I missed the majority of the 1980’s video game and video consul gaming hysteria, but I was lucky enough that it wasn’t dead by the time I could enjoy it in the 1990’s. I was definitely an indoor kid, and my skin would retain its icy white pallor as I stayed inside playing Super Mario Bros. on my friend’s Nintendo consul in the summertime. I played all the computer game adapted versions (although I’m sure they weren’t the same as they were with the original joystick) and frequented the video consul machines at the local pizza parlors and gaming emporiums.

Why, oh, why wasn’t I born seven years earlier?

Alas and alack aside, here are some of the best, wish-I-coulda-been-there video games from the 1980’s:

Ms. Pac-man. I love and loved Ms. Pac-man. She was so hip with the 80’s-era “Ms” and the demise of the joystick was certainly a travesty. The simplicity of this game—the humanoid Ms. Pac-man, the snuggly ghosts, the edible dots, the mazes, the fruits—was nearly perfect. Ms. Pac-man will never be happily converted to computer, but I hope she remains in hamburger shops the world over.  

Super Mario Bros. Remember when I said that I played Super Mario Bros. every day of my summertime life when I was a kid? A friend of mine had an old-school Nintendo consul, and I played it every day of my winter as a twenty-three-year-old life, as well. The worlds and the opponents and the different abilities of Mario and Luigi on this game are so, so clever. And death is so sweet and innocuous, too.

Frogger. I’ve played the original Frogger with a joystick once or twice, but I think this game is well-adapted to computer play. It’s so deceptively simple—miss the cars; don’t get squished—but it’s still so difficult. I spent many a class in high school trying to hide my Frogger game underneath a history paper. As is to be expected, you can’t really stop Frogger on the middle of a busy highway.

Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong was obviously a Mario copy, but what wasn’t? In this game, giant gorilla Donkey Kong and his little pal race through various tropical hideaways, searching for tasty bananas and killing the bad guys. The only thing that was better about this game than Mario was Donkey Kong’s awesome rhinoceros side-kick that could knock things out with his shiny horn. Sorry, Yoshi, but you just couldn’t compete.