Patient Gamers

16086 readers

209 users here now

A gaming community free from the hype and oversaturation of current releases, catering to gamers who wait at least 12 months after release to play a game. Whether it's price, waiting for bugs/issues to be patched, DLC to be released, don't meet the system requirements, or just haven't had the time to keep up with the latest releases.

^(placeholder)^

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

cod@lemmy.world

briongloid@aussie.zone

BurntWits@sh.itjust.works

101

Great games you would recommend from before 1990? (feddit.org)

submitted 1 day ago by Wrufieotnak@feddit.org to c/patientgamers@sh.itjust.works

108 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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)

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] tal@olio.cafe 8 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

Hmm. I think that it's hard to find games that really stand up on their own, and haven't had been outclassed in the intervening 35 years. I can think of a lot of games that I enjoyed then, but that's when they were competing against 1980s games and technology. Honestly, you got some of the ones that I'd have suggested, like Tetris and Pac-Man, and even there...I mean, original Tetris is perfectly playable, but I'd probably recommend Tetris Effect: Connected to a new player. Might as well have the extra glitz.

considers

Shmups have generally gotten more fast-moving and bullet-hell oriented. If you prefer slower shmups, you might enjoy playing 1942 or 1943: The Battle of Midway.

I agree with @emb@lemmy.world that Super Mario Brothers 3 for the NES is pretty decent, though I've never played fully through the game. Side-view platformers really did have their heyday in the 1980s and early 1990s, and that was a strong game.

kagis

These guys show marketshare of video game genres by year; platformers were really big in the 1980s:

https://savvystatistics.com/video-game-genres-by-year-1980-2016/

The arcade Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1989) is probably fun if you can get some friends together. Probably need to emulate it with MAME or similar. I don't think that the beat-em-up genre has changed all that much or seen many entrants since.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jLO1upcd8w

The Simpsons would be a stronger arcade beat-em-up recommend, but that's 1991, a bit out of your timeframe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNpuIHbK3-I

Arcades really peaked in the 1980s, before home console systems and computers started cutting into them. There were some things that arcade games were better at than computers and consoles, like having custom-to-a-game input hardware. If you are willing to get ahold of some arcade-style hardware, like an arcade-style joystick (US-style Happ, or Japanese-style Sanwa), you could play some games that were designed around having a full-size arcade joystick.

There are trackball and spinner games as well.

I think that light gun games are out, unless you're willing to obtain a CRT. Maybe someone's made something that can deal with LCD/LED displays.

kagis

Apparently so: https://sindenlightgun.com/

There were a number from the 1980s:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_light-gun_games