Super Mario Brothers– The Super Mario Bros. series has come a long way since its release on the NES in 1985. Nowadays, one uses a Wii remote and a nunchuck to run around jumping from planet to planet, experiencing bizarre gravity shifts and weird space battles. The original, 2D, version of the Mario series was by far the best. Remember when a controller was flat and only had a d-pad and four buttons? That’s how games used to be played, the classic way. Now everything has motion sensors and controllers that form to the hand. Oh, and Mario can talk now, and there are tons of characters, not just Mario, Peach and Bowser.

Pitfall!– When the Atari was released, it had tons of games that came with it. Pitfall!, making itself shown in 1982, was a favorite of some. The game was never ending and went on for hours. I remember my mom telling me how she played the game for two hours without dying. Now the game is your person running, and you have to grab onto vines and swing over alligators and pits. You’d think that after a while he’d make it out of the jungle unless he just keeps running around in circles.

The Legend of Zelda– Most players today are used to 3D versions of the game with giant fields and the ability to run and get attacked by evil chickens. Now, the original version had you picking up pots and cutting grass with your sword to find rupees and then buy things. Combat differs now too. Special moves can be preformed instead of the normal slashing and spinny slash move and you can ride horses while shooting a bow or using the sword. The game has changed a lot since it’s beginning, but not all the changes have been for the worse NES 1986

Fallout– Now known as a fully customizable First Person RPG, the very first Fallout game was turn based and originally only for the PC in 1997. One uses a Pip-Boy 2000 in the first one and it doesn’t function to the full extent as it does now. There are tons of different weapon types, ammo types, ways to get health, and tons of miscellaneous quests that was unknown to players in 1997. One of the main reasons the game is so different now is because of a change in developers. First being developed by Interplay, the Fallout games are now developed by Bethesda Studios.

Centipede– You control a little person running around the end of a field full of mushrooms while a giant centipede is weaving it’s way through the mushrooms to come and get you. Sounds simple, right? Well, the more of the centipede that is shot off by your person, the faster the centipede moves, and if you have several little fast pieces of centipede running around, things might get difficult. Especially in high levels when the centipede is really fast to begin with. Released for the Atari in 1981, centipede is by far one of the greatest old school games.

Asteroids– A game completely in black and white with, you guessed it, asteroids. In the middle of the screen is a small space ship and there are asteroids flying all around it trying to smash it. The purpose of this Atari game released in 1979 was to survive as long as possible by avoiding the asteroids or blowing them up before they reached you. It went on forever and was an extremely addicting game. Asteroids can still be found on tons of online gaming sites.

Galaga– One of the best old school games still around. You play as a small space ship down at the bottom in this Arcade game coming forth in 1981. Weird aliens circle into the screen and form a triangle formation at the top and occasionally break ranks to come down and shoot at you. Most of the time it gets killed before it can even look at you though. The most fun thing about it though was letting that one purple alien come down and abduct your ship, then with your next life, killing it and having two ships to control and shoot with at the same time.

Pac Man– What is so entertaining about a yellow pizza with a missing slice running around a maze avoiding and eating ghosts? Obviously someone liked the idea of a “pac man” not playing nice with ghosts that’s names all end in y, but one. The game is extremely fun and addicting, and most never get passed level one. These 3D adaptations that come out are just pitiful and embarrassing. The only good one was the first one, and a great game it will always be. Released in Arcade form in 1980, this game is cherished in the hearts of millions.