Most Popular Legacy Computer Games
Tetris
1985
Tetris
1985
star 7.5The original version of Tetris was created by Alexey Pajitnov for the Elektronika-60 computer. It was never released commercially. It was also playable on the successor DVK-1 and DVK-2 computers, although it is unknown whether that is a different version, or simply the same code running on a different computer. Minor visual differences are present, but the gameplay is the exact same.Space Harrier
A port of Space Harrier for the Sharp MZ-700, released via a magazine in Japan.Prince of Persia
1991
Pac-Man
1984
Pac-Man
NABU is an obscure computer system produced in 1983, most notable for featuring an early equivalent of internet connectivity. A port of Pac-Man (among numerous other games) is built-in to the computer itself.Yakyuuken
1979
Yakyuuken
1979
One of the very first erotic video games ever released. Gameplay is comprised of a strip variation of rock-paper-scissors, based on a concept popularized by "Konto 55-gou no urabangumi wo buttobase!", a variety show which ran from April 27, 1969 to March 29, 1970. Players set how many articles of clothing they would like their opponent Megumi to wear, and after each victory she removes one piece until she is nude. Originally released for Sharp MZ-80K systems on cassette and sold at Personal-computer Shop Kouchi, it was later ported to Sharp MZ-700 in a bundle with Breakout clone 'Rowdy-Ball', and as a type-in program published in 'MZ-700 Joyful Pack.'Pool
1954
Pool
1954
A game of pool (billiards) developed by William George Brown and Ted Lewis in 1954 on the MIDSAC computer, intended primarily to showcase the computing power of the MIDSAC. "The game displayed a 2-inch rendition of the pool cue for the players to line up their shots and ran a simulation of the colliding and ricocheting balls in real-time, implementing a full game of a cue ball and 15 frame balls for two players. Graphics were drawn in real-time on a monochrome 13" point plotting X-Y display, the screen being updated by the program 40 times a second (that is, in a normal in-game situations with 2 to 4 balls moving at once). However, for time constraints, the table and its pockets weren’t drawn by the computer graphics, but were rather drawn manually onto the display using a grease pencil." - Norbert Landsteiner for masswerk.atTurochamp
Turochamp is a chess program developed by Alan Turing and David Champernowne in 1948. It was created as part of research by the pair into computer science and machine learning. Turochamp is capable of playing an entire chess game against a human player at a low level of play by calculating all potential moves and all potential player moves in response, as well as some further moves it deems considerable. It then assigns point values to each game state, and selects the move resulting in the highest point value. Turochamp is the earliest known computer game to enter development, but was never completed by Turing and Champernowne, as its algorithm was too complex to be run by the early computers of the time such as the Automatic Computing Engine.Alto Trek
1978
Alto Trek
1978
Multiplayer game, developed for Xerox Alto, where each player uses their own Alto workstation to control a starship. The objective of the game is to destroy the enemy without being destroyed. A player can choose between of being a Klingon, Romulan, or Terran. The game can be played by one player, but there will be no enemy to destroy.The Sumerian Game
1964
The Sumerian Game
1964
The Sumerian Game is a text-based strategy video game of land and resource management. It was developed as part of a joint research project between the Board of Cooperative Educational Services of Westchester County, New York and IBM in 1964–1966 for investigation of the use of computer-based simulations in schools. It was designed by Mabel Addis, then a fourth-grade teacher, and programmed by William McKay for the IBM 7090 time-shared mainframe computer. The Sumerian Game has been described as the first video game with a narrative, as well as the first edutainment game. As a result, Mabel Addis has been called the first female video game designer and the first writer for a video game.Dig Dug
1982
Dig Dug
1983
Frogger
1984
Draughts
1952
Draughts
1952
A game of draughts (a.k.a. checkers) written for the Ferranti Mark 1 computer by Christopher Strachey at the University of Manchester between 1951 and 1952. In the summer of 1952, the program was able to "play a complete game of Draughts at a reasonable speed".Tetris
1991
Tetris
1991
Tetris
1991
Tetris for Fujitsu OASYS series word processors. It was featured in many brochures of compatible models.Tetris
1988
