Your Top 20 Games of the 1970s

[NeoZeedeater]

Top game lists have been done to death on the internet but some topics still manage to get overlooked, like the 1970s. It was a groundbreaking decade for video games. While I think most people would agree that its genres were surpassed in the '80s, that doesn't mean there isn't stuff worth playing today both for gameplay and historical value.

One thing that sucks about trying to compare '70s games is that it's impossible to have access to playing everything. A lot of mainframe games remain lost. A lot of arcade games are super rare now and many haven't been emulated. And with some that are emulated, I don't feel I can properly judge without real hardware (like the Triple Hunt gun games).

And many games are hard to determine release dates circa 1979/1980. Atari's Adventure is a significant game and we don't even know for sure what decade it hit stores. There's a hardcoregaming article on the subject.

I'm not sure how to rank dedicated consoles either. I quite like the Radio Shack TV Scoreboard for its mix of tennis and light gun games but does it count as one sports compilation or multiple games?

Anyway, here's my current top 20:


1. Asteroids (Atari, Arcade)


2. Monaco GP (Sega, Arcade)
Last time I checked, this still hadn't been emulated in MAME but it's available in Sega Ages: Memorial Selection 2 for Saturn. And there's a homebrew PC version based on the arcade version called Monaco GP Remake.


3. Colossal Cave Adventure AKA Adventure (Crowther/Woods, PDP)
Prior to the re-discovery a few years ago of Peter Langston's Wander engine games dating as far back as 1974, this was widely considered to be the first text adventure.


4. Star Raiders (Atari, 400/800)
There were space shooters before it that did action well or simulation well but this was the game that successfully merged the two styles.


5. Space Invaders (Taito, Arcade)


6. Combat (Atari, VCS)
I like other '70s tank games like arcade Tank, Panzer Attack on Bally, Armored Encounter on Odyssey2, and Armor Battle on Intellivision but Combat is the most satisfying one. The controls and variations give it an edge.


7. Bomb Bee (Namco, Arcade)
Breakout meets pinball. It's the sequel to Gee Bee and predecessor to Cutie Q.


8. Super Breakout (Atari, VCS)
Even with fancier games in the genre over the past decades, this still holds up nicely. Block Buster on Microvision deserves a mention as well for a similar experience on a cartridge portable a decade before Game Boy.


9. Dungeon AKA Zork (Anderson/Blank/Daniels/Lebling, PDP)
Infocom adapted this to personal computers by dividing it into three games (among other changes). But that was starting in 1980. That's a more polished version but if you want the original '70s experience ported to a modern PC, download the file zdungeon and run it through a program like WinFrotz.


10. Head On (Sega/Gremlin, Arcade)
A pre-Pac-Man dot gobbler of sorts. I might have a preference for Atari's clone, Dodge 'Em, but I haven't found good evidence of it coming out before 1980.


11. Galaxian (Namco, Arcade)


12. Orthanc Labyrinth (Resch, PLATO)
Out of all the '70s RPGs I have played, this held my interest the most. dnd has more impressive characters including an end boss but even after playing for hours I'm way too bad at the game to make any real progress. I suck at Orthanc as well but it's not quite as frustrating. There were also more advanced multiplayer focused RPGs back then. If you want to play these emulated PLATO network games, register here: http://www.cyber1.org/index.asp#home


13. Checkmate (Bally, Professional Arcade)


14. Lunar Lander (Atari, Arcade)
A remake of the 1969 game.


15. Tail Gunner (Vectorbeam, Arcade)
First-person vector graphics shooting from the back of a ship.


16. Lunar Rescue (Taito, Arcade)
It's like Lunar Lander with much simpler physics and shooter elements.


17. M79 Ambush (Ramtek, Arcade)


18. Night Driver (Atari/Micronetics, Arcade)
While Vectorbeam's Speed Freak gets props for being the most visually impressive 3d racer of the '70s, Night Driver has a better speed sensation.


19. Adventureland (Adventure International, TRS-80)
At a time when text adventures were mostly on mainframe computers, Scott Adams was bringing them to the emerging personal computer market.


20. Blasto (Gremlin, Arcade)



What are your top 20 (or whatever number you want) games of the '70s?

[Black_Tiger]

Games from the 70's that I enjoy now or did when I was young:

Pong
Space Invaders
Galaxian
Armor Battle
Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack
Adventure
Breakout

[Night Driver]

Good list.

I would add

Pong

Superman (VCS) - Pioneered many elements of video game design that we take for granted nowadays.

Atari Football (Arcade)

Seawolf (Arcade)

[gamevet]

Atari sure had a lot of black and white arcade games in the 70s.

Adventure (Atari VCS)
Pong
Seawolf

[goldenband]

I'd add Fire Truck (Atari arcade game from 1978) to the mix. Really fun, especially with two people manning the stand-up cabinet.

EDIT: And on the Atari 2600, Video Olympics and Indy 500 can be really fun with the right crowd. Human Cannonball, Bowling, and (to some extent) Sky Diver too.

I've heard good things about Dodge It on the Channel F; don't remember if I've played it (in emulation).

This is making me wish Chronogamer were still around.

[Hik]

I had some of those games on old computers given to me by relatives and played them ,namely Asteroids ,Space Invaders and Lunar Lander.

[profholt82]

1. Space Invaders (Arcade)
Still my favorite video game of all time. I need to buy a cab, but I have a home version for just about every console I own. There are a few arcades around that have cabinets though, so I'm able to play the real deal a few times a year. It's the first game I ever remember playing as a little kid in the 80s as it was one of the few earliest games I owned for the Atari 2600.

2. Asteroids (Arcade)
Highly addicting game that demands constant attention and incredible reflexes to post a high score. So intense.

3. Galaxian (Arcade)
It's a precursor to Galaga (which I prefer), but it's a great game in its own right as it plays like a combination of Galaga and Space Invaders.

4. Outlaw (Atari 2600)
Two outlaw cowboys shooting it out in the Old West. There are numerous game modes which add a lot of variety to the theme such as cacti you have to shoot through and stage coaches which barrel down the thoroughfare between you and your nemesis.

5. Sky Diver (Atari 2600)
You drop from a plane and have to land on the pad. It's a blast with a second player. The funnest modes are landing on moving pads, and both trying to be the first to land on one pad in the middle. After dropping from the plane, the variable wind will blow you around, so knowing when to pull your chute is the most important part. A lot of touch and feel goes into the game; it's an art and a science. If you miss your pad, your guy gets smushed into the ground and there is a hilarious sound effect. Great game. I suppose Pilot Wings on the Snes could be considered a spiritual successor, but Sky Diver makes that game its b1tch.

6. Basketball (Atari 2600)
As simple as the name implies, yet a very fun version of the sport, particularly with a friend. It is one-on-one basketball between two stick figures who are always facing each other. You can steal it from one another and shoot it from deep or close for a layup. You can jump and block your opponent. Just playing the computer can pose quite a challenge as the AI is good. The AI guy swarms all over the court like a mad man. It's just basic basketball but it's so much fun. While I'd rather play NBA Jam, I have more fun with this one than most modern simulation games.

7. Combat (Atari 2600)
This one was packed with the system, so everyone with a 2600 growing up has played it. So many different game modes add variety and replay value to it. My favorite was probably the planes that circle around in loops in the clouds.

8. Breakout (Arcade)
This game is just fun. It's been remade for just about every console or PC at one time or other because of it's simplicity and high fun factor.

9. Pong (Arcade/Pong Machine)
While Pong wasn't the first arcade game, it was the first one that exploded into the mainstream and started the video game phenomenon. Nolan Bushnell was the mastermind behind it, and like most of his best known inventions, its genius is in its simplicity. Two paddles + one ball = good times.

10. Air-Sea Battle (Atari 2600)
Not the most polished game, but I had it at a young age and put plenty of time into it. A few levels of planes, ships, submarines, et cetera scroll across the screen at different speeds and you control a gun turret and have to shoot them down. The gameplay itself is fun for a time, but there aren't enough variations in speeds to make it challenging for a long enough time. The game is important though because it paved the way for Missile Command which took the basic idea of the game and made it into one of the best games of all time.

[NeoZeedeater]

Superman (VCS) - Pioneered many elements of video game design that we take for granted nowadays.

Yeah, even though I'm not a big fan of it, it deserves more credit from a historical standpoint.