You all know that I am all about the retro games and when I think back to the past and even the present there are some quite addictive retro games that over time have completely trapped me. When I say trapped what I mean is they have pulled me in and kept me going back for more. These are addictive retro games that even now when I think about some of these games, I start thinking about how I need to beat my high score or just immerse myself in the escapism that a great game can produce.
Here are My 10 Extremely Addictive Retro Games
Games that I have spent hours and hours of gaming on over the years.
Tetris – Nintendo GameBoy
If you haven’t played Tetris where in the world (or galaxy) have you existed and what a terrible void, it must have been. Welcome to the real world and welcome to the game you can’t put down and that is Tetris on the GameBoy. My goodness the hours spent playing this, trying to get better and trying to beat my score. I’m sure at some point this game puts you into some kind of trance whilst playing it where you wake up towards the end of the game when it all starts getting too much and you lose the plot.
The Nintendo Entertainment System version is fantastic too. Highly addictive shape dropping fun for all ages.
More 80s Gaming Fun:
- 80s Gaming Memories
- The Best 80s Arcade Racing Games
- The Best 80s Arcade Games of All Time
- The Best 80s Arcade Fighting and Beat Em Up Games
Robotron 2084 – Arcade
Save the human family and destroy all the Robotrons (other than the indestructible ones) to get to the next wave and see how far you can get and how high a score you can achieve. Frantic shooting fun from Eugene Jarvis and Vid Kidz. Released in 1982 this arcade classic is all about the frantic game play as wave upon wave of Robotrons fill the screen giving you little time to react but react you must.
You must keep playing and playing to get a feel for the game and to make progress. Don’t play it for a few days and the game will completely own you all over again. I can waste hours on this game trying to beat my high score on my MAME arcade cab and I’m not even a great player, but it is so addictive. Twin stick arcade fun at its best in my opinion.
You can find my favourite arcade games of all time here.
Tomb Raider – PS1
Who remembers when they first met Lara Croft on the PlayStation One? I do, I borrowed the game to begin with from a guy I worked with and I ended playing the game all weekend and having to get my own copy. The game was immersive in a very 1996 kind of way that could only be experienced on a PlayStation (although I do now own it on the Sega Saturn too).
Tomb Raider was pure escapism and having previously played many a Commodore 64 Game that my imagination could lose itself in this new 3D world seemed very really and one that I would keep going back to.
You can find more 90s retro gaming memories here.
Metal Gear Solid – PS1
SNAKE!! This is my favourite PS1 game of all time and in 1999 this game blew my mind. I was 20 when this game came out, but it pulled me like Star Wars did when I was a little kid. Playing as Solid Snake was really immersive and with the cut scenes and the challenge to progress thorough the games really made this game addictive. In 1999 those little grey PS1 memory cards were the most important thing in my bedroom. Night Clubs and Pubs went by the wayside once I had a copy of Metal Gear Solid, that’s how addictive it was.
Pac Man – Arcade
I have never been that good at Pac Man but once you start playing it and you start chasing a high score it pulls you in. You start to understand what the ghost will do and how to score more points and you keep playing and playing. This is a game that stands the test of time and is so iconic that I can play this with my daughter (who only really plays the Sims) as we try to beat each other’s scores. 1 or 2 player this is an addictive arcade classic.
Street Fighter 2 – SNES
I’m going with the original SNES release of Street Fighter 2 as this is the game, we all pined for in the 16-bit world of the early 1990’s. Yes, the arcade game created a new breed of competitive arcade gamer but where I lived we didn’t have an arcade unless the local funfair came to town (and that was only once a year) so it was all about getting it on the Super Nintendo. 1 player or 2 player it didn’t matter because the conversion to the SNES was so good. You could master the moves in 1 player mode then get your mates round to try and beat them all. Street Fighter 2 was played constantly like no other fighting game before (or after).
Commando – Commodore 64
Over the past few years I have played the original arcade game more than I had the chance to back in the day, but it was the C64 version that I was addicted to when I got the budget release of the game just after getting my Commodore in 1989. Lots of enemies to shoot and of course the fantastic music made this my go to vertical shooter for some time.
If you get the chance give the original arcade version. It is very unforgiving but a lot of fun once you get a feel for it.
You can find my Top 10 Commodore 64 Games here.
Hopper – Acorn Electron (Frogger Clone)
My first home computer was the Acorn Electron which we got back in 1986. There were loads of arcade clones for all the home micro’s in the early to mid 1980’s and a selection of AcornSoft titles where included with our Acorn Electron.
The game that stood out was Hopper which was basically Frogger, but it was (and still is) so much fun. I played this so much back in 1986 as did my Dad and it became a family favourite. The difficulty level was easier than the arcade original which meant I could get quite far and being 8 or 9 I enjoyed that. Hopper was constantly being played when all I had was the Acorn Electron.
Maniac Mansion – Nintendo Entertainment System
Rescue you Girlfriend from a Mad Scientist whose mind has been taken over by a meteor and is somewhere inside said Mansion. What’s not to like? This is a point and click classic that I first played having borrowed it from one of my younger brother’s friends. The story is so much fun and the characters have great personalities that manage to come across so well from the text on screen which let’s your imagination take over a little. Another game that provided a story I could escape into a lot like a good book or movie would do.
Kik Start 2 – Commodore 64
What a fantastic budget game Kik Start 2 was and still. I purchased this for 1.99 from a newsagent before I actually got my Commodore 64 but having played it a lot on my friends C64 I knew I was in for a treat. I used to enjoy watching junior Kick Start on the TV too but even if I hadn’t, I would have still loved this game. It’s challenging and having a course designer too meant that many hours was spent on a great game that cost so little. Budget gaming at its best.
Extremely Addictive Retro Games
So, there you have 10 addictive retro games that even to this day can pull me in and entertain me for hours and hours.
- Tetris – Gameboy
- Robotron 2084 – Arcade
- Tomb Raider – PS1
- Metal Gear Solid – PS1
- Pac-Man – Arcade
- Street Fighter 2 – Super Nintendo
- Commando – Commodore 64
- Hopper – Acorn Electron
- Maniac Mansion – Nintendo Entertainment System
- Kik Start 2 – Commodore 64
Some of these games I have completed many times and keep going back to experience again and others I will probably never complete, but sometimes just getting a little bit further is reward enough to keep going back and playing over and over again.
Thanks for reading this article you can find a host of retro gaming inspired stuff on my Amazon Store right here.
If you haven’t seen it yet my previous article is here.
Thanks for stopping by.
Daz
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