Computer Game History 101

[GenMarshall]

Since Chieftess has created a thread obout a certan classic game in which let me to an insperation to create a list of classic games. Note I only know the list from 1997 and beyond (With the exception to Civ1, SC2K, Simcity Classic, Civ2, and Transport Tycoon )

Please fell free to post about any classic games you have and possibly post a discription about it.

@CT - If you do find the title to that game you are looking for, Ill happly add it to the list

• 
  List of Classic Games
• Pong (~1975)
• Frogger (~1975)
• Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Early 1980's)
• Title that Cheftess is trying to find out, read here for more details (Early - Mid 1980's)
• Dalals (Assuming its Mid 1980's)
• SimCity (Classic) (~1988)
• Civilization (1) (~1990)
• Transport Tycoon (~1995)
• SimCity 2000 (1996)
• Civilization 2 (~1996)

 

[Chieftess]

You just can't forget Pong! I think that was 1975.

 

[GenMarshall]

Originally posted by Chieftess
You just can't forget Pong! I think that was 1975.

Thanks, I remembered that Pong was on Atari. I remembered that game when I was very little. I remembered that my Father and my Aunts used to play that. Speeking of Pong how about Frogger, I know that came around in the same time frame .

 

[cgannon64]

Let's see...

- Colonization
- SimAnt!
- Civ2
- SimCity 2000

Can you tell I haven't been playing games past a certain age?

 

[Chieftess]

Ok, ones I've played:

Zaxxon
Lancer
Choppers
Ants (was this the one that said "nah nah nah nah! WEEEE GOTCHAAA!!")
Centipede
Dancing Demon
Ballon Attack
Q-Bert
Quiz (it was a make your own quiz game)
Lunar Rover
Kings (a variant on Pong, where you denfeded a rectangular fort with a "king" inside)
Dungeons of Daggeroth (this one broke my TRS-80)

and others that I don't know the name of.

some "karate" game where you jumped over pits and bonfires, and at the end of each level, you'd get another colored belt.

A game where you went through a simplistic castle and collected items. (Caslte?) It was a white background, and I remember this trapizoid shaped object that opened up in the bottom center (triangle shape). It gave your character invisibility I think.

 

[WillJ]

Well, let's see, there's the Sim games that haven't been mentioned yet:

SimTower*
SimCopter*
SimFarm
SimIsle
SimLife
SimTunes
SimPark*
SimHealth
SimGolf (1996 version)*
SimGolf (2001 [I think] version)

* means I own or owned it.

Then there's Caesar, Caeser II, and Caeser III. Also the Quest for Glory series, which went up to five games, I think. Then I remember two old shareware games, one where you're a ship, and you try to drop bombs (I think) onto constantly moving submarines down below, and a two-player one where you're a ship orbiting a star, and you try to shoot your opponent. Trying to think of more...

 

[Chieftess]

Yes, I remember that one where you drop bombs to hit subs. Not sure of the name either - something naval based probably.

Oh, and there's Sopwith Camel (biplane) for the PC.

 

[cromagnon]

Tron (this was pretty early)
Star Wars
Space Invaders
Galaga
Defender
Lunar Lander (not sure if this was really the name)
Pitfall
Zork

I'm showing my age, aren't I?

 

[Chieftess]

I've played Tron, Galaga and Star Wars too.

Was Lunar Lander, Lunar Rover?

 

[cromagnon]

Not sure. Lunar lander (or landing?) was the one where you had to land the lunar module onto the moon (which had hills & mountains), but you had limited amounts of fuel, and you had to slow down your rate of descent by administering thrust.

 

[jack merchant]

Aaah, the old DOS games... those were the days.

The first game we had was a pinball game called night mission. My sister and I played it enough to break the Shift keys on our Olivetti M21 computer to the great chagrin of our parents
Arcade-type games I remember in particular: digger, paratrooper, spacewar (great 2-player game, I think that's the one WillJ mentioned), xonix, frogger, that submarine game.
Later came the Sierra quest series and leisure suit larry. I learned English playing these games.
I bought my first computer, a 286 with 16 Mhz with the money from doing newspaper rounds. On that computer, I played Civ1, Simcity, Railroad Tycoon and Historyline 1914-18. The last one was great for doing homework in between as the turns took forever to process.
Later classics for me include Panzer General, Steel Panthers, Civ2 and the Championship manager series. I guess beyond a certain age action games are just too hard.. and I'm only 26
Currently, I'm of course playing Civ3

 

[Noldodan]

About the ship-killing-subs game: It's called Sub Hunt! I've played it on a PDA and a TI-83.

 

[Smash]

Some old arcade greats

Asteroids-blow up asteroids and spaceships
Donkey Kong-climb ladders and avoid stuff-this is Mario the plumbers 1st game
Pacman(and all the spinoffs)-eat dots and ghosts
1942-WW2 air to air combat in a P39.Ever increasing difficulty with giant planes as "bosses"
Time Pilot-start with shooting down biplane and work up to ufos
Pole Position-open wheel racing
Missile Command-defend your cities from missile attacks

 

[Flatlander Fox]

Time Pilot was a great game, as well as Pole Position.

I can't believe no one has mentioned Zelda, the greatest RPG/Adventure game of all time.

Also, the first John Madden football was on the Commodore 64. I played the crap out of that game!

Dungeons and Dragons for the Intellivision was a great game as well.

 

[Richard III]

Favorites from the era were a bit late, actually: Mac games Patton v. Rommel and Balance of Power I were big favorites of mine (a friend had one of the first macs in Canada).

I played Pong when I was five or six years old, and remember it distinctly.

 

[Chieftess]

Originally posted by Noldodan
About the ship-killing-subs game: It's called Sub Hunt! I've played it on a PDA and a TI-83.

Oh yeah! I became so good at that game, that I could run on full speed, and STILL hit about 95% or more of the targets.

 

[GenghisK]

Arkanoïd, and breakout...
But there's stil one legendary game nobody quoted: TETRIS!!! Damn that was, is and still will be a great game. I'm addicted to tetrinet, and there's a reason hehe.

 

[metalhead]

Arkanoid! I am the grand champion of that game, me and my buddy used to go to the arcade and routinely beat it with 1 quarter. Broke the 1.1 million mark in my best game.

You left SimEarth out of the Sim series, but rightly so as it was nonsensical and practically impossible.

Great early RPGs were the Forgotten Realms series for the PC. I still play those games every once in awhile. Great fun.

 

[Skullbones]

I still play "Impossible Mission" occasionally using a C64 emulator. That game is gotta be one of the greatest ever.

Some others:
Tradewars2002
Solar Realms Elite

These two have already been mentioned but I want name them again anyway
Tron
Star Wars

Outrun
I don't know if this is the first game that moved (the sit down version) but it's the first one I can remember.

Adventure
Oregon Trail

 

[smalltalk]

Some pre-DOS, text-only games, you could even play it without a CRT monitor, instead printing it on paper with a teletype.

eliza (by Weizenbaum, simulates a Carl-Rogers-type of psycho-analysis)
life (the first cellular automaton)
(were these games in fact?)

wumpus (very famous)
hamurabi (perhaps the first empire ruling game)
star treck
camel (ride through the desert, and try to survive while being hunted by some pygmies)