Video Games: The Good Ole Days

For those of you who grew up in the early 80s and liked video games like I did, it’s amazing to look back on them now and think to yourself: “Man did they look like shit!” Video games were in their infant stages in the late 70s and most of the 80s, especially at home, and didn’t quite evolve like they did in the 90s, but we were the first generation really exposed to it and those games were some of the most simple and entertaining games made.

Yes, I still play video games, but as I grow older, I find myself finding less time to sit down and play them because of time and responsibilities. I also find it harder to sit down and take the time to figure a newer game out due to time constraints. That’s why it’s nice to think back on some of the great games from the 80s, most importantly from the Nintendo:

Super Mario Bros - Remember sitting around and playing this 50 times a day and beating it over and over again? How simple…just run around on a linear map and jump over and around things. If you were lucky, you got a fire flower and kept it so you could use B to take out your enemies. I still play that every once in a while just for old time’s sake. The first Nintendo game most of us played and one of the most memorable. Don’t forget about the silly negative world.

Mike Tyson’s Punch Out - One of the most enjoyable games ever made. You started out as some pip squeak taking on guys 18x the size of you until you fought your way to Iron Mike. Lucky he wasn’t biting off ears back then. The best part of this was how much fun it was to figure out each opponent’s weakness and take them out…that is unless it was Glass Joe, who you didn’t need much of a strategy to beat!

Tecmo Super Bowl - This game was so addictive and competitive between friends, that I got into a fight with one of my buddies Matt over this game. Who could forget the immortal combinations of Bo Jackson-Marcus Allen, and Jerry Rice-Joe Montana? Or who could forget the domination of Lawrence Taylor on defense? It was a simple game with like 8 different plays you could pick from, but it’s still one of the best football games ever. Again, it was simple and extremely fun. It also was one of the first games to track a whole season with stats and everything.

Ninja Gaiden - Another linear game along the lines of Super Mario Bros where you’d just scroll around on a map, jump around and use a sword. It was just as addictive as Mario though. It was another simple game that was loads of fun and you could just sit there and play over and over again.

Contra - Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right-B-A-B-A-Select-Select-Start…or something like that. It was the most popular cheat code in one of the best games to play along with another player. You’re a commando running around and killing everything in site. What a concept. I still remember playing that game with my buddies Jason and Bob at Bob’s house. Those were the days.