80s Video Games part III
February 19th 2009 22:00
The land of lounge lizards
This is the 3rd and final part of the 80s video games trilogy. From now on we’ll be able to focus on specific games and consoles and the like.
Early on the scene was ruled by Dungeons & Dragons lovers that found it a great way to play against a worthy adversary and the popular games were those text-based adventures like Zork and its clones.
Sierra was one particular company that expanded on the adventure genre and together with a few added touches from George Lucas’ Lucasgames, made it their own.
Sierra pioneered these games with graphical landscapes that were at first used by entering commands, but eventually they evolved into the point and click mouse driven interface. Kings Quest was their flagship game, but Space Quest was brilliant, Police Quest was innovative and Leisure Suit Larry was their pay-dirt, and it still spits out sequels to this day.
There were other classics too, like Maniac Mansion, The Secret of Monkey Island and Pirates!
These games eventually died a hard death, but have been getting some resurrection with the awesome Sam & Max games.
There were plenty of others that weren’t graphical adventures though.
There were no Sims back in the 80s, there was no Sim-anything. I remember I got this original puppy on my birthday on an off chance that my mother thought I might enjoy it. That gamble paid off, because it was one of the best games ever made – for once I could create and make my own rules in that crazy electronic sandbox.
There were a stack of ‘educational’ games they tried to pull off at school too, like The Oregon Trail, Granny’s Garden or Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
Other memorable titles of the time included: Flight Simulator, Prince of Persia, Ultima series, D & D Gold Box series, Populous, Lode Runner, Test Drive, Skate or Die...
One of the things I remember most about back then was the hassle a PC caused. There were so many setup problems running in DOS(!) for different programs – and do you remember you had to buy soundcards separate! And they would cost a bucketload. Not to mention two different size disc drives...
"That's the second biggest monkey head I've ever seen!"
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Comment by Lilla
From The Home Front
Enviro Warrior
Dream Herald
Esoteric Bookshop
I missed parts I and II, but for me Wonder Boy Defined the 80's... and that one where there was this madman in this place with electric pylons. He*d say Stay for a while, stay for ever and laugh manically ~ can*t remember the name of it.
pssst ; Not that it counts, but I was Pin Ball Champion at the Golden Cue for three years running.
L
Comment by Nomad
Awesome Food
hey Lilla, pinball champ three years running!! thats awesome, I love any pinball machine.
Comment by Jarrah
Back to the Eighties
Pinball is awesome.
Comment by Lilla
From The Home Front
Enviro Warrior
Dream Herald
Esoteric Bookshop
Todays pinballs are so very different to back then, although not without merit as they seem to count on todays players not being as masterfull as in precious years... an example is my current favourite Star Wars one out at Brisbane airport .. had it popping so hard one time, I nearly missed the plane and had to give the games away.. too easy.
Give you a game one day!
Lilla ...
Comment by Anonymous