Category Archives: MB Hall of Fame
Asteroids (MB Hall of Fame Inductee)
Hall of Fame Inductee
Asteroids
Original Release: 1979 (Arcade)
Designers: Lyle Rains and Ed Logg
Developer: Atari
Publisher: Atari
It’s not like Asteroids was the first video game (it was far from it). It didn’t have revolutionary graphics or rethink how players played video games. However, Atari hit on something big with Asteroids. It was simple in its design which helped make it easy to get into. It became the definitive video game in arcades and amusement parlours until games began to have more sophisticated displays. Asteroids became such a huge hit that it caused Atari to alter their entire retail plans afterwards.
Breakout (MB Hall of Fame Inductee)
Hall of Fame Inductee
Breakout
Original Release: 1976 (Arcade)
Developed by: Atari
Published by: Atari
When Pong came out, people realized that the game came with a major flaw: you had to play the game with another person. People with no friends were left looking lonely in the corner. Atari responded several years later with Breakout which is essentially a Pong game for people to play by themselves. Atari and the creators of Pong felt that taking the Pong concept and developing into a single-player experience would be well received. They were right as Breakout not only did very well in the arcades but also spurned multiple sequels and has had a lasting legacy.
Results From the First Round of Voting for the Madness Brewing Video Game Hall of Fame (1983 and Everything Prior)
The first round of voting is over for the Madness Brewing Video Game Hall of Fame. Ten games were inducted among the introductory batch of titles. There were a few surprises; both on the side of those that received enough votes to be inducted as well as others that didn’t receive enough votes to remain on future ballots. There was also some controversy over some of the titles that did not get inducted.
Dig Dug (MB Hall of Fame Inductee)
Hall of Fame Inductee
Dig Dug
Original Release: 1982 (Arcade)
Developed by: Namco
Published by: Atari
Namco was very smart about the properties it pushed in the arcades during the early 80s. They always had cute names and featured child-friendly creatures. Pac-Man, Dig Dug, and Bosconian all had these as their main characteristics. Well, not so much the last one, but Dig Dug not only had some incredible gameplay, it was also very easy for Namco to market. it was extremely successful in the arcades and it also helped Namco to proclaim that it wasn’t just a one trick pony; it had a stable of all-star franchises.
King’s Quest (MB Hall of Fame Inductee)
Hall of Fame Inductee
King’s Quest
Original Release: 1984 (IBM PCjr)
Developed by: Sierra On-Line
Published by: IBM, Sierra On-Line
During a time when computer programmers took little risk on their projects and companies shied away from large budgets, there was little room for innovation. By 1984, on all the various home computer formats there were tons of RPG games. The text-based adventure had given way to exploration games with graphical interfaces. King’s Quest took everything one step further. Unlike previous games where the screens remained lifeless and unanimated, King’s Quest’s world was alive (or at least as much as possible with the limited technology). Not only that, Sierra and IBM opened up the purse strings and put enough money into this game to make it one of the most expensive game for its time, as well as the most labourious. It was time and money well spent as King’s Quest was one of the best RPGs of the era.
Q*bert (MB Hall of Fame Inductee)
Hall of Fame Inductee
Q*bert
Original Release: 1982 (Arcade)
Developer: Gottlieb
Publisher: Gottlieb
While Pac-Man has become the symbol of arcade gaming from the early 80s, it’s way to forget that Pac-Man had competition. Namco’s most famous character had mass-market appeal beyond the video game realm. But it wasn’t alone and it had fierce competition. For years, it competed with Gottlieb’s Q*bert for the hearts and minds of gamers.
Defender (MB Hall of Fame Inductee)
Defender
Hall of Fame Inductee
Original Release: 1980 (Arcade)
Developer: Williams Electronics
Publisher: Williams Electronics
Defender has slowly become one of the forgotten titles of the arcade era. It’s not as memorable as games like Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Donkey Kong. Yet in 1981, even while the world was suffering from Pac-Man fever, Defender made more money than the ghost-hunting pie guy. Defender is one of those games that despite its difficulty and its complex gameplay (for the time), it still pulled in the quarters.
Galaga (MB Hall of Fame Inductee)
Hall of Fame Inductee
Galaga
Original Release: 1981 (Arcade)
Developer: Namco
Publisher: Midway/Namco
1981 wasn’t exactly a year where video game companies were coming up with innovating games to unleash upon the masses. Most games were essentially copycats of previously released games with better graphics and sound to harness the newer and better technology available. Some games bucked the trend, such as Pac-Man and Donkey Kong but most "new" games in the arcade were just upgrades of previous available cabinet games. Galaga falls into the latter category but that does not discount its significance to the video game history. While it borrows a heavy amount with the formula created from Space Invaders, it helped maintain that genre of games well throughout the 80s.
Frogger (MB Hall of Fame Inductee)
Hall of Fame Inductee
Frogger
Original Release: 1981 (Arcade)
Designer: Konami
Publisher: Sega, Gremlin
It’s weird how the simplest of concepts that have no business of becoming popular find their way to the front of the mass-market audience. Konami’s Frogger is an example of this. Considering it was released in 1981, an era where the best games involved shooting at things or had at least more than one screen, Frogger was very modest in contrast. It only had one screen and the goal was to get a frog to run across traffic to go home. On paper it sounds like a dud. In reality, it’s a game that became an icon in the industry.
Donkey Kong (Hall of Fame Inductee)
Hall of Fame Inductee
Donkey Kong
Original Release: 1981
Designers: Shigeru Miyamoto
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
While there were games that were more popular during their time in the arcades and games that made more of an impact in the world of gaming, Nintendo’s Donkey Kong is important for a variety of reasons. The first is that, while it didn’t become as big a mass market icon like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong was still plenty popular and was a staple of any arcade worth going to. Another reason is that the battle over Donkey Kong between Nintendo and Universal was the first example of a small video game company not bowing down to the movie industry and coming out on top. Most importantly, though, it introduced the public into the most popular video game icon of all time.
