The gaming industry, both arcade and console, saw a massive rise throughout the 1980s. Kids and the youth everywhere were starting to get heavily invested in the “nerd” culture and were searching for ways to express that devotion.
There was a huge variety of games available in the 80s, and there are some popular video games from this time that stood out among their competition. The following is a list of the top five most popular Nintendo video games in the 1980s:
Donkey Kong
The first game on the list is Donkey Kong, which was released in 1981. It’s a platforming game that was extremely popular for its time because it showcased one of the first protagonists who was actually a character from a video game.
Donkey Kong is one of Nintendo’s most famous games, and it has over 80 million copies sold worldwide. It also inspired other popular games such as Mario Bros., where you played as Mario jumping on enemies to save a princess named Peach.
Pac-Man
The second video game on the list is Pac-Man, which was released in 1980. It is one of the most famous and well-known arcade games of all time. The game came from game designer Toru Iwatani’s idea of making a game that wasn’t overtly violent like many others at the time.
Instead of being a hero slaying dragons or fighting crime, you’re simply a circular shape that progressed through levels by eating. You can easily see why it became so popular over time. In Pac-Man, you must eat dots while avoiding ghosts and other creatures in order to stay alive.
Super Mario Bros. 3
Many consider Super Mario 3 to be one of the best and most loved games on the Nintendo Entertainment System, and it was the standard for all Mario’s adventures for a long time. It still continued to become the standard until the ’90s. It brought new power ups, an overworld, and easier platforming levels, all with the result that Nintendo really proved that Mario was becoming a household name.
Each character all have their own special abilities. They contain many attributes that have become icons of the Mario series. That title, like Super Mario World, is the most important game in the popular series.
The Legend of Zelda
On the original NES, one of the most ambitious projects was to make the Legend of Zelda. In this game, Link and his friends traveled across the Hyrule region, which created an adventure genre that enticed gamers to fulfill their own heroic fantasy. While the graphics in this title may not be that great as compared to other entries in the series, many still lampoon it as the best.
When this game first premiered, it was game changing. There are lots of winding paths, hidden dungeons, and treasures that the players must share among themselves. It was among the first games that captured the thrill of being on a quest of adventure.
