Tue Jan 14, 2014 1:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
neg
 
bthylafh
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Re: Favorite computer games of the 1980's

Fri Jul 06, 2012 10:02 am

Apple //c:
Wings of Fury
Deep Space: Operation Copernicus
The Body Transparent

Consoles:
Pirates!
B-17 Bomber
Space Spartans
Pole Position
The Legend of Zelda
Mega Man 3
Hakkaa päälle!
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sircharles32
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Re: Favorite computer games of the 1980's

Fri Jul 06, 2012 10:20 am

I can't believe nobody has said Choplifter!
I must have logged a few thousand hours playing that on my Dad's Apple II+, and then later on my Atari 7800.


Sorry, I've noticed a few mention it now. Move along, nothing to see here.
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Jason181
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Re: Favorite computer games of the 1980's

Fri Jul 06, 2012 10:56 am

Missile Command? Lots of Commodore 64 and Atari games, and Oregon Trail on the Apple II. Didn't really play any x86 games in the 80s because the computers were too expensive (the Apple II was at school).
 
RickyTick
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Re: Favorite computer games of the 1980's

Fri Jul 06, 2012 12:30 pm

In the early 80's, I was playing arcade games mostly, Ms Pac Man, Galaga, Punch Out, etc. Hanging out at the arcade was the cool thing for teenagers to do on the weekend.
The only pc game I played was Castle Wolfenstein. Nearly flunked out of college because of it.
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MadManOriginal
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Re: Favorite computer games of the 1980's

Fri Jul 06, 2012 1:09 pm

1. Oregon Trail - You have died of dysentery!
2. Montezuma's Revenge - this and 1. were played on school's Apple II's when we should have been doing school stuff.
3. Mechwarrior - it was actually kind of hard to win this game in the allotted time. Aside from at home, played it on the high school's 486 machines in the 90s, it had no built-in CPU cycle timer (not sure if that's the right term) so it ran stupidly fast :D Favorite Mech was the Phoenix Hawk.
4. Battletech: Crescent Hawk's Inception - put all your money in Hesperus Industry; leave computer running overnight w/ characters in a safe town; ???; profit! SRM-2 for personal weapons and max Mech upgrades for everyone!
5. F-19 Stealth Fighter - one of a few Microprose military sims I played a whole lot. Also Gunship and M1 Tank Platoon (original versions)
6. Leisure Suit Larry - what more could a hormone-raging early teen ask for in a computer game?
Last edited by MadManOriginal on Fri Jul 06, 2012 2:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 
Scrotos
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Re: Favorite computer games of the 1980's

Fri Jul 06, 2012 1:56 pm

MadManOriginal wrote:
3. Mechwarrior - it was actually kind of hard to win this game in the alloted time. Aside from at home, played it on the high school's 486 machines in the 90s, it had no built-in CPU cycle timer (not sure if that's the right term) so it ran stupidly fast :D Favorite Mech was the Phoenix Hawk.


I played it on a 286 (with 287 co-processor!) in EGA, perfect speed for the game. When I got my 486DX/33 it ran too fast as you saw. I didn't really recall a timelimit? 5 years in-game maybe?

Wow, brings back memories: http://www.sarna.net/wiki/MechWarrior_(1989_Video_Game)

I think I outfitted my crew with Battlemasters and I'd tend to use a Rifleman. Why? Because of a quirk wherein you could inch up to enemies and shoot the AC/5 out of their range and kill 'em. They'd just stand there. I might have used a Shadow Hawk as the AC/2 has a longer range though does less damage, been a while. I'm sure I dabbled with the Marauder too because, well, the Phoenix Hawk was for punks! Though at that time many of the mechs were ripoffs of Robotech, the Phoenix Hawk being a Robotech Super Veritech and the Marauder being a Robotech/Macross Tactical Pod Glaug. I ain't hatin'. The best part was that I could buy the more-popular Robotech models and they matched up fine in the Battletech universe!

Oi, yeah, like the model list here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotech_Defenders

MadManOriginal wrote:
4. Battletech: Crescent Hawk's Inception - put all your money in Hesperus Industry; leave computer running overnight w/ characters in a safe town; ???; profit! SRM-2 for personal weapons and max Mech upgrades for everyone!


I think, and my memory might be wrong, that it didn't cycle the game time unless you were moving or some such. I recall propping up something on the keyboard and running into a wall overnight. My favorite was keeping the Chameleon from the training grounds and getting an UrbanMech from the arena. I could never EVER figure out the ending until one day I was flipping through the manual and DUH the map there. WEAK.

MadManOriginal wrote:
5. F-19 Stealth Fighter - one of a few Microprose military sims I played a whole lot. Also Gunship and M1 Tank Platoon (original versions)


My friend had that but I didn't. We played it a bunch when at his place.

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