We're celebrating 50 Years of Games in conjunction with the Golden Joystick Awards 2021, the world's biggest public-voted games awards show. This year's show will celebrate a milestone in gaming history, the release of Computer Space, the world's first commercial arcade machine in November 1971. And we'll be looking for your votes on the best console of all time (starting 3PM GMT, November 8).
...controversial, but it is! With its dive-bombing aliens, iconic sound effects and twitch-perfect arcade action, this wave shooter was a superb evolution of the idea that was birthed with Space Invaders. It also has the coolest name of any game on this list. Ever, in fact.
ARCADE GAME SERIES: Ms. PAC-MAN Full Crack [key]l
Neo-Geo games were the creme de la creme of 2D sprite gaming in arcades in the mid 1990s. The attention to detail, from character animations to lush background art, was second to none. Metal Slug married that with fantastic (and darkly funny) side-scrolling shooting action too, with chunky weaponry and the eponymous Metal Slug tank letting you plough through enemy lines.
One of the most iconic arcade games of all time, Space Invaders was also one of the most stressful. With its clever sound effects increasing in speed as the waves of alien foes moved purposefully towards your spaceships fortifications, it was a race against time to blast your foes into oblivion. Revamped and released many, many times, its memorable alien baddies are as famous as gaming itself. This is one of the all-time greats.
The next title in our list of the best Atari 2600 games was the most popular coin-operated arcade game of 1983. If you are ever looking for an example of the golden age of gaming, then look no further.
Some of you might have played the smartphone version of this game in recent years, but you need to grab an Atari 2600 and hold a joystick in your hands to to get the full feel of the original side-scrolling masterpiece.
People of all ages love the classic arcade games from the 1980s. This machine has all your favorites. All machines are free to play. This is a brand-new machine with custom lines with retro artwork reminiscent of a bygone era.
Nothing but net! All the thrills and excitement of an arcade basketball game, yet specifically designed for home use. With 8 exciting game options, set up for one or two players, you'll find hours of enjoyment playing basketball. LED electronic scoring with built-in time clock and sound keeps track of the score and the game. Its rugged steel tubing frame provides stability and sturdiness. When not in use, this Sure Shot Dual Electronic Basketball Game folds for easy storage.
The world of Albion came alive on the Xbox 360, while Fable 2 was also one of the first games to give you a full-time canine companion. The dog was, in gameplay terms, rather straightforward, but for many players, the pooch tugged on your heartstrings and made you care about him/her in a way that you typically wouldn't above the average human or fantasy-pet RPG. Solid combat, a multiple-choice ending, great music and world-building, and a deft balance of action, adventure, and role-playing helped make Fable 2 both the pinnacle of the series and one of the finest bits of escapist fantasy ever coded. - Ryan McCaffrey (Read Our Review)
Dota isn't a game; it's a lifestyle. The high barrier to entry will drive away new players, but those who crack the shell and get hooked have a very strong chance of rarely playing anything else again. Its 100+ heroes all play differently, and coming close to truly understanding one could take hundreds of hours. Even then, there's always something new to learn. Every failed strategy, every death, every comeback is a chance to discover something new. Dota 2 is at its best when you're playing with a team of five friends. Gathering gold, killing enemies, taking objectives as a coordinated team, then making a final push to victory is an incredible high that you'll want to experience again and again. - Miranda Sanchez (Read Our Review)
Sam Fisher's third adventure is actually three masterpiece games in one. In the campaign, a stunning real-time lighting engine and open mission design allows you to play in countless different ways: total stealth, full gunplay, or a gadget-fest. Game 2 is the four-mission two-player co-op campaign, in which two young agents work together in a side story that runs parallel to Fisher's adventure. You literally have to play together, from boosting each other up to high ledges to going back-to-back to scale elevator shafts, the co-op mode committed to cooperation in a way no other action game had. And then you had Spies vs. Mercs, which took the asymmetrical multiplayer mode introduced in Pandora Tomorrow and refined it into something truly unique in the gaming world. Agile, non-lethal spies playing in third-person view faced off against slow-moving but heavily armed mercs that saw the game through a first-person helmet. It was tense, riveting, and brilliant. - Ryan McCaffrey (Read Our Review)
I restore classic arcade and pinball machines and one of my favorite projects was bringing a Ms. Pac-Man cocktail machine back from the dead. With a rebuilt monitor, restored art, and of course the speed chip that makes it many times faster, Ms. Pac-Man made a popular addition to my homecade. We run an occasional high score competition at IGN and so I thought it would be cool to bring it into our lunch room for a bit. For a month, the machine was never left alone. We work in an office surrounded by the latest toys and games, but Ms. Pac-Man attracted crowds. People changed their commutes to come in early and stay late just to play. Frequently we'd be across the office in a conference room and the strains of the Ms. Pac-Man cutscene music would waft over and make everyone giggle. There are very few games which can create so much happiness after so many decades. - Samuel Claiborn
Not only did I get completely lost in the massive single-player world of Red Dead Redemption, to the point where I'd started talking with a bit of a drawl because I was so used to hearing it, but it also drew me into online gaming unlike anything I'd played before. Never before had I so successfully crafted my own stories and adventures (with friends and strangers alike) than in Red Dead's Free Roam mode. It was the kind of game you couldn't wait to discuss with your friends the next day. Everyone had their own amazing tales to tell about their time in the old west, and you were constantly making new ones every time you turned it on. - Jon Ryan (Read Our Review)
God of War didn't just pull off the impressive feat of reinvigorating and reinventing a franchise that had seemingly run cold, but it also smartly subverted what came before to create an adventure that both played to its past and stood on its own as one of the finest games of its generation. Nearly every facet of Sony Santa Monica's Norse epic is working in concert with one another to craft a thrilling, memorable, and engrossing adventure. From its haunting score, to the beautifully written and acted story of Kratos and Atreus, to the incredible feel of the Leviathan Axe, God of War's impressive craftsmanship shines through at every step, honoring the past while forging its own path. - Jonathon Dornbush (Read Our Review)
Mario's move out of arcades and into the Mushroom Kingdom changed our hobby and our industry as we know it, setting off a chain of events that shaped gaming as we know it today. Super Mario Bros. has been re-released many times, but there's no such thing as too many times because it's still fun and it's still some kid's first time ever playing a game. Its influence cannot be overstated. Example: literally everyone reading this can hum its theme song, right now, from memory. See? Now it's playing in your head again. You're welcome. - Ryan McCaffrey
When Atariwas focused on coin-operated games, marketing was not as much of a factor. Thesmall audience that needed to know about its games (arcade operators anddistributors) could be reached fairly easily through publications like Replaymagazine and Coin Connection, mail-outs of advertising flyers, and tradeshows.
When workstarted on the follow-up to the VCS in 1977, the engineering team Joe Decuir,Jay Miner, and Steve Mayer were tasked to create a machine that could bothfollow up the VCS, and double as an entry into the burgeoning personal computermarket."(The follow-up had to) support1978-vintage arcade games. We knew we would need to leapfrog the 2600 beforesomebody else did. (It also had to) support home computer character and bitmapgraphics. We saw the Apple II, Commodore, and Radio Shack appliance machinescoming." xxxiii
The projectwas soon split into two separate projects, dubbed "Colleen" and "Candy"after two particularly attractive secretaries These products were later re-namedthe Atari 800 and 400 respectively. "Colleen" was to be the full-fledgedcomputer, while "Candy" was more suited as the game machine follow-upto the 2600.
Rubin, a pinball fan, added a "pinballfeature": the name of the game on the marquee would light up when youlanded successfully. If you were able to light the full name, you would win abonus life, points, or a free game. Rubin had to fight his superiors to getthis added to the game. xliii
Football sold an astonishing 10,450 arcade machines li within a few months. At the very same time, the Space Invaders coin-op from Taito was sweeping the nation (and theworld) and driving thousands of people back into the arcades. Football benefitted from this influx,and held its own against Space Invadersthrough the end of 1978. However, sales dropped off drastically when the NFLseason ended. By early 1979 Atari was giving the games away for the rock-bottomprice of $395. 2ff7e9595c
Comments