The 1980s was a great time to be a kid. There was plenty of choice when it comes to toys and games, with everything from the latest video game consoles to action figures, teddy bears and model cars. The list is endless, but some products stood out against the rest as being particularly popular or innovative. Most are things you would have seen around but never realised what they were called or what they did. Here is a list of 80s products that you may have missed or forgotten about.
The Original NES Cartridge (NES)
Nintendo’s original NES system was one of the best selling video game consoles of all time. The NES was the first successful console to have a cartridge based design instead of using a disc like all other consoles at the time. The 32-bit cartridges used by the system could hold up to 2 megabytes of data which is an impressive amount for its day. The light gun accessory and multiple controllers were much better than other systems when it came to playing games, although they did not have a large library of games available at launch unlike newer systems.
Baking Powder
A popular household product in the 80s that is still available today; baking powder used to be called “Bicarbonate of Soda” and was made by many companies like Calumet Baking Powder and others. The premium version for use in cakes was (and still is) called “Superlative”.
Kool-Aid
This was a popular drink for kids to make at home, with millions of packets being produced by numerous companies (including Lucky Strike, 7 Up, Pepsi Cola and others). It came in variety of flavours but our favourite has to be Cherry Bomb which is still sold today as part of a special offer.
Tamagotchi
This unusual looking digital pet was popular in the 80s and still is today but now it has been upgraded to connect to the internet and you can take care of your virtual pet 24/7.
Ecto-1
This futuristic looking ambulance was a favourite of many kids growing up in the 80s and is now still soldas a collector’s item with only around 20,000 produced (the original model). The design is very similar to the Ghostbusters’ Ecto-1, but that vehicle didn’t even make it into production until the late 70’s!
My Little Pony
This was a toy that was made and marketed by Hasbro in the 1980s and early 1990’s. It is a small stuffed animal that sits on top of a larger base which has four legs to stand the pony up. It is pretty unusual looking but it became popular because it was created to be more like a collectible doll than anything else.
ViewMaster
This was a little plastic viewer with a set of 35 images that could be put into the viewer to make an animation come to life (kind of like an Animaniac). By 1982 they were showing these things on TV commercials which helped make this product even more popular than it already was.
