Game Histories

When Strider reached arcades in 1989, it seemed to be in a hurry. Its hero dropped into a futuristic city, […]

The adventure begins not in a distant wilderness or ruined castle, but beneath one of the most famous cities in […]

In 1992, computer players entering the forest of Kyrandia found a fantasy world filled with talking trees, magical gemstones, strange […]

When Command & Conquer arrived in 1995, it did not invent real-time strategy from nothing. Westwood Studios had already helped […]

In late 1992, players who loaded Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty onto an IBM-compatible computer found themselves looking […]

When Gradius appeared in Japanese arcades on May 29, 1985, it arrived during one of the most competitive periods in […]

By 1987, anyone designing a horizontally scrolling arcade shooter in Japan had a problem. Konami’s Gradius had already helped define […]

By 1986, Konami had already established itself as one of the important names in the growing Japanese arcade industry. The […]

A pair of soldiers drops into hostile territory with almost nothing between them and an invading army. Enemy troops pour […]

When GoldenEye 007 arrived on the Nintendo 64 in 1997, almost everything about it seemed to work against success. The […]

In the summer of 1994, Nintendo showed an audience of journalists, retailers, and game-industry figures something that looked almost impossible […]

By 1994, the fighting game had become one of the defining genres of the arcade. Capcom’s Street Fighter II had […]

When Banjo-Kazooie reached the Nintendo 64 in 1998, its premise seemed almost deliberately strange. The hero was a good-natured honey […]

Long before Mario became permanently associated with the Mushroom Kingdom, Nintendo could still send him almost anywhere. He had already […]

For many players, Wild Gunman belongs to the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is remembered as one of the early games […]

For generations of players, Tecmo Bowl is remembered as a Nintendo game. It is the football cartridge where Bo Jackson […]

Before Mario ran across the Mushroom Kingdom, Nintendo sent a red motocross rider flying across dirt ramps. Excitebike can look […]

By the late 1970s, video games had already learned how to simulate tennis, racing, gunfights, tanks, and space combat. American […]

For someone encountering Kung Fu on the Nintendo Entertainment System for the first time, there is not much mystery about […]

When Nintendo released the Family Computer in Japan during the summer of 1983, the company still had to answer a […]

Long before Madden became an annual ritual for football fans, the series began with a much more difficult question: could […]

Walk into the right American bar in the opening months of 1984 and one of the strangest arcade cabinets of […]

In January 1984, Nintendo released a tennis game with one of the simplest titles imaginable. There was no famous athlete […]

There is almost nothing on the first screen to explain what the player is supposed to do. A small boy […]

When Ninja Gaiden reached players at the end of the 1980s, it seemed to fit naturally into an era fascinated […]

By the time Super Mario Bros. appeared in 1985, Mario was no longer a completely new character. Players had first […]

Few video games have rules as easy to explain as Sokoban. A worker stands inside a warehouse filled with boxes. […]

Three years before Street Fighter II transformed fighting games into one of the defining genres of the 1990s, a young […]

Before Castlevania became the name of a sprawling series of games, animated adaptations, soundtracks, and generations of vampire hunters, it […]

By the beginning of 1989, Batman was about to become far more than a comic book character. Warner Bros. was […]