Best early computer games

[RobinFinderson]

Some of us are old enough that we played the first computer games marketed for personal computers. Here are some of my very favorites from those times:

Zork: The first great game, a classic for the ages, this text-only adventure required players to type commands into a prompt line. This often proved frustrating, trying to guess what phrase the programmers had chosen to execute a certain action, but for the most part the game was awesome. Who remembers how to kill the thief? Or what happens to people in dark places?



The Oregon Trail: This was the original educational video game which, along with the freaky programming language Pascal, justified expanding budgets for school computer labs all over the country. This game was fun, but often very challenging. It always felt like a real accomplishment bringing my family all the way to Oregon.



Dark Castle: This was a great themed game with stunning graphics for its time. Sort of a Lode Runner ripoff, Dark Castle did everything better. Every level was a platforming challenge with unique beasties to defeat. Very fun.



Marble Madness: By the time this game came out for the Amiga computers personal computing had been around for a long time, and the Amiga seemed like the first computer that could run video games that looked every bit as good as the ones in the arcade. While the Amiga had some great titles (Anyone remember Defender of the Crown?) Marble Madness holds up as the best of them all.

[il Padrino Ute]

How could you forget this?

King's Quest - The Quest for the Crown

[RobinFinderson]

How could you forget this?

King's Quest - The Quest for the Crown

Undoubtedly an early classic. King's Quest launched a whole slew of other classics by Sierra Online, which is one of the few early gaming companies that still makes great games.

Though the King's Quest series was probably the best of its kind, to me the most memorable was the Leisure Suit Larry Series, which was the first game (that I can recall) to feature sexually graphic content. I played this version over at a friend's house after school.

[il Padrino Ute]

As fun as those early games for the home PC were, nothing - and a mean nothing - was better than this game from an early gaming system:



A high five to any and all who remember this.

[RobinFinderson]

As fun as those early games for the home PC were, nothing - and a mean nothing - was better than this game from an early gaming system:



A high five to any and all who remember this.

Baseball for the Intellivision?

[RobinFinderson]

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[il Padrino Ute]

Baseball for the Intellivision?

Major League Baseball for Intellivision.

Well done.

[TripletDaddy]

Major League Baseball for Intellivision.

Well done.

that's easy!

YERRRRRRRR OUT!

I loved the plastic overlay cards that came with each intellevision game.

Bonus Intellivision trivia: how did you pause a game on intellevision? no google for the answer.

[TripletDaddy]

Any list has to begin and end with the Wolfenstein series, including the only example of a parady that might be better than the original:



I loved the Zork style of game. Adventure games. Some of my faves:

The Serpent's Star



Mask of the Sun



There was also another similar text adventure game which I loved. I think it was called "Secret Agent." I can't seem to find pics of it online. Does anyone remember this one? You had to stab a psycho nurse with a fork before she killed you with a poisoned IV. Also, you had to remember a phone number and later use it at a phone booth. Really heady stuff at the time.

[TripletDaddy]

And in the scroller/action category.....

the most bitchen video game of all time.....Karateka!



Lode Runner was another classic. Teaching kids to drop acid....was the subtlety lost on everyone but me?



And don't forget the one that started it all as we know it today (not the one that started it all, period, which would be Pong)

[RobinFinderson]

The original Wolfenstein that I played on the Apple ][e (better?) was pretty sweet! I remember that it was the first game to make my computer 'speak.' The nazi guards would scream "Halt!" and when you shot them they would scream, "Mein leben!" I think at some other point they would shout, "Achtung!" which is why I knew what it meant when U2 came out with Achtung Baby.

[TripletDaddy]

The original Wolfenstein that I played on the Apple ][e (better?) was pretty sweet! I remember that it was the first game to make my computer 'speak.' The nazi guards would scream "Halt!" and when you shot them they would scream, "Mein leben!" I think at some other point they would shout, "Achtung!" which is why I knew what it meant when U2 came out with Achtung Baby.

i also remember you could search the guards and find back bacon and Molson Golden (burp!). Also, hit "T" to launch gernade if you were playing on the keyboard.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

There was an Atari 2600 basketball game where it was one on one full court with a square ball. I played hours of that game.

[TripletDaddy]

There was an Atari 2600 basketball game where it was one on one full court with a square ball. I played hours of that game.

I remember being blown AWAY by the graphics for Nintendo's Double Dribble. I was over at a friend's house and he said, "it is basically like being AT the game." At that moment, I was in no position to argue. I remember shooting free throws....that halo thing moved up and down over the basket and you had to time it in order to make the free throw.

[Brian]

I don't know how many hours we spent on this little gem from Atari.
Fun when you could find the magic pebble and fly around.