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  • I guess the oldest would be Asteroids using emulation via MAME. If you're talking about original hardware I would say Pitfall on the Atari 2600.

  • This week it's been Megaman II (1988).

    I feel like games before that era had a lot of coin-op focus. Not much content, but hard enough that you'll be pouring more credits into the machine. That said, I've been itching to play Alley Cat (1983), but I don't have a good setup for MS-DOS games at the moment. I'll have to see if my Miyoo mini is up for the task.

  • Missile Command is a 1980 shoot 'em up arcade video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. and later licensed to Sega for Japanese and European releases.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile_Command

    On the actual arcade machine as well, with the huge ball "mouse".

    Felt challenging, but also how it would be kinda trivial with a mouse and keyboard.

  • That would be Ultima Online, released in 1997.

    I can tolerate the graphics, but the controls are really something else. Played it for 3 hours and had the urge to play some more, but never did.

  • I know it's not the "official" game, but I've been playing some Ocarina of Time (1998) multi-world randomizers every now and then over the last couple years.

    • Would you elaborate on the multi-world part please? Is it additional modded areas or am I thinking too hard?

      • So it is a program running in the program from Archipelago that can connect multiple randomizers together. You can have a friend playing a different randomizer somewhere else and you can send them item for their game and vise versa. Or you can run an a-synch on your own by doing everything you can in one game, and then swapping to another.

        They have a list of compatible randos on their website, and I'd be willing to answer any other questions you have

  • I tend to not go that far back usually, mostly hovering around the mid 90's and 2000's with my retrogaming, but does it count if I've played some rounds of NES Tetris?

    I'm currently reading a fantasy book from 1984 if that doesn't count.

  • I actually played a wee bit of 1983's Crystal Castles (Atari 2600 version) earlier this year when I was trying out emulators 🤣 I loved that game when I was a kid, I get a major nostalgia hit when I play it. I'm sure some of the other games I tested were older still, but that's the one I remember because I was born in that same year.

    I remembered it being one of the first games I ever played. As I fumbled my way through those first few sessions, I could physically feel my neurons flowering and blooming and creaking to life like a bunch of microscopic mind-rhubarb. It was the beginning of a life-long love of gaming.

  • Hmm... in my case the oldest game I've been playing recently is a fan translation of "Metal Max Returns" a 1995 SNES remake of a 1991 Famicom game.

  • Mother, NES, 1989

    • If you have played Earthbound, is Mother 1 still worth a play?

      • I have played earthbound many times before I played mother. If you are a huge fan of the series, yes it's worth playing. But it's not necessary, earthbound is almost more of an enhanced remake than a sequel. Sure, there are some differences, but nothing compared to mother 3.

  • I've been dipping my toe into the mating game with minimal success. They really haven't done much to improve it since I last played.

  • Either Outlaw or Superman or the Atari 2600. Both came out in 1978, but I'm not sure which was first.

  • This thread reminds me I need to get over to Funspot. They’ve got a great collection of classic arcade and pinball machines. Web site claimed 600 games, but some of that is newer stuff, or mechanical games like Skiball and Wack-a-mole, which aren’t video games. Probably 300 vintage units, though. Haven’t made a pilgrimage this calendar year, though, so it doesn’t count.

  • My gaming extends decades ago, with an Atari 2600 and the arcade era of the early 80s. Returned to gaming a few years ago and I'm playing Oregon Trail for the first time. Oh, and it's on my Steam deck.

  • hm, throughout my life the ones that come to mind are:

    • pitfall (82)
    • number munchers (86)
    • word munchers (85)
    • oregon trail (85 version)
    • a-maze-ing (81)

  • I still play Treasure of Tarmin (Intellivision, 1983) on my phone from time to time. I don't think the core gameplay loop would be entirely out of place in a small roguelite game today.

    • You have my attention, now sell me on it!

      Edit: I decided to give it a try. For anybody else interested, I believe the internet has archived it. It is listed under Mattel Intellivision, with the full title being D&D - Treasure of Tarmin

      Edit: scratch that. I have exec.bin and grom.bin in my Retroarch system folder, and I'm just getting a green screen with occasional flicker, followed by Intellivision Halted.

      Edit: bad ROM. What you want is Advanced D&D Treasure of Tarmin. I also grabbed the Mountain one to check out

      • The Cloudy Mountain one is more like classic Intellivision stuff. I think that one was well-received at the time, but I actually don't often hear much chatter about Treasure of Tarmin. Tarmin being a first-person dungeon crawler gives it some legs since it's an inherently "classic" style, although calling the graphics and controls dated would be a huge understatement.

        Players are absolutely going to need the game manual, and even then some item use cases will have to be figured out.

182 comments