this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2025
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I noticed that pretty much all games I played in my life have been released after 1990. So now I'm asking those with earlier experience here:
Which games can you recommend from before that time?

But: they should still be fun in their own right and not just interesting to play in an historian sense of trying to understand how genres developed.

Games I played that are older than 1990:

  • Tetris (classic for a reason)
  • Pacman (interesting but simple)
  • Prince of Persia (was too young to understand how to correctly play this game, I should maybe try to play it again)
  • The Legend of Zelda (too old school and clunky for my liking)
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[–] FermiEstimate@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Starflight came out in 1986, and if you liked Mass Effect, you should give it a try. IMO it has a deeper and more interesting implementation of the space/planet exploration mechanics, not to mention a solid story to tie it all together.

The UI looks dated, of course, but it's straightforward enough to use. It influenced the Star Control games, another series that holds up (but just barely misses the 1990 cutoff).

[–] massive_bereavement@fedia.io 4 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

I hope I don't antagonize the three people here that still remember Starflight, but I'll recommend the Genesis version for its updated graphics and streamlined interface.

[–] FermiEstimate@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 22 hours ago

I'd agree with that. The updated version from the early 90s is the one I played, and it's probably the easiest to find unless you really go looking for the old version.

I still think it counts. It's still the same fundamental Starflight experience.