Video games have been around for a considerable amount of time now, and they have changed immeasurably over the years. They have become a pervasive part of everyday life for millions of people, and they can take all manners of shape and form. There are sports games, horror games, shooting games, fantasy epic games, science fiction space exploration games, and games covering virtually every other concept under the sun.
In other words, video games have come a very long way since they were first made accessible to the public. However, old isn't necessarily bad, and there are still games from the early halcyon days of gaming in the 1970s that are still very fun to play.
10 Night Driver Is A Challenging Driving Game
Night Driver is an arcade driving game from Atari released in 1976. The premise is simple: drive through a narrow dark pathway as fast as you can for as long as you can. The pathway will twist and turn, and it's very easy to go astray and drive off the path.
The graphics are minimal but they do a lot considering the restrictions. The arcade cabinet aims to mimic a real car, with four gears and a gas pedal. The game length is determined by the player, and they can earn bonus time if they reach 300 points.
9 Pong Is A Basic But Fun Game To Play With A Competetive Friend
The classic Pong, released by Atari in 1972, is about as simple as games get, but it can still be quite fun if you can find a competitive friend to square off against. Pong simulates ping-pong, with a ball bouncing between two paddles that can only move up and down to block the ball.
The ball bounces off the bottom and top of the screen, meaning the player has to predict the bounce angle which adds a nice level of difficulty to the otherwise simple concept.
8 Gun Fight Can Be A Tense Showdown Between Two Shooters
Gun Fight is a Midway arcade game released in 1975 (the characters of which can be found in an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate). The game allows the player to go through a series of duels between two gunfighters with more obstacles appearing over time.
The player can move their gunfighter around on their side of the field to try and dodge bullets and get a better angle on their opponents. Each player only has six shots to succeed within each round, so keeping an eye on ammunition is key.
7 Space Invaders Was Galaga Before Galaga
Space Invaders is another Midway game, this time released in 1978. This game has the player controlling a ship repelling invading alien ships coming down in rows and columns. The game is complicated by large barriers that appear in the way that the player has to chip away at before they can shoot through it.
This game was succeeded by the likes of Galaxian and Galaga over the next decade, but the original Space Invaders retains a strong charm and started the trend of this kind of shoot 'em up game.
6 Lunar Lander Was A Challenging Game Of The Early Era
Lunar Lander is an Atari game that came out in 1979. The player takes control over the titular lunar lander as they try to make a safe landing on the jagged and rocky surface. The player must control the direction, speed, and angle of the lunar lander to ensure that the landing is safe. They get extra points for landing in specific spots.
To make things more complicated, the player only has a set amount of fuel, so they must make their safe landing before fuel runs out.
5 Tail Gunner Is A Game About Repelling Ships From The Gunner's Seat
Tail Gunners is a Vectorbeam game wherein the player takes the tail gunner's seat of a spaceship and repels invading enemies. The point of view is first-person from the gunner's seat, and the player must move the crosshairs to target the attacking spaceships. The player can use shields to block advancing ships, and they lose if 10 ships make it through the defenses.
The game is simple but a lot of fun and can easily absorb the player into the action. Many games have succeeded this one to the point where a "turret section" is expected in just about every first-person shooter, but Tail Gunner still holds up.
4 Star Raiders Is A Great Space Dogfighting Game
Star Raiders is similar to Tail Gunner in that it focuses on the first-person perspective of a pilot repelling enemy ships in the vacuum of space. It came out on the Atari 8-Bit Family of computers in 1979. However, Star Raiders gets a lot more complex than Tail Gunner.
Star Raiders also has the player travel from sector to sector across space. They have to seek out all the enemy ships and destroy them in the dogfight section (in which the player can freely control the ship), and traveling to different points in space can be compromised if the player doesn't control their ship's direction. Star Raiders actually has an endgame too if the player manages to destroy all ships.
3 Sea Wolf II Is A Particularly Colorful Game About Sinking Ships
Sea Wolf and Sea Wolf II both came out in the 1970s, with the first coming out in 1976 and the second coming out in 1978, both by Midway. The player controls a periscope and fires missiles at passing ships with the aim of sinking them. It's straightforward but quite fun.
Sea Wolf II succeeds the initial game on the simple basis of having a blue sea as opposed to the black sea with lines depicting waves and the sealine.
2 Asteroids Still Holds Up Even With Its Simple Concept
Asteroids came out in 1979 courtesy of Atari. The player controls a small ship floating around the center of the screen while asteroids float menacingly towards them. They can shoot apart asteroids, but the smaller pieces can still be a danger. The player can move and rotate the ship, but the amount of obstacles quickly becomes overwhelming.
Furthermore, there are flying saucers that begin to appear that will shoot at the player's ship, adding to the dangers that lurk for our poor little spaceship pilot.
1 Oregon Trail Is A Strangely Addicting Game To This Day
Oregon Trail is a highly addicting game that initially came out initially in 1971 courtesy of the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium. It was initially intended to be an educational game, but it quickly grew into a fixation for countless bored individuals with computer access.
The game is a text-based strategy game in which the player must get their wagon train to their destination. Food and supplies are vital but scarce, and dangers and diseases abound. Players are bound to lose some people to dysentery. Despite that, this text-based strategy adventure is absorbing and a ton of fun with countless reiterations that have been developed in the years since.