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Pong
A coin-op arcade game by Atari Inc
Based on table tennis
First game to gain widespread popularity - launched the industry boom -
1972 - Magnavox Odyssey
World's first game console
Predates the Atari Pong home consoles
Prototype known as the “Brown Box” is now at the Smithsonian
340,000 units sold -
Gran Track 10
A single-player racing arcade game by Atari
Player races against the game clock, accumulating points -
Maze Wars
One of the first FPS
Players wander in a maze
Used tile-based movement
Other players are eyeballs that can be shot or harmed -
Calico Telstar
By Coleco - AY-3-8500 chip
Pong variants on a domestic television receiver and available to any manufacturer -
APF TV Fun
Pong clone manufactured by APF formally a electronics developer
Four built-in games (Tennis, Hockey, Single Handball, and Squash)
Had a speaker and two controller knobs -
8-bit home consoles
Second Generation consoles By the mid-1970s cartridges moved to CPU-based consoles
Games now consisting of microprocessor-based code; games burned onto ROM chips mounted inside plastic cartridge casings that could be plugged into slots on the console
Consumers could acquire large libraries of game cartridges -
- Fairchild Channel F
The world's second cartridge-based video game console, after the Magnavox Odyssey
Sold for $169.95 -
Atari 2600
Popularized game cartridges - popular in the 1980s
Originally Atari VCS; later changed to "Atari 2600" in 1982, after the release of Atari 5200 -
Magnavox Odyssey
Played cartridges
Keyboard; used for educational games, selecting options, or programming
First game was an instant classic: Quest for the Rings -
space invaders
Created in Japan - later licensed in US
Shooting game - players defeat waves of aliens with a laser and earn points -
intellivision
By Mattel Electronics at $299
Four games available and a pack-in game: Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack
First to pose a serious threat to Atari -
Asteroids
Popular and influential game - 70,000 sold by Atari
Vector display and 2D view
Control a spaceship in an asteroid field traversed by flying saucers -
Pac Man
Namco - considered among the most famous arcade games of all time
Became a social phenomenon that sold related merchandise and inspired an animated television series and a top-ten hit single -
- Donkey Kong
By Nintendo - platform
Move the character across a series of platforms while dodging and jumping over obstacles -
Frogger
Move frogs home by crossing a busy road and navigate a river - skillful players obtain bonuses
A classic - noted for its novel gameplay and theme
Used two Z80 processors -
Galaga
Fixed-shooter game
Control a space ship while aliens fly in formation and come down at the player's ship to either shoot or collide
Players fire at enemies, and once all enemies are vanquished, at which point the player moves to the next stage -
Tron
Game was based on the Disney movie
A computer hacker is trapped inside a digital world and forced to participate in gladiatorial-type games -
Q-Bert
By Gottlieb
Isometric platform with puzzle elements where the player controls the character from a third-person perspective -
Pole Position
Arcade racing by Atari
Most popular coin-op arcade game of 1983
Use a steering wheel and a gear shifter for low and high gears
