As a child of the 80’s, I was raised during the second coming of video games following the crash in the earlier part of the decade when wave after wave of shovelware titles swelled store shelves to the point of choking them. But as Nintendo released their Entertainment System to what would become a veritable generation of kids who would grow up on video games, there were those who would eventually stumble on the systems that had come earlier and gone bravely into the cold darkness. Now, however, with the release of the Game Room on Xbox LIVE Arcade, all of the original games on the Atari and Intellivision that paved the way for Mario, Sonic and Master Chief are back and available for download. While the first slew of them were exceptionally chosen titles and memorable in and of themselves, it seems to me that Microsoft forgot a few classics it seems. So, for your entertainment, which will most likely date me pretty well for my readers, these are the top ten games that Microsoft should pursue immediately for making available to the Game Room arcade service.
10. Warlords: Released in 1980 by Atari, the game took what had made the original Pong extremely popular and multiplied it exponentially. By adding two players to the mix, thereby increasing the overall count to four players, this was one of the first true multiplayer cabinets in the sense of being for more players than 2. Sure, you think about it now and scoff, but back then, 2 players was the max and in an era of 16, 32, 64 or 256 player games, it is almost taken for granted that there was a time when the only other player was the one sitting right next to you. Additionally, the game utilized a fortress system. Thus, while you were attempting to destroy your opponent’s bricks a la Breakout, you were forced to defend using the spinner controllers for all you were worth. As time went on the game fell out of style and only today can arcade or cocktail cabinets be found.
9. Pole Position: This was probably the first racing games for many of the kids who grew up in the eighties as well as for many adults who had never played a game in their entire lives. While many believed it was virtually impossible to create a game on a video game console that emulated driving from a first person view, this game did it. Dave Warhol being responsible for making it happen after extensive experimentation believed it was possible and that was more than enough for Mattel to fund the conversion. Touted at the time as having POV graphics, realistic sound effects and a grand total of four racetracks designed to chill gamers of the era to their core, Pole Position made a relatively unfettered translation from the arcade to the console. Though there are some who still sincerely believe the game was better left off the Intellivision.
8. Zaxxon: One of many early arcade titles that attempted to bring games into the third dimension is still ridiculously primitive when placed side-by-side to any of the current generation games – even in an attempt at 3D gaming. Putting you in control of a futuristic spaceship, you were tasked with destroying wave after wave of enemies on top of bombing enemy installations. For those who don’t quite have an image, check out Super Cobra on the Game Room and that’ll give you a relatively clear picture – at least until Microsoft quits screwing around and brings Zaxxon back.
This feature top 10 list continues on the next page, please click below to reveal our next few choices for the top 10 arcade classics Game Room needs to be epic.
