Last modified on Thu 27 May 2021 05.31 EDT
15. Maniac Mansion (1987,
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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
Photo: Jesse Kumin/Permission of Hock Wah Yeo
With GameStop’s stock exploding and shrinking on a weekly basis, it’s easy to forget that until recently, it was an open question whether the next-gen of gaming consoles were going to come with an optical drive at all. Physical games managed to avoid the grim reaper, for now, but little care is put into their packaging these days. A whole generation missed out on a time when you could walk into a Babbages and an encyclopedia-sized PC game box practically leapt into your hands.
During the video game industry’s adolescence, a visit to the shelves of the computer shop meant finding shareware games in ziplock bags beside boxes adorned in the state-of-the-art of graphic design of the time. But some designers went further and took the opportunity to turn those standard cardboard boxes into eye-catching sculptural objects. One of the unsung heroes of the PC box is the designer Hock Wah Yeo.
Packaging for the Asciiware Sphere 360 PlayStation controller (photo courtesy of Hock Wah Yeo)
When Hock Wah Yeo was hired by the game publisher Velocity, the head of the company gave him an unusual order: “Scare me.”
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Let’s say you go to the store and buy a video game. What does it look like? Chances are, it comes in a plastic box, roughly the size of a DVD case, and there’s a logo on the top that tells you what platform it’s for Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo. It’s easy to understand, and it’s easy to fit on shelves. Retailers like it. The platform owners like it. This is the way it’s been for decades simple, predictable, and safe.
Arcade Classic, Lode Runner, from Tozai Games Coming to iiRcade
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Officially licensed from Tozai Games, four titles from the Lode Runner series will be added to the iiRcade Store, including the original arcade version.
Lode Runner is an all-time classic, both on early 80’s home consoles as well as in the arcade. iiRcadians should really enjoy this nostalgic series. CHICAGO (PRWEB) January 26, 2021
iiRcade Inc., the ultimate connected arcade machine that allows gamers of all ages to play their favorite retro and modern games in arcade style at home, is adding four officially licensed Lode Runner games from Tozai, Inc. to the iiRcade platform.