Punch out! The legacy of “reflex gameplay boss fights” was first established here, When I play a game like Sekiro I think I am playing Punch Out with katanas. Awesome!

H.E.R.O. is one of the best games on the Atari 2600.  However, by 1984 almost no one cared.  I remember I kept checking the game store regularly for new Atari 2600 games, but almost everyone else had stopped playing.  I picked up both H.E.R.O. and Pitfall 2 in 1984, but the Atari 2600 was well past its prime by that point.

Duck Hunt since that is the one that I played the most. Plus, its the only NES light gun game that I owned.

Duck hunt is the first game I 'hacked' by pointing the light gun at a flickering B&W monitor, driven by a simple loop in BASIC on the MSX. At the right frequency, auto hit everything lol. (Duck hunt on the tv, light gun pointed at the monitor)

The light gun doesn't work on modern TVs sadly, display lag killed it, needs a CRT to work.

Honestly, I've played very few of these games for myself. Duck Hunt wins for me almost by default for its profound impact on my life: the game that made a cat person out of me. (j/k) And also learned that handguns are great for hunting ducks. (j/k 2)

No seriously though, Duck Hunt really was a fun game. My first light gun game and suspect many, many people's.

Elite. Starfield is basically Elite in shinier... and a bit bigger than just 800 Kilobyte.

As long as I can't shoot that ¶%£§ß­&ý*$ Dog, Duck Hunt ain't scoring! Who's laughing now, huh?

Oh, so many good games from that year.

I voted Elite, since it's the game that I really enjoyed the most in the long run, plus it is grandaddy of open world games.

Games that I remember being most played in arcades from that year are 1942 and Punch Out - though, tbh, I don't recall Duck Hunt being in local arcades.

Game that I remember the most from that year is Montezuma's Revenge (Panama Joe), early example of Metroidvania type games - made by 16 year old kid, no less.

My vote was going to Marble Madness for sure, then I saw Duck Hunt. Sorry Marble Madness.

A lot of massively influential games released in 1984. A bit before my time though. I have played and enjoyed a few 1984 games, but nothing stands out as a massively enjoyable standout vote. My eldest sister would probably vote Hitchhikers Guide, but I won’t cast my vote.

Haven’t looked at 1985 poll yet, but at least one T-riffic juggernaut springs to mind.

Duck Hunt gets my vote as the game in the list that I played the most and felt more familiar with my early early early childhood (we're talking like 3-4 years old lol).