Second gen games that still hold up

[Sandteufel]

Hello!
I think second gen gaming gets a bad rap; people admire it for laying the groundwork but arcade games alongside consoles like the Atari 2600, Intellivision, ColecoVision (and I'll also include the Famicom's very early years) aren't considered fun to play anymore. I actually really enjoy them; sure, they aren't experiences you'll sink hours and hours into, but I really like playing them!
I guess it could be partly because the Atari 2600 got me into retro-gaming in the first place but still.

Pooyan's a classic. I like the idea of a shmup where you're a pig protecting your young from wolves with balloons by shooting arrows and periodically meat at them.

River Raid came out on quite a few consoles and computers though it's a 2600 game originally. Love this game to death. The fuel mechanic and speed adjustment really put this above a lot of shooters of the time.

Super well known, naturally, but Dig Dug is AWESOME. Not much to say about it you know what Dig Dug is.

 

[Ikagura]

I think the biggest issue is that outside of Arcade and a selected few most pre-Super Mario Bros video games are really rough objectively speaking.

There's a reason why Nintendo's famous plumber redefined gaming followed by the elf in a green tunic (and one decade after for 3D gaming).

 

[Yousef]

Salam friend. I’d say try 3D tic tac toe.

 

[davshap]

I really like Xevious, Robotron 2084. And Joust, which influenced Shigeru Miyamoto when he created Mario Bros.

Shigeru Miyamoto – 2000 Developer Interview - shmuplations.com

This lengthy interview with Shigeru Miyamoto focuses on his early work at Nintendo, including Donkey Kong, Mario Bros., and Super Mario Bros.

shmuplations.com

 

[Sandteufel]

I really like Xevious, Robotron 2084. And Joust, which influenced Shigeru Miyamoto when he created Mario Bros.

Shigeru Miyamoto – 2000 Developer Interview - shmuplations.com

This lengthy interview with Shigeru Miyamoto focuses on his early work at Nintendo, including Donkey Kong, Mario Bros., and Super Mario Bros.

shmuplations.com

Robotron 2084 is great. I definitely prefer the N64 version, Robotron 64 though. Joust is also really good!

 

[DunkeyKong]

Yeah the 3rd gen is when it really started, but 2nd gen deserves huge credit for having some of the greatest arcade games ever made. I still play the original Donkey Kong and it's still pretty great

 

[SkunkyBeaumont]

View attachment 7850
I unironically love this game.

 

[Gorse]

I've always had something of a weird affection for Yars' Revenge. The gameplay loop is really unique – it's a one-on-one spaceship battle where you both have unfair advantages over the other – and slooooowly whittling away the enemy's defences while you dart in and out of cover is a lot of fun. Using the "ZORLON CANNON" to deal the finishing blow is hilarious, too. It's like one single screen or a boss fight in an 8-bit scrolling shooter game, and I really do think it's something that only could have been made at the dawn of this medium. (I certainly can't thank of any other games that have come out in the 40 years since that are remotely similar to it.)

The game has an insanely-detailed manual and backstory for what it is (it literally came with a full-length comic book explaining the lore), which I find really cute – it was clearly the programmer's baby, and it's interesting how what you play is essentially the "culmination" of the entire Yar's Revenge storyline. I listened to a podcast interview with the programmer, Howard Scott Warshaw, a few years ago, and he still seemed to remember it fondly. (Warshaw was the guy who programmed the 2600 version of E.T., so he's basically the Miyamoto of the pre-crash video game industry.)

They'd never make a game like this today – it doesn't really follow the modern "rules" of game design, and even at the time it wasn't really a major hit – but as a long-past curio, I do like it a lot. It also introduced the word "Qotile" for the enemy's name, which might be my favourite thing ever written.

 

[Grumpy_Old_Man]

I started playing games around that era, mostly late seventies to early eighties arcade games. Little to no experience with consoles or microcomputers.
If i need to pick a favorite, it may be either Moon Patrol or Elevator Action.

 

[ATenderLad]

If we're including the arcade games? I know some I'd inflict on The Youth:

Some inspired a million derivatives but they still play great, like Breakout, Space Invaders, and Pac-Man...

...not to mention Frogger, Elevator Action, BurgerTime, or Joust if you have another person.

Actually, most games back then were a blast to play together, it's tough to see the fun emulating by yourself.