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For those who were lucky enough to grow up in the 1980s, you were treated to some truly iconic video games. It was the decade that some of the most iconic series of all-time started - including a certain Italian plumber fond of saying ‘yahoo’ and rescuing princesses.
It was the decade when Tetris and Pac-Man arrived at the arcades, and children woke up on Christmas morning to find a NES under the tree.
I’ve been diving back in time to look at the history of tech - and decided to see what video games I missed out on by not being around in the 1980s. Here’s nine of the most iconic games of the decade - how many do you remember?
1. Pac-Man - 1980
Kicking off the decade in style, Pac-Man (and all of its subsequent editions like Ms Pac-Man) arrived in 1980 and has gone on to become one of the most iconic games ever. It started in arcades but later jumped to consoles of all varieties. It was so popular that the song ‘Pac-Man Fever’ charted in the US in 1982. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images | Spencer Platt/Getty Images Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
2. Donkey Kong - 1981
How simple a concept, a giant ape throwing barrels at a plumber trying to prevent him rescuing his girlfriend Pauline (in the days before Mario chased after Princess Peach). But the rest, is as they say, history. It was the start of multiple of Nintendo’s most recognisable characters. Photo: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images | Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images Photo: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images
3. Frogger - 1981
Get a frog across the road, what is the worst that could happen? Such was the simple hook of one of the biggest arcade games of the 1980s - and the start of a franchise that has endured in different forms over the decades. Photo: David McNew/Getty Images | David McNew/Getty Images Photo: David McNew/Getty Images
4. Tetris - 1984
One of the most iconic video games of all time. It must have been truly mind blowing to play this when it arrived in the west from Russia in the 1980s - but you have no doubt played it on some device or another over the years. Pictured Alexey Pajitnov the developer of Tetris! Photo: Wojtek Laski/Getty Images | Wojtek Laski/Getty Images Photo: Wojtek Laski/Getty Images
5. Super Mario Bros - 1985
As mentioned in the section about Donkey Kong, Mario made his debut in the early 1980s in the arcade game Donkey Kong. He later had his own arcade title Mario Bros, but it was Super Mario Bros - the side scrolling adventure turned Mario into a household name. Photo: KAREN BLEIER/AFP via Getty Images | KAREN BLEIER/AFP via Getty Images Photo: KAREN BLEIER/AFP via Getty Images
6. Dragon Quest - 1986
The storied Japanese role-playing franchise got its start in the mid-1980s. Featuring characters designed by Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama, it launched on the NES in Japan in 1986 - and arrived in the west in 1989. Dragon Quest has endured until the modern day. Photo: MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images | MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images Photo: MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images