Pacman
If you haven't played this all time classic game it must be
because you've been hiding out in a shack on top of a mountain in
Montana for the last 20+ years. The object of the game is to move
around the small yellow blob (Pacman) and chomp up the white dots.
Oh, and watch out for Blinky, Pinky, Inkey, and Clyde (the spooky
ghosts). Now Featuring High Scores!
Special Instructions : Use mouse to click 'Start' , Use
your arrow keys to move Up/Down Left an Right. Press "M" to Mute/Unmute
sound, and "P" to Pause/Unpause the game.
Click Here to Play
(Please give the system a minute to load
the game)
Simon
This game will test your memory, and, ultimately, your sanity.
The object of the game is to memorize Simon's sequence of lights.
On that note,does anyone remember those Simon commercials in the
'80s? How could you forget! :)
Special Instructions : Use your mouse to click start and
click the color bars.
Click Here to Play
(Please give the system a minute to load
the game)
Space Invaders
You can't get anymore retro than this classic shoot-em-up game.
Yes, the graphics are chunky - a far cry from X-Box or PS2
standards - but at the time it seemed like 'space-age' technology
:-) . Now Featuring High Scores!
Special Instructions : Space Bar = Fire, Move Left / Right
using your arrow keys.
Click Here to Play
(Please give the system a
minute to load the game)
Frogger
Strangely addictive game that I remember playing on my old
Amstrad PC back in the day when Windows and MS-DOS was still in
its embryotic stages. You are the frog and your task is to make it
across the road without being hit by traffic, and finally make it
across the river by skilfully hitching a ride on the floating
logs. Sounds simple enough, but it's the end pockets which are the
hardest - and watch out for those pesky crocodiles!
Special Instructions : Left/Right : User your left/right
arrows. To move up/forward - use Up arrow
Click Here to Play
(Please give the system a minute to load
the game)
Moon Patrol
Classic 'left-to-right' shoot em' up game that I remember
playing vividly on my old Atari 2600. An impressive yet quite
challenging action/shooter game with its unique 3D graphics, funky
techno background music - and its revolutionary gameplay, that's
still good even by todays standards - Ok, maybe not - but Moon
Patrol excels in so many areas that it's sure to please diehard
Atari 2600 fans :)
Special Instructions : Move left/right : use your
Left/Right arrow keys, Jump : Up arrow , Fire : Space Bar
Click Here to Play
(Please give the system a minute to load
the game)
Donkey Kong
This classic game first appeared at the arcades in 1981, and
was the first to introduce such characters as Mario, Donkey Kong
and Peach. Donkey Kong was the product of a Nintendo artist named
Shigeru Miyamoto. Miyamoto did the entire game himself (even the
music), the only help he got was with the name. He and a manager
decided they'd call it "Donkey Kong" because "kong" would imply a
gorilla was involved, and "donkey" was used because their
Japanese-to-English dictionary said it meant "stubborn, wily, and
goofy." The story : Donkey Kong has stolen Mario's girlfriend and
taken her to the top of a steel structure. You move Mario over
girders and up ladders, leap over tumbling barrels, dodge lethal
fireballs and jump onto fast-moving elevators, trying to rescue
Mario's girlfriend from Donkey Kong
Special Instructions : Space Bar to jump; Use your
left/right arrow keys to move from left to right, etc. To climb
ladders use your Up arrow
Click Here to Play
(Please give the system a minute to load
the game)
 |
Tetris
Tetris is life. Think about it : As time passes, life's little
problems incessantly pour down in chunks. Somehow, someway, you
must conquer these hurdles, fitting them together so you can move
on. Ok, maybe I'm taking the metaphor too far. In any case, this
is one of the all time classic games and it was Alexey Pajitnov
who created Tetris on an Electronica 60 while working for the
Academy of Sciences in Moscow. Tetris was released in the United
States in 1986. The game's popularity was tremendous, and many
were instantly hooked - it was a software blockbuster.
Now Featuring High Scores!
Special Instructions : Use your mouse to click 'Play', then
choose a level to start at. Up arrow to rotate shapes,
Down/Left/Right arrow keys to move shapes, press P to pause
Click Here to Play
(Please give the system a
minute to load the game)
Duck Hunt
Released in 1984 by Nintendo, Duck Hunt was one of the
first games on the NES platform to use the 'light gun'. The basic
idea of this game is pretty simple - you're a duck hunter armed
with a pistol and your trusty dog. You have three shots to shoot
one or two ducks each round. After ten rounds of duck hunting
(you'll probably be rather bored of shooting duck at this point),
you go to the shooting range and shoot at clay pigeons for another
ten rounds - although the dog is absent. The game is rather fun
and satisfying initially but gets old quickly. The sound effects
are pretty much what you'd expect for a game from the early 1980s
- that is, awful by todays standards - gameplay and graphics are
simple - but it remains a classic and is fun to play every once in
a while.
Special Instructions : Be patient for this game to load. To
fire your pistol click your mouse button.
Click Here to Play
(Please give the system a minute to load
the game)
Pong
Pong, while not the first videogame, was the first coin-op
arcade game and the first mainstream videogame that was available
to almost everyone. The origins of Pong lie with an abstract
tennis game created with an old oscilloscope and some vacuum tubes
by Willy Higinbotham way back in 1958. What eventually became
"Pong" was a pretty simple game with simple rules - hit the ball
across the playing field and try your best to hit it past your
opponents paddle on the other side.
Special Instructions : Use your mouse to guide your paddle
up and down.
Click Here to Play
(Please give the system a minute to load
the game)
Asteroids
In the years after Star Wars, anything involving outer space,
speedy interstellar craft and dangerous battles was considered
golden. Into this arena of sci-fi fantasy came Atari’s Asteroids,
one of the most enduring hits in video game history. Atari’s
recipe for addiction consisted of the following: one screen, five
buttons, one ship, a few UFO’s, and several ship-smashing
asteroids. Smack dab in the center of the action was your
triangle-shaped spacecraft, adrift in a sea of space rocks. The
Blasting large, slow-moving asteroids turned them into two
medium-sized, speedier asteroids. Another blast at the medium
asteroids split them into small, fast-moving asteroids, which
could be vaporized with one more shot. Thus, if you started firing
wildly into fields of big asteroids, you would likely end up in an
even bigger mess than you started with, facing a swarm of tiny,
zippy asteroids. The controls allow you to rotate left and right,
thrust, warp into hyperspace, and most importantly, to fire your
blaster at the rocky menaces. For a generation of video game
addicts, Asteroids will always mean simple graphics, stressful and
addictive gameplay, and dreams of high-scoring glory.
Now Featuring High Scores!
Special Instructions : Use your mouse to click start, Space
bar = Fire , Up arrow key to thrust, Left/Right arrow keys to move
left/right
Click Here to Play
(Please give the system a
minute to load the game)
 |
Star Castle
You may not remember Star Castle - actually, I didn't either -
but visually this game (released in 1980) uses the same 'vector
graphics' that are seen in games such as Asteroids and Battlezone.
Vector graphics are, as seen in the screen shot to the right,
simple lines to create objects - and while it may seem cheesey
compared to present day graphics, they were considered cutting
edge stuff back in the '70s and early '80s. This was also one of
the first games to use an experimental artificial intelligence to
harrass the game player's ship. A barely noticable feature of the
game from our perspective, but a fundamental element of all video
games today. Your task in Star Castle is to break through the
three layers of walls and destroy the central behemoth. Success in
this game is primarily determined by how well you can control your
ship.
Special Instructions : Use the space bar to fire, move
around using your arrows keys.
Click Here to Play
Learning Annex
