My 30 Favorite Video Games of All Time, 30-26
Like most people of my generation I grew up with video games. My uncle bought an Atari 2600 before it was assigned a number, (it was just called the Atari). And I soon inherited it when he upgraded to Intelevision. I then got an NES and soon realized that I could become hopelessly addicted to games if I wasn't careful so I took a hiatus from gaming. A long hiatus. I didn't play video games again until I got my computer in 2002 and bought some games for it. I only mention this because there is a big gap in the generations when I wasn't playing games regularly. However since I have gotten back into gaming again I thought I would do what lots of bloggers do and list my all time favorite games, (so far) for people to ponder. Here is the list, enjoy.
Note: I am listing publisher and system after the game title. The publisher is who published the game and the system is the system that I played it on, not necessarily the system that it originated on.
30. Pong, Publisher: Atari, System: Atari- A simple game. Just keep hitting the little square "ball" with your rectangular "paddle". The highest score wins. It sounds so primitive and boring compared to what we have now, but it was addictive and lots of fun. I first played this when I was about 6 or 7 years old. I believe I got good enough to beat my 30 year old uncle. A classic, the beginning of what is now a billion dollar industry, and lots of good memories for those of us old enough to have played it.
29. Atlantis, Publisher: ActiVision, System: Atari- One of the original ActiVision games. You control three turrets that is underwater and is supposed to be protecting the lost city of Atlantis. Space ships fly over head and you must shoot them for points. Occasionally there is a ship with a laser beam that will destroy part of the city if you don't destroy it first. you can rebuild the city but you must keep shooting the ships to do so. If enough of the city is destroyed the game is over. What a blast this game was. Again, simple but fun. I recently played it again on the ActiVision Anthology for the PS2 and it was just as much fun now as it was then.
28. Night Driver, Publisher: Atari, System: Atari- A first person driving game that takes place at night, (hence the game title). According to Wikipedia this was the first game to have first person real time graphics, but that assertion could be in error. At any rate this was a really fun game and it was fast. I was really very good at it and used the dial controller to play it. I played it with the analog stick on my PS2 and found that I'm rather rusty at it, but I prefer to think that it's because the stick is harder than the old controller I used to use.
27. Frogger, Publisher: Sega/Gremlin, System: Atari/Arcade- Pretty much everyone at least has heard of Frogger thanks to that infamous episode of Seinfeld. I played Frogger at the arcade and on my Atari and I loved it. Getting the little green guy across traffic and the river was fun and it made you feel good if you could manage to keep him from getting squished, or eaten or drowned. Good times.
26. Super Breakout, Publisher: Atari, System: Atari- The second video game I ever played. It has the same idea as Pong in that you hit the ball with the paddle but you must break all of the wall down to win and proceed to the next level. Fun and quite hard when the ball gets going really fast. You have many levels with different walls and some even have blockades that you have to bounce around to get to the wall to break it down. This is a Nolan Bushnell game and was worked on by the great Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. By the way, if you go to Chuck E. Cheese you're giving Bushnell money since he founded that as well. Personally I liked Showbiz Pizza better.
Note: I am listing publisher and system after the game title. The publisher is who published the game and the system is the system that I played it on, not necessarily the system that it originated on.
30. Pong, Publisher: Atari, System: Atari- A simple game. Just keep hitting the little square "ball" with your rectangular "paddle". The highest score wins. It sounds so primitive and boring compared to what we have now, but it was addictive and lots of fun. I first played this when I was about 6 or 7 years old. I believe I got good enough to beat my 30 year old uncle. A classic, the beginning of what is now a billion dollar industry, and lots of good memories for those of us old enough to have played it.
29. Atlantis, Publisher: ActiVision, System: Atari- One of the original ActiVision games. You control three turrets that is underwater and is supposed to be protecting the lost city of Atlantis. Space ships fly over head and you must shoot them for points. Occasionally there is a ship with a laser beam that will destroy part of the city if you don't destroy it first. you can rebuild the city but you must keep shooting the ships to do so. If enough of the city is destroyed the game is over. What a blast this game was. Again, simple but fun. I recently played it again on the ActiVision Anthology for the PS2 and it was just as much fun now as it was then.
28. Night Driver, Publisher: Atari, System: Atari- A first person driving game that takes place at night, (hence the game title). According to Wikipedia this was the first game to have first person real time graphics, but that assertion could be in error. At any rate this was a really fun game and it was fast. I was really very good at it and used the dial controller to play it. I played it with the analog stick on my PS2 and found that I'm rather rusty at it, but I prefer to think that it's because the stick is harder than the old controller I used to use.
27. Frogger, Publisher: Sega/Gremlin, System: Atari/Arcade- Pretty much everyone at least has heard of Frogger thanks to that infamous episode of Seinfeld. I played Frogger at the arcade and on my Atari and I loved it. Getting the little green guy across traffic and the river was fun and it made you feel good if you could manage to keep him from getting squished, or eaten or drowned. Good times.
26. Super Breakout, Publisher: Atari, System: Atari- The second video game I ever played. It has the same idea as Pong in that you hit the ball with the paddle but you must break all of the wall down to win and proceed to the next level. Fun and quite hard when the ball gets going really fast. You have many levels with different walls and some even have blockades that you have to bounce around to get to the wall to break it down. This is a Nolan Bushnell game and was worked on by the great Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. By the way, if you go to Chuck E. Cheese you're giving Bushnell money since he founded that as well. Personally I liked Showbiz Pizza better.