Game of the decade: The 1980s

[The_Liquid_Laser]

Honorable mentions for the other platforms:

On the Atari 2600, my favorite game was Adventure.  I'm not sure the Zelda series would even exist without Adventure.  Also one thing this game does, that I wish Zelda 1 did, is that it has an awesome randomizer for the item placement.  The game is never the same twice.  It was my favorite Atari game in the early 80's and it still is.

On computer gaming the choices are tough.  My favorite games back then were Wizardry (early 80s) and Curse of the Azure Bonds (late 80s).  Basically RPGs.  But I have to say that 80s PC games have not aged well.  I cannot understate just how much computer gaming needed a mouse to come along.  Computer gaming went through some kind of quantum leap from the 80s to the 90s through UI improvements and the addition of the mouse.  So, if I can cheat a little bit, I will say that my favorite computer game from this era is actually Ultima 4.  The game is so innovative that no one has tried to duplicate it yet, although Octopath Traveler probably comes the closest.  The reason I say this is a cheat though, is because I owned and beat this game on the NES.  I played it on the PC just a little bit a few years ago, but the UI is just too primitive for me to stick with it.  The NES version has a streamlined UI for console, so I very much prefer it to the PC.

Back in the 80s my favorite arcade game was a toss up between Donkey Kong Jr and Dragon's Lair.  I played Dragons Lair so much that I could literally beat the game with my eyes closed.  I would often just turn my back and show off while playing the last stage.  However, nowadays my favorite game of that era is Dig Dug.  I think the reason I love this game so much, is that I need some go-to maze game whenever I get a need to play this type of game.  Maze games, like Pac-Man, were maybe the most popular genre in the early 80s (either that or shmups).  What makes Dig Dug so great is that you get to make your own maze while you play the game.  That is such a brilliant take on the maze genre and it is probably why, for me, Dig Dug has withstood the test of time.

Last edited by The_Liquid_Laser - on 02 February 2020