The 1980s… neon colors, Longueuil haircuts, early Madonna… and video games.
Developed in the 1970s and offered to the general public in arcades, video games experienced, in the 1980s, upheavals heralding the current industry. It was during this decade that consoles stormed home televisions, that the general public discovered the names of Japanese companies such as Nintendo, Sega, or the American company Atari, and that all children dreamed of finding, at the foot Christmas tree, a video game. Let’s revisit this era made of pixels, music in midi file and “joystick”…
“Pac-Man” – 1980
“I had no training, I learned on the job. I don’t fit into the mold of a visual artist or a graphic designer. I just had a solid idea of what a game designer should be: someone whose projects make people happy,” said Toru Iwatani, creator of “Pac Man.” The game, offered in arcades before heading to consoles, brings Namco no less than US$5.1 billion in 2021, a figure adjusted for inflation.
“Donkey Kong” – 1981
“I believe that inside every adult is the heart of a child. We are only gradually convincing ourselves to act like adults”. These words are those of Shigeru Miyamoto, designer of “Donkey Kong”, released for arcades, in which not only the iconic gorilla appears, but also a funny little plumber named Mario.
“Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.0” – 1982
With the democratization of computers came the very first PC games. And is there anything more representative of this trend than the first version of “Microsoft Flight Simulator”? The title developed by Bruce Artwick will become the test to measure the compatibility of a personal computer. If “Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.0” and “Lotus 1-2-3”, could run on a PC, then it was fully compatible with an IBM.
“MUL” – 1983
Conceived by a woman, Danielle Bunten Berry (credited as Dan Bunten in the game, the era not being conducive to women in the industry), the title is among one of the first five released by the company Electronic Arts… founded the previous year. A simulation game, “MULE” transports players to a planet from which minerals must be extracted.
“Duck Hunt” – 1984
The duck hunt is on. Released first in the arcades, the game is then available for the NES console. Today, this classic has been re-released for the WiiU on Virtual Console. Fans will also be happy to know that “Tetris” was released the same year, and that its success has never wavered since.
“Super Mario Bros.” – 1985
Nintendo’s flagship product, “Super Mario Bros.” is the successor to “Mario Bros.”, an arcade title released two years earlier. Designed, developed and directed by Shigeru Miyamoto, father of “Donkey Kong”, the game quickly established itself as a standard, often copied, rarely equaled. “The obvious goal of video games is to entertain people by surprising them with new experiences,” he will say.
“The Legend of Zelda” – 1986
With Takashi Tezuka, his collaborator of “Super Mario Bros.”, Shigeru Miyamoto creates these adventures of Link, a young man, and Zelda, princess with magical powers, reincarnation of the goddess Hylia. “Throughout the Zelda series, I’ve always tried to make players feel like they’re in some sort of miniature garden,” says Miyamoto. And the saga has inspired many developers, including Sam Houser (“Grand Theft Auto”), Peter Molyneux (“Fable”) or Raphael Lacoste (“Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag”)
“Final Fantasy” – 1987
“I don’t think I have the qualities required to develop a good action game. I think I’m better at telling stories,” said Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of “Final Fantasy,” which hit the Nintendo NES in 1987 in Japan before hitting North America three years later. As of last December, the titles of this essential franchise had sold approximately 164 million copies. PS: it’s also the release year of “Street Fighter”!
“John Madden Football” – 1988
Developed for the Apple II computer, then later for MS-DOS and the Commodore 64, “John Madden Football” is the brainchild of Trip Hawkins, developer, founder and boss of Electronic Arts. And nobody believed it, legal problems having delayed the development of the title, which required three years of work.
“Prince Of Persia” – 1989
In addition to “SimCity”, a simulation game released the same year, 1989 was marked by “Prince of Persia”, developed by Jordan Mechner while he was still a student at Yale for the Broderbund company. Inspired by the adventures of Robin Hood – the man also used videos of his brother to animate the characters – the title is not an immediate success, the Apple II for which it was developed reaching the end of its life. technological. It is its adaptation for all consoles that guarantees its success and “Prince Of Persia” will become a franchise now owned by Ubisoft.
“Pac Man”: https://pacman.com/ for browsers and various consoles
“Donkey Kong”: https://www.free80sarcade.com/donkeykong.php for browsers
“Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.0”: https://github.com/s-macke/FSHistory for browsers
“MULE”: https://arcadespot.com/game/mule/ for browsers
“Duck Hunt”: https://www.retrogames.cz/play_1185-NES.php?language=EN for browsers
“Tetris”: https://tetris.com/play-tetris for browsers
“Super Mario Bros.”: https://supermario-game.com/ for browsers
“The Legend of Zelda”: https://arcadespot.com/game/the-legend-of-zelda/ for browsers
“Final Fantasy”: https://www.retrogames.cz/play_224-NES.php?language=EN for browsers
“Street Fighter”: https://streetfighteronline.info/ for browsers
“John Madden Football”: https://www.retrogames.cz/play_1275-Genesis.php?language=EN for browsers
“SimCity”: https://arcadespot.com/game/simcity-classic/ for browsers
“Prince Of Persia”: https://www.playdosgames.com/online/prince-of-persia/ for browsers