Hobbies And Interests
Super Mario Bros.
"Super Mario Bros." from 1985 was the first great example of a side-scrolling platform game. It also made the Mario character, the hero but not the title character of "Donkey Kong," the unofficial mascot for the Nintendo company. Mario was featured in a slew of other Mario games for Nintendo systems, and the game format inspired other companies to come up with rival icons for their own platform games. Sega produced "Sonic The Hedgehog," while Sony came up with "Crash Bandicoot."
Tetris
"Tetris," released for the personal computer in 1984, calls for players to stack a collection of blocks to make lines, thereby clearing the lines and keeping the player from filling the entire game screen with blocks. "Tetris" was eventually made for every game console and computer operating system. The game led to a large number of unofficial variants, including "Tetris Attack," "HatTris," and "WordTris."
Street Fighter II
"Street Fighter II" was originally released as an arcade game by Capcom in 1991. Its players operated an exotic fighter who faced other fighters in a best of three showdown. The eventual goal was to fight the evil dictator M. Bison. The game was popular enough to inspire two movies, and numerous editions. A 3-D version was released in 2011. It also inspired more 2-D fighting games, such as "Fatal Fury" and "King of Fighters."
Asteroids
First released in 1979, "Asteroids" was centered on a spaceship that did nothing but shoot down waves of floating asteroids and the occasional alien craft. "Asteroids" has been updated several times, including an "Asteroids Deluxe." A combination box of the original and "Deluxe" was released in 2006 for Xbox 360.
Pac-Man
"Pac-Man" was arguably the biggest break-out hit in the first wave of arcade games. The 1980 game featured a simple yellow dot, Pac-Man, who had to run around a maze swallowing small white dots while four ghosts tried to destroy him. Pac-Man could make himself invincible for a short time by eating one of four power dots. It also permitted him to "chomp" the ghosts for extra points. "Pac-Man" had few imitators, but inspired its own spin-offs like "Ms. Pac-Man." Both titles were picked up by home gaming systems.