Last modified on Thu 27 May 2021 05.31 EDT
15. Maniac Mansion (1987,
)
The 1980s were crammed with wonderful adventure games â The Hobbit, Kingâs Quest, Leather Goddesses of Phobos â but the first point-and-click title to be designed by comic genius Ron Gilbert using the SCUMM scripting language is the classic that busted out of the genre ghetto. Filled with great jokes and B-movie cliches, the game made brilliant use of its accessible and intuitive interface, as well as seamlessly integrating cutscenes and non-sequential puzzles. The start of a weird and special era.
Maniac Mansion. Photograph: Lucasfilm Games
14. Jet Set Willy (1984, Software Projects)
Among the formative home computer platformers of the 80s â the likes of Lode Runner, Chuckie Egg and Pitfall â Jet Set Willy stands out for its surreal sense of humour and genuinely disturbing atmosphere. Like that other 8-bit pioneer Jeff Minter, Matthew Smith created his own idiosyncratic dream world