IGN: 10 Reasons Why Video Games Were Better in the '80s

You may be too young to remember, but the 1980s represented a simply awesome (and awesomely simplistic) decade of video games. The medium was innocent and goofy and as a result, so were the games. So how great were the '80s? Like, totally great. Let IGN count the ways!

[MariaHelFutura]

They make some pretty valid points.

[dedicatedtogamers]

One thing I definitely agree with: games were hard. Actually, I take that back. What they should have said was "games were instantly fun". Not all games were hard. I was 5 when I beat Mega Man 2. I was 4 when I beat Super Mario Bros., and I wasn't (and I'm still not) that great of a game player.

However, games back then were fun within the first 5 seconds. You didn't slog through a 15 minute introductory tutorial. You didn't slog through another 15 minutes of cutscenes. You dropped a quarter (or turned on the console), pressed Start, and you were having fun within 15 seconds.

THAT is something gaming nowadays has forgotten.

[OneAboveAll]

Very valid points. Back then games didn't hold your hand. If you died 3 times without getting extra lives you had to start all over. No checkpoints.

If you beat Contra then you were the baddest mofo in school.

Most importantly, you got bang for your buck. A nice box with protective sleeves for your game, a nice manual with more than 2 pages and more often then not the game you just purchased came with a Poster to hang on your wall.

To top it all off your console always worked. My NES still goes to this day. Already went through one PS3 and 2 360's.

[TheFinalEpisode]

I agree on everything except for the "more bang for your buck" part.Tthe price to make games has changed dramatically, GTA4 for example cost $100million to make. Back then the whole videogame industry was probably cheaper. My point is if they are going to make better games then its fine to cut back on a few unnecessary extras that don't really add to the gaming experience.

[SaiyanFury]

I agree that games provided more "instant fun" back in the day. I started gaming back in 1986 and games were fun. Games are fun today too, but the reason they're not "instantly fun" with tutorials and the like is because games today are much more complex these days. Back in the days of the NES, you had two action buttons on the controller. These days on an average controller, we'll take Sony's DualShock 3 for example, you have a D-pad, two analog sticks, two buttons when you depress said sticks, 6 face buttons (I factor in Start and Select), and 4 top buttons. That's a far cry from 2 action buttons on the NES controller. Also back then, Start only paused the game (sometimes Select did) and Select was typically only used in simple menus. It's kind of hard to compare games from yesteryear, to games today. Albeit I do agree, games were generally more difficult back then...

[NYC_Gamer]

80's gaming was very limited gameplay and story wise compared to now

[dedicatedtogamers]

80s was limited in story? Go play Zork, Wasteland, the Ultima series, or the dozens of adventure games that came in the 80s.

[thorstein]

Indeed. What about Golgo 13?

[TheFirstClassic]

I don't know if I would say 80s was better, definitely had its advantages, but I would say the best games were made between 95 and 05.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

The 80's? I wouldn't know I wasn't born yet.

[animegamingnerd]

same here i was born in 97 all i know about the 80's is the video game crash and the rise of nintendo and i think sega to

[thebudgetgamer]

HA, when you were born I was on my way to college.

[TheFirstClassic]

Grab yourself an emulator then. I was born in 93 but ive played a ton of nes and snes games.

[GREW50ME]

#11 There were no $20 prima or brady guides... only the booklet that came with the game, and sometimes a hint or two in Nintendo Power or Gamepro.

[guitarded77]

Nope, there was the Official Nintendo Player's Guide... I saved my $20 up for it and bought it so I could have the maps to Zelda and Rygar. That book was awesome.

[Zodiac]

I was born in 1993, but all it takes is an NE, SNES, or Master System emulator to tell you it was better back then.

[e-p-ayeaH]

late 90´s and early 2000´s that´s my favorite time in gaming.

[TheFinalEpisode]

The good'ol days when not everything was same thing :,)

[Kingthrash360]

Games were better in thos days simply because we played them without caring about things like frame rate or "jaggies" or which system is better. All we did was play, no complaining over bullshit we just had fun. Now..... We're seeing and complaining about stuff that doesn't matter like sales numbers and GPU/CPU specs. I've never seen anything about nes sales numbers or sonic the hedgehog's frames per second. That's why!.... a lot of gamers are bitchy now days, they have lost their way in this gaming world.... Smh

[Bathyj]

I loved my Game&Watch, Atari 2600 and Commodore 64. I used to regularly have sleep overs with friends and we would game until the sun came up play Commando and The Last Ninja.

But I think it wasnt so much the games but more being a kid with no worries. Games werent necessarily better, we were just easier to entertain.

Hell, the loading screens of C64 games used to amazing me with their "incredible" bitmap graphics.

[Yangus]

True, totally great 80's and 90's and early 2000's.

My first console Atari 2600 VCS. Old days..

[smashcrashbash]

When you beat a game back then you were a king of gamers. People were impressed that you could beat it. Now everyone can beat games and it's no big feat. People talked about how they couldn't finish the first TMNT and considered it unbeatable and unplayable. Guess who beat the whole game five times with no help from anyone while everyone else was griping about it. *points at self* That right,ME! I kicked butt in TMNT and I was proud and still am. I came from a era where if you didn't come to play hard you might as well go home, send the game back to the store and cry. There was barely any help and you would be stuck forever unless you figured it out yourself. It was those games that molded me into the gamer I am today.It helped me adapt to and keep trying to beat a game instead of crying and whining about it online

[Psychotica]

What I miss is that I could understand how to play the games immediately. I almost never had to read the instructions