Best Game of 1984?

The Game Room
1

There’s been a lot of negativity here lately so let’s find something entertaining to argue about: what was the best video/computer game of 1984?

Why 1984? Because it was post-collapse but pre-revival. There were interesting games being made but the transformation of the consoles triggered by Super Mario Bros was a year away (the Famicom existed but there were only about twenty games for it in 1984 and they were mostly those very early arcade ports that no one in the US bought). It was a strange year for gaming and twenty-five years on we’re in a good position to take a historical perspective.

Just to throw out a few options for people to consider: Karateka, Pitfall II, King’s Quest, Seven Cities of Gold, and Archon.

In the end there is one game from 1984 that I can think of that had a relatively popular release just last year: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It’s popular, it’s infamous for it’s quality and insanity, and it’s arguably the high point of the first computer gaming giant.

Thoughts? Arguments? Any major fans of Excitebike who want to defend it as the greatest game of 1984?

2

I only remember arcade games from that era, like: Galaga, Pole Position, Robotron, Donkey Kong, etc.

3

I’d say Montezuma’s Revenge or Marble Madness were the best games.

My brother and I played Montezuma’s Revenge endlessly; we had the entire game memorized eventually.

Marble Madness was impossible to beat at times, but was a great puzzle game.

Here is a list of games from 1984

4

Interesting… from that list, King’s Quest defined a genre of games for years and years down the road.

And Trade Wars was pretty big as well for a long time.

5

Excitebike is very notable for its ability to make your own track for racing. Way ahead of its time.

6

Oooo…Montezuma’s Revenge. Perhaps the best platformer for the Commordore 64. Was there an actual end to this game? It seemed to go on forever, and I never got to any sort limit to the caverns.

edit: Holy crap. I just looked online. There’s NINE levels to this game?!?! I don’t think I ever completed level 1.

7

“Best” game is so subjective (actually any superlative we try to apply will be) but there are several games of note on that list

“Duck Hunt” - introduced the light gun (Zapper) game to the world (and was my favorite Zapper game until the ROM hack that let you shoot the damn dog…)

“Kung-Fu Master” - the first Beat-Em-Up ala Double Dragon, et al.

“Punch-Out!!” (Arcade version) - With the Dual-screen version, it was one of the first “Watch Me Play and Laugh at Me” games in arcades - up until then, you might have been able to gather maybe 3 (4 max) of your buddies around the cabinet to watch you play, but they weren’t “social” type games like “Punch-Out” was.

“King’s Quest”, HHGTTG - As mentioned above, RPGs that defined genres.

“Raid on Bungeling Bay” - the first game from Will Wright (SimCity, Sims, Spore) - it also had a level editor.

“Drugwars” - the spiritual ancestor of GTA
However, for my money, I think the best game of '84 was “Paperboy” - its unique handlebar controls, relatively non-violent (aside from a little vandalizing :slight_smile: ) gameplay, it’s still one of the popular games of the era.

8

Trade Wars and Montezuma’s Revenge are definitely games that I should have remembered for runner ups. Both had an impact far in excess of their relatively small notoriety.

While the track editor was distinctive for a console in 1984 there were entire game creation systems being released for comptuers. Excitebike was behind the times in that regard.

Yep, “best” is very subjective and open to friendly arguments. Paperboy is an interesting choice; it’s definitely a well made game and memorable.

And King’s Quest and HHGTTG are not RPG’s. The first is the definitive point and click adventure game and the second is a text adventure; not a drop of RPG in them.

9

Ah, yes, Garry Kitchen’s Gamemaker!

10

I think the whole idea of golden ages, collapses and revivals is nonsense. Video/computer games, from their inception until now, have improved at a steady rate. There have been about the same number of great games every year from 197x onwards.

That said, I think the rate of improvement may slow in the near future. There must be a point where graphics become so realistic that it’s hard to improve on them, and that point might not be too far off. I think we’re already at the stage where people look more to innovations in game design, rather than how convincing the texture and lighting are.

11

Elite was released in 1984. It has everything going for it: deep gameplay in a massive universe, revolutionary graphics, invented a new genre, a book for a manual.

12

You’re right. I was thinking it was a 1983 release for some reason.

13

I would have to go with Archon (although my sources tell me Archon was 1983). That’s one of the greatest games of all time. Pure brilliance.

Karate Champ (Player vs. Player edition) was my favorite arcade game at that age. It may well be one of the first popular versus fighters, if not the first.

14

While probably not the best of 1984, recognition should go to The Ancient Art of War as one of the earliest examples of a real-time strategy game.

15

My brother and I made it all the way through. I think after level nine, you just replay level nine again and again…with increasing darkness.

I remember playing it enough so the whole level was dark until you found a torch, about half way through.

16

1984 was Archon II which I never liked as much as Archon I.

But, looking over the list, the clear answer for me is Elite. Hands down. As soon as I saw it on the list, all of my “Was it this… or this?” thoughts flew out from my head.

17

I’m going to go with Balderdash.

What?

18

You won’t hear me say a bad thing about the game Balderdash… except for the fact that it was published in 1971.

Unless you meant Boulderdash in which case it was a fine action game that time has simply passed by.

19

King’s Quest and Archon were both great, but Archon’s controls were extremely hard to get the hang of (at least, in the combat sequences), and King’s Quest left a much greater legacy. So I’m going to have to go with King’s Quest.

I never played Elite, and it looks like it was both groundbreaking and influential, but I’ve never been a big fan of that style of game to begin with.

Wait, what year did Number Munchers come out in? If that was 1984, then it beats out even King’s Quest for my vote.

20

Zork? Defender? PacMan? Frogger?