History of Games Part Dos (1980's)

The period from the 1980’s was deemed the golden age of video arcade games, this era of games production brought new genre-defining and innovative titles that would pave the way for every genre of games available today. A few of these defining titles include;

King’s Quest created by sierra in 1984, this game created the groundwork for modern adventure games, featuring colour graphics and a third person perspective.

Kung-Fu Master 1984, laid foundations for scrolling beat ‘em ups, with simple game play and waves of enemies.

Street Fighter 1987, one of the first recognisable game brands that is still around to this day, introduced combos and exploration of game controls.

Pac-Man 1980, if not thee most recognisable game, and the first to achieve widespread popularity in mainstream culture and the first game character to become topical.

Along with many others including, Mario Bro.’s, Legend of Zelda, Metal Gear and Metroid. All recognisable to someone familiar with games from any generation. The 1980’s can be considered a golden age because of the wealth of experimentation and success that game producers achieved and the lasting effect that they have on the games market.

However in 1983 the video games industry crashed and many high profile companies went bankrupt in North America between 1983-4. This brought the end to the second generation of consoles. With poorly designed games for the Atari 2600 due to tight deadlines and non sensible marketing; such as more cartridges being manufactured than systems sold, attributing to the crash. This brought around an age of home computers where consumers assumed that the path for gaming would be run on a computer. The rise of cheaper non-compatible computer systems such as Apple II and the Commodore; along with other competitors brought about an enlightening period for the general public, where competition raised awareness for games and computing. In 1984 the computer gaming market overtook console market following the crash, due to equal gaming ability and the simple and easy to use interface associated with computer hardware.

In 1985 the video games console market revived itself in North America with the rise of Nintendo’s 8-bit console, the NES. Bundled with Super Mario Bros. Became an instant success, this system dominated the American and Japanese market in till the rise of fourth generation consoles in the early 1990’s. Europe however remained quite free of the dominance of this system; allowing other systems such as the Sega Master system to find an audience. With these new systems the Gamepade replaced joysticks, keypads and paddles as the default games control included with systems. The invention of the D-pad and action buttons brings games consoles closer to there current state. This later period of the third generation also brought with it the debut of The Legend of Zelda series, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. This generation of Consoles ended with the discontinuation of the NES in 1995.